Cygnus Rock Band - Uprisa (video review)

This review has got a special occasion. There's a reason why I decided to write about it on this day.

Today is the 1st anniversary of the release of this video. I remember, that was already the swan song period of the battle between Cygnus (and their fans) vs. capitalism.

I deliberately don't say names or any info that would make it identifiable. Not because I'm worried about a possible legal action - good luck with that anyway -, but because I don't want to waste my time, energy, life and bandwidth for people who don't deserve it.

I remember, Cygnus had this plan way before the release of "Revival" to make the overture public, as a sort of teaser trailer for the fans about the upcoming 5th album. At every normal and healthy case those in the background wouldn't only have agreed with this idea happily, but probably they themselves would have suggested it, to have a single-alike thing to be released before the album.

Just the circumstances at that time were neither normal, nor healthy, and this wasn't the band's fault for a second. If I'm not wrong, even this small step required a brave and determined standpoint from our favorite Colombians, sticking to their plans despite the - let me use an euphemism - bad weather. And finally they won.

I know I have told this in the song's review back then, but I say it now again: I'm as proud of them as it's possible 💓 

I remember, too, I have mentioned - probably in the album's review - that only Cygnus can be so unique (and having the balls) that they make a video for an actual symphonic overture. Not only most bands don't do any symphonic overture for their albums (the maximum is that they make maybe an intro, if any), but none of them had the courage to have a symphonic first song that passes all the requirements of an overture in classical music AND also making a video for that. I found it as the crystal clear sign of the band's uniqueness, pioneering ideas and talent.

While you don't even know what an overture is, right? 😒

The video for Uprisa was made from the first to the last second with computer graphics. And before you start to whine over this fact and/or mocking the band why they didn't use actual footage for it, then I have two things to tell you.

No. 1.: you're stupid (though it was obvious)

No. 2.: if you had used that bunch of cells at the upper end of your spine - you know, the one that is called "brain" - you would have figured it out long ago that since the band is located in Colombia, it's, well, let's say, a bit problematic for them to provide the ambience of a Scandinavian/northern European forest using local sources. So they decided to use the environmentally friendly option and instead of booking a flight to e.g. Norway to shoot footages for your lord- or ladyship, dear ignorant, picky, whinebag average music consumer, letting with this action several thousand litres of kerosine into the air, they solved the case using real, actual local sources by joining forces with a local artist, Jhonny Umbral.

Here I need to declare - just to make it clear once and for all! - that if once the band decides to cross the Atlantic Ocean to appear (for whichever reason, gigs, tour, anything) on the soil of Europe, we here will never ever let them go back. Ever :) 

Just to avoid any sort of surprises in the future 😏🤭

The video pictures forest scenes, typically those you can see on the northern hemisphere: deciduous trees, pine trees, the trunks of dead trees. Early morning mist, moss, a tiny creek hiding in the undergrowth. Dewdrops. Pale sunshine breaking through the leaves, as the slow first tunes of the overture flow into the listener's ears. Rich fern colonies hide under the trees. Decaying leaf litter. The rugged bark of old trees, you even feel their coarse touch on your fingers. Tiny flowers in the underwood. Everything shines in all the shades of green, from the lightest to the almost black. A giant tinder agaric with dewdrops on it. A brook with translucent water. A pod with water lily pads. The darkness at the feet of the trees where just a few, playful rays of sun can reach, caressing the shy face of the vegetation with their warm hands. Barely visible spider web between the twigs of a plant. A lake with morning mist above its surface, mirroring the pine trees around it. As the sun reaches higher on the sky, its heart-warming yellow beams break the darkness that's still hiding among the trees. They give their vitalizing energy even to the tiniest creatures under the grass, tirelessly searching for the smallest tracks of life to be able to give them hope, joy and smile with their gentle fingers. Nobody is allowed to be missed out.

As the dusk slowly appears, the moon and the Milky Way light up over the forest, the oldest and tallest pine tree is watching over the land, making sure his entire family is safe.

What I find the most fascinating in this video is that there is no moving life in it. All are still images, only the camera is moving. The only movement that can be seen only once is when a soft breeze plays with a bunch of small twigs in the underbrush. No insects, no birds, reptilians or mammals - yet the forest is full of life. It's breathing, stretching, sweating, growing, a myriad of tiny and big forms of life, places that serve as a cradle of life (dead trunks, water) and forces that give life (sunshine, wind).

I love it that the creators avoided the usual, rather stereotypical, often overworn and hackneyed forms of picturing a forest. You know, with all these corny images of birdies, grazing deers, wild boar families and who knows what else. They managed to create a beautiful forest, with living life at every single centimeter, with rich vegetation, untouched by any aggressive creature

aka humans

and while seemingly nothing happens

for those of you who are blind, deaf, dumb, under-educated and/or generally stupid

still so many things happen. A lot of beautiful things that warm the heart, that heal, that bring smile on your face. Things that carry life. Things that are Life itself.

This video, dear everyone, is a beautiful proof how alive a forest can be and how very much we shouldn't underestimate the power of trees, plants, undergrowth, funghi, grass and all that we call non-living or abiotic environment: the water, the wind, the sun or the hills and mountains.

And it might be just me, but here I catch a connection between this video and the album's heart and soul, "Walking Through the Forest of Life". Not just for the obvious forest scenery, but because that song for me is the musical equivalent of the subtle message of this video. Life, as it is, in the purest form, untouched, that wants to live only without harming anyone. To live in peace, together with all its other forms, may it be small or big. To understand the importance of diversity, to coexist, because every form of life need all the other forms of life. 

I remember, once I read somewhere that we can't live by ourselves, not just us humans, but every other form of life on this planet. We are inter-connected; this text used the expression "we inter-are". So far this is the simplest yet most powerful composition of words I have ever seen and understood about existing as a sentinent being. 

Again it's something that requires a LOT of thinking, dear average music consumer. Critical thinking. Questioning yourself, your own life, your own goddamned, rotten comfort zone the patterns in it which you got used to, things you were taught and thought to be true; and courage to unlearn them. It's tough when your ego falls into a million pieces, but trust me: you didn't even need it. What you need is empathy and kindness. To others. To yourself, too.

And this is what I found in this video. The perfect visualization of being "inter-are" - and the fact that the creators decided to picture it only with plants makes the effect even more sweeping.

For me definitely.