The concept of Oenyaw began in the beginning of 2005.
The idea actually developed while working in a chemistry laboratory. As with many work situations, when treated like a human on the job and not some prisoner in a camp, we were allowed to listen to music while working along with my fellow workers. Someone would select a radio station and set the volume to a comfortable level and work would continue. The division of the company of my previous employment would not allow any music at all, and oddly enough it was only that division that didn't allow such a benefit due to the policies of a cruel manager who no longer worked there. The restriction prompted me to leave that particular place of employment, as did quite a few other odd practices of the powers that be, taking a pay cut to drive 65 miles each way to my new job.
(This is quite an unbelievable story of tension at the workplace during the 21st century, but I had described Tallahassee, FL as being a city which widely practiced the theory of hyah, mule! management for years.)
At the new job, there was a radio, and the few employees there would take turns selecting a radio station to listen to. Within a short period of time, I realized the problem with radio that existed from the early 1970's was still there. No mater the format of the music, every station plays a very small rotation of musical selections, interlace with commercials, announcements, opinions, and news. The music is a very small part of the musical programming, and as far as the music in the program, most of it is selected according to the opinion of what some manager believes his audience would prefer. With millions of recorded songs available to play on the air, why are only a few selected for airplay. The arguments are that they only play songs that are hits, but the way radio has always been programmed, the hits are selected before release. Another argument behind the theory of entertainment programming is that the average person's attention span is limited to 10-15 minutes. If that is correct, why are the best selling novels over 500 pages in length? Why are the biggest selling forms of entertainment video games which can be played infinitely? I had made a conscious decision to compose, perform and record music as a solo artist three years before that.
I was studying classical sitar while involved in the creation of yet another rock band. As usual, I was playing bass in a band in which songs were selected by various members of the band, and my role as a bass player was to politely accompanying and compromising to accommodate the situation. A role I had never found to be uncomfortable, and most of the time enjoyed. But a few minor trifles sparked an outburst of temper from within that no band member had ever witnessed. Upon being told to turn my amp down, something snapped. All of my musical frustrations exploded at once. The situation, from my view point, was prompted by seeing a list of song that had been selected as numbers to appease the imaginary audience. I was familiar every band members CD collection and taste in music, and the only reason for these selections was to entertain people that didn't exist. Another whip across the back was the lead guitarists persistence to diddle around with possible lead guitar line while the rest of the band was rehearsing a song. An act that, when I became part of the play,
I realized the entire concept of Alternative rock. Just play the damn song and stop trying to be Eric Clapton!(He also seemed to have this idea that a guitar was a more difficult instument to play than a bass because it had two more strings, but that is another story.) The final straw upon this camel's back was upon the arrival of a drummer, I turned the volume setting on my amp from 0.50 to 1.0. This proved to be way too intimidating for the lead guitarist and I was told to play softer. My display of temper reached the level of embarrassment, and I departed never to be seen rehearsing with a band again. Not to say that I wouldn't play in a band now, but I things would have to be different. Anyway, I embarked on the journey of thoughts to lead me down the road of becoming a solo musician. I continued with the sitar, until conflicting time schedules prohibited the education. The study taught me more about music in on year than I had learned in my entire life. The techniques of playing, along with the theories of performance and composition, changed my view point on music itself. But not everyone who picks up a violin wishes to play Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. I began practising acoustic guitar in many different genres, blues, bluegrass, folk, and ragtime. But again I found myself doing what I have previously complained about, selecting music on the basis of what some imaginary audience might appreciate. It's akin to painting your house and selecting the color yellow because you think a higher percentage of people driving by will prefer a yellow house over a green one. I had to be comfortable with the music I was presenting. I had to be honest with and true to myself. It sounds like an old pop song, but "I gotta be me!"
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