CENTURIA X · QUATRAIN XLI
The Rescue Concerts
En la frontiere de Caussade & Charlus,
Non guieres loing du fonds de la vallee,
De ville franche musicque a son de luths,
Environnez combouls & grand mytee.
On the frontier of Caussade and Charlus,
not very far from the bottom of the valley,
of the free town music to the sound of lutes,
surrounded by cymbals and a great medley.
THE MASTER SAYS…
He says that this quatrain relates to several events united by a common description. He observed a unique phenomenon that developed in the 20th century — the holding of musical concerts for various reasons: for political self-expression, to raise funds to help people affected by a disaster or something similar. He says that this music was unlike anything he had heard before. He says that the author of the text uses the word “rock” for this. He always thought it was a piece of mountain, something solid that can be used to build a wall. But he says that he used the phrase “many stringed instruments and cymbals around” to describe the sound of amplified music. Why did he write a quatrain about this? Because, according to him, the results of this influenced history. He recalls that during the participation of the United States in the so-called Vietnam War, several protests were held, in particular in the form of concerts. This ultimately led to the US withdrawal from that war. He says that as various events occur and natural disasters become more frequent, the government will no longer be able to provide assistance to affected areas as it did before. Therefore people will have to turn to their fellow citizens for help. And one of the ways to do this will be to organize performances by musicians, actors, mimes, jugglers and, in his words, all kinds of court artists, who will gather together and entertain people. The money that people throw to them will be given to those in need of help, the victims. Why did he use these names? I think they are cities. He says that these are some of the places where this will happen in the future. They were mistaken. He knows they were mistaken. Yes. They said: “Perhaps this is a description of a festival that Nostradamus once witnessed.” He said: do not waste his time on such nonsense. He is describing what he saw, but he himself was not present at such a festival, because it is in his future.