ARTIST: Peter Gabriel

CREATOR: Albert Normandin

SONG: i/o (Bright-Side Mix) FROM: i/o

Video info:

The song blends earth, nature and life together which are all a part of everything. Creating a visual flow in an abstract way to bring that feeling all together. Using traditional photographic methods, sweeping motion and animation in the real world. The excitement, energy and joy that we are so fortunate to have in this life on earth.

We are all a part of everything.

- Albert Normandin

Song info:

i/o is a track taken from Peter Gabriel's album i/o, released on 1 December 2023. This is the Bright-Side Mix, by Mark 'Spike' Stent.

Words and music by Peter Gabriel. Produced by Peter Gabriel.

Published by Real World Music Ltd. / Sony Music Publishing.

i/o means input / output. You see it on the back of a lot of electrical equipment and it just triggered some ideas about the stuff we put in and pull out of ourselves, in physical and non-physical ways. That was the starting point of this idea and then trying to talk about the interconnectedness of everything. The older I get, I probably don't get any smarter, but I have learned a few things and it makes a lot of sense to me that we are not these independent islands that we like to think we are, that we are part of a whole. If we can see ourselves as better connected, still messed up individuals, but as part of a whole, then maybe there's something to learn?

-pg

ARTIST: Peter Gabriel

CREATOR: Jay Schankman

SONG: Live and Let Live (Bright-Side Mix) FROM i/o

Video info:

It was an interesting proposition; to pick a song and make this video for Peter. I loved the message and the challenge, and with that, I felt grounded by the message. There was no intention going in, but as I began working on it, the pieces fell together naturally.

The video (and my interpretation of the song) moves through three lyrical passages. First, there is personal understanding and forgiveness, then repairing or healing our interpersonal relationships, and finally coming together in love, with the references taking many forms, ultimately as we stop our endless wars and “lay the burden down, lay the weapons down”. The Elders speak of having the courage to “be brave enough to listen, to 'live and let live'.”

I love this song, the project and the opportunity that Peter Gabriel and Real World Records provides for the world community of independent artists. In gratitude, thank you and thanks to you for watching it!                                                

Song info:

Live and Let Live is a track taken from Peter Gabriel's album i/o, released on 1 December 2023. This is the Bright-Side Mix, by Mark 'Spike' Stent.

Words and music by Peter Gabriel. Produced by Peter Gabriel and Richard Russell.

Published by Real World Music Ltd. / Sony Music Publishing.

“Music can be like a box of mood pills that we can use to treat ourselves and a lot of the work of the Reverberation project is focused on that sort of idea. When someone suggested that forgiveness might be a topic to write about, at first, I thought, ‘that's not interesting to me,’ but then I remembered two things. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was the chair of The Elders and a real mentor for me, led the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in South Africa and that really allowed people to expose, report and maybe feel again some of the horrors of the apartheid era. I remember he always said that listening made a huge difference, just making sure people felt heard and recognized. Then, sometimes, it created a space for forgiveness.

There's also a description that Nelson Mandela gave when he was released from jail after 27 years in prison and found himself about to become president of South Africa, standing next to some of the people who'd been responsible for keeping him in jail all that time. He said he felt some of the old fear and hatred swelling up inside him but when he thought hard about it, he realized that he needed to find a way to work with these people, to build what he called his rainbow coalition. He needed to feel their humanity and ultimately to find a way to forgive them. He was quite sure that if he couldn't forgive them and find a way to work with them, that he would remain their prisoner for the rest of his days.

Now, I know if we look at what's happening in the Middle East now or in Ukraine, all sorts of places around the world where there's still violence and brutality, to walk around with a bunch of flowers, preaching forgiveness seems trite and pathetic, maybe. But in the long run, I think people have to find a way. ‘Peace only happens when you respect the rights of others’ is a quote from the Peace University in Costa Rica and I think that's a really important message for me and for my life. You either belong to that hurt or you free yourself and forgiveness is clearly a super effective way of freeing yourself.”

-pg

ARTIST: Peter Gabriel

CREATOR: Mike Bennion

SONG: Before Night Falls FROM: Passion

Video info:

This piece is a visual poem, attempting to complement the exotic and sacral nature of the music. It is heavily inspired by the 1969 film ’The Colour of Pomegranates’ by Sergei Parajanov. It uses a similar minimalist, old school film grammar, real locations, no camera moves, no special effects, no actors just ordinary people, symbolic gestures whose meaning has been lost over time. A combination of my subconscious and the whims of AI has produced something we don’t understand, and that is what hopefully holds our attention, to figure out the puzzle.

Song info:

Before Night Falls is a track taken from Peter Gabriel's album Passion, released in June 1989.

Music by Peter Gabriel. Produced by Peter Gabriel.
The Ney flute plays a traditional Armenian melody.

Published by Real World Music Ltd. / Sony Music Publishing.

[Passion] was one of the most important records for me – an opportunity as a writer to try to do a different sort of job than I usually do. The brief for The Last Temptation Of Christ was to create something that had references to that time and that part of the world, but that had its own character and was to be timeless in a way.

-pg