A week or so ago Liepa told me about www.pandora.com, the home page of Pandora Radio, a free music streaming service. At this site you create custom "radio stations" by specifying a musician or composer that you enjoy. Pandora then constructs a playlist of similar music, and the list may or may not include selections from the identified artist.
Why would record companies participate in this service? Not all do. But when a song is playing, you can click on it for more information, and then click to purchase it from Amazon or iTunes. So the service is really sales promotion. You don't get to pick what you listen to—well, you can, but then you just get a 30-second sample, just like iTunes. Also, you can't save and repeat a playlist, though you can give a thumbs up or down to specific songs. I find that songs repeat with some regularity.
I've created "radio stations" for Danny Elfman, Philip Glass, Randy Newman and Leonard Cohen, all very nice, but my current favorite is Ennio Morricone of spaghetti western fame. The selections tend toward dirges and slow movie themes. Through it I found "Into the West" from the end of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, sung by Annie Lennox. You can listen to this song here. [Link updated; the original link was removed for copyright claim.]
This song reminds me of the poem that Elona read at Vaiva's funeral (here), Gone From My Sight. A portion of the song lyrics:
What can you see
On the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home
And all will turn
To silver-glass
A light on the water
All souls pass
Hope fades
Until the world of night
Through shadows' falling
Out of memory and time
Don't say
We have come now to the end
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again
And you'll be here in my arms
Just sleeping
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