Yes, it’s a Twitter hashtag, and it has to do with the worldwide event that occurred on May 17, when the band Sigur Rós live-streamed their upcoming album “Valtari” for one hour for all 24 time zones at precisely 7 p.m. respectively. That was a run-on sentence, but if a band played their album on repeat 24 times, then I think a run-on sentence wouldn’t hurt anybody. The reason I bring up #valtarihour now, a week after the event, is that it was a prime example of how music as well as social media is now more than ever bringing the world closer together. Using Twitter, people around the world all came together to collectively enjoy great music.
That right there is something beautiful. It’s essentially a entirely different form of a concert, where millions of people from different continents all tune in to the same thing. It makes for a completely new experience, in fact people were encouraged to share photos of their experience, whether it was their location, or a smile, or a picture of the sky; whatever expressed their emotion, they were opted to share! What I find most intriguing about it was how unique the reactions were to the already very unique event. Everybody had different perspectives on the same thing. People would show pictures of them sharing their experience with the ones they love, or spending it isolated in their room, or busy doing work but made the effort to tune in and listen. Anyways, the list goes on. The implementation of Twitter really allowed the portrayal of perspectives to be seen. Although it was a way to promote their album, which came out May 23 in Japan (while the rest of us have to wait until May 29), it really acted more as a tool to unite. That in itself, is simply serene.