In a previous Letter, I wrote to you about how I listen to music. That is, I don’t follow excessive recipes for sophisticated sound, I use simple headphones, and I don’t have complex and expensive equipment that guarantees me tremendous quality. Also, we had agreed that I prefer to listen to plenty of music live rather than from machines. So, I used a device (to be precise, a mobile phone) to listen to the famous playlist created by King Charles of Great Britain on Apple Music to celebrate Commonwealth Day. In this strictly curated (as they now call it, in plain English) list, Charles chose to include songs mainly from Commonwealth countries, while also featuring two tracks from the U.S.

Charles has shown since childhood that he loves music and studied piano, cello, and trumpet during the first decades of his life. He loves classical music, but in this list, he decided to show us his taste in pop. Which is, of course, welcome. The problem with lists was identified in the best possible way by Nick Hornby in his novel, which later became a film, High Fidelity. Someone will always be left wondering, “Is it possible that X, Y, Z wasn’t included?” And if the person looking at any given list is Greek, there’s a strong possibility that an “incompetent” might slip into the above phrase. As a true Greek myself, I will say that this list by King Charles does not include a single Beatles song, which greatly surprised me! As I re-examine the list, he probably decided not to use any track from a band… But that’s not the issue. The issue is that such a high-ranking individual decides to show his tastes, to expose himself, and perhaps displease some, but at the same time to use music as a means of cultural diplomacy on behalf of the generally vulnerable and wounded Commonwealth. Cultural goods, although often intangible, can offer great services to the goals set by each State and each country. Some choose to impose themselves and advance their goals with weapons, others with Culture, and ultimately, History judges them all.

You can listen to King Charles’s list here https://music.apple.com/us/curator/the-kings-music-room/1739144348