A PRESENT AND UNIFIED FUTURE OF MUSIC

From these examples, we see that what we call “genius” in music is often a person who was present enough to their moment and the past to create a bold new hybrid of the five elements. They knew the rules (explicitly or intuitively) and then broke or bent them. They were grounded in tradition yet unafraid to experiment. A Present Musician doesn’t silo themselves (“I only listen to one genre”); they are voracious listeners and learners. Prince could absorb Hendrix’s guitar fire, James Brown’s funk groove, Joni Mitchell’s lyrical melodies, and the rich harmonies of Stevie Wonder – then synthesize it into something uniquely Prince.

In the same way, I describe my music as blending Classical/Jazz with Electronic/Hip-Hop – not as a gimmick, but because I myself embody those multiple traditions. I grew up with Balkan folk music, studied jazz and classical saxophone, and produce electronic tracks. In my work, you might hear a Chopin-esque chord progression under a trap beat with a Balkan accordion riff and my father’s spoken words – and remarkably, it feels coherent and powerful. Why? Because I’m not forcing things together arbitrarily; I’m letting each element (melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, atmosphere) serve the emotional message, regardless of origin. This is what it means to be present as a musician: to use all the tools from all eras to express what you need to express now.

Present Musicians also share some key character traits. They are creative, of course – but also curious and culturally aware. They seek out music outside their immediate comfort zone (like me recording folk songs with my father, or hip-hop producers digging through old vinyl for samples). They are technologically fluent, or collaborate with those who are, to harness new textures – whether it was electric guitars in the ’60s or AI audio tools today. And importantly, they have a connection to what some call the “universal musical consciousness” – meaning they see themselves as part of something bigger than just trends. They often study the physics, the theory, the history, the why behind music, so that their innovations are intentional. They’re the ones who say, “Why limit myself to one genre or one set of sounds? I have the whole world of music to play with.” In doing so, they often invent new genres. It was precisely by refusing to stay in one box that Miles Davis birthed fusion, that Kraftwerk midwifed techno, that DJ Kool Herc gave rise to hip-hop. These were Present Musicians of their time, and their mindset is increasingly important now, when virtually every sound ever recorded is a few clicks away.

Today, any musician with an internet connection can listen to pygmy polyphonic singing one minute and Polish black metal the next. The palette is limitless. This could be overwhelming – but with a Present Music mindset, it’s liberating. It means we can find resonance and inspiration anywhere. It means as creators we aren’t bound by the accident of where we were born or what’s on the radio this year – we can be in conversation with Mozart or Umm Kulthum or the Tuvan throat singers if we choose, sampling their ideas (literally or figuratively) into new works.

And as listeners, it means we can appreciate far more. A big part of this manifesto is to encourage listeners and musicians alike to drop the biases of genre. When you listen for melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, atmosphere, you suddenly enjoy music on a deeper level. You might not be a metalhead, but you’ll hear the complex counterpoint of an Iron Maiden guitar duo and realize it’s not far from Baroque harpsichord duets. You might not usually like opera, but you’ll recognize the “drops” in a Puccini aria – those moments of tension and release – and realize they give you the same goosebumps as a climax in an EDM track.

Finally, being a Present Musician means embracing the present technology and social reality while staying rooted in the timeless. It means using platforms like TikTok or YouTube not just to promote, but to create musical moments that couldn’t happen before – spontaneous global choir collaborations, or viral remix chains that involve thousands of co-creators (an atmosphere of participatory creativity). We’ve seen sea shanties trend on TikTok, of all things – a centuries-old melody form going viral in a modern context. Why? Possibly because the communal, simple melodic nature of sea shanties (cyclical elements) met the interactive, humorous atmosphere of TikTok (chronological element) and people connected with that combination. Present Musicians would recognize that as a sign: the boundaries are gone. A folk fiddler can jam with a lo-fi hiphop beatmaker via a livestream; an EDM producer can sample a 12th-century chant and make it a club banger. And audiences are ready for it, often craving it. The internet age, for all its pitfalls, has made listeners more omnivorous. The old silo of “I only listen to genre X” is fading as young listeners shuffle everything. The scene is set for Present Music to flourish – and it is flourishing, if you know where to look.