“Captain of Dreams and Colors” Bowie tribute by Filip Sande.

I came across this video while reviewing potential Bowie covers of the week. No, this one isn’t a cover, and, if not for the title of the video is not obviously about Bowie at all. Actually, the title of the song is “Captain of Dreams and Colors,” which also doesn’t obviously reference Bowie, so its the title of the video itself that gives away the point of the song. Knowing that, when you listen to it, it certainly can be describing the death of Bowie and his passage into another plane of existence, but it doesn’t sound anything like a Bowie song.

Filip Sande is a professional classical musician and composer. The two musicians who perform the song are Lydia Consilvio and The Cello Doll. Lydia runs an apparently interactive YouTube site (is that thew right terminology?) called Oboestudio. The sites describes her as, “Oboist, music educator, and singer/songwriter Dr. Lydia Consilvio was the oboe professor at the University of Oklahoma for the 2021-2022 academic year. An avid chamber musician, Lydia has appeared on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, the Fischoff Competition, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival with her ensembles. She has played with the Annapolis (MD) Symphony, Rochester (NY) Chamber Orchestras, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic.”

The Cello Doll is also a professional musician and educator. She has her own web site, which I’ll link to here rather than summarize.

Together what they created is more classical than rock and roll— a song that seems easily at home at a funeral ceremony rather than a club or rock concert.

What’s dancing around in the back of my mind is that this is another example of Bowie as part of the culture. Bowie’s image and even name have themselves become part of other peoples’ art because they have become cultural points of reference. There’s so much meaning, albeit subjective meaning, packed into “David Bowie” that the mere mention of him brings a whole suite of significance. In this case, Bowie himself isn’t so much as mentioned or quoted, but essence is breathed into the song with the simple explanation that it’s a Bowie tribute. This is beyond the Phish song, “David Bowie,” (click to link) which seemingly has nothing to do with David Bowie other than his name being one of the mostly instrumental song’s (very) few lyrics.

And in any case, much like the covers that are posted every week, this is another example of how Bowie continues to inspire artists and their audiences years after his departure from this world.