Haven't I met you before?

Déjà vu. It means Already seen in French. is the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously (an individual feels as though an event has already happened or has happened in the recent past), although the exact circumstances of the previous encounter are uncertain.

This was taken from wikipedia.

Why bring it up? Because I'm a fellow who experiences this on a daily basis. Sometimes it's subtle. Sometimes it is so profound that I almost know what the next word muttered will be.

I experienced a profound instance of Déjà vu the other day. I was at a Singer/Songwriter competition with my friend Craig. We perform a duo act full of original, modern, Australia, folk music. There were many other performers there that evening. And while I'm quite active in the music scene in Sydney, I'm not as well connected as people are lead to believe. To top things off, the other performers there that night were totally unfamiliar. I had never met them in my life.

Yet, when staring at the lovely Renae, I swear we had met before. I knew her and her face was vividly familiar. But how? She was from a town 300 kms away. A town I've passed through but never stayed in. My circle of friends, even the ones up past her way are not part of her circle of friends. So how can she look so familiar. So familiar in fact that I swear I know her. I'd bet my house on it, I'm as sure as day I know her.

Another performer that got up to play was Ben from Narabeen. I've never met him either. I don't travel to Narabeen. It's just not a place I go to. Ever. Yet there he was, and I'm staring at him too. Trying to figure out why he looks like someone I know too well.

Renae ended up sitting at our table and my wife spoke to her. We still don't know how I know her but we exchanged business cards and got chatting. We still have no idea. But either way, she's a nice, young and pretty girl with a great attitude. It's refreshing to see there are younger people out there that aren't bored, glued to the TV. They're out there performing live music and going out of their own way to do it.

Ben was the best sounding person on the evening. Better than us. Better than the guy who won first place, better than the guys who won second place, and better than the trio that won third. In fact, when Ben got up on stage and started to play and sing, on his own with his guitar, it was as if the stage lit up. He really made the place come alive. With previous performs just playing by numbers, as I like to call it. It's when you go on autopilot. When you just go in there, play your bit and walk off.

Ben and I exchanged business cards also, and I like how he did it too. Japanese style.

This is where he hands you his card with both hands and bows. You bow while you take the card with both hands. Nothing is said, you inspect the card as a sign of respect, place it safely in your wallet and then continue the conversation. I've always loved this greeting, though never stepped foot in Japan, I found it yet another familiar and comforting experience to have taken part in an official exchange of cards.

I see a lot of cool experiences with Ben coming soon. So watch this space.

From all that in one night, the last few days since then has had me wandering around working at the music school, which I'll have photos of soon. Teaching music and talking to people, all the while thinking about Renae and Ben. Two people I connected with and somehow have already met.

Maybe it was a past life. Maybe it's just that they're such cool, laid back easy going, fun loving musicians that I just got along with them so well that everything just clicked.

Or maybe it's what I've read about Déjà vu. It's that you subconciously want to meet people like this that when it happens in real life, you feel as though it has happened before because you've almost or perhaps have dreamt about it.

Either way, I like the idea I once invented about Déjà vu....

... Meeting someone for the first time that you have a familiar feeling about is because you have already met them once before, maybe 100 years ago, maybe 1000 years ago. And in that life, you were both musicians, perhaps you both even met in the same exact spot you met in 100 years ago, when the club use to be a factory making glass jars. Or 1000 years ago in a battle for territory, maybe you were just two kids who met on the field to play.