Luke De-Sciscio’s “Human Heart” Shows the Power of an Apology (premiere)

English folk musician Luke De-Sciscio has been a busy guy. In 2020, he’s released not one, but two full albums’ worth of original material—Good Bye Folk Boy was followed up by Eucharist by a mere couple of months. One of the latter LP’s highlights is “Human Heart”, an indie-folk tune defined by forward-driving fingerpicking and De-Sciscio’s earnest delivery of a heartfelt message. The plaintive song reflects on the art of an apology. More specifically, De-Sciscio set his sights to the Hawaiian practice of Ho’oponopono for inspiration.

De-Sciscio says, “Traditionally Ho’oponopono is a mantra-based meditation wherein the practitioner recites, ‘I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you,’ whilst internalizing and accepting responsibility for external transgressions. Ultimately, it’s the recognition that the line between the other and the self is a fundamentally blurry partition. Saying, ‘How can I blame you?… when if I were born you, I would have done to me, as you have?… Let us start from there and mend.'”

Its music video features a multitude of fan-submitted videos. In each, an individual holds up a sign detailing an apology. It’s a vast and varied stream with myriad backgrounds on display—from different languages or locations to differing levels of detail. Together, De-Sciscio and his fans identify and emanate “Ho’oponopono”.