(♪♪♪) - (female narrator): Tcha Limeberger is a multi-instrumentalist who is open to new things from different cultures.

- (dubbed): Music is like breathing - I need it.

- And Raul Thais Antequera dives deep into his own soul to create unique melodies.

- (dubbed): I love music.

I love the present.

- They're two true artists, for whom music is above all else a matter of being authentic - whether it comes from the other side of the world or from deep within.

Blind or partially-sighted, the musicians featured in this series are living out their musical dreams.

Their stories are examples of hard work, dedication and passion that lead us al share in the wonder of truly... We're in the city of San Sebastian, in the Spanish Basque Country, near the shores of the Bay of Biscay.

This place, one of the most picturesque in Spain, is located some 20 kilometers from the French border.

(♪♪♪) (He sings in a foreign language.)

This is where Belgian musician Tcha Limberger has taken up residence.

Raised in Bruges by a family of musicians, his mother Flemish and his father Manouche, Tcha has always been immersed in music.

So it's not all that surprising that he considers it to be a core part of his identity.

- Music is like breathing - I need it.

I can't live without it.

It is something fundamental, essentially important to me.

I am above all else an acoustic musician.

I really think that's something very important to me.

I don't like amplification, microphones, sounds that rise so many decibels higher than is necessary.

(♪♪♪) I like musical styles that are traditional, authentic, you might say.

I've done plenty of things in my life - musically speaking, of course.

I think that when I was little, two years old, one and a half, two - my favorite kind of music was flamenco music.

(♪♪♪) I pretty much decided to make the music that my family played because they were Manouche and Sinté.

And my family also played a kind of music which is called "gipsy" music.

It's a repertoire that includes bits and pieces from Eastern Europe, so Russia, Hungary, Romania.

Anyways, they played that.

And so I learned how to play that repertoire on the guitar, too, as well as on the double bass and clarinet.

(♪♪♪) - Tcha is interested in musi from every corner of the globe, but he believes that in order to play a musical style well, a knowledge of the local language is essential.

(♪♪♪) - Because the rhythm of the melody, the language, the timing, how the beat is kept - none of that is contained simply in the meaning of the lyrics.

It's really not the meaning of the words of the song that are important, it is the manner in which they are said.

(♪♪♪) I speak 10 languages more or less, but I really am always trying, whether I've been somewhere or not, by spending so much time with colleagues, musicians, friends from other places - I've tried to learn as many repertoires as possible.

Today, that has changed enormously.

I've learned so many things, and I've dropped other things which I don't play anymore, but which I used to be able to play.

But sometimes, you have to pick your priorities.

(♪♪♪) - Leaving behind Basque Country, we find ourselves in the capital, Madrid, Spain's largest city.

Known for its historic buildings, its large boulevards and its markets, but also for its blue skies, its dynamic cultural life and its wild nightlife, it is safe to say that this is a city where life is good.

Near the downtown core, we find a musician who has chosen to think outside the box.

- My name is Raul Thais Antequera.

We are in Madrid, the capital of Spain.

It is mid-morning on Friday.

Life has shaped me in very unexpected ways.

For example, when I lost my sight at the age of 18.

When I was a kid, I ha something like 10% of my sight, which allowed me to see, to ride a bike - however risky that was to read with a magnifying glass, and to be bold and audacious.

So when I lost my sight, I chose to see it as an opportunity for a new adventure to begin a journey into myself.

Into myself, into an exploration of consciousness, into a sort of Indian Jones-style probing of my soul.

(♪♪♪) - Raul discovered deep within himself what would become "his" music, a style which he'd later call "quantum music".

Inside his apartment he shows us what it's all about.

Quantum music is meant to be instinctive, outside of any theoretical or formal framework.

The musician lets himself be guided by emotions and the sound, giving hi an incredible sense of freedom.

(♪♪♪) - When you lose your sight, there is a before and after.

You become a different person.

The world of seen things is outside of you, you feel the rapid and light vibrations, and when you can't see, you discover a more profound and concrete reality which you want to explore.

(He plays louder and louder.)

When I was a student, what I saw, the results I got, when I was doing what I was told to do - I realized only after I lost my sight that these parameters set by others were preventing me from being happy.

(♪♪♪) When I began to play the piano in a different way, it was a search for freedom, freeing me from despair, freeing myself from misunderstanding, from the collective unconscious, from the oppression of others, from requirements.

(♪♪♪) I was starting to look inside myself.

I only need to discover it.

It's not something that I create by myself.

It's a risky proposition, to go beyond the mind.

The emotions which I was feeling, they could be very heavy, very painful.

There was a lot of anger, a lot of frustration.

(♪♪♪) But I used all of those things as guides, to look into myself and to find a profound music, a music which healed me, and I went through all of that stuff on the piano.

I published it in a book, I called this method "quantum music", a method of playing the piano by intuition and as a kind of meditation.

Quantum music is music without a compass, born by chance, where what's most important is what you feel, not what you think.

I did it by way of blindness, with courage, with the desire to transcend, and above all else with a love for the music.

The Atlantic meets the shore in the Bay of Biscay, where Tcha sometimes likes to go swimming.

We are in Bufones, a tourist spot on the edge of the ocean which the musician particularly appreciates.

This nature lover comes here regularly with his wife, Liana, and thei little three-year old daughter.

- (dubbed): Something that rarely happens, is that you have somebody who is playing a bit of music.

A traditional basque flute, perhaps.

(♪♪♪) - Tcha loves the sea.

Living so close to the water delights him.

- I'm tempted to put my feet in the water, just to feel what it's like.

- While his wife and daughter take a walk, he decides to kick off his shoes and to soak his feet in the water.

(He sings in a foreign language.)

- When the little one was really small, a newborn baby, I'd walk with her here in a carrier.

She used to love to sleep on the shore.

We would walk along, listening to the sounds of the sea.

What could be better than that?

Babies.

They love overtone singing.

(overtone singing) - Tcha was born prematurely, which is the reason for his blindness.

- In San Sebastian, the most beautiful sound is, of course, the ocean.

You could make literally any kind of music - even Bach, which is kind of almost like God's music, you know.

But just the songs of the birds in the morning, the running of water in a brook.

It's amazing, and you could make literally any kind of music with literally any amount of emotion, I'm not kidding, it doesn't match the ocean.

- Back home at the end of the afternoon, Tcha prepares supper with an experienced hand.

Just like everything else he undertakes, he approaches it with patience and dedication, and with a careful eye to doing things right.

- My life is cooking, coffee, family - and music.

Challenges, they're always with us.

Difficulties, they're always with us.

Especially if you want to do something right.

I always, when I'm in front of an orchestra, playing that style - there is always like a little voice that says: "Am I really capable of leading this orchestra?"

Because there are seven musicians behind you who have to follow you and it needs to be supremely precise, and the signs you give have to be supremely clear.

And because I can't see the primache, the violinist who usually plays this, I don't know what he does.

I don't know how he does it, but nothing that is worth doing is easy.

But it is also on account of this problem that I'm alive - so, whatever.

(♪♪♪) - (dubbed): Ready?

- Say the word.

- One, two, and recording.

- In this new exercise... - Raul welcomes his friend Junior Lattes, a pianist and guitarist, to his place.

As a fellow professor at the Academy Punto Musical and a professional musician, Junior regularly helps his blind friend with various video recordings.

Today, the duo is preparing a tutorial on quantum music.

(♪♪♪) - My name is Junior, and I help out Raul with his audio-visual projects.

I'm able to help because I'm also a piano teacher, so Raul and I understand each other very well.

We do similar work.

(♪♪♪) - We'll be working on the technique from the first exercise, with five fingers on the keyboard.

- These short videos are available online, for anyone who wants to learn about quantum music.

- All of this gets posted on Raul's Youtube channel, all the videos there are about themes Raul wants to explore, and especially about quantum music.

- Two by two, we move our fingers, but your positioning stays the same.

- And at the same time, we teach folks the technique of reading braille.

- For 20 years now, Raul has devoted himself to teaching, especially to students who have visual disabilities.

In addition to teaching them his personal methods, he also teaches them how to read music in braille.

- With a braille score, where every sign on the score is written with the same ink, you have to read slowly, you read it sign by sign, and since it has all to be performed, a blind person has to memorize it.

Here, two signs for the right hand, sign for the word piano, mi, so, so, do, in intervals of four and six.

And that's it.

And then the next, with the stop.

I looked, but there is a silence before, I'll read it to you.

And I'll look to see if I can do it.

That's how we study, so I go with my right hand and I see what's up, and then I say: ah, OK!

And I'm more or less used to studying that way, and I'm telling you that I've already read it.

(♪♪♪) Well, what I've just done so quickly, for a normal blind person - if a seeing person reads it, for a blind person to touch it and memorize it, they can take three or four hours doing that.

(♪♪♪) (♪♪♪) Tcha and Liana's neighbors regularly have the pleasure of hearing them play as a duo.

The musical chemistry between the lovers is palpable.

The two performers aren't mere bandmates.

They both genuinely admire and appreciate each other.

(♪♪♪) - (dubbed): Firstly, one thing that's very different about us is that I have played the violin since I was four years old.

I went through the normal regimen that child prodigies go through where they're given an adult's schedule, practicing for hours every day.

It's not about fun, it's about learning, to win contests, to impress others.

Tcha is the complete opposite, because he - like, he hates that.

He started when he was 17 years old.

For him to play like he does - it's incredible.

(♪♪♪) - (dubbed): For me, listening to you play, practicing and playing - it's an incredible joy.

And it just-- it always inspires me.

It makes me go: oh, I'm going to try and replicate that sound, that accuracy and that clarity in playing.

There are folks who have started telling me: "Hey, you've really improved in the last three or four years."

And I always say that it's thanks to Liana.

It's really all thanks to her.

- He's always saying that, but I think that it's not really true that I've taught you anything.

(He sings in a foreign language.)

- Happily, one can say without a doubt that - musically, at least - Liana an Tcha enjoy a perfect marriage.

(♪♪♪) - (Tcha): All I hope for is the chance, the ability to keep doing what I do.

To share this with them, with my musician colleagues, with the public.

I hope just for the ability to continue.

That's all - nothing more.

(♪♪♪) - Raul walks around Madrid with his brother-in-law, Ricardo, who is also visually impaired.

Ricardo is actually one of Raul's students, and he really looks up to his teacher.

In fact, Raul doesn't consider his students as simply aspiring musicians who need training.

He sees himself in them.

And he knows all of the obstacles they'll face along their journey.

Through music, he walks alongside them on their personal paths.

Fortified by his own experiences, he encourages them to reach deep within so tha they can discover for themselves what "their" music is.

(♪♪♪) - (dubbed): Feeling the vibration, that seventh chord... (♪♪♪) That's it!

The seventh chord.

- Raul invites Ricardo to his apartment for his lessons.

- Now, you plant your legs firmly, raise your hips, straighten your spine, steady your breathing.

- (dubbed): I find it really tough to meditate usually, but with the keyboard, with the sounds of the music that I play, it's much easier for me.

I've always found that music really is something special, but I've never chosen to become a musician or anything like that.

- Listen to the spaces between the sounds and the vibrations.

(humming) - Meeting Raul and hearing his ideas, it was such a revelation for me because he gave me the ability to tap into the magic of music, which I've felt since I was a kid, to enjoy it in a new way through this "method without method", so to speak.

If I start to play a few keys, for me it's like being on a plane that lifts off and goes around the world seven times.

I'm using metaphors to try and explain what these lessons I take with him mean to me, because I'm not pretending that they're just about learning to play the piano.

- Let's catch our breath and come back to the present moment.

Well, what did you feel?

Tell me about it.

- Very calm; balanced.

- Not only are you making music, but the music is your guide.

By emotion, unfiltered, you might say.

- Hmm.

(♪♪♪) - We make our way to the ONCE offices in Madrid.

ONCE is an organization devoted to the well-being of visually impaired people in Spain.

This is a room where Raul regularly gives concerts.

(♪♪♪) - (Raul): I love music.

I love the present.

It's true that to find oneself, when you are blind, you have to let go of grief, of guilt, of so much emotional and mental debris that blocks your self-realization.

What blindness has done for me, it has made me stand in front of a mirror, and say: "You are blind.

Do you dare to live?"

And that's where my life starts.

That's where my playing comes from, and that's what I teach to those who wish to learn.

(♪♪♪)