a f r e e k a
O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o
[duration 48:21] all rights reserved
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The artist Otacílio Melgaço has two official curators in the virtual world. A curator (from Latin: ´curare´, meaning ´to take care´) is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, keeper of a cultural heritage institution (e.g., gallery, museum, library or, as the present case: sound archive) is a content specialist charged with an institution's collections and, highlighting the context in force here, involved with the interpretation of personal (heritage) material. Both, Mr. Paz and Mr. Campbell, are, therefore, reviewers of the Melgacian works. To learn more about their missions, tasks, assignments and responsibilities by means of valuable informations regarding the compositional process, the performative rhizomes and other special features, just click the following link:
otaciliomelgaco.wixsite.com/preamblebypsp
(O.M.Team; P r e l u d e)
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"AFRICA
In those primitive days of chaos
When Creator dissatisfied
With His own self
Was destroying time and again
His creation
On a day when He shook His head
Time and again with impatience
From eastern hemisphere’s bosom
Terrible arms of sea snatched you away
Africa
Imprisoning you in dense deep
Watchful eyes of vegetation
In private hall of frugal light
There in solitary leisure
You gathered mysteries impenetrable
Acquainting self with code-words of
Earth, water and the blue azure
Magic of nature hidden beyond sight
Sparking sacred hymns in your sub-conscious
Mocking the tremendous
In guise of the monstrous
Wanting to defeat doubt
Growing violent
With grace of the formidable
In tumultuous battle drums of Tandava
O umbrageous one
Beneath veil of darkness
Unknown was your humanity
In perverted eyes of contempt
They came with iron chains
Claws sharper than your wolves
Came hordes of man-hunters
In pride, blinder than your sun bereft woods
Barbaric greed of civilisation
Stood denuded in unashamed cruelty
Your wordless cries in mist stricken forests,
Muddied your dust mingled with blood and tears
Trampled with spiked boots of demonic feet
Lumps of gruesome clay
Left eternal marks on your insulted history
Across oceans
In that very moment
In each nook and corner
Ringing out were church bells
Morning and evening
In name of the kind Lord
Playing were kids in mother’s laps
Sung in ballads of bard
Worshipful prayer of Beauty
Today in western horizons
In eventide choked with rainstorms
When animals come out of hidden lairs
Announce end of day with ominous wails
Come epoch-making poet
In last light of imminent dusk
Come forth and stand at the door
Of the woman violated
Amidst ferocious delirium
Say two words ´Forgive me´
Let those be the ultimate sacred words of civilization. (Tagore)
... a f r e e k a could form a diptych with OBLUZ.
melgacootacilio.bandcamp.com/album/o-b-l-u-z-a-brazilian-rhapsody-otac-lio-melga-o-duration-30-17
An African Suite alongside a Brazilian Rhapsody. Both presumably form the two sides of the same coin. Exception to passages with multiple strings in orchestral level, we are facing rhythmic cells and interventions of one instrument at a time.
Deal with aspects of folklore or original records of pristine cultures is a delicate choice. Always runs the risk that a caricature will be forged. In the history of music examples are countless. Think of the pseudo-Africanness of ´Rapsodie nègre´ by Poulenc and his ´Banana lou ito kous kous / pota la ma Honoloulou´. Ergo ...
What I comment below was probably the beginnings of which further would guide the Cunningham / Cage duo.
Cocteau once wrote: ´The dance must not express anything!´ He meant that the dance should express itself. Stravinsky embraced this perspective and said the same about music. For Igor, it would be the summit of spontaneity.
I assure you that is exactly what Melgaço reaches in these works. In order to address a visceral subject, is used as a working tool: the viscerality own. In a f r e e k a, the composer and instrumentalist wisely gives up trying to instill in the mind of listener: sounds portraying savannahs or steppes or lions and rhinos and hippos and tribes and all the stereotypical images available. So, among all the possible multiplicity - since genuine, is the music expressing itself; is ´Mother Africa´ expressing herself; is Melgaço expressing himself. The structure of successive duos seem perfect. With the objective of seeking the quintessential act of expressing 'the thing itself' - duos are limpid, unambiguous. And it's always exciting to come across African percussions twinned to flute, soprano saxophone, guitar...and also (listening the ´Fantasies´) sitar, ukulele, shamisen. The always unexpected melgacian glossary. New coloraturas. New timbre plurality. If we observe macrocosmically, practically there is a ´sound-color-harmony´. Even - raising our abstract perception - ´sound-color-melody´. Or, I introduce a new term as a suggestion: ´Klangfarbenmelgacianism´.
Rhythmic presence is irresistible - inevitably - and so O.M. proposes a ´trance state´, I presume. He weaves a sonic carpet that provides such intent. I think worth noting since the seal of traditional beats until surprising modern uses. Listen passages of the third track. There, Melgaço is equivalent to the best djs if we observe his ´poly-timbristic-rhythmic´ adventures!
Generally Otacílio deconstructs the melody (sometimes annihilating it or usually) hiding it harmonically. In some ways, I could mention the concept of Harmolodics. Not exactly what he does - as a rigid doctrine - but there are some parallels.
Harmolodics is the musical philosophy and compositional/improvisational method of jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman. It is therefore associated primarily with the jazz avant-garde and the free jazz movement, although its implications extend beyond these limits. Coleman defines harmolodics as ´the use of the physical and the mental of one's own logic made into an expression of sound to bring about the musical sensation of unison executed by a single person or with a group.´ Applied to the particulars of music, this means that ´harmony, melody, speed, rhythm, time and phrases all have equal position in the results that come from the placing and spacing of ideas.´
Harmolodics seeks to free musical compositions from any tonal center, allowing harmonic progression independent of traditional European notions of tension and release (see: atonality). Harmolodics may loosely be defined as an expression of music in which harmony, movement of sound, and melody all share the same value. The general effect is that music achieves an immediately open expression, without being constrained by tonal limitations, rhythmic pre-determination, or harmonic rules.
O.M. takes the melody for the harmonic uterus - act that nullifies predictable hierarchies. There is a physical (and metaphysical?) character of unison in the compositions. This criterion became part of melgacian identity, without a doubt.
The sound carpet gains the same importance that such ´house of sonic mirrors´. I could call - a ´H-a-r-m-e-l-o-d-i-c´ house. And so, this phenomenon of purposeful architectural Condensing reaches unusual corporeality, maturity, cohesion and fertility. (I confess a particular experience. In ´Awethu!´, when the strings come - I was taken by storm ... by a rapture that is untranslatable! Otacílio Melgaço and his ´punti luminosi´!)
In summary, a f r e e k a - a Black Odyssey toward the heart of the most authentic, spontaneous expression itself." (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)
"We are living the ultimate months of 2014. It does not seem coincidental. When part of Africa suffers woefully under the clutches of the Ebola virus, Melgaço brings out such work. The Continent still forgotten. Only remembered when presents a threat to the rest of the planet, or is it overkill? I'm talking about a ´deep Africa´ - ubiquitous, one way or another. Starting from the most deplorable neighborhoods of Pretoria until the extreme penury of Serra Leoa. By the way, Serra Leoa is a typical example. Infant mortality is among the highest. One of the poorest countries in the world with tremendous inequality in income distribution...despite being rich in minerals, such as diamond, iron, platinum, bauxite and rutile.
a f r e e k a
There are two serious and deafening puns in the title.
On behalf of a free Africa. ´Freedom´ from what? I will give two answers among several possible: 1- Shameful treatment that the rest of the world usually takes about (with or without epidemics). I do not mean occasional and minimal humanitarian aid but I am referring to conjunctural proportions. Or there´s deliberate alienation and ´eyes wide shut´ or heinous attempt to profit from the advent of wars and internal conflicts. Besides indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources etc.; 2- Machiavellian exploitation by few Africans themselves who - stretching for decades and decades - hold the power tyrannically - cruel and corrupt - over the colossal general population. In the latest survey were cited about fifteen authoritarian governments across the continent! Sorry but use the terms ´authoritarian governments´ would be euphemism.
The other side of the coin. Fortunately. Ovation for the youth of Burkina Faso and how was the great achievement of the power transition.
So ´a-f-r-e-e-k-a!´ for them!
And I couldn't help saying, hopefully armed forces of that country do not take the opportunity to establish a military dictatorship.
So ´a-f-r-e-e-k-a!´ also for Tunisia!
Recently a state ruled by religious laws was defeated in free elections.
Therefore, let us raise our voices - and hopefully not be too utopian as I write this - in support of a progressive African spring!
a f r e e k a, the work, seems to me a cry of call and response:
A m a n d l a!
A w e t h u!
The second pun, inextricably linked to the first, takes us to ancient Egypt.
see also
melgacootacilio.bandcamp.com/album/akhenaton-symphony-otac-lio-melga-o-duration-36-18
´Ka was the Egyptian concept of vital essence, that which distinguishes the difference between a living and a dead person, with death occurring when the Ka left the body. This resembles the concept of spirit in other religions. In art the Ka was portrayed in several ways: a person identical to the person whom it was associated with, as a shadowy figure, as a person with two upraised arms on his head. The hieroglyph for the Ka was the shoulders and arms with the arms bent upwards at the elbow.´
A F r e e K a: a free vital essence; a free spirit!
On behalf of an increasingly free spirit.
{In my travels over the Internet, coincidentally I came across a particular virtual page. I read the following arguments in Amy Sundberg's Blog:
Here’s my definition of what it means to be a free spirit:
- A free spirit isn’t generally swayed by arguments of what one is ´supposed´ to do. He tends to avoid, ignore, or become upset by people who are judgmental or controlling;
- A free spirit thinks for himself, observing and collecting data in order to form his own opinions;
- A free spirit does what he thinks is right, not what everyone else tells him is right. He puts a high value on free choice;
- A free spirit often has his own unique vision of life and the world;
- A free spirit has the courage to test life’s boundaries and limits, and to try things that other people think are impossible, unimportant, or impractical. (These other people are often wrong.);
- A free spirit cares about getting to know both himself and the world around him.}
Much more that a nonconformist, a free spirit not allow himself to be lobotomized by (if are impositions; reactionary and anachronistic rules; dictatorial domain forms) familiar or social or religious or political or marketing or aesthetic...conventions. Not even by fads or indoctrinations ... And rightfully fight for the right to be who he is, the free spirit has inextricable altruism. It should be a right for him, should be for everyone. Therefore Ka could also be seen as the conscience or guide of each individual, urging kindness, quietude, honor and compassion.
a f r e e k a, the Melgacian work, is essentially a life-giving work!
A vital expression!" (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)
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I - The ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts: the Ren, the Ba, the KA, the Sheut, and the Ib. In addition to these components of the soul there was the human body (called the ha, occasionally a plural haw, meaning approximately sum of bodily parts). The other souls were aakhu, khaibut, and khat.
II - The Egyptians believed that Khnum created the bodies of children on a potter's wheel and inserted them into their mothers' bodies. Depending on the region, Egyptians believed that Heket or Meskhenet was the creator of each person's Ka, breathing it into them at the instant of their birth as the part of their soul that made them be alive.
III - The Egyptians also believed that the Ka was sustained through food and drink. For this reason food and drink offerings were presented to the dead, although it was the kau within the offerings that was consumed, not the physical aspect. The Ka was often represented in Egyptian iconography as a second image of the king, leading earlier works to attempt to translate Ka as double.
IV - Ronald Radano suggests that Coleman's concepts of harmonic unison and harmolodics were influenced by Pierre Boulez's theory of aleatory while Gunther Schuller suggests that harmolodics is based on the superimposition of the same or similar phrases, thus creating polytonality and heterophony.
...for purposes of pragmatism and clear exegesis,
quotes have Wikipedia as a source...
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Between two parentheses...
(Atonalism, Twelve-Tone, Serialism, Musique Concrète... Acousmatic. Eletroacoustic. Magnetic Tape. Expressionism, New Objectivity, Hyperrealism, Abstractionism, Neoclassicism, Neobarbarism, Futurism, Mythic Method. Electronic...Computer Music, Spectral, Polystylism, Neoromanticism, Minimalism and Post-Minimalism...are addressed by Melgaço. Paradoxically New Simplicity and New Complexity also.
Art Rock, Free Jazz, Ethnic Dialects, Street Sounds are occasional syntax elements.
All the possibilities mentioned above and others that were not mentioned are the usual accoutrements of the composer/instrumentalist to establish his ´babelic´ glossary. We can prove this in a short passage of a single composition up along the entirety of a conceptual phonograph album. All distributed over a career and idiosyncratic records. Have we a universe before us and I propose to see it through a telescope, not a microscope.
I propose not handle very specialized topics here. Otherwise would be, with the exception of musicians and scholars, all hostages of a hermetic jargon. Because more important is to present Otacílio Melgaço to the general public and not to a segment of specialists. Faction of experts not need presentations, depart for the enjoyment beforehand. For this reason there is no niche here for intellectual onanism and encrypted musical terminology. The reason for these parentheses is to establish such elucidation. The non-adoption of technicalities leads to more panoramic, amplifier reviews. Are You always welcome. Those who do not dominate contemporary music and are introduced to the world of ubiquitous O.M. [autodidact and independent artist who, being more specific, does not belong to schools or doctrines; artist who makes Music and that´s enough; music devoid of labels or stylistic, chronological, historical paradigms or trends] and Those who belong to the métier and turn to enjoy propositions they know and also delving into advanced Melgacian sound cosmogonies...
I conclude poetically. ´Certeza/Certainty´ by Octavio Paz. ´Si es real la luz blanca De esta lámpara, real La mano que escribe, ¿son reales
Los ojos que miran lo escrito? De una palabra a la otra Lo que digo se desvanece. Yo sé que estoy vivo Entre dos paréntesis.´ If it is real the white light from this lamp, real the writing hand, are they real, the eyes looking at what I write? From one word to the other what I say vanishes. I know that I am alive between two parentheses.
We´re all more and more a-l-i-v-e now.)
- P.S.P.
