B r e n n A n d

O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o

[duration 55:11] 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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"Without holding in the nominal boundaries, there´s a word that I invoke: Eclecticism.

´In music, eclecticism is a composer's conscious use of styles alien to his or her nature, or from one or more historical styles. The term is also used pejoratively to describe music whose composer, thought to be lacking originality, appears to have freely drawn on other models.´ (Kennedy and Bourne 2006). Particularly I face this definition as anachronistic and even worthy of laughter.

Orthodox postures may wish to compare the eclectic artist with a Platypus. And thus incur two misconceptions.

´The unusual appearance of this egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed mammal baffled European naturalists when they first encountered it, with some considering it an elaborate hoax.´ Ornithorhynchus anatinus! But this ludicrous posture happened long ago. Keep it in the current art scene would be clear proof of conceptional weakness.

The first mistake is explicit because some mummified critics want to compare eclecticism with a strange junction and poorly made of various elements, nullify the hypothesis that mergers can be magnificent and instrumented with extreme creativity. Particularly I consider the Platypus an incredible animal, fascinating and perhaps precursor of Dadaism. Mother Nature needed to exercise her imagination with fervor to create him, no?

The second mistake is more tacit. There is an implicit assumption that accuse the mixture (and mixing shall be exercised without prejudice or reactionary limits or remnants supremacists or surreptitious apartheid) as necessarily a negative factor. This is dangerous because, throughout history, whenever there was a spread from this perspective, the results were disastrous and Nazism is incontestable evidence.

I understand eclecticism as a fabulous opportunity for the flow of compositional inventiveness. I believe that only purists (and puritans) reprove this possibility. Seems to me that there is a bit of eugenics in those who espouse such disapproval. Would be biased, prejudiced claim that eclecticism,
i-f
w-e-l-l
u-s-e-d,
could be inconsistent. Would be shortsighted to corroborate the idea of the eclectic supposedly lose a sense of simplicity and elegance. On the contrary. Nowadays it´s quite doubtful the artist that remains refugee in a frame; performing only repetitive variations on a theme (on himself) or becoming a cover of himself! I mention not even minimalism, but aesthetic poverty. Lack of creativity, impertinence, iconoclasty. Numerous composers and instrumentalists easily-labeling, incarcerated in cubiculares asphyxiating monostylistic cells.
Also among some valid options, eclecticism probably has an antidote.

Eclecticism was first recorded to have been practiced by a group of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers who attached themselves to no real system, but selected from existing philosophical beliefs those doctrines that seemed most reasonable to them. Out of this collected material they constructed their new system of philosophy. The term comes from the Greek ἐκλεκτικός (eklektikos), literally ´choosing the best´, and that from ἐκλεκτός (eklektos), ´picked out, select´. Well known eclectics in Greek philosophy were the Stoics Panaetius and Posidonius, and the New Academics Carneades and Philo of Larissa. Among the Romans, Cicero was thoroughly eclectic, as he united the Peripatetic, Stoic, and New Academic doctrines. Other eclectics included Varro and Seneca.

´Eclectics use elements from multiple philosophies, texts, life experiences and their own philosophical ideas. These ideas include life as connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.´ Description that serves to Philosophy and also to (musical) Art.

´A tendency in architecture to mix various historical styles with modern elements with the aim of combining the virtues of many styles or increasing allusive content.´ Description that serves to Architecture & Decorative Arts and also to Music.

In short, eclecticism: the use or advocacy of an eclectic method. Eclectic is heterogeneous, not adept at fixed limits, fit for diversity.
Antonyms are, therefore, ´restricted´, ´uniform´. Perhaps ´predictable´.
It´s not difficult to discern which is closer to the more libertarian and advanced modern perspectives. Prisms that maintain an inspirational flux flowing for a real breeder, I conjecture.

´Eclecticism never amounted to a movement or constituted a specific style´, some claim too. But if it´s true, on the one hand, is a great sign because does not become a stylistic limitation and not a crystallizing paradigm. On the other hand, gone are the days where we could confuse ´many styles´ with ´unoriginal´; ´eclecticism´ with ´no identity´. Surfacing already established names... Among literary figures, James Joyce has been referred to as a creator who pervades many styles. Lack originality to him? Among visual arts figures, Pablo Picasso has been referred to as a creator who pervades eclectic methods. Lack identity to him? And, in music (invoking a beautiful diversity), what about Maxwell Davies, Colgrass, Auerbach, Rochberg, Bates, Zhurbin and yet Gubaidulina?

1- Elegance. Paul Valéry teaches us that ´elegance is the art of not being noticed, coupled with carefully distinguish subtle to leave.´ Being elegant is to be able to combine what is diverse and make it harmonious. Certainly not necessarily be unilateral or hostage of monotony;
2- Consistency. Being consistent is to master the art of making all the possible a support; is to find the firmness or resistance across various sources - fact fully consistent with contemporary life - and not mandatorily a single;
3- Simplicity. Remember that the counterface of ´simplicity´ is no ´complicacy´ but ´complexity´. In music, simplicity can be fantastic and perfectly well-finished as narrow-minded and tiresome. Complexity can be challenging and developmental as well as merely fireworks and unresolved. The ´thing itself´ does not deserve judgment of values, but those who instrumentalizes it and how. The complexity requires a complex posture to be manipulated. Not for anyone. Ie, it´s noticeable when in good or in bad hands. And are the good hands that should interest us because by them is that we must guide ourselves. All that is absorbed by us. Including artistically.

That's how I personally understand eclecticism. It's completely different than some believe, for example, in composers who feel compelled to insert two, three or more musical dialects (or infinite necessarily incongruous instruments) in o-n-e sound piece! Must this be understood as polystylism?

A note before we proceed: after all that has been done throughout the history of music, it would be ridiculous or deeply alienated to seal the retrograde conception that there´s still incongruous instruments (between themselves) or dialects/languages/styles that can not be interpenetrated.

Polystylism.

´Polystylism was probably created by Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934-1996). He was quoted as saying ´The goal of my life is to unify serious music and light music, even if I break my neck in doing so´. Should be intrinsically brave. Written this way, the phrase sounds funny and lame, I think. By the way, I confess that the alfredian polystylism is definitely not located among my favorites. Approaching the end of life, ´Schnittke's music started to abandon much of the extroversion of his´ crossovers ´and retreated into a more withdrawn, bleak style.´ I admire and respect that.

Put simply, polystylism literally refers to the multiple uses of styles and themes in the music.´ Not necessarily all in the s-a-m-e piece, just as many imagine. Or such many accept without questioning.

Honestly, if polystylism is ´the use of multiple styles or techniques in literature, art, film, or, especially, music´; if is ´juxtaposed and combined music of various styles past and present´...would be a mistake to bet there would be a dictatorial form of applicability. A composer who dominates various techniques is not required to transform a s-i-n-g-l-e sound piece into a Frankenstein's monster, agree?

A terminology is proposed by A or B. I have the right to agree or not. I have the right to give a universal term other connotation than the one proposed by A or agreed by B. Both eclecticism as polystylism can be sprayed over a career; well distributed over several compositions; equalized in multiple works. Where are the commandment and the protocol and the constitution that determine otherwise? If my decoding differs from the original, then we face the same lexicon that can be categorized as polysemous.

´Where music of various different styles past and present are juxtaposed in proximity´. ´Juxtaposed in proximity´ is liable to be understood in several ways. ´Proximity´ sometimes in the same piece - ok and this can be done brilliantly -; sometimes from one piece to another (even on a phonograph album, a track can be ´juxtaposed in proximity´ to other. Hear a track - any. Listen to the next - any. Impressions and memory - sensory, cognitive, aesthetic etc. - of the previous will, somehow, juxtaposed to the current hearing); sometimes following a work-piece to another and so on... Everything is assimilated and condensed like the layers of a same onion. I repeat, through my understanding - as legitimate as yours or Schnittke.

However, something needs to be said... The routinely analyzes (analyzes that we find in virtual environments, especially) should be less reductionist. More free from the rigidity of alleged normativities - easily contestable. If there are questionable breeders who do misuse of eclecticism or polystylism, we can not be acquiescent with the fact that some want to make from this understanding - such expansive possibilities - something pejorative. This logic is mediocre because interesting methods can fall in good hands but also in bad - if in bad hands, this fact does not make it bad the methodology itself.
'Randomness', 'disjointedness', ´foolish´, ´unintelligent´ = bad hands.
Think of antitheses = good.
(Observe the cover of Melgaço disc, there´re good hands. Some of the best.)

Making an analogy, it would result in an incompetent Baroque musician misrepresenting the concept of Baroque itself. As if his incompetence gave him power to cause this. Power to make the unwary believe in grotesque nonsense. That´s precisely what differentiates, in selfsame context and all using the typical paraphernalia of that historical period, various musicians whom we do not know the name (in this case, for insignificance and ephemerality) and Johann Sebastian Bach.

I sympathize with D. Parsons (qutmusic) when he therefore comments: ´There are endless possibilities as to what you can do musically when talking in corncern of Polystylism´.
And he adds: ´Polystylism/Eclectisism is a compositional technique that few artists have applied effectively to their music - the artists who have done so, are/were highly accomplished artists/musicians before their involvement in the polystylism genre and they relied on this previous knowledge and artistic discipline to fully utilise and put the power and effectiveness of the Polystylism/Eclectism technique to it's absolute best.´ Echoing Mr. Parsons and beyond, who really interests me is who mastered the discipline and prior knowledge - the composer and the instrumentalist - to offer us their best. The absolute best! Eclectically better. Polystylistically better.

From my particular point of view (not only mine because there are many who think the same way before); from a careful study of the careers of artists who I´ll quote now - in this same paragraph; starting from the concepts and analogies that I have outlined above; (...) I get to say that long before Zappa or Zorn (or Schnittke), Satie was an eclectic and a polystylist! And Villa-Lobos, Stravinsky, Ives, Berg, Berio, Boulez, Denisov, Henze, Kagel, Klusák, Ligeti, Orff, Pärt, Penderecki, Pousseur, Shchedrin, Shostakovich, Slonimsky, Stockhausen, Tishchenko, Webern, Zimmermann! And, sometimes, Melgaço.

Considering the redefinitions - or new angles to a broader decoding - that I proposed; from what I searched elucidate in endless prologue above, I suggest that there´s the presence of eclecticism and polystylism in some of the melgacian works of art (among several others). I don´t know if he agrees. However, if from the arguments presented here, I think so. In view of dynamism of the contemporary world, is a compliment. Proof of plurality, synergy and rhizomatic spirit.

What I can also say with certainty is that Melgaço tells the saga of Francisco Brennand, his honoree, in five exquisite magnificent pieces! Such saga means giving artistic concreteness to the saga of Humanity itself. In his peculiar phono mythological brennandian ´reconstruction´ (and mainly ´reinvention´), he would infallibly bring Brazilian and universal references. Would have to penetrate the past and present while germinates the future.

Five audible sculptural pieces. In them we find, consequently, elements of Brazilian culture as indigenous traits to Western classical avant-garde! The punctual use of exotic instruments like aboriginal flutes and the ´rabeca´ (a primitive viola) side by side with organ and celesta. There is the use of Tape Music alongside medieval rhythms! The presence of concrete sounds of flowing water concomitantly with pointillist pianos. There is a mixture of rituals gongs with bold, sophisticated strings! A phenomenal fusion of primal sonic languages ​​and cutting-edge! All equalized, balanced and flawless. ´Brenn And´ is an inventory unique! An Inventory carrying an elegant consistency and consistent elegance. Complexly simple and simply complex! A reliquary! Reliquary that concerns not only the honoree but Melgaço himself too.

And so Fernando Pessoa brings a bright and stunning and ratifying epilogue to my considerations. ´I have in me all the dreams of the world. My Art is be Me. I am Many.´" (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)

"Among others, there are especially two Brazilians who belong to the ´spiritual family´ of Melgaço. Both, each in own way, made ​​a compendium of Human Culture - from ancient times until the eschatology. The first that received a melgacian tribute was Arthur Bispo do Rosário.

melgacootacilio.bandcamp.com/album/r-o-s-r-i-o-tombeau-d-arthur-bispo-otac-lio-melga-o-duration-1-02-12

The other is - undoubtedly - Brennand. Repeat or follow them was not a goal for O.M. because he only noted the similarity of such artistic proposal having begun his own ´Reinvention of the World´. Now pays tribute to Francisco.

´Francisco Brennand, born in 1927 into an Irish immigrant family and now considered Brazil’s greatest ceramicist, revitalized his family’s abandoned tile factory to create his own line of decorative ceramic tiles. The expansive indoor and outdoor space is now mostly dedicated to his own enormous and fascinating oeuvre, which ranges over painting, tilework and hundreds of highly original sculptures. The grounds, set amid thick Atlantic rainforest, include a couple of temples, Moorish arches and all sorts of surreal sculptures including rows of contorted busts and a garden of bizarre sexualized earthworms.´

Otacílio makes an interesting subdivision of the surname and thus came the title of his work, ´Brenn And´.

´Brenn´ as a boy's name (used as girl's name too), has the meaning ´Teardrop´ and is a variant of ´Brennan´ (Irish, Gaelic): variant of ´Brendan´. So ´Brenn´ takes us to a new proper name. Phenomenon that is, metaphorically, a mirror of the franciscobrennandian engendering process. ´Brenn And´ also could be understood as ´Teardrop and...´ - leaving open the continuation of such started (probable) sentence. Think of the ´Teardrops´ as a poetic license, as the dripping of our souls; an allegory for the deeper artistic creation.

´Between temples, ponds and fountains are many of Brennands works including murals and sculptures inspired by flora, fauna, mythological, historic and literary figures.´ Here is an evidence of that the cosmogonic trinity is formed. Arthur Bispo do Rosário, Francisco Brennand and Otacílio Melgaço span the entire odyssey of Humanity performing a summary of ´everything´ (references to different cultures, ethnicities, legacy...crisscrossing times and spaces) that has shaped and formed us to the present day. ´Everything´ while a sense of ubiquity that merges from the human race in common links; from the instinctivity to intellectuality; sensory perceptions to a possible design psychic and so forth. Detail: O.M. accomplishes something unprecedented, he establishes a breathtaking metalanguage.
By r-e-i-n-t-e-r-p-r-e-t-i-n-g the existence of human beings and their traces and legacies (bringing them to his work itself), he honors two
r-e-i-n-t-e-r-p-r-e-t-e-r-s. Reinvent reinventors, a fascinating and daring proposition. And in both ´ROSÁRIO´ / ´Brenn And´ - a diptych -, missions stupendously well met! All this - talking about the one called by the artist himself, first phase. Genesiac universal compendium.

And now? Without ceasing to enjoy each of his astonishing offspring, hopefully by next melgacian phase to find out what is still to come round!" (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)

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I - Francisco Brennand, or Francisco de Paula de Almeida Brennand, (born June 11, 1927) is a Brazilian sculptor. He works in several different media, and is best known for his work in ceramic sculpture. The artist displays around 2,000 pieces in enormous open halls, between monuments, gardens, and in the midst of an Atlantic forest reserve in the Varzea borough of Recife. Many of his works elaborate on abstract beings that are sensuous symbols. Several anatomic parts are in his studies, mainly from the female body.

II - Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira Pessôa (1888 – 1935), was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language. He also wrote in and translated from English and French. Pessoa was a prolific writer, and not only under his own name, for he dreamed up approximately seventy-five others. He did not call them pseudonyms because he felt that did not capture their true independent intellectual life and instead called them heteronyms.

...for purposes of pragmatism and clear exegesis,
Wikipedia was the main 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.