C ó n d o r
O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o
[duration 03:25:58] 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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"´As a manifestation of the human spirit,´ once said a certain pope, ´music performs a function which is noble, unique, and irreplaceable. When it is truly beautiful and inspired, it speaks to us more than all the other arts of goodness, virtue, peace, of matters holy and divine.´
From time to time, the Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Otacílio Melgaço, as it is with the great artistic & artistical creators throughout history, surrenders to a magnificent liturgical manifestation, fascinatingly glorious.
In 'Cóndor' - a colossal sound Piece divided into three movements and having, in total, seven internal cycles -:
- Punctual phantasmatic use of vocalic element;
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- Echoes of typical flute of the Andes but in a stunning ethereal mantle;
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- Eccentric interventions of a so traditionally imposing religious instrument as is the organ;
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[A secular nexus: probably flute is a simulacrum of the autochthonous, the indigenous and organ the colonizer, the Spanish invader];
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- Multi-dimensional acoustic perspectives (certain properties or qualities physical spatial determinant of how sound is transmitted) that constantly challenge our perceptions;
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- The ambience that O.M. makes through it we move (his ultimate ´varnish´) is indescribable, translating masterfully what ´no longer belongs to us´, to our waking state;
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- Timbres and harmonies that convey me the distinct feeling that are heard, by us - human beings, for the first time ...
... all there is introspectively impalpable, piously intangible, ascensionaly subjective.
´A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence´, declared Leopold Stokowski. This Melgacian work is both one of the most splendid introductions to most sacred face of silence and one of the sonorous expressions that we could dream while ´what would exist beyond silence´. Above the still.
The solar still. And, reflecting on the name of this sublime offspring, the beating of wings (as well as the sound of wings in the air - in Portuguese, ´tatalar´) that leads us there." (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)
"The Andean condor, throughout the world is the largest flying bird.
The Andean condor (Quíchua ´kúntur´, Spanish ´cóndor´) is a national symbol of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuelan Andes states. It is the national bird of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador. It plays an important role in the folklore and traditional stories, especially concerning the early history of the South American people from the Andean regions, explaining natural and social phenomenon, typically involving supernatural beings or events as part of indigenous religions. Obiter, has been represented in their art from c. 2500 BCE onward.
The condor is featured in several coats of arms of Andean countries as a symbol of Andes mountains. Is a popular figure on stamps in many countries, appearing on one for Ecuador in 1958, Argentina in 1960, Peru in 1973, Bolivia in 1985, Colombia in 1992, Chile in 2001, and Venezuela in 2004. It has also appeared on the coins and banknotes of Colombia and Chile.
However, I would point out that, mythologically, the Andean condor was associated with the sun deity, and was believed to be the ruler of the upper world. This sovereign bird is considered a symbol of power and health by many Andean cultures. [The fact that this huge flier also feeds on carrion contributes to the extremely important role in nature (in environmental balance). And symbolically, is an absorber of death, a purifier.] I have the absolute certainty: these were the directions-and-plumbs assumed by Otacílio Melgaço. It´s a rite of passage, a transubstantiation; at the end (using a poetic figure and even biblical) all will be dressed in sunbeams.
´Cóndor´, a preterhuman composition that points to the sun and rises in the various senses of what we might call the upper world." (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)
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I - The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is a South American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and is the only member of the genus Vultur. Found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, the Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan. It has a maximum wingspan of 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) exceeded only by the wingspans of four seabirds/water birds—the roughly 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) maximum of the wandering albatross, southern royal albatross, great white pelican and Dalmatian pelican.
It is a large black vulture with a ruff of white feathers surrounding the base of the neck and, especially in the male, large white patches on the wings. The head and neck are nearly featherless, and are a dull red color, which may flush and therefore change color in response to the bird's emotional state. In the male, there is a wattle on the neck and a large, dark red comb or caruncle on the crown of the head. Unlike most birds of prey, the male is larger than the female.
The condor is primarily a scavenger, feeding on carrion. It prefers large carcasses, such as those of deer or cattle. It reaches sexual maturity at five or six years of age and nests at elevations of up to 5,000 m (16,000 ft), generally on inaccessible rock ledges. One or two eggs are usually laid. It is one of the world's longest-living birds, with a lifespan of over 70 years in some cases.
It´s worth the alert: the Andean condor is considered near threatened by the IUCN. It´s threatened by habitat loss and by secondary poisoning from carcasses killed by hunters. Captive breeding programs have been instituted in several countries;
II - "Condor" is the name of one of the most important operas of Carlos Gomes.
Antônio Carlos Gomes (1836 – 1896), Brazilian, was the first New World composer whose work was accepted by Europe. The only non-European who was successful as an opera composer in Italy, during the "golden age of opera", contemporary to Verdi and Puccini and the first composer of non-European lineage to be accepted into the Classic tradition of music. Younger than Verdi, yet older than Puccini, Carlos Gomes achieved his first major success in a time when the Italian audiences were eager for a new name to celebrate and Puccini had not yet officially started his career. After the successful premiere of "Il Guarany", Gomes was considered the most promising new composer. Verdi said his work was an expression of "true musical genius". Liszt said that “it displays dense technical maturity, full of harmonic and orchestral maturity";
III - Be sure to check also
melgacootacilio.bandcamp.com/album/mano-a-mano-otac-lio-melga-o-duration-57-11
IV- ´Urubu´ is Portuguese for ´buzzard´; in fact is the ´New World vulture´ or ´condor family Cathartidae´.
´Cóndor´, one of the most recent albums released by Otacílio Melgaço. ´Urubu´, the tenth by Antônio Carlos Jobim. Heavily influenced by João Guimarães Rosa (central figure of, as it´s said mainly in the intellectual and artistic world, the ´spiritual family´ of Mr. Melgaço), Tom - in the liner notes - wrote the following and beautiful words about the animal that was much admired by the three:
"Jereba é urubu importante como, aliás, todo urubu. Mas entre eles, urubus, observam-se prioridades. E esse um é o que chega primeiro no olho da rês. Sem privilégios. Provador de venenos, sua prioridade é o risco. O que ele não toca é intocável. Jereba é urubu importante e por isso ganhou muitos nomes. Peba. Urubupeba. Urubu Caçador. Achador. Urubu Procurador. Urubu de Cobra. Urubu de Queimada. Camiranga. Urubu de Ministro. De cabeça Vermelha. Urubu Gameleira . Urubu Peru. Perutinga. Urubu Mestre. Cathartes Aura.
Não confundir com Urubu Rei. Nem é Urububu. Não tem pompas, nem é tão igual assim. Só se parece consigo mesmo.
Não é Urubutinga. Nem Urubu do Mar, Carapirá. Nem o de Cabeça Amarela, nem o famoso Urubu Chacareiro, que voa baixo sobre chácaras e quintais, só come manga e não existe. É mentira de caçador perna-de-pau, de cadeira de balanço, de aposentada carabina.
Nem mera citação de nomes - Urubu Sonho. Nem conotação de azar - Urubu Morcego. Na verdade não és culpado da nossa devastação. Corcovado de duas corcovas, solenes ombros altos de tanta asa sobrante, as mãos cruzadas às costas, narinas conspícuas vazadas, grave, ministro de assuntos impossíveis, só tu sentas à mesa com o Rei.
No chão não te moves bem. Fraco de pernas, maljeitoso, troncho, pousado és o mais feio dos urubus. Despropositado passarão.
Matas com fezes ácidas a árvore onde dormes à espera do dia solar. E vem o dia, as termais e o vento, e a necessidade de voar.
Dia velho, as asas aquecidas, o Jereba mergulha na piscina. Pé de serra, fim de baixada onde começa a ladeira e os contrafortes azulam na distância, o Jereba sobe na chaminé do dia. Urubupeba. As rêmiges das asas púmbleas, prata velha fosca, dedos de mão apalpando o vento, adivinhado tendências. Urubu Mestre. As grandes asas expandidas cavalgam as bolhas de ar quente emergentes da ravina. Tolo papagaio, tola pipa boiando no ar, não-querente, não desejo navegante, à deriva, à bubuia - pois sim! - preguiçoso atento dormindo na perna do vento. Esse sabe o que há de vir. Aquário do céu.
Teu canto imita o vento. Hisss... As asas agora curtas, sobraçando trilhos de ar, pacote negro compacto, bico cravado no vento, velocidade feita letal, muro de azul aço abstrato - e adeus viola que o mundo é meu.
Nas lentes dos olhos, a águia oculta y entrabas e salias por las cordilleras sin pasaporte.
Urubu procurador. Urubu Achador. Que sabes do alto o que se esconde no chão da mata virgem e dos muitos perfumes que sobem do mundo.
Eterno vigia de um tempo imperecível. Guardião de dois absurdos.
Nos vetustos paredões de pedra, esculpidos pela millennia, dorme de perfil um urubu.
A vida era por um momento.
Não era dada. Era emprestada.
Tudo é testamento."
Antonio.
www.jobim.org/jobim/bitstream/handle/2010/8369/urubu.capa.jpg?sequence=3
...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.
