C l e p s y d r a

O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o

[duration 49:49] 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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"´A Kaleidoscope is a cylinder with mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors. Coined in 1817 by Scottish inventor Sir David Brewster, is derived from the Ancient Greek καλός (kalos), ´beautiful, beauty´, εἶδος (eidos), ´that which is seen: form, shape´ and σκοπέω (skopeō), ´to look to, to examine´, hence ´observation of beautiful forms.´

´Clepsydra´, a new Melgacian Kaleidoscope. Impossible to be labeled; no borders or trenches to O.M.

Mr. Huxley once said ´A-f-t-e-r silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.´ Perhaps Otacílio Melgaço proves that b-e-f-o-r-e too." (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)

"Another act of synchronicity arising from the Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. Through his plural inventiveness and significant doses of irony, ´Clepsydra´ seems a perfect theme if a scathing critique of the current situation of the country that gave birth Melgaço. Concurrently the scariest corruption scandal already lived - with astronomical deviations (so far, the most voluminous of History - as far as is known) of public money (Petrobras), we´re at the beginning of 2015 and mainly by conjunctural political incompetence, pitiful management and complete absence of planning - they´re niches that do not usually garner votes as long-term investments although vital -; Brazil (as a matter of fact, a considerable region in a country of continental proportions) suffers from an acute lack of water. More: through reliance on hydroelectric power plants, probably the chances of power outages are worrying. (Thermoelectric plants, expensive and polluting, are being used in maximum limit.) And so on.

´Clepsydra´ really seems a perfect theme,

a

countdown

made

by

water

drops.

What is the artist's response besides not omit his opinion? Engagement. I do not mean something partisan or pamphleteer, obviously. I speak about something that heals. The flow of liquid, dropwise, in addition to quantify the time can be a parallel with the idea of an essential curative medicine being applied and ingested, okay? Commitment. Besides being even an active historical framework, musically there´s a flurry of creativity, energy and (perforce) commitment. If his metier is artistic, Otacílio does not hide behind the muteness; Otacílio manifests himself and so - being one of the first to express his views on the dramatic issue under the wings of own creation (by the way, the ´trilogy´ contained in ´Clepsydra´ is fascinating!) - contributes to citizens voices become deafening. This goes for Melgaço own as well as for his listeners. More and more aware and full of restless composure. So in music, so in life.

If you stop to reflect carefully, will realize how much the tones, the connotations of each baptism of each sound Piece (´Omphaloskepsis´, ´Lotophagi´ and the composition that gave rise to the disc title) is closely relevant to the peculiar situation addressed by O.M.
In my opinion, in respective territorialities (albeit can also be enjoyed as action paintings on the same canvas) are three masterpieces! Sonorously we witnessed a stunning eclecticism. Electronic music, punk rock, psychedelia, jazzy flashes, spectral incense, incomparable timbre variety, (...), incendiary dynamics & liquefied compendia... Descriptions would be endless...

[All this without even we penetrate the graphic feature of Otacílio. His art covers - made by himself or subjected to Melgacian determinants interferences - are intriguingly beautiful: a whimsical pulsating abstractionism | an odd figurative potence.]

At long last, the ubiquitous metaphorical levels are indeed very high.

Symbolically (rendered we through the ears or eyes or skin or mind or soul or...) the loose cannon spares no one. Nor the people that should look less to own navel when for the wrong reasons (if only it were meditative, would be a commendable sowing - and worth the libertarian sarcasm simultaneously to the new paradigms of metamorphosis suggested by Otacílio). Nor the ´opiate stupor´ of a folk who should be more civically active and alert to the importance of knowing vote, of knowing claim, of knowing change diachronic directions when necessary - especially if we're talking about ´packs´ of political parasites. The loose cannon spares no one as it should be typical of a Man of Culture. Independent and resourceful. So in music, so in life.

Just as the hopeful - and now extremely timely - words by Berthold Auerbach: ´Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.´" (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)

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I - A water clock or clepsydra (Greek κλέπτειν kleptein, 'to steal'; ὕδωρ hydor, 'water') is any timepiece in which time is measured by the regulated flow of liquid into (inflow type) or out from (outflow type) a vessel where the amount is then measured.

Water clocks, along with sundials, are likely to be the oldest time-measuring instruments, with the only exceptions being the vertical gnomon and the day-counting tally stick. Where and when they were first invented is not known, and given their great antiquity it may never be. The bowl-shaped outflow is the simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon and in Egypt around the 16th century BC. Other regions of the world, including India and China, also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earliest dates are less certain. Some authors, however, claim that water clocks appeared in China as early as 4000 BC.

Some modern timepieces are called "water clocks" but work differently from the ancient ones. Their timekeeping is governed by a pendulum, but they use water for other purposes, such as providing the power needed to drive the clock by using a water wheel or something similar, or by having water in their displays.

The Greeks and Romans advanced water clock design to include the inflow clepsydra with an early feedback system, gearing, and escapement mechanism, which were connected to fanciful automata and resulted in improved accuracy. Further advances were made in Byzantium, Syria and Mesopotamia, where increasingly accurate water clocks incorporated complex segmental and epicyclic gearing, water wheels, and programmability, advances which eventually made their way to Europe. Independently, the Chinese developed their own advanced water clocks, incorporating gears, escapement mechanisms, and water wheels, passing their ideas on to Korea and Japan.

Some water clock designs were developed independently and some knowledge was transferred through the spread of trade. These early water clocks were calibrated with a sundial. While never reaching a level of accuracy comparable to today's standards of timekeeping, the water clock was the most accurate and commonly used timekeeping device for millennia, until it was replaced by more accurate pendulum clocks in 17th-century Europe;

II - Omphaloskepsis is contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation.

The word comes from Greek omphalos (navel) + skepsis (act of looking, examination).

Actual use of the practice as an aid to contemplation of basic principles of the cosmos and human nature is found in the practice of yoga of Hinduism and sometimes in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Some consider the navel to be "a powerful chakra of the body".

However, phrases such as "contemplating one's navel" or "navel-gazing" are frequently used, usually in jocular fashion, to refer to self-absorbed pursuits;

III - In Greek mythology the lotus-eaters (Greek: λωτοφάγοι, lōtophagoi), also referred to as the lotophagi or lotophaguses (singular lotophagus /ləˈtɒfəɡəs/) or lotophages (singular lotophage /ˈloʊtəfeɪdʒ/), were a race of people living on an island near North Africa (possibly Djerba) dominated by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in peaceful apathy.

In the Odyssey IX, Odysseus tells how adverse north winds blew him and his men off course as they were rounding Cape Malea, the southernmost tip of the Peloponnesus, headed westwards for Ithaca:

"I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of 9 days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home, so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars."

This passage served as the source for Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotos-Eaters." It is also referenced in the fifth chapter of Ulysses by James Joyce, also titled "Lotus Eaters," and in the sixth chapter of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.

Herodotus, in the fifth century BC, was sure that the lotus-eaters still existed in his day, in coastal Libya:

A promontory jutting out into the sea from the country of the Gindanes is inhabited by the lotus-eaters, who live entirely on the fruit of the lotus-tree. The lotus fruit is about the size of the lentisk berry and in sweetness resembles the date. The lotus-eaters even succeed in obtaining from it a sort of wine.

W. Somerset Maugham wrote a short story called The Lotus Eater, about a man who gave up a job as a bank manager in London to live a simple life on the island of Capri.

...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.