E n t o u r age

O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o

[duration 19:38] 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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"Entourage.

Borrowing from French entourage/entourer (´to surround´).

An entourage is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. A retinue of attendants, associates or followers.

E n t o u r age.

Otacílio Melgaço elevates the definition to the stature of an entire Era. As if we were living in the age of ´entour´. So there are two very explicit appraisements:

the overvaluation of fame and a frivolous/hedonistic universe of celebrities that´s deplorable;

The tendency to ´flocks of people´ wallowing around a vacuum epicenter. In this sense, the originator of ´E n t o u r age´ extrapolates the ordinary use of the term (that gave rise to the title of his work) and makes it an appropriate expanded allegory.

It would be sufficient to justify the importance of the position taken by O.M. here, if this were the only prism. Our societies that survive based on spectacularization; such superficialistic spectacular societies need to review how much they´re losing of humanism because of a lobotomic, mercantilized, soulless hyperexposure. The notoriety ceased to be a consequence of merits exercised with elegance, lucidity and even discretion but a true circus phenomenon, immeasurable in pyrotechnics, vanities and sensationalism as of the power of the cultural industry (the core that receives the Melgacian spotlight is the artistic) producing and imposing profitable puppets. This is the squint-eyed central thematic.

But Otacílio, in its polysemy, goes beyond.

Entourage, etymologically, refers to ´ornament, decoration surrounding something.´ And more, topologically: ´a binary relation in a uniform space which generalises the notion of two points being no farther apart than a given fixed distance; a uniform neighbourhood´. In both respects, in addition to the climacteric embedded message, we must turn to the effective sound manifestation.

Observe how Mr. Melgaço, as a composer and multi-instrumentist (alongside his guests), has the ability to ornament the backbone of the offspring, generating ingenious layers of surroundings. Listen how he stimulates a structural and aesthetic uniformity from what may seem to us chaotic (or fairly free; endowed with much improvisative or aleatory freedom). At the same time, starting from such other point of view that Otacílio signals, this age of ´entour´ can too mean the possibility of a new form of approach and coexistence among beings; ´in our neighborhood, across the globe´.

The example given from the very progeny is fabulous since it proves to us how, through a single artistic expression, the mastery of a creator is able to mirror even reverse motifs." (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)

"´Working with David Bowie was very interesting, but I couldn't surrender to it. I should have let him produce a record for me, but I'm very perverse in some ways. He's brilliant, but the entourage were rather daunting.´ (Marianne Faithfull)

Especially in the artistic world, the ´seven-headed wild beast´ called e-n-t-o-u-r-a-g-e is well known. Obviously we know, it's one of the sides of this scenario, not the only. Although it´s the limelight here, and I have no doubt, for notorious, worrying and urgent reasons.

There´s a wordplay in the name given by Otacílio Melgaço but it´s convergent; the level of animadversion turns to the same axis. Either we´re faced with an admonition or, paradoxically, a desired projection, that yet depends a lot on each of us not to be utopian. According to the accurate view Otacílio has, a sound Piece full of acidity comes to light and it´s precisely in the avant-jazzy fluidity that O.M. will seek the syntax for his showing both musical and criticistic.

It´s worth mentioning the narrative acumen of Melgaço and how he (when so desires) uses his notes as colors on a canvas, his instruments as brushes. The initial applause, the gongs and an atmosphere of ´mystic´ worship indicate adoration (& adulation). Nevertheless, the end of the Piece is a kind of emptying, more and more solitude and even desertion gain ground. Until the final silence. Thus, a relevant nuance of what´s focused turns apparent: how much renowned, in innumerable cases, are accompanied by a subaltern (and simultaneously parasitical) cluster, but, at bottom, many VIPs are extremely lonely and fully aware of it. A schizophrenic panorama. The meticulous treatment given by O.M. to the cover of the album brings to light this dichotomy (reinforced by the 3D simulation). Otacílio does not miss such angle of approach and does it sonically in an admirable way.

Guitars, voices, percussions - I stress the imbricated drums -, organ, saxophones, tanpura, electronic effects ...: the evoked paraphernalia is ample. As always, timbristic plurality and dialectal conjugations are extended in pure synergy. It´s redundant to say that the track of almost twenty minutes is legitimized regardless of its theme. By itself it's already a petard. Such Melgacian ´E n t o u r age´ mixes the power of an overwhelmingly dynamic sonic code (through an assemblage from previous engendres) and a compelling metaphorical amplitude (evermore reminding us that art is not mere disposable entertainment; it can and probably must have a link with processes of enlightenment plus, whenever necessary, profound paradigm shifts)." (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)

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I - In the mathematical field of topology, a uniform space is a set with a uniform structure. Uniform spaces are topological spaces with additional structure that is used to define uniform properties such as completeness, uniform continuity and uniform convergence.

The conceptual difference between uniform and topological structures is that, in a uniform space, one can formalize certain notions of relative closeness and closeness of points. In other words, ideas like "x is closer to a than y is to b" make sense in uniform spaces. By comparison, in a general topological space, given sets A,B it is meaningful to say that a point x is arbitrarily close to A (i.e., in the closure of A), or perhaps that A is a smaller neighborhood of x than B, but notions of closeness of points and relative closeness are not described well by topological structure alone.

Uniform spaces generalize metric spaces and topological groups and therefore underlie most of analysis.

There are three equivalent definitions (Entourage, Pseudometrics, Uniform cover) for a uniform space. They all consist of a space equipped with a uniform structure.

The Entourage definition generalizes the presentation of a topological space in terms of neighborhood systems;

II - "I don't have an entourage. In fact, I have no live-in help." (Lauren Bacall)

...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.