O C A

O t a c í l i o M e l g a ç o
A n d T h e M a h a s h i v a O r c h e s t r a

[duration 01:16:11] 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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"Metamorphosis.

Inspired and inspiring genesis; skillful arrangements; floating harmonies; timbre polysemy; absolutely original orchestration; idiosyncratic temperaments; hypnotic mixing of instruments; unexpected coloraturas; engaging and visceral rhythmicities; daring crossovers of sonic syntaxes; genius synergies; indescribable atmospheres; amazing dynamics; magnetic performances; flirtations between complex erudite hermetism and poetic quintessence autodidact...

The unlimited versatility of O.M. present in a great compositional quad!

Just like Shiva for Hindus, with his unpredictable dexterity and fluxuous cadence, Otacílio Melgaço destroys in order to generate, tearing down to build again.

OCA - a (re)Creation to keep us mesmerized! And siderealized!" (Pablo S. Paz; Argentinean musicologist)

"Prologue.

Referential approach to the philosophy of Buddhist religion.

A hollow thing is an empty thing. In Portuguese, ´oca´ would be the condition of being ´hollow´. In ´Tyhjyys itämaisessa ajattelussa ja taiteessa´ (Emptiness in Oriental Thought and Art by Kimmo Pasanen) there is a providential introduction and elucidation. ´Emptiness´ and ´void´ are puzzling concepts to the Westerner; they have negative connotations of ´nothingness´ or ´non existence´. They are often employed to refer to something material which is missing in a given space, a conception derived from our world-view, which is based on natural science. In the West, we have little use for emptiness and prefer not to confront it - it is difficult to grasp and impossible to control.
There is, however, another, diametrically opposed way of thinking about emptiness. An overview of the evolution of Indian, Chinese and Japanese thinking related to emptiness, which reveals itself to be a founding ´cosmic´ principle and a crucial element in all manifestations of life. Understanding emptiness becomes a necessary step in understanding the oriental view of life.

According to Thanissaro Bhikku: Emptiness as a quality of ´dharmas´, in the early canons, means simply that one cannot identify them as one's own self or having anything pertaining to one's own self. Emptiness as a mental state, in the early canons, means a mode of perception in which one neither adds anything to nor takes anything away from what is present, noting simply, ´There is this.´ This mode is achieved through a process of intense concentration, coupled with the insight that notes more and more subtle levels of the presence and absence of disturbance.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
Emptiness is not separate from form, form is not separate from emptiness.
Whatever is form is emptiness, whatever is emptiness is form.
Permanent, stable, eternal, everlasting. Not compounded by causes and conditions, the matrix-of-one-gone-thus is intrinsically endowed with ultimate buddha qualities of body, speech, and mind such as the ten powers; it is not something that did not exist before and is newly produced; it is self-arisen.´

End of preamble.

OCA.

Oca is a primitive, ancestral and collective housing. Refers to characteristics of the ´profound Brazil´; going back to indigenous mythology and modus vivendi. We face a powerful allegory.

Not just a ´house´, but a ´home´ for all while we all carry own identity and simultaneously belong to an increasingly interconnected community. Back to the McLuhan's Global Village? If we think in terms of the entire human civilization, the results can be extremely evolved or catastrophic. Anyway, from that, our survival will endure in the future - or not. And then the Art has a relentless mission, perhaps.

Behold, the primary meaning of this phonograph album is an invitation to live under one roof, constructively and collaboratively. Another way to effervesce the deep Art under a unifying and interactive path. Melgaço is focused in some sound elements of Indian culture through such pristine connotation and also by lexical similarity - according historical background - between ´Indian´ and ´Indigenous´, I imagine.

Why? Like a rib of Nausícaaa Ensemble (anonymous cluster of cosmopolitan musicians created by Melgaço and working in frantic Network), he founded The Mahashiva - ´Great Shiva´ - Orchestra (the baptism was melgacian) and certainly would pay Ode to the origins of the name. And, worthy of laurels, audibly does. Not exactly a call of eastern religiosity. As a matter of fact, explicit is his Elegy to Mahavishnu Orchestra and John Mclaughlin. Both masters of an expression full of musical symbologies and virtuosity that O.M. absorbed since childhood or adolescence.

The title of the fourth track probably, under the vernacular creativity of Otacílio, mentions João Guimarães Rosa, for whom Melgaço always devotes reverences, honors and splendors.

She perfectly ´embodies the spirit´ of this work. I highlight another tribute. For Malala Yousafzay, especially. Third track. Malālah Yūsafzayis is a Pakistani activist for female education, who became the youngest ever Nobel Prize recipient in any category. She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan. Yousafzai's advocacy has since grown into an international movement.

We can give to our senses north through the movements of Shiva Nataraja. ´Nataraja (The Lord - or King - of Dance), is a depiction of the god Shiva as the cosmic dancer who performs his divine dance to destroy a weary universe. We can expand our imagination with the image of ´Shiva dancing in an aureole of flames, lifting his left leg (or in rare cases, the right leg) and balancing over a demon or dwarf (Apasmara) who symbolizes ignorance.
The two most common forms of Shiva's dance are the Lasya (the gentle form of dance), associated with the creation of the world, and the Tandava (the violent and dangerous dance), associated with the destruction of weary worldviews – weary perspectives and lifestyles. In essence, the Lasya and the Tandava are just two aspects of Shiva's nature; for he destroys in order to create, tearing down to build again.´

If we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by these beautiful metaphors (yes we should allow ourselves!); if Shiva is also regarded as the patron god of arts; so close, this Great work of art OCA could not be closer (one of the great merits: closer, impossible) to the humanist concept of ´reconnection´ - ´religare´. Is the latin word for ´to bind together´. And - here - a conducive neologism:
O.M. (initial letters of the name Otacílio Melgaço);
Om (numinous sound; ´universal mantra´);
Maha;
Art:
O M a h a r t!

By heart..." (Caio Campbell; Anglo-Brazilian semiologist and musician)

Following the thread of a same melgacian hank,
You are also invited to enjoy
melgacootacilio.bandcamp.com/album/ok-ragas-por-la-komenco-de-tempoj-otac-lio-melga-o-duracion-50-25

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I - Oca is the name given to the typical Brazilian indigenous housing. The term comes from the Tupi-Guarani language family.
The hollow constructions are large and can reach at least 30 m long. Are built over ´mutirão´ about one week, with a timber cover and bamboos and palm leaves and straw. Last up to 15 years. Not have internal divisions or windows, or just a few doors, and serve as collective housing for several families.

II - Shiva (meaning "The Auspicious One"), also known as Mahadeva ("Great God"), is a popular Hindu deity. Shiva is regarded as one of the primary forms of God. He is the Supreme God within Shaivism, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism. He is one of the five primary forms of God in the Smarta tradition, and "the Destroyer" or "the Transformer" among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. Shiva has many benevolent and fearsome forms. At the highest level Shiva is limitless, transcendent, unchanging and formless. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash, as well as a householder with wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya and in fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also regarded as the patron god of yoga and arts.
The main iconographical attributes of Shiva are the third eye on his forehead, the snake Vasuki around his neck, the crescent moon adorning, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the trishula as his weapon and the damaru as his instrument. Shiva is usually worshiped in the aniconic form of Lingam.

III - Oscar Niemeyer was a Brazilian architect who is considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture.

Be aware of niemeyerian Oca (his renewed and updated reading) at ibirapuera park/SP/BR:

www.german-architects.com/de/projekte/bau-der-woche-detail/27109

www.leonardofinotti.com/projects/oca-at-ibirapuera-park/image/15516-110131-002d

...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.