Assignments – Page 4 – MHS 123: Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century

April 2, 2019April 4, 2019

“The Moral Qualities Inherent in Time”: Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore (1972-4)

What does “passed” mean for a person when for each of us the past is the bearer of all that is constant in the reality of the present, of each current moment?
Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time

Luigi Nono (1924-1990), one of the foremost pioneers of avant-garde music in post-war Europe, is also recognized for his fervent, left-wing political engagement. Following the stage works Intolleranza 1960 (1961) and A floresta é jovem e cheja de vida (1966), his electronic composition and explicitly political statement Musica-Manifesto n. 1 (1969), and Como una ola de fuerza y luz (1972) for soprano, piano and orchestra, his political activism culminated in Al gran sole carico d’amore (1972-4), an ‘azione scenica’ (scenic action) which was premiered at La Scala on 4 April 1975.

Nono expressly reminded Ricordi, his publisher, to avoid the traditional classification of a staged musical work as an opera. Certainly the eluded genre has been long bound with bourgeois connotations; the opera, besides the ample potential for commercial success and the institutionalization of vocal training, is also bound with a specifically linear style of storytelling. This convention had not been broken for almost 200 years since the solidification of the opera culture during the eighteenth century. Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore, however, does not unfold in accordance to the linear convention. Hybrid historical events and social incentives intertwined, their coherent interrelationship to each other very much effectively accomplished at the first place by an equally hybrid literary input. Nono adapted an anti-symbolism, affective and highly logical method to present collective will; since communist writers are a conduit through which the people illustrate their wills and utopian images, there lies a moral obligation to obliterate the boundary between the individual activist and a group of activists. Therefore, what originally is represented by a singular character in the literary source may be assigned for multiple voices or dispersed choruses in Nono’s work – a collective search for truth and communist utopia. The ordering of historical events, poetry references, and dramatizations is not confined to a temporal way of thinking, but is choreographed upon a plane of historicity which seamlessly morphs from one stage to another, from the present to the past. Time is will; the dolcissimo singing is the gravity which creates tremendous character in the human agents.

Another major characteristic of Al gran sole carico d’amore, and indeed many of his politically engaged compositions, is the utilization of protest songs and communist anthems, which, in spite of the fact that these songs all conform to tonal practices, still maintains a prospective, forward-looking character. In the liner notes of Lothar Zagrosek and Staatsorchester Stuttgart’s 1999 recording of the opera, Klaus Zehelein writes that “a crucial element of [Al gran sole carico d’amore] is that meaning is created, and that it is not, as in neo-Romanticism, a case of using expressivity as something which already exists. Rather, it is a matter of redefining it through syntax (trans. Alfred Clayton).” Indeed, quotations of tonal melodies, in an ‘atonal’ and teleological context, are often intended to invoke some kind of nostalgia or distance, usually characterized by inertia and the stark contrast with dissonant, actively fantastical and expositional passages; examples include the Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, who contextualized a Carinthian folk song as the revelation of origin behind the cradle-grave analogy, and George Crumb’s Black Angels, who included the theme of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden and utilized it as an interlocutor of micro-density realms. On the contrary, Nono directly intruded into the interval content of the songs in a way that the songs cease to operate in a tonal logic; intervals, liberated from tonal contracts, enter the terrain of spatial considerations and negotiations. Jonathan Impett notes that, in Nono’s 1969 work Per Bastiana – Tai-Yang Cheng, “having analysed the limited interval content of The East is Red, Nono puts it at the centre of a wider pan-chromatic, all-interval interval matrix. The fragments thus produced explore the expanded pitch space step by step, until the pitches and intervals of the melody itself gradually emerge from their chromatic negative through the eight passages of the third section. (278)” Intervals denote space; the reality of expression lies in the peculiarity of individual spatial components and the composer’s ‘hegemonic’ organization. The shades of tonality are, once and for all, extirpated along with the relics of nineteenth-century romanticism which characterized the European bourgeois. Allying himself with Gramsci’s analysis of political hegemony, one of the main tenets of communism, Nono erased the difference between space, progress and history; intervals are like the resonating body of vociferous persons, articulating their demands and inviting adversaries – other intervals – to enter a socialist dialect, an perpetual process of compromise. His radical inventions were also a means to denounce a then-prevailing antithesis of his approach: that the use of revolutionary songs without a radical reworking on their musical profiles is, in other words the lack of radical participation in the musical/teleological prospects, is lethargic and, ultimately, bourgeois and authoritarian.

I/1
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I/2
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I/3
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I/4
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I/5
I/6
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II/1
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II/3
II/4
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II/Finale
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But in what ways does Nono’s scrupulously radical process of intervallic recontexualization reprimand a chronological time? In what ways does Nono’s compositional method correspond to the moral objective of azione scenica, the “expression of history (Zehelein)”? And how are deviations from this practice rendered ‘immoral’ or ‘irresponsible’? Perhaps we can take a departure to appraise neo-romanticism to clarify this issue.

Intending to revive conventional idioms and musical (especially tonal) practices, neo-romanticism is, needless to say, a polar opposite of Nono’s Gramscian approach of music; it is music “using expressivity as something which already exists.” In the remainder of this post I intend to argue how time and material are essentially the same, and how the mediocrity of material selection and utilization of neo-romantic music would imply not only a false representation of time but also, at worst, moral defects.

In 2017, Mason Bates’s opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, received its premiere. Although it has won a positive public appeal, critics have expressed discontent about the incoherence of musical ideas – largely due to Bate’s heavy dependence upon ‘pastiche’ – and have found it one of the detriments that made the opera unconvincing, along with the opera’s ‘moral vacuity’ and its ‘clichéd, fraudulent narrative arc.’ Having assessed Nono’s azione scenica, I would add that the fourth detriment to this opera is the banal understanding of time typical to neo-romantic composers. Andrei Tarkovsky, arguably one of the greatest film directors of all time, considered morality and human conscience contingent with time, which “in its moral implication is in fact turned back. (Sculpting in Time, 58)” Why does the adherence to morality require a different understanding of time? How does Bates’s opera subscribe to the ostensibly factual conception of an ‘irreversible time,’ despite the seemingly unconventional, non-chronological plot of Jobs’ life? How does Bates’s toying around with pastiche relate to this issue at all?

Unfolding the argument from the last question:

“[…] the first essential in any plastic composition, its necessary and final criterion, is whether it is true to life, specific and factual; that is what makes it unique. By contrast, symbols are born, and readily pass into general use to become clichés, when an author hits upon a particular plastic composition, ties it in with some mysterious turn of thought of his composition, loads it with extraneous meaning.”
Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time

The lack of specificity and factuality is manifest in the ubiquitous troping of pastiche in the opera; religious themes are represented by ‘orientalist clichés: breathy pentatonic flute, gongs, and prayer bowls,’ the musical-mathematical analogy by a literal quotation of J. S. Bach’s music, calamity by ‘self-consciously “modernist” idioms,’ etc. The maker of a polyscreen film is forced to “[reduce] simultaneity to sequence, in other words of thinking up for each instance an elaborate system of conventions (Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time, 71).” Bates’s approach to semantic articulation also necessitates a similar solution: to reconcile irreconcilable musical/referential material by means of sequence and clichés. As a result the opera is neither specific nor factual; but how does this lack cause the opera to succumb to linear time?

The concept of linear time, according to Tarkovsky, stems from a semantic reading of cause and effect – it itself not more than a failure to see the “mutual dependence” of cause and effect of “inexorably ordained necessity”; “The link of cause and effect, in other words the transition from one state to another, is also the form in which time exists, the means whereby it is materialised, in day to day practice. (58)” A progressive reading of cause and effect would reveal the reversibility of causality and its primary agent – conscience – and it is the same progressive spirit that makes a plastic composition ‘specific and factual.’ In short, a materialised means automatically leaves the expressive terrain and is bound with troping, therefore is utilized in the same semantic realm where materialised, linear ‘time’ belongs to; by contrast, an idea or a statement charged with specificity and factuality is able to register itself unto the dialectic of truth and the conscience “inherent in time itself.”

Therefore, the use of techno signifiers and many other instances of pastiche in Bates’s opera in fact signifies an absence of moral bearings. The opera, by assorting and situating these symbols in their representational, ‘literal’ forms, countermands the provocative responsibility of an artwork and becomes a temple of archaic semantics; it is therefore devoid of truth, of individuality, and of expressive potential.

Gramsci considers the popular song as a prism of intentions and empirical dimensions: “What distinguishes the popular song of a nation or a culture is not its artistic origin or historical origins, but its way of conceiving of the world and life, in contrast with official society (Gramsci, Letteratura e vita nazionale, 1950),” Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore extended – perhaps extrapolated – Gramsci’s thesis into the exigent circumstances of post-war Europe and demonstrated the means of social unity through an unrelenting procedure of demarcating and demolishing dialogical spaces which finds momentary utopia within both internal and external manifestations of the world. As a composer, he internalized this historicity as well; the labyrinth of communist activities has formulated a self-sufficient dialectical terrain which, along with his impeccable erudition, caused him to gradually consider historicity in a different way. May I conclude this blogpost with Nono’s illuminating contemplation of himself:

I don’t aim to liberate myself from the shadows of the past.
I don’t repudiate my work, thought and acts of the past.
I have neither need nor motive to liberate myself from them.
I am just seeking to broaden and deepen my thought in my work, in my life.
I am also seeking to understand various dismemberments that have taken place within me (lacerations of various types leading to other discoveries of diverse quality and with various consequences) […]
I am simply discovering other possibilities […]
What I am studying literally upsets me because it opens me up to other thoughts, it doesn’t just make me question myself but makes me surpass the limits of the preceding thoughts and sentiments (why repudiate them if I come from here, why refute them if they are continuing in other ways in me?????) and at times in the joy of such intra-listening [intraascolto] I find myself alone.
Nono, letter to Pestalozza, September/October 1981

– I-Hsiang Chao

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019

The People “United”: Political Statements in the Production of Ballet “the East is Red”

It was hard for me not to be moved at all when the impassioned sopranos in the choir of hundreds hit High-B with their chest-voice-ish sound while all the dancers on stage had just formed a huge, shimmering sunflower with bright-colored Chinese fans held in their hands and with joy and excitement beaming relentlessly from all of their faces in the overture of the film “the East is Red”, which records the performance of a Chinese propaganda Ballet initially produced in 1964—just before the outburst of Cultural Revolution. The Ballet is a collection of dances and songs put together in a musical extravaganza, telling a brief history of Chinese people from the Mao Zedong’s 1921 founding of the Communist Party of China (CCP) to the establishment of PRC (“New China”) in 1949, and particularly focusing on the Maoist thoughts by presenting the struggle of the proletarian against oppressors within or from outside of the country. This sonic/visual spectacle was supposed to be a tool of spreading revolutionary fever in China, as members in the communist party led by Mao around the time of its production was deeply concerned with unifying people’s thoughts after Mao’s failure in his unrealistic campaign to rapidly transform the country to socialist society by means of drastic increase of industrialization (“Da Yue Jin”, “Great Leap Forward”). As Mao turned to seek hidden Bourgeoisie that hindered revolutions within the party, his supporters supervised and directed numerous productions to further establish Maoism’s political correctness through mass media and advertisements. The production of “The East is Red” was supervised by none other than the Premier of the State Council—Zhou Enlai himself, who already very much contributed to creating the personal worship of Mao. Despite its obscurity after the 80s, some still regard the Ballet as one of the greatest spectacles ever produced in China: stunning masses of dancers with surprisingly stylish choreographic design; Wagner-flavored harmonization of folk tunes with revolutionary lyrics that exalt Mao’s thoughts…all serve well to achieve the goal of the work: making an “epic of songs and dances”. However, while admittedly overwhelmed by the expressiveness of the work, I clearly felt that there was something “wrong”; the sense of psychological manipulation was so strong that I instinctively started to struggle against it. This reaction leads me to closely examine the methods used in the work.

There are three important factors that, I think, contribute to the Ballet’s effectiveness in serving its purpose, but at the same time create problems or contradictions to the political messages this work conveys: firstly, the highly unified and regulated form of musical writing and gestural design; secondly, the religious, sentimental approach in plot and lyrics writing; and finally, the western standards of instrumentation for the orchestra and requirements for the performers.

All Under One: the Idea of Unity

Faced with unprecedented economic crisis and “the Great Famine”, the party developed distrust towards Mao, as well as his supporters; therefore, conflicts within the party emerged. Around the same time, the party’s concerns with Russian’s de-Stanlinization policies proposed by the Premier Nikita Khrushchev of USSR grew significantly: the CCP consecutively published several criticisms denouncing Khrushchev’s policies, claiming that Khrushchev was a “revisionist” who fundamentally betrayed the true path of Marxism-Leninism, allowing potential revival of Bourgeoisie’s control over the government. Consequently, Mao initiated a series of schemes to centralize power over the party in order to avoid the capitalist restoration he had long feared. From this point, Mao started to realize the concept of radical revolution in every aspect of the society led by the working class.

Art at that time was one of the most important media of spreading Maoist ideologies among the people. Later in the Revolution period, complete strategy of treating artistic creations were proposed by the government: all arts or forms of art that relate to the imperialist and/or capitalist traditions should be prohibited. In terms of musical works, western and Russian pieces, as well as old Chinese literati/court music and traditional operas, were all banned in the country. The only kind of music excluded was folk songs, which effectively represented “music of the people”; composers adapted folk tunes from different places and replace their lyrics with political statements. This strict limitation directly caused the concept of “model works”—musical productions that adhere to a set of unified rules—to emerge.

Singers and dancers take part in a performance staged by the Chinese National Opera of the “Red Detachment of Women” (a famous example of model work) marking the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution in Haikou, China, in January. Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/15/asia-pacific/chinas-maoists-still-force-50-years-1966-1976-cultural-revolution/#.XKMnBRNKigQ

One can see in “the East is Red” that this model of composition was already there before the Revolution erupted. All the songs that appear in the Ballet are either directly taken from folk tunes or original compositions that imitate folk melodies. Additionally, the choreographic designs in the Ballet are highly unified as they intentionally characterize the simplicity and passion of the working class. What, then, is the advantage of such model? The decisive factor is its accessibility. The frameworks of folk tunes and gestures of working people were the most relatable to the peasants, who, according to Mao, is able to secure the energy needed for revolution.

However, is this idea of unity perfectly compatible with the mentioned political statement? Arguably, if one examines the Ballet’s form itself carefully, one may come up with the argument that unifying forms of music and dance contradicts anti-imperialism movement. While abandoning old practices and rules, the application of model works is simply replacing the old with the new, instead of actually overthrowing the concept of dictatorship. Such concerns are also raised in criticisms towards Mao’s campaign of centralizing political power at that time.

It is also worth mentioning that, when one regards it as an advertisement for consumerism according to Marianna Ritchey’s criticism, the use of unified musical functions in Mason Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is, in my opinion, comparatively successful. Bates’ consistent use of minimalist material and stereotypical interpretations of atonality (as something negative) are based on people’s conceptualization of “real” new music. At the same time, achieving accessibility through the mentioned use of material does not contradict the ideology of consumerism, hence totally effective.

“the East is Red”: Building Mao’s Personality Cult

Lin Biao, one of the most fervent supporters of Mao’s thoughts and the supposed successor of Mao, stated in the seven-thousand-people conference after the downfall of “Great Leap Forward” campaign that Mao’s policies during the campaign should be maintained as the correct path, and that people should develop absolute trust towards Mao’s decisions. Thus began the height of Mao’s personality cult, as he gradually purged the party of all his adversaries and initiated the Revolution.

Cultural Revolution Poster, “Closely follow Chairman Mao and forge ahead amid great storms and waves”, source: https://thediplomat.com/2016/05/how-far-is-china-from-another-cultural-revolution/

The melody in the overture of the ballet–“the East is Red” –which glorifies Mao as the “savior of the people”, is adapted from a folk tune in northern China. Originally, the lyrics tells a love story of young couple; it was replaced by stanzas that, according to Wai-Chung Ho, “‘deified’ Chairman Mao as the sun in heaven: ‘The east is red, the sun has risen. China has produced Mao Zedong. He works for the people’s happiness…’”

The ballet does the very best to enhance this sense of deity. Throughout the whole work, the image of Mao himself is never presented through an actual figure dancing on the stage; he only appears as a headshot on the red flags, high above all the performers, literally shining heavenly light upon them. In terms of musical writing, the harmonization and orchestration of folk tunes are fused with strongly sentimental western colors and overwhelming instrumental forces. The western concept of the Sublime, which was often related to religious experience since the classical era, is evidently manifested in such treatments of “the East is Red”.

“Deifying” Mao’s image in the ballet firmly establishes his personality cult; yet it also presents fundamental problems. The very beginning of the film uses orchestral rendition of “The Internationale” –a left-wing anthem frequently used by communists. One of the central ideas in the lyrics of this anthem is that there is no god nor savior who can save the people, but only the producers themselves can rise up to power. Yet “the East is Red” nevertheless states that Mao is the only savior of people, and that people should follow his steps. Even if the first performance of the ballet did not include “The Internationale”, this apparent religious tone of the work still contradicts with the original Maoist intention of showing the revolutionary will of the people stemmed from the people themselves.

The plot design of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, on the other hand, approach personality cult in a slightly different way. Through showing Jobs’ horrible personal behaviors and his late-year enlightenment, the narrative creates a mysterious, unpredictable figure that is supposed to fascinate people. The plot’s “elision of the global (history of corporation) into the personal (life and personality of Jobs)” is an effective camouflage to deceive people from, according to Ritchey, contemplating the actual negative influence that consumerism has brought about. In this way, Bates evidently raises up a “worship” of technology in personal products. Does it have the same problem as “the East is Red”? Only Bates himself can provide the answer. If it is true that Bates’ intention is to promote consumerism like Ritchey suspects, then he has fully succeeded.

The Red Musicians

Since the beginning of PRC, the Chinese government has been trying to establish icons of the nation in every cultural aspect. In terms of musical instruments, the government started to form large groups of musicians that resemble western orchestras by simply replacing sections in an orchestra with Chinese instruments that have the similar mechanisms (for example, the string section in western orchestra would be replaced by Huqin, the two-string fiddle of nomadic origins). The potential problem of this method is that, because Chinese traditional instruments originated from different cultural background (caused by diverse ethnicity and clear demarcation of social classes in the “Old China”), they don’t necessarily fit each other well as a group in orchestra—they were never meant to be played together.

Example of a “Chinese Orchestra”, source: https://www.easonmusicschool.com/chinese-orchestra-instruments/

The instrumentation of orchestra in “the East is Red” is literally impossible in present days. The blending of western and Chinese traditional instruments creates severe intonation difficulties, because of their different constructions and materials. I have never heard any orchestras of this kind that can play consistently in tune nowadays, not even when the orchestra consists of only Chinese instruments. However, throughout the film, while unison of the western and Chinese instrument frequently occurs, all instruments are almost constantly and perfectly in tune. This means that the performers had put tremendous amount of work into rehearsals in order to fulfill the western standards of decent orchestral playing.

Some of the beginning scenes of the film show that people of different ethnicities come together to watch the ballet. This political message of unifying the people is also shown in the mentioned selection of instruments; and when all these instruments play perfectly in tune, they effectively project the undeniable power of people’s union.

However, is it necessary to adhere to the western rules of intonation in order to show this power? Music in many parts of the world has developed interests in what we now call microtonal inflections, instead of actually playing in tune, which the Chinese traditional instrumentalists in the past did not prioritize at all. The problem in “the East is Red” is therefore apparent: on the one hand, the ballet is supposed to proclaim a refusal to western ideas, but on the other hand, it uses western formats of instrumentation and performance practices.

Conclusion

Deng Tuo–a Chinese journalist, intellectual, poet, and founding editor of the People’s Daily (major newspaper in China controlled by the CCP) –was one of the earliest victims of the Cultural Revolution. Faced by numerous accusations of anti-revolutionary contents in his writing, he committed suicide right before the official beginning of the Revolution, which was to cause a nation-wide catastrophe–countless were persecuted and killed. In his last words, Deng Tuo seems to claim with utmost sincerity that he did not intend to express any disagreement to Mao’s thoughts, and he swears his loyalty to the party. Arguably, it was, for the most part, the different standpoints of the readers of his writing that caused suspicion.

Deng Tuo, source: http://wiki.china.org.cn/wiki/index.php/File:Deng_Tuo.jpg

As a purely sensual experience, the ballet “the East is Red” is seductive and powerful in every aspect. Yet the political problems this production raises have left us with infinite potentials for contemplation. When a work is given a purpose, the interpretation of the work would change according to the audience’s understanding of the purpose itself. We can go on and question the intention and execution of all propaganda arts: when art is to convey a set of specific political messages, is it ever going to succeed?

April 2, 2019

The Variation and Impact of Ol’ Man River by Paul Robeson

Since its inception into American society, American popular music has, in some form, always been at the forefront of critiquing American politics. A plethora of songs have been written specifically to combat or call into view injustices shown in politics and a number of originals song have had their text or music changed to fit a message of political criticism. For instance, America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” has had its fair share of rewrites in order to fit a certain issue or message. William Robin, in his article regarding Colin Kaepernick and the Radical Uses of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” quotes a temperance advocate’s text revision that peers into the reality of America’s drinking issue. The quote reads, “Oh! who has not seen by the dawn’s early light / Some poor bloated drunkard to his home weakly reeling.” Now, I absolutely love this method of using music to talk about politics; it grabs the listener in with a familiar tune with the intent of educating them on a real-world issue. As I’ve said before, there are a plethora of songs that have been rewritten to fit a cause, but none come close to the revision of “Ol’ Man River” that Paul Robeson wrote during the Civil Rights Movement.

Full discloser: Paul Robeson is one of my favorite basses to listen to and one of my favorite people to learn about. He was born on April 9^th, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey to Rev. William Robeson, a former runaway slave, and Maria Lousia Bustill, a Quaker. Without going into too much detail about his life, I can say that he received a scholarship to play football at Rutgers College, where he graduated class valedictorian. He went to Columbia Law School and soon after landed a job at a law firm, only to leave almost immediately after a white secretary refused to take dictation from him due to his race. It was at this point that Robeson decided to quit law to dedicate his life to his true passion of singing. Throughout his illustrious music career, Robeson worked with the likes of Eugene O’Neill, W.E.B. Du Bois, and James Joyce. But none of his collaborations would be as pivotal as his work with Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in their groundbreaking musical Showboat. Most people identify Showboat as the defining show for American musical theater because it was one of the first musicals to fully integrate the plot of the show into the songs, which created a whole new form of storytelling. Although working in this play essentially made Robeson a sensation among American audiences, he saw his character Joe, a black dockworker singing about his troubles to the Mississippi River, as well as the hit song “Ol’ Man River” a bit demeaning to his pursuit of highlighting African American progression.

Paul Robeson in the movie version of Showboat

Understandably, Robeson didn’t appreciate the original lyrics that included the N-word to describe the type of workers working along the Mississippi nor did he appreciate the presentation of African Americans in this play as second class citizens. So, in an attempt to bring light to his feelings on the equal rights of black U.S. citizens, Robeson began in 1938 to rewrite the lyrics of this song in recitals. Similar to the pro tolerance writings put into the star-spangled banner, Robeson added text to “Ol’ Man River” that promoted African American freedom and strength. The famous line “There’s an old man called the Mississippi, that’s the old man that I’d like to be” was changed to “There’s an old man called the Mississippi, that’s the old man I don’t like to be” and the ending of the stanza “I get weary and sick of trying, I’m tired of living and scared of dying” was changed to “But I keep laughing instead of crying and I’ll keep fighting until I’m dying.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evwtK81KFrs

Through this decision to rewrite and perform this text, Robeson gained much prominence in the early stages of the civil rights movement, especially during the early part of the cold war. Unfortunately, Paul Robeson as well as many African American leaders of the Harlem Renaissance period saw the emphasis on racial equality in the Soviet Union as a model for the U.S. to look toward, which to many Americans marked them as Communist supporters. This labeling eventually got Paul Robeson blacklisted from Hollywood, thoroughly questioned and searched by the House Un-American Activities Committee, and unable to reach American audiences as he once was able to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLVqCGeK6JM

A recreation of Paul Robeson’s HUAC hearing by James Earl Jones

However, the effect Robeson was able to make on 20^thcentury politics through his music was still a triumphant victory for African Americans searching for equality and a testament to the power of music against its environment. Music, as Robeson has shown, is a vital tool in sharing emotion and ideas which is why it has such a stronghold in the world of politics.

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019

Fortunate Son and the Vietnam War

Music is a powerful political tool. Throughout history, musicians have written reactionary music to historical events, but in the case of the Vietnam War, this reactionary music shaped an entire political movement, and, on a larger scale, an entire era. This music was very accessible to Americans (thanks to advancements in technology like improved record players and cassette players) so it reached a much larger audience and had a more widespread impact than music from the past. Popular artists like Bob Dylan released folk-oriented, pared-down, anti-war songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which calmly questioned the war through an abstract string of questions. In contrast, the rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival released upbeat songs that were straightforward in their meanings. One of these songs, which grew to basically define the era, was “Fortunate Son.” This song, unlike “Blowin’ in the Wind,” is not an anti-war song, but rather a song meant to draw attention to the inequality of the draft system. Basically, Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) wrote this song in response to privileged people evading the draft. The appeal of “Fortunate Son” was so widespread that it not only became an anthem for protestors of the Vietnam War, but also for the soldiers fighting in it. Essentially, CCR used this song as a tool to protest not the war itself, but rather the unequal systems of war in America.

Fortunate Son, first released in 1969 (the first year of the draft for the Vietnam War)

The American political landscape was incredibly tense during the Vietnam War Era. Many young people did not know what the war was about or what they were even fighting for, so, justifiably, they were suspicious about and resistant to the war effort. The reinstatement of the draft further stoked this resistance, as it forced young men to enlist in the military if their birthday was called in a random lottery. This randomized lottery was supposed to create a system in which all men aged 19-26 were equally likely to be drafted to go to war, but as with most “equal” systems in American history, well-positioned people (wealthy, powerful, etc.) were best able to maneuver around the rules of the draft, which meant that society’s most vulnerable members were the most likely to serve in the Vietnam War. Included below is footage from the 1969 Draft Lottery. Although the process does seem random in terms of date number assignments, the disparities began in the next step of the draft process, which was where men enlisted or were exempted

“Fortunate Son” was written in direct response to CCR songwriter Jon Fogerty’s anger about the role of social class and wealth on enlistment. During the year the song was written, 11,000 Americans had already been killed in the Vietnam War. Most of the soldiers killed were poor, and a disproportionately high number of them were black. At the same time, President Nixon’s daughter married President Eisenhower’s grandson, who was given a deferment from the military. Stories like this seemed to populate the news, and it seemed unfair. Wealthy people who had no reason not to be eligible for the military other than their status kept evading the draft. That’s why, as CCR’s drummer Doug Clifford put it, “‘Fortunate Son’ is ‘really not an anti-war song’…“It’s about class. Who did the dirty work?”

In part, this song was received so well due to its accessibility. As Anthony Tommasini wrote, “Nothing impedes the appreciation of classical music — and keeps potential listeners away — more than the perception that it is an elitist art form.” Although he clearly was talking about perceived elitism in classical music, this quote also speaks to the bigger idea of the importance of access and understandability. The lyrics in “Fortunate Son” are very straightforward. Take the following lines, for example:

“Some folks are born made to wave the flag

Ooh, they’re red, white and blue

And when the band plays “Hail to the chief”

Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord”

This section of the song speaks to the idea that wealthy people may be patriotic, but when it comes to actual combat, they send people who do not have the power to say no. The ease of listening to rock and roll and the ease of understanding the message of the song are, in part, why it is still such an icon from the Vietnam War Era.

“Fortunate Son” achieved its goal in drawing attention to class disparities of the draft. In fact, it is still used today in popular culture references to the Vietnam War. The opening scene of Forrest Gump (included below) for example, uses the song, and there is a popular meme (also included below) based off of the song being used in so many Vietnam War helicopter scenes.

Opening scene of Forrest Gump (1994)

photo found at https://i.redd.it/3cme2s3ug3j11.jpg

The fact that the song is still used today is a testament to its effectiveness as a protest tool. The ability of the song to transcend decades and be so closely tied to a social issue demonstrates the high level of power that music can have on politics.

April 2, 2019

Same Love

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

“Hey Macklemore, can we go thrift shopping?”

“What? What? What? What?”

The infamous song “Thrift Shop” is sung by 35-year-old rapper Macklemore, who rose to fame with his collaboration with Ryan Lewis in their debut album, The Heist. With more than 6 million downloads with “Thrift Shop” and rising to No. 1 on the Hot 100 Chart with “Can’t Hold Us,” they became the first duo in music history to have first two singles reach the top of the pop charts. With their successes at a high, they went on to receive four Grammy’s in 2014.

“Same Love” was song that was inspired by a news article in 2012 about a teenager who committed suicide after being bullied. After reading about it, Macklemore wrote this song to embrace and promote gay marriage, which many raps song did not. Macklemore expressed how he believed the epithets routinely heard in rap music were partly to blame, and that denying gay adults the right to be married contributed to negative effects on gay teenagers. He “just wanted to hold myself accountable and hold hip-hop accountable and bring up an issue that was being pushed under the rug.”

The song quickly made it all the way to the Top 40 and No. 5 on the Rap Songs Chart. The timing of everything was impeccable, as it hit the charts in February, when the Supreme Court was considering challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and to California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

The lyrics of “Same Love” accuse rappers for constantly using “gay slurs” and abusive language. When we hear rap music today, it mainly consists of having a “sick beat” with rhythmic speech over the music. Although it is very groovy and fun to jam to, what most people don’t realize is how often abusive language is used. It seems that rappers will throw around profanity and offensive language like it’s no big deal. But, just because we hear it all the time doesn’t mean it’s okay, right? That’s the point that Macklemore is trying to express in his lyrics:

If I was gay I would think hip-hop hates me
Have you read the Youtube comments lately
“Man that’s gay” Gets dropped on the daily
We’ve become so numb to what we’re sayin’
Our culture founded from oppression
Yeah, we don’t have acceptance for ’em
Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board
A word routed in hate, yet our genre still ignores it
Gay is synonymous with the lesser
It’s the same hate that’s caused wars from religion
Gender to skin color the complexion of your pigment
https://www.wordsinthebucket.com/same-love

Many artists turned down the opportunity to sing this song with Macklemore. With such a controversial topic, no one really wanted to be associated with it. After all, stars and celebrities lose fans all the time when they express an unpopular or polarizing opinion.

They soon found singer Mary Lambert, who agreed to sing alongside. Lambert described singing the song as a “divine moment,” as she had had a very difficult childhood coming out as gay in church.

The Same Love music video depicts the journey of a gay man’s life; from battling a difficult childhood of staying in the closet, to his well-deserved wedding day, and to the inevitable end.

Same Love, music video

Macklemore originally wanted the video to be seen through the perspective of a gay, bullied child; however, he believed that he couldn’t do it because it wasn’t his story to tell. However, he was able to turn a nostalgic piano ballad into a powerful message about marriage equality.

This sparked controversy as this song focused on same-sex marriage, but was written by a white, straight man. In the rap community, there are fewer white rappers that achieve success. Since its roots stem from African-American communities, “the American public has long associated [it] with a particular demographic.” With that being said, Macklemore clearly does not “fit in” with the stereotypical image of rap. During the 2014 Grammy’s, he performed the song with Madonna, as a score of couples (both straight and gay) were married onstage. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis certainly took a risk that night as a duo, as it showed the audience and everyone around the world that they were using their new-found fame to push a progressive message. He once said, “You’re gonna piss people off, but all these moments add up to an understanding and, hopefully, change.”

April 2, 2019

Battling Complacency Through Song

Although the population of the United States is comprised of a variety of cultures, it has not had an easy time embracing this identity. Slavery, oppression, and maltreatment for people of certain ethnic backgrounds are cemented in the history of the nation and remnants of the like are still traceable today. Evidence of this is scattered throughout several landmark cultural pieces. Even the Star Spangled Banner throws up a red flag, its original lyrics bearing lines glorifying slavery. While discussing how the song and American flag were contextualized with slavery, William Robin writes; “the anthem has functioned as a powerful articulation of citizenship.”

President Donald Trump shows the mentality that Kaepernick is fighting against by taking a knee during the Anthem.

Citizens of America have not forgotten this. San Fransisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a stand against the anthem in 2016 by taking a knee rather than standing and saluting the flag. He is quoted, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” Kaepernick does not feel that he can personally be represented by the American flag. His bold action indicates the massive power held in this song from its origins in slavery and further historical contextualization.

While America has come a long way in adhering to its diverse population, institutional racism still exists in subtle forms. In discussing the tensions of racial division in modern day America, Daniel Kuehn states that “fairly mundane prejudices can have divisive impacts,” and justifies that “complacency in the face of racial disparities—simply because they are not overtly racist—can be very harmful.” According to his actions, Kaepernick feels that the people of America have remained complacent towards the initial intentions that the National Anthem was written with.

“Your Last American Girl” -Mitski

Indie rocker “Mitski” addresses her own experience with complacent forms of racism in her underground hit “Your Best American Girl.” In its chorus she sings “Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me, But I do, I think I do, And you’re an all-American boy, I guess I couldn’t help trying to be your best American girl.” In these lyrics, Mitski expresses the feeling that she outsider to American culture a result of her Japanese heritage, and implies that there is pressure to adjust to the customs of the “American” boy. Like Kaepernick, Mitski is utilizing the position of power she has over listeners to share this message and not leave her feelings on the matter fall into the shadows.

Mitski speaks about the message of the lyrics in a Song Exploder podcast. She gives some background information on her own upbringing. “My Mother is Japanese and my father is American and so I never grew up with a sense of community, my sense of family is very different. I think I grew up more with a sense of everything will be lost at some point.” This exemplifies the divisive impacts that prejudices can have according to Kuehn, as this is a person whose life has been shaped by the feeling of being an outsider.

In an interview with Trevor Noah, Mitski is asked about the meaning of her album title “Be The Cowboy.” She states “I’m an Asian woman and I think I walk into a room and feel like I have to apologize for existing. I was so attracted to that idea of freedom and arrogance.” Here we see Mitski continue to battle complacency in her music. Centering an entire album on this concept is a bold statement. Explaining it with this level of depth on live television shows that Mitski is intent with her purpose. h

Cover artwork for Mitski’s 2018 “Be The Cowboy.” Mitski’s irritated expression can be attributed to her lack of control over the makeup being applied to her face.

As we can see, music can be a very influential place when it comes to sharing ones beliefs. Both Colin Kaepernick and Mitski utilized their own respective positions to take a stand against complacency. With this in mind, it is essential for anyone in a position like this to remember the power they have, and for every listener to take note in what they are listening to and what it means.

April 2, 2019April 4, 2019

Strange Fruit: A Declaration of War

It was a March night in 1939 New York City. You and a group of friends decide to go out to Cafe Society, a new night club in the former speakeasy on West 4th Street. Billie Holiday, the 23 year old up-and-coming black jazz singer, is performing. She in all her melanin splendor with a single gardenia adorned on her hair, is standing on the stage of the L shaped hall, about to perform her last piece. The lights dim to darkness and a single spotlight illuminates her golden face as she begins to sing:

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Whispers quickly spread amongst the audience.”Lynching? Is this song about lynching?” someone says. The song continues and the chatter quickly dies out as every single ear and eye is on Holiday. The room is still, the air frozen.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

After the last word, the room snaps to black. When the lights are brought back up, Holiday is gone. No one moves. Do you applaud for the “courage and intensity of the performance, stunned by the grisly poetry of the lyrics, sensing history moving through the room? Or do you shift awkwardly in your seat, shudder at the strange vibrations in the air, and think to yourself: call this entertainment?”

This is “Strange Fruit.” Although not written by Billie Holiday, her deeply personal and visceral vocal performance ultimately made the song an instant anthem for anti-lynching during the Civil Rights movement . The song began as just a poem written by Jewish communist Abel Meeropol, when he was inspired by this photo of a double lynching. Meerpool later composed the melody. Even though lynching was in decline at the time of piece’s composition, the image of a black person being lynched in the American south acted as a universal and incredibly vivid symbol of American racism as a whole during the Civil Rights movement, making this piece truly one of protest.

“‘Strange Fruit’ was not by any means the first protest song,” writes Dorian Lynskey for The Guardian, “but it was the first to shoulder an explicit political message into the arena of entertainment. Unlike the robust workers’ anthems of the union movement, it did not stir the blood; it chilled it.” Never before had a piece of music so explicitly called out the injustices in America by name, which is part of the reason why Holiday’s primary recording company, Columbia, refused to record the song. Holiday eventually had the piece recorded by Commodore Records, and within its first year was added to Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

Holiday’s piece had struck a nerve among the American people, and sent a surge forward in the progress of the Civil Rights movement. Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun called the song “a declaration of war… the beginning of the civil rights movement”. Which couldn’t be more fitting. This piece began a wave of publicizing lynchings; bringing them out of the shadows of their perpetrators and into the light–forcing the American people to face the injustice happening in their own backyards. “Strange Fruit” paved the way for future lynchings to be more publicized as a result. Take, for example, the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 Mississippi, who at the age of 14 was lynched after being accused of offending a white women. Emmett’s body, disfigured beyond recognition when it was discovered, was displayed in an open casket funeral for all to see, so everyone will know the horrors and the aftermath of racist acts of violence.

At its core, “Strange Fruit” is a song about injustice: a call to action to stop the lynchings and racist acts of violence. A call that is still incredibly necessary today, in the age of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, and so many others. A call that has been answered boldly by the actions of some, notably San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick who refused to stand during the national anthem stating n an interview with NFL Media., “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color…To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

The injustices against our black brothers and sisters, both in the murder of innocent lives and in the subtle microaggressions experienced daily by black people now in this country, can no longer be ignored a pushed aside. Which makes the message of “Strange Fruit,” as an anthem against racism of all forms, all the more relevant today. Just as the way it inspired people during the Civil Rights movement to shed light on the injustices, it inspires people in the today century to do the same. It also begs the question about the longevity of the Civil Rights movement: Did it ever really end or was it just pushed out of the forefront of the social stage to lie dormant until people were once again unable to ignore the injustices happening around them?

And what of Billie, whose voice and soul sparked a movement? Her impact as a performing artist, who seemed to sing with an “immaculate sadness,” still lives on today, even after her death. The music of Billie Holiday and the impact she had on the Civil Rights movement and their lasting effects on so many people today is undeniable. Her act of “war” really was in some ways, a bringing forth of light to show the world that racism in America was no longer something that could be covered up or hidden. Above all else, “Strange Fruit” calls for a willingness to endure–to endure through a world filled with hate until the message embedded in this song is no longer needed.

“Behind me, Billie was on her last song. I picked up the refrain, humming a few bars. Her voice sounded different to me now. Beneath the layers of hurt, beneath the ragged laughter, I heard a willingness to endure. Endure—and make music that wasn’t there before.”
Barack Obama in Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (2007), p. 112

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019

The Heart says Truth Trumps Lies … Part 4

Diss track and political track both in a comeback makes Kendrick Lamar one of the loudest rappers in our current generation of pop culture. In The Heart Part 4, this single paves Lamar’s big entrance back onto the top of the Billboard chart after laying low since his last album To Pimp a Butterfly which was released in 2015. This six to seven time beat changing song brings all ears to listen to what he has to say after staying quiet for the past two years. He has so much to say that the farther you listen through his song he gets more and more riled up with anger and frustration, he even counts out loud “Yellin’ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, I am the greatest rapper alive”– let’s be real though, is he really being HUMBLE?

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7744248/kendrick-lamar-heart-part-4-zayn-gorillaz-iggy-twitter-top-tracks-chart

There’s a lot that goes on in The Heart Part 4 leading to the song having such great success and popularity. All in a span of four minutes and fifty seconds Lamar manages to hint on his next album release date, throw shade at an unidentified rapper (even though we all know it’s at Drake), and literally even calls out Donald Trump. That’s not even half of the song but with each point he tries to make the beat changes correlate with his words to create a certain vibe for each message he tries to get out. You have to make sure to listen carefully to his words and try to keep up or you could end up missing something.

https://genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-the-heart-part-4-lyrics

One controversial topic that has come to listener’s attention is none other than the famous name drop in this song. There are lots of unspoken jabs at rappers such as Drake and Big Sean but the one explicit name mentioned is none other than America’s current President, Donald Trump.

Kendrick Lamar raps in the middle of verse two:

Donald Trump is a chump
Know how we feel, punk—tell him that God comin’
And Russia need a replay button, y’all up to somethin’
Electorial votes look like memorial votes
But America’s truth ain’t ignorin’ the votes

In this phrase Lamar pretty much calls out President Trump and his undercover collaboration with Russia during America’s 2016 election against Hillary Clinton. There had been some past controversy on them both working together to intervene with Clinton’s campaign by attempting to release private information that would greatly affect vote numbers. Lamar goes on to question and express his anger on the law between electoral votes versus popular votes during a Presidential election. He is not one of the first to bring this to attention but he is definitely one that is trying to bring this point to light to try to get something done about this. It’s not that often a President wins through an electoral vote without also having a majority popular vote as well. After this past President Election, having popular vote to win the election is being taken into consideration for America’s 2020 Presidential Race.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/26/popular-vote-could-decide-presidential-election-if-these-states-get-their-way/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3e0ae776bf16

A lot of disses and attacks are made at unnamed people and even to a certain extent there is no discreet in plain site exposure of specific personal wrongdoings in this song. Everything is all strongly implied and probably remained “anonymous” all thanks to his chorus where he repeats:

Don’t tell a lie on me
I won’t tell the truth ’bout you
Don’t tell a lie on me
I won’t tell the truth ’bout you

This chorus pretty much warns others that if lies about Lamar are made, he’ll share all the little secrets that person has to the world. How much does he know and would there be another diss track just for that special someone? Honestly, I wouldn’t mind.

April 2, 2019

Messiaen’s Celestial Ambiance

Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941) (Quartet for the End of Time) is a piece that is filled with pictorial representations of the text upon which he drew inspiration and speaks to a hopeful view of his capture by the Germans in World War II and imprisonment at Stalag VIII-A.

Messiaen was born in Avignon, France on 10 December 1908 into a highly cultured family, his father a literary scholar and his mother a poetess. At a young age he taught himself to play the piano and began composing. After the end of World War I, the family moved to Nantes, where Messiaen received his first formal music lessons, and in 1919 he entered the Paris conservatory, where he was a highly successful student until his graduation in 1930. (http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/messiaenolivier/)

https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/music/olivier-messiaen.html

He was drafted for the war as an auxiliary nurse because of his poor eyesight. During his time in the war he was brought to a prisoner of war camp, Stalag VIII-A. There he met a clarinetist (Henri Akoka), violinist (Jean le Boulaire), and cellist (Étienne Pasquier). These were musicians caught in the same turmoil as he and he had decided to write this quartet for them and himself to play. (http://classicalfm.ca/station-blog/2018/12/06/war-prison-music-loving-nazi-guard-yet-stunning-quartet-emerged/)

The Quartet for the End of Time is related to, as Messiaen notes in the preface, an excerpt from the book of Revelation; 10:1–2, 5–7:

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire … and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth …. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever … that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished …

The movement I am focusing on is Fouillis d’arcs-en-ciel, pour l’Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps (Tangle of Rainbows, for the Angel who Announces the End of Time). This movement is considered to be one of the most musically multihued movements in the quartet by Messiaen as he was a synesthete. This movement is described by Messiaen as using the “angel” theme from movement 2, but now the angel arrives in full force, especially the rainbow that covers him. Messiaen feels this movement as though “passing through the unreal and suffer, with ecstasy, a tournament; a roundabout compenetration of superhuman sounds and colors.” (http://www.princetonuniversityconcerts.org/docs/1819_Messiaen_Up_Close_Program.pdf) I interpret his preface as expressing an aural way of escaping the real and political world; to have something purely beautiful and beyond comprehension.

Obviously Messiaen was caught in all the troubles of WWII; casualties, war crimes, genocide, concentration camps, and slave labor, so I believe him to have written this piece as a musical expression of the beauty of his devotion to Catholicism. He wrote this piece to express all the thoughts of the time at the end of time and I interpret that to mean the time after your life has ended. Toward the end of this movement, the piano is arpegiating complex chords and giving a shimiering “rainbow” as a kaleidoscope of color to show a glimpse of his perception of heaven.(http://www.marthasumma.com/pdf/4tet_for_the_end_of_time.pdf) This could definitely be a reason to believe that he wanted something to sound like an out of this world experience and something “beyond.”

Pianist: Matthew Schellhorn
Soloists of the Philharmonia Orchestra: James Clark (violin), Barnaby Robson (clarinet), David Cohen (cello)

I have found mixed interpretations of its premiere:

from Messiaen: “Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension.” (Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music (All Media Guide, 2005), 843)

and

from the premiere performers: “The audience, as far as I remember, was overwhelmed at the time. They wondered what had happened. Everyone. We too. We asked ourselves: ‘What are we doing? What are we playing?'”
(http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/messiaenolivier/)

Lamell argued that music and politics “are two entirely different worlds: Political discourse is one realm, and music is another realm.” (http://musicologynow.ams-net.org/2017/09/does-music-trump-politics-dennis-prager.html) I agree with this point and that is a main argument for why I believe this piece to be a morale booster and a heavenly separation from the political struggle during WWII. I believe that music should not be affected by political movements as pieces that are specifically apolitical can be just as beautiful, if not more. The Quartet was meant to be part of Messiaen’s “commitment to apolitical art” (http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/messiaenolivier/) and I think his separation is very well accomplished.

Featured photo credit:
https://www.androidcentral.com/get-lost-space-out-world-wallpaper-wednesday

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019

Thomas Adès’ ‘Asyla’

Artists express their political view by inheriting a political connotation to their artwork. It is either to express a personal political viewpoint, or it is to contribute, commemorate, and celebrate political events, protests, or a certain group of minority people by inviting attention. Thomas Adès’s ‘Asyla’ written in 1997 is a four-movement piece for a large orchestra that includes six timpani, roto-toms, tuned cowbells, water gong, washboard, and two pianos with one tuned quarter-tone flat. It is one of his most widely performed pieces and was premiered by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Simon Rattle conducting. ‘Asyla’ is the plural of Asylum and is sort of a wordplay that represents a double-edged meaning of the word.

Asylum refers to both a madhouse where people are sent for protection and a sanctuary for refugees (who have been forced to leave their country) as in political asylum. The word itself is contradicting as people in a madhouse are trapped in a facility, whereas asylum seekers are people who stepped outside of their origins and are seeking a new shelter.

In Thomas Adès’ interview, he explains that the symphony orchestra is no longer a mainstream medium. He argues that composers have evolved, however, the medium – an orchestra, is stagnant in a pre-First World War state. The piece ‘Asyla’ expands the perception of “what an orchestra is”. The wordplay of the title seems to fit the concept of the piece. An asylum seeker is associated with his use of unconventional instrumentations and innovative sound creation, and the trapped people in a madhouse are associated with the piece sticking to a strict four-movement scheme that has succeeded from Haydn (also, the third movement is a dance movement).

Syrian Refugees by Claire Felter and James McBride

Refugees and asylums are huge underground political issues around the world. Not until the day of complete world of peace, there will be refugees and asylums. Around the world, there are 68.5 million people who were ‘forcibly displaced’. The majority of them remained around their home countries, however, 25.4 million of them had to seek asylums and fled to other countries, with more than half being children. The number of immigrants skyrocketed after World War II and 1997 in the UK (when ‘Asyla’ was premiered), there was an increase of immigrants in the UK from the abolition of a law that restricted entrants of people who were married to UK citizens.

In Adès’ interview, he mentions that the original title for the second movement is ‘Vatican’. The Vatican is the smallest country that exists, having a monarchy ruled by the pope (who also carries the role of a king). Citizens of the Vatican are specially picked members who are technically refugees that are given citizenships in order to work for the pope. The Vatican is a source of refuge and hope for immigrants and refugees who have had to flee their homes. However, Adès took away the title after he realized that “it was just too specific to many people”. This made me wonder whether Adès intended to advocate his support of ‘asylums’ for refugees. Nevertheless, his association of artwork to the political concept brought attention and awareness to the public eye, thus bringing significance to both politics and music worlds.

“We write symphonies,” Donald Trump said on July 6th, 2017, during a speech in Warsaw. Article by Anthony Tommasini argues that classical music is often portrayed as the ‘greatest art form’ precedent from Beethoven’s era – “a heroic visionary with a rare link to transcendent realms, creating symphonic works for the ages.” ‘Asyla’ by Thomas Adès is written with a completely different approach (180-degrees to be exact) as the piece deviates from the greatness and highness of the symphonic format. The piece is the opposite from greatness that is full of self-conceit – it is a piece that reflects the greatness of our human nature that looks out for people needing help in times of trouble.

To Listen to full version of the interview (World Premiere):

https://youtu.be/28v6oBv37K0

Another Performance of Asyla:

Interesting Blog Entry: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2014/08/thomas-ades-on-his-asyla.html