I found it while reading another blog which I will be going back to, as the writer[The Accidental Activist] has good taste in music and seems to be writing about stuff I'm interested in including Sigur Ross, Bjork, gay issues, atheism and I'm sure there's more...[yawn...stretch...very tired.]
I have just been reading a very interesting post on a blog called Crispy Quips, which is written by an American Linguistics major called Chris, who wants to teach English as a foreign lanaguage after graduation.
Chris has two sites, Cripsy Quips, which is a more general blog, and then one which is appears to be devoted to a more formal look at lingusitics - which is interesting for me to read, but not something I can really participate in as meaningfully as I would probably like to as I have never really studied linguistics.
(It occurs to me that this may become necessary if I'm going to be promoting Paolo's music but hey, one step at a time, right?!)
Anyway, while looking to find out what the Internet has to say about the relationship between music and linguistics, I found Chris's blogs, via one post in particular, that talks about a Chinese band called "Rebuilding the Rights of Statues (or the RE-TROS, for short,) who apparently circumnavigate government censorship by singing in English and submitting fake translations of their lyrics to the authorities.
Below is one of their videos, called Hang Police and if you would like to find out a little more about how they got away with that particular title, read his post about them here.
I thought they were definitely worth posting about for the audacity of their idea alone, (not the mention the fact that their tactics are not only bold and clever but working - so far). I will reserve judgement about their music for now, as it's not a sound that I can profess to love right away, but often that is the case for me with many new artists, so I will live with the music for a little while and see if it grows on me.
The point is, whatever you think of their music, their success appears to indicate that Paolo is not alone in believing that a strategic marriage of music and linguistics may indeed present many opportunities that a more ordinary communication does not - opportunities that in turn may offer the potential for explosive, and one hopes, enduring change - for the better?
Just to give you an idea of what to expect, he talks about the following:
* [Linguistics] (including music as language) * [Philosophy] * [Catholicism] * [Atheism] (including music as a way to atheism) * [Sexuality], [homosexuality] and [gay identity] * [Activism]
These are some of my favourite quotes from the interviews:
[concerning his artistic vision]
“In my artistic and also my activist’s vision [...] [I want] to transform the general perception [of homosexuality] in such a way that strolling in a park, hand in hand with another boy will finally become a gesture of affection, and no longer a political provocation, a slap in the face of the silent majority. I’d like to get to the point of doing it with total nonchalance, without even worrying about peoples’ gazes. I doubt I will live to enjoy such a privilege.”
"One thing is certain, I couldn’t have been gay and a catholic! I would have felt like a black guy with a subscription to the KKK, or like a Jew, perversely serving in the SS."
[what is [god]?]
"We are talking about a linguistic label devoid of entity, a fancy wrapping without a product, a nothing around which we build a sophisticated, folkloric structure that is metaphorical in nature. It is strongly delusional, to the extent that only a few get to the point of questioning what that metaphor really refers to. As a linguist with an interest in cognitive sciences, the label of atheist does not really fit me, in that I don’t consider [god] to be a mystery or a matter of faith. I know exactly what [god] is and where it dwells. [god] is a metaphor with no referent, a nothing that exists in the skulls of people who use it as a conceptual category to interpret reality."
I'll let you find the other gems for yourselves!
The subtitles are a work in progress - they were dictated by P[aolo] over the phone to another Italian speaker. When you bear that in mind, it's a pretty good job! I understand that this issue will be addressed at some point but in the mean time, they get the point across well enough, to my mind.
So settle back, listen and enjoy! Feel free to comment too, we like interactivity!
This blog is chiefly concerned with musing on the musical endeavours of Paolo Ferrarini.
It was created and is updated by me, his friend & fan, Ali, currently known online [by very few people, it's true] as MinkMama and sometimes as Pro[Gnosis].
Although this blog is certainly inspired by Paolo, it is my blog and so I get to decide what's relevant and what's not in this little piece of cyberspace! So brace yourself for tangents...I expect to stumble into all sorts of related material - language, music, sexuality etc.
Never fear though, Paolo has his own site enroute, which you should definitely check out.
The Concept: "In language we dwelt, happy with words" Wittgenstein
Paradigms of the p[roject]:
1] Ontology is matter.
A good field for hard sciences, not particularly interesting or fertile for artistic and philosophical elaboration.
2] Gnoseology is language.
Language is the object, the subject and the method of gnoseological research.
All knowledge begins and ends in language.
Reality and knowledge of reality coincide.
Truth lies in what makes most sense according to each one’s own capacities.
Love, justice, god, good, evil, ghosts, the self, the world, freedom, demons, beauty, exist whenever it makes sense to someone that they do.
To some children it makes sense that Santa Claus exists. To some adults it makes sense that Jesus exists.
To others, it makes sense not to exist at all.
Human beings can only mull over the unfathomable and unattainable ontological truth, creating systems of individual or collective illusions, using the only tool available to them, that is language, in all its forms.
The p[roject] seeks to explore from an artistic point of view the various shapes and conventions that language can assume, from spoken languages, to graphic conventions, music, phonetics, semiotics, and symbolism.
The p[roject] is not a music group, but a philosophical concept that expresses itself through music, lyrics and experimentation.
It is pure research, aimed at finding not truth, but something that could make more sense, describing the human experience in a more elegant and comprehensive way , sharing the joy of intellectual stimulation with those endowed with a sensitivity for this kind of quest.
As for the lemma /god/, the pivotal element of our show Messa a punto di alcuni paradigmi gnoseologici.
The title in Italian is actually a pun.
The meaning is: Setting a few gnoseological paradigms, but it’s got the word Messa in it, an open reference to the catholic mass, which provides the theatrical framework of the show.
Up to three centuries ago, the belief in this concept could be justified as a naïve product of human fantasy, dating back to a time were humans not yet accustomed to the brain tool, unfortunately bestowed upon them without an instruction book to go with it.
Once proven, repeatedly by several philosophers, and with increasing clarity and firmness, up to Nietzsche’s desperation, its falsity, un-usefulness and damaging potential, to carry on with this belief can either be seen as immoral, when some institutions manipulate and exploit the simplicity of thought of the masses, or criminal, when apology and sophism are presented as science and philosophy, with the ultimate goal of living in the most outrageous opulence.
The p[roject] upholds that art and music represent a possible path to follow in order to achieve freedom from any sort of propaganda and ideology.
The only possible happiness is a constant and sophisticated process of liberation.
And being sophisticated is imperative, a moral duty, in a time when culture is always readily available, but seldom encouraged, and means of communication tend to replace the actual contents to communicate.
The p[roject] is an invitation to join us along this path of research.
"One thing is certain, I couldn’t have been gay and a catholic! I would have felt like a black guy with a subscription to the KKK, or like a Jew, perversely serving in the SS."
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