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Courage ...
When we think of courage in the field of music
we think of the idea of avant-garde …
I recall an old book entitled “The Golden Bough”
written by the anthropologist James Frazer
about an ancient ritual that took place in the woods of Nemi, close to Rome
during which the old king was killed by a pretender who would reign thereafter.
Now, this is what music actually needs
not physical violence obviously, but violence of ideas
something which is missing today …
After all, just to give an idea of the strength of this myth …
Can you remember the movie “Apocalypse Now”?
Marlon Brando Kurtz was like the king of the Vietnamese jungle
strangely enough on his desk he actually has “The Golden Bough”
this is why when Martin Sheen arrives Brando knows he would be killed
because it’s the law of nature, it’s the agricultural tradition
which these myths derive from, and this is what music needs today
but the problem is that there is nobody willing to kill it
so it struggles to innovate, but it was not the same in the past …
each time music experienced an explosive and revolutionary step forward
somebody had been able to kill it.
Most probably you have heard the name John Cage many times
he is an avant-garde musician, even if not often defined as a musician
Just think nearly all the music we listen to today, owes something to him
because in the 1950s, after a very long career,
he did something that nobody else had done before,
with incredible courage, he put up a show on something we actually already know
asking listeners to be as brave as he was when he presented this work
this extraordinary piece is entitled 4’33”, as its length …
but it has no music, it is pure silence
so we are talking of the courage of the composer, of the executor
but mostly of the people who listen to something like this …
This composition goes on for 4’33’’
John Cage is telling us that we must be brave
and try to listen to music with a different ear.
Today we are surrounded by music, we listen to it all day
even if we don’t want to, there is music everywhere
supermarkets, lifts, the radio… but it’s always the same music
there is nothing that surprises us, nothing that makes us think differently
instead, we demand music that doesn’t make us think at all
and this is a real pity.
Cage says everything is music and shows us a man in front of a piano
this makes us think of what could be done
of what we feel and what happens within us
during 4’33’’ of our lives.
In the end, if you think about it, it’s a great act of courage.
Anyhow, Cage came from the academy world of contemporary music
where, during those years, a violence of ideas was almost natural
but the thing that interests us most is when this revolution happened for popular music
the music which in theory is intended for as many people as possible.
Cage killed music in such a radical way, theorizing its absence
but it was precisely in those years that music started to change drastically
Rock & Roll was born and other things started to happen …
Then, in the 1960’s a man called Bob Dylan appeared
probably the ideal representation of courage in the music industry
he demonstrated this in different moments of his career
also based on a certainty, which is something that helps artists
courage is easily combined to vision when you are convinced
that what you are doing is right and there is nothing else you want to do.
Dylan had this feeling for many years, inspired in an almost supernatural way.
After causing revolution within the folk tradition
he confronted people around the world who thought pop music was made to dance
to enjoy and fall in love with, and taught them that instead
it could be made just to listen to.
His songs, in fact, only needed to be listened to …
He combined folk structures to visionary lyrics
just think of ‘Tambourine man’ probably the most visionary of all.
But at a certain point, he did something even more explosive.
He started telling people that the world had changed.
He tried to explain this not with discourse and rhetoric
but simply by changing instrument from the acoustic guitar to the electric one
from the placid sound of folk to the electric one of rock
he talked to his audiences who only needed to be reassured
about their alternative beliefs: being the pure people of folk
thinking of the American people, being committed to change …
Dylan told them they were on the wrong side
and that the world had already moved on.
He did it like this …
This act, was defined the strongest psychodrama in rock history
because he went to the Newport Festival
one of the places where he had been identified as the new Messiah of folk
with his guitar and his harmonica, and that’s exactly where he went in 1965 …
He deliberately chose the temple of folk to do this and he was hissed.
He probably imagined it wouldn’t appeal to the audience,
but he had already decided he was going to do electric folk
that was the oath he had chosen and that was when rock started …
Listening to music means being able to imagine
the world in a different way, not as it is commonly represented
listening to music means opening one’s eyes to a different reality
listening to music and not only consuming it, can change lives
maybe not all lives at the same time
because we do not all listen to music in the same way
but certainly each one of you has a song which changed your way of seeing things
this happens less and less, we listen to music regularly
we consider music to be something accompanying us all the time
and that it doesn’t change much in our lives
But it’s not really like this.
Think of 1966 when the Beatles were the most popular band in the world
nothing like today’s Rihanna or One Direction …
Excuse me, but the music isn’t working, so could you sing the next song for us?
Well, if singing “Like a rolling stone” would be quite hard for me now
it would be even harder to sing the next song we chose for you …
Dylan came from this folk tradition and was greeted by Ginsberg and others
as he decided that great American poetry could become music and enter juke boxes …
But, talking about courage, let’s think about the Beatles
they are somehow the emblem of pleasant and enjoyable pop music
but they were actually braver than Dylan
reaching worldwide success at the age of 23 …
We will actually talk about the courage of the Beatles this evening at Officine Cantelmo …
The strong point of the group was they never gave up …
in 1963 they released ‘She loves you’ still the most sold single in history
then they continued with more and more successful songs …
Imagine you are in 1966, more than 40 years ago
if radios received a single like this today they most probably wouldn’t broadcast it
because they would consider it too difficult …
So this is what I call violence of ideas
the courage of doing something which for personal reasons is the right thing
beyond the fact that people could like it or not.
Those of my age know how difficult it is to reconstruct
the effect that the song had, even if it was digested with time
but when it was released, we didn’t really understand it
we were fascinated by it but there were other songs in the album
which were more understandable and easy to listen to
this was the closing piece, it’s a modal piece
it’s unlikely in pop music to have a song with a single chord
a horizontal piece with overlapping, reversal,
the words from the Tibetan Book of the Dead
it’s something which had never been seen in pop music
so really, to understand something like this it took some months
as opposed to today’s hasty consumption of music.
The next step and last example is something we could do everyday
even if not in the exact way Jimmy Hendrix did it …
It’s an idea Hendrix had at Woodstock, in a great moment for alternative and youth culture
demonstrating that another world was really possible
Hendrix got on stage and played the national anthem of the United States.
In normal conditions, in the middle of the Vietnam war
we would have expected rotten tomatoes to be thrown at him
but Hendrix took the piece and transformed it into something else
most of the people who saw this somehow changed their way of thinking
as Hendrix explained how to take something and, with courage, transform it into what you want it to be
things you find each day are not necessarily what you like
but you can change them into something else.
This was pure invention, taking the national anthem
and starting with distortion, tearing it to pieces
and creating something which still touches you today
becoming an imitation of bombing in Vietnam
the anthem of the United States becomes the responsible for the death of the Vietnamese
just think of the courage that was needed to do it in 1969 …
We will end our speech with something which is quite obvious.
We must change our way of listening to music
if we have the courage to listen to it in a different way
better music will surely arrive making the world a better place
there are no doubts, we are not rhetorical
because the world is continuously going through better moments and it depends on us …
listening to music is not useless
it’s something we do every day and it is part of our lives, like breath.
When young people come to us wanting to be journalists we dissuade them
many others want to be musicians and we encourage them
but we tell all of them that they must be brave
and to be kings they must go in the woods and kill the old king who is in charge.
Thank you and goodbye