Re: [microsound] being 'political' in non-verbal music

[graham miller <grahammiller@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

you can't be serious?

the answer to your question is a 1000 page response but...

....for starters, read this from cover to cover (it's short):

Noise: The Political Economy of Music
Jacques Attali

and think about this: the popular music on the radio is some of the most
apolitical, apathetic music in the entire universe. and it's chock-full of
'lyrics.'

do you not think the structure of music itself is not a statement? that
the choice of using one instrument over the other, or one chord, or one
scale versus another, is not a message in of itself?

are looping, repetition, sampling and thievery not political acts unto
themselves?

the human voice and the words that it sings are just a serious of sounds
linked together through syntax. how is this any different than any other
musical sound or language?

an intense political or philosophical statement in mandarin is not going
to resonate with a listener unless they speak mandarin.

music is no different. the listener requires the cypher to decode the
meaning in music, and this cypher is acquired the same way we learn any
new language, musical or otherwise.

in essence it gets down to 'getting it.' get it?

sound signifies. just like a stop sign that doesn't need the word 'stop'
written on it. just like a cross or a swastika. just like a middle finger.
the sound of sound signifies. you don't need words. sounds are words.
words are sounds.

even for the jedi, it is time to rest.

graham.




Damian Stewart wrote:

> How do you get across political messages in music which has no lyrics
> and which has no voice samples?
>
> As I grow younger, more naive, and more idealistic, I'm becoming
> increasingly interested in music as a way of expressing opinion, as a
> way of spreading consciousness about things that don't find their way
> into the media. I'd like to believe I can do this using non-verbal
> music, that is, music with no lyrics and no voice samples (eg, of
> politicians).
>
> Without using liner notes or track titles (because when music is
> transmitted over the internet all you get is the .mp3 file), how does
> one attach clear, unambiguous meaning to non-verbal sound? What are the
> precedents? I imagine there's some punks out there somewhere who are as
> I write experimenting with this stuff but I can't read all the zines
> that exist so I can't hear about them..
>
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