8 Beginnings

I’m not going to pretend I know anything about classical music, unlike OH, but of the little I’ve seen performed I found this absolutely thrilling; here is part of Strauss’s Metamorphosis. It’s not complete, so look up the rest on youtube, but I like the video for this one;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPejei9nKnM

And here is another fragment of a song with a beautiful video and beautiful lyrics, my brightest’s diamonds voice is the most haunting sounds and this for me is the saddest remembrance of childhood or lost love;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bavGszhlmBI

The picture above is by probably my favourite contemporary artist, namely Kara Walker. This is a still from ‘8 Possible Beginnings or: The Creation of African-America, A Moving Picture by Kara E. Walker’ (2005). It’s very irrelevant to the two musical links, so please don’t associate them, I’ve just put them together as general things that were churning around in my head. Kara Walker manages to create these beautiful silhouettes that at first glance are as pleasing to the eye as shadow puppets, I think it reminds everyone of making animals with their hands against the wall, articulating shapes with the movement of fingers. Yet when looked at more closely, the form is proven to be deceptive, these images are deeply disturbing. The image I chose (above) is more obviously so, but some it takes a little more looking to realise that what you are looking at is something very explicit and very disturbing, either racially or sexually (or both).

Cheers