Monday, March 30, 2009
Triste destino
El destino más triste del ser humano es dejar de ser animal, domeñando lo que entonces se llamaría pulsión y dejando atrás el instinto, únicamente para volver en su contra los resultados de aplicar su recién ganada "voluntad". En otras palabras: dejar de ser animal sólo para ser infeliz.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Españoles en París
Me siento a comer algo en un café, en el aeropuerto. Lucho con el francés para darme a entender de alguna manera. Aún así, me estafan.
Veo entrar una pareja. La mesera los recibe diciendo "Bonjour", y ellos, sin dejarla terminar, responden a viva voz: "Somos españoles y hablamos español."
Veo entrar una pareja. La mesera los recibe diciendo "Bonjour", y ellos, sin dejarla terminar, responden a viva voz: "Somos españoles y hablamos español."
Life itself in "Redemption song"
The power it has, it's just astonishing. A single voice, backed up by a guitar; one would never suspect that it could be so mighty. In a way, it is as mighty as the higher man being praised by the music. Or is it praising life itself?
One should not fall into the temptation of excessive exegesis.
"Redemption song", as performed by Bob Marley & The Wailers (BMW) at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, PA on 09/23/80: it is an epitome of the year 1980. It is the most mature BMW possible, showing what would be the latest of their musical styles.
The Pittsburgh show was, in my view, an appendix to the Uprising tour. It couldn't be the same because the group had to face a harsh reality: Bob' life was in danger. In a way that is very difficult to imagine with a different outcome than death.
Musically, there are elements in the style of the lead guitars as well as the rhythm sections (the newly introduced electronic drums) that had been present since the beginning of the American leg of the tour. But I think it is far more pronounced in the Madison Square Gardens and Pittsburgh shows. I imagine it like being kind of a forced evolution: it would probably be your last chance to play new stuff.
I wonder in how far the interpretation of "Forever loving Jah" in NYC in 1980 was influeced by that factor.
Back to the song, in its latest interpretation it had three very clear phases. During the first one Bob sings while playing on his acoustic guitar. This performance is given with such candor, it is very impressing. The voice seems more powerful than ever, with a very different and hard-to-define energy (1). Seeco would join him later on, with a brotherly accompainement.
The second phase is when Bob is singing along the drums. This is the best performance of that second phase. His strength is amazing, so many feelings can be passed on by this music! This time he goes into the third phase (when the band enters) on tune (2).
This second phase is probably the most spiritual one. Bob is shouting his message on the one song he probably liked the most (3).
The last phase, with the band entering, is no less interesting than the previous ones. First of all, Bob is perfectly on tune when this parts starts. It really shows the evolution of the Wailers' sound of what would have probably been the style for the next album (4), and would have had probably influenced (although at a less rapid pace) the rest of the American tour that year. More American? I think so. But not for that less roots.
"Redemption song" summarizes important aspects about the band at that time. It also shows an evolution forced by Bob's diagnose with cancer. It is, without a doubt, the most interesting song of the Pittsburgh show.
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(1) For an example where he lacks of energy, you can listen to the Desside 1980 "Redemption song". He seems very tired there.
(2) An opposite example of this would be the "Redemption song" in Dortmund, 1980.
(3) Given that he played it many times at the interviews in the Essex House hotel. It is to be noted that it was absent from the MSG shows in NYC.
(4) Listen to the "Confrontation demos". The drumbox style goes heavily in that '80-like vibe.
One should not fall into the temptation of excessive exegesis.
"Redemption song", as performed by Bob Marley & The Wailers (BMW) at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, PA on 09/23/80: it is an epitome of the year 1980. It is the most mature BMW possible, showing what would be the latest of their musical styles.
The Pittsburgh show was, in my view, an appendix to the Uprising tour. It couldn't be the same because the group had to face a harsh reality: Bob' life was in danger. In a way that is very difficult to imagine with a different outcome than death.
Musically, there are elements in the style of the lead guitars as well as the rhythm sections (the newly introduced electronic drums) that had been present since the beginning of the American leg of the tour. But I think it is far more pronounced in the Madison Square Gardens and Pittsburgh shows. I imagine it like being kind of a forced evolution: it would probably be your last chance to play new stuff.
I wonder in how far the interpretation of "Forever loving Jah" in NYC in 1980 was influeced by that factor.
Back to the song, in its latest interpretation it had three very clear phases. During the first one Bob sings while playing on his acoustic guitar. This performance is given with such candor, it is very impressing. The voice seems more powerful than ever, with a very different and hard-to-define energy (1). Seeco would join him later on, with a brotherly accompainement.
The second phase is when Bob is singing along the drums. This is the best performance of that second phase. His strength is amazing, so many feelings can be passed on by this music! This time he goes into the third phase (when the band enters) on tune (2).
This second phase is probably the most spiritual one. Bob is shouting his message on the one song he probably liked the most (3).
The last phase, with the band entering, is no less interesting than the previous ones. First of all, Bob is perfectly on tune when this parts starts. It really shows the evolution of the Wailers' sound of what would have probably been the style for the next album (4), and would have had probably influenced (although at a less rapid pace) the rest of the American tour that year. More American? I think so. But not for that less roots.
"Redemption song" summarizes important aspects about the band at that time. It also shows an evolution forced by Bob's diagnose with cancer. It is, without a doubt, the most interesting song of the Pittsburgh show.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) For an example where he lacks of energy, you can listen to the Desside 1980 "Redemption song". He seems very tired there.
(2) An opposite example of this would be the "Redemption song" in Dortmund, 1980.
(3) Given that he played it many times at the interviews in the Essex House hotel. It is to be noted that it was absent from the MSG shows in NYC.
(4) Listen to the "Confrontation demos". The drumbox style goes heavily in that '80-like vibe.
Probabilidades
A veces uno se pregunta ya no, si existe una vida después de la muerte, sino más bien por las probabilidades. ¿Qué sería más probable? ¿Que nuestras vidas tengan un sentido último, y éste, por acción de fuerzas innombrables, se transmitiera más allá de nuestra existencia? ¿O será, más bien, que es nuestro contacto con los otros, de cualquier manera, que los impulsa a seguir con aquello que defendimos? En una forma u otra, se entiende, o si no la vida sería una inútil replicación de cromosomas sin posibilidad de mutaciones.
Es más probable que esa fuerza innombrable seamos nosotros. En ese caso, es una suerte tenernos. Por mientras vivamos... y más allá.
Es más probable que esa fuerza innombrable seamos nosotros. En ese caso, es una suerte tenernos. Por mientras vivamos... y más allá.
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