Live
So according to an article in a recent issue of ‘Adbusters’ magazine (I highly recommend this publication for anyone who is over the human beings self-destructive spiral into oblivion) there is a new breed of teenager coming out of Japan. They don’t socialize, let alone leave their bedrooms. Social networking is the sickness and physical isolation the symptom. It seems you can satisfy the need for self-gratification, love, intimacy and social stimulation of any kind over the internet. Scary thought.
It goes on to mention that Japanese people tend to keep to themselves in public. They don’t make eye contact and elevators are an intense experience for a westerner. Apparently the majority of the population who use social networking sites use a fake name and a photograph of someone else. So if conversation and physical interaction are being replaced by fiber-optics, where does that leave live music? Will it die and be replaced by virtual jams and broadcast shows? Well, I don’t think so.
One of the beautiful things about music is that you can communicate a sensation or an emotion without having to give away the context. You could be communicating the frustration of losing a job or an argument with a friend. The sadness of a love dissolved or a pet lost. Even the joy when you lose a tooth only to find some money under your pillow in the morning. The reason for this frustration, sadness or elation isn’t important and with the language barrier separating cultures, deciphering the lyrics is a whole lot more difficult.
To truly get a sense of what someone is communicating (whether they intend to or not) you must be in their space. You must see them live. The mediums of recorded sound and motion picture only communicate two elements. It’s pretty obvious to me that these two elements are only a part of the whole experience and we as humans communicate things through means that A) we can’t convert to a frozen medium and B) we don’t understand. I don’t particularly want to understand these things either because if you analyse them too much, I think they will lose their magic.
It has been mentioned to me by several of my music teachers and visiting touring soloists over the years that some kind of neurological connection happens when you watch a great player live that helps you improve. Only part of this gets through when you hear a recording or watch them on youtube. This just convinces me even more about the power of live performance and interaction. How many times have you heard people say ‘Their CD is ok but they’re way better live’? Seems like a silly statement to me, unless you’re dealing with some less than savory musicians who have been quantized, auto-tuned and sound-replaced to the point that they are un-recognisable! (Sorry Nickleback fans, but they fall into this category for me! No wait. Their CDs are terrible too…)
This feels like it’s going to get into a big rant about quantum particles and the effect of our minds on our surroundings, but lets leave that for another midnight ‘post inspiring gig blog’. (Allen Vizzutti with the Rodger Fox band for anyone interested!)
Night all.
Dave
(Riverblind will be hitting you south islanders in September, confirmed! Details to come.)
