Jack Centro

Upon listening to the Tibetan Buddhist Chant LP, I couldn’t help but think to the song Anansies Dance by Theo Parrish featured on his album Parallel Dimensions. The use of Parrish’s voice in this song is hypnotically beautiful, repeating consonant sounds and front mouth sounds over and over again.

Anansi  is an Akan folktale character. He often takes the shape of a spider and is sometimes considered to be a god of all knowledge of stories. The vocal sounds and tinkering piano keys that rise and fall throughout the song replicate the many legs of the spider. The more I think about this song while I listen the clearer the image of a graceful spider comes to mind. The high end of the song, predominately the breathing, hissing and what sounds like a bubbling bong hit conjure the image of web making.

Even the following song Serengeti Echoes is a sonic reminder to the music of a voodoo ritual. Pitched up and down male/female vocals rise from the tribal drum sample that is looped for what seems an eternity. Parrish understands the power of the ‘loop’ and realises the hypnotic feeling it can induce. His music is designed for dance floors so I can understand why some people may not appreciate the experience through headphones.

I have been watching the fascinating documentary Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti by experimental filmmaker and dancer Maya Deren.

Being a huge lover of percussive music and polyrhythmic drumming, I was instantly captivated. Not knowing much about the Haitian religion, Voodoo, I have found it hugely informative.

From an initial watch I have gathered a few notes on the documentary;

1. Essentially the practice of Voodoo is an ongoing concept that weaves itself into everyday Haitian life, it is what holds the community together. The many Gods and Spirits follow very much in the same vain as all gods around the world; a good of love, death, agriculture etc. These are called the Loa. However unlike Christianity or even the Greek gods, the Loa are summoned through ritual and ‘posses’ the partaking dancers. The spirits of the gods manifest through movement and performance from particular members of the community, this is an ever evolving process.
2. Instead of just praying to a benevolent god, Voodoo invites the believer to self reflect, take part and ‘become’ the god itself. I think this is a very interesting idea because it gives people the chance to sometimes act a different way, move in a strange form or play a funny trick or two.
3. Almost all the rituals involve dance accompanied by chanting and drumming. The chanting and drumming reflect the tone of the ritual. Dancing is considered Sacred in voodoo, not secular.

One section of the film spoke of the Ezril ritual in which a female becomes ‘possessed’ during the ritual dance. This is a harmonious, joyful dance filled with grace and smiles. “Only one dancer can outshine everyone else”–this is when they know the spirit has entered, the most graceful dancer is considered to be possessed. I like to see this as a ritualistic dance battle where the winner is agreed upon by general consensus and the fact the best dancer knows it. The possession from Ezril is described to be extremely pleasurable, your arms become weightless, and a constant but gentle breeze rushes across your body.

The liner notes for the ‘Tibetan Buddhism Trip LP’ read:

Psalmody, small bells, big cymbals, gongs and drums – this puzzling collage of Tibetan Buddhist rites recordings is hypnotizing. It opens the way to the state of trance. The slight electronic arrangement still reminds that reality is not so far. The two twenty-minute tracks instantly convey an unknown and fascinating universe. Mantra chanting accelerates, horns become more insistent and a mystical atmosphere arises. With Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Akuphone starts exploring ritual and ceremonial music, here with a subtle mix of field recordings and electronic handlings.

This two track LP, consisting of two twenty minuet songs is completely intoxicating and otherworldly. Having read about Tibetan Buddhist rituals and looked into the Tibetan Book of the Dead, I’ve never actually listened to the rituals in action. The arrangement of the field recordings by Kink Gong is masterful, eight minuets (although it feels both longer and shorter at the same time) of chanting and droning ‘Om’s accompanied by the steady thump of a drum braces the ears for what will come next. The second part of the track erupts into a rewinding, oscillating cauldron of sounds. Almost un-describable the sounds frantically pan from left to right, the intensity of the humming increases and a younger male possibly female chorus begins to chant. Although a drastic change from the start, the track doesn’t loose its hypnotic quality. Gradually the second act melts into the third, the intense sounds begin to disappear and identifiable sounds such as talking and tea cups clinking are picked up. Like a trip the magic wears off.

Upon listening it’s clear that both tracks are inspired by the transitional stages of trip also known as the three Bardo’s. The idea of the Bardo’s interests me because it directly links to my research into ritual research. Essentially the Bardo’s are a set of stages that describe the intensity of a trip;

Bardo 1: Entry, everything is calm, slowly building to the second .

Bardo 2: The trip takes full force, the circus, things can get strange and intense.

Bardo 3: Re-entry, the craziness dies off, the real world slowly comes back.

I intend to re-visit the Bardo’s in my essay, using them as support for my analysis of Mancuso’s ‘spiritual or sacred’ party element.

Madison Moore (PHD) is a DJ, speaker, party promoter and author concerned with Black queer social spaces and feminism. 

How art and beauty is created during adversity. 

Black Queer Frequency: Refusing the norms of society in a space, land that allows you to do this. 

FABULOUS

What does it mean to be radically yourself?  

Madison has written a book called ‘Fabulous; The rise of the beautiful eccentric’ 

He talks about certain spaces such as nightclubs, the street, shops—style politics 

QUESTION: What are your thoughts on Voguing becoming internationally known, how much does Madonnas song play into this?  

ANSWER: Everybody loves black-queer culture but not everyone loves black-queers. 

Fabulousness is not about money, corporations. It is about making society see you when they intend not too. Going over the top so you are elevated and not discarded. 

Madison has become obsessed with TikTok, he understands that there is algorithmic oppression on the site as well. 

‘Renounce yourself..or suffer the penalty of being suppressed; do not appear if you do not want to disappear’ (Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality)  

THE CLUB 

Paradise Garage is now a luxiours apartment, one of the most expensive areas in New York. 

The party is about a moment of suspension. Feeling a rigorous sensation in the body, a pulsating tip-to-toe…the dance, however, is not an escape, it is a punctuation. It is about claiming an instant of time and something that can be mine completely. Though at times I share it with  others, as we are all our own orbiting   

Q: It’s interesting to see the student requests mainly the one regarding clubs being social spaces for a range of activities considering how much the ‘idea’ of the club has changed. Do you feel that in order for clubs to evolve the focus should move away from the ‘club’ as a corporation but back to the ‘party’.  

I’m sure I’m only echoing the thoughts of the other ‘participants’ involved in Madisons lecture. This was easily the best lecture I have ever attended, not only because the subject matter was up my street but because of the engaging, fun way Madison expressed his love for music and party culture. Many speakers, lectures, teachers etc should really take a leaf out of Madison’s book on how to push the boundaries in education and generating passion for a subject.  

Madison’ focus is primarily on marginalised groups of society that utilise avert tactics to fight back against prejudice. Be it through fashion, dancing, hosting parties, vougeing etc, Madison argues that ‘fabulousness’ is a an armour, a way to protect but also to be heard. Forcing the homophobes, racist’, sexist’ to really see these people. I also loved the fact Madison talked a little bit about the Paradise Garage, a mythical nightclub that was really at the forefront of promoting LGBTQ+ ideals long before a lot of other corporations cottoned on to the changing times. Anyone who is interested in party culture or DJ culture should know about the Garage ( in my opinion). Without Larry Levan the ‘career DJ would not exist. Simple.    

My first time experiencing a nightclub with an acoustically nurtured and hi-spec sound-system was at the venue Egg in Kings Cross roughly three years ago. Before entering the space, queuing outside, the hairs on my body prickled with excitement, reacting to the resonating thump of a kick drum and the incredibly low end bass attempting to break through the brick walls. Edging ever closer to the entrance the music intensified, mixing with the cacophony of noise from the crowd; laughter, shouts and the barking orders from security.

After roughly ten minuets we were inside, by this time the music had become the central focus of every action and thought I had, my movements became autonomously in time with the beat; tapping the bar with my hand and bobbing my head. From the second I entered Egg, I literally forget everything, my worries, fears and anxieties, it was as if the music and space created a vacuum between my conscious brain and my body. All I wanted to do now was dance for hours and hours. Looking back to this time my music tastes have changed rather drastically and I’m not sure if I’d be found at a similar party but the impact of this sonic experience will live with me forever. Egg is known for being an intensely sweaty and hardcore club, the ceilings are low and the walls are damp, while a musty stench of body odour, cigarettes and alcohol wafts above the dancers. However none of this mattered, like all the other dancers I had become consumed by the thundering music, it swallowed me whole and spat me back out again, performing crazy dances I’d wouldn’t be found dead doing anywhere else.

Preferring to stay in the centre of the dance floor, eyes closed, the music literally felt like a warm blanket, the bass massaged my body and the hi-hats felt like bolts of electricity to my fingers. Losing all sense of time, some songs felt like they played for eternity while others could have been short deafening cries. The absence of clocks, windows and security really helped create a fantastical atmosphere, the real world did not exist here, only I and the other dancers did. 

Secular and Scared Rituals-Music

-‘Many cultures do not enforce a rigid separation between the sacred and secular. Sometimes there is no separation whatsoever.’—Many tribes use song and ritual as a never-ending part of life. An example of this would be the Pygmy tribes of southern Africa, songs such as Mongombi, Anduwa and Bobangi are captured in the Unesco Collection ‘Musical Sources’ LP. 

Mongombi-Shouts uttered while hunting with nets 

Anduwa-Song performed during the return from a hunt 

Bobangi-Song to celebrate the catching of game 

–Performance artist Anna Halprin puts focus on everyday rituals such as eating, sleeping, greeting, touching, moving—and invent new rituals that honour the body and the earth. Eg-‘Halprins 1987 Planetary Dance, a two-day dance ritual, consisted of groups of dancers in 25 countries moving in synchrony to make a wave of dance circling the earth.’ 

-Halprin says “Dancing for others, opportunity to find the peace within. All indigenous dances are for the health and healing of the whole community.”—Dancing is a participatory form of communication or expression through actions rather than words. Even from a scientific perspective dancing is exercise, exercise helps release endorphins, thus making the dancer feel happier. 

“Your body becomes an instrument”  

Structure, Functions, Processes and Experiences 

Rituals and ritualising can be understood from at least four perspectives: 

1. Structures-What rituals look and sound like, how they are performed, how they use space, and who performs them. 
2. Functions-What rituals accomplish for individuals, groups and cultures.
3. Processes-the underlying dynamic driving rituals; how rituals enact and bring about change. 
4. Experiences-what its like to be in a ritual.  

‘Rituals are collected memories encoded into actions. They also help people deal with difficult transitions, ambivalent relationships, hierarchies and desires that trouble, exceed, or violate the norms of daily life’.  

‘Ritual and play lead people into a ‘second reality’, separate from ordinary life. This reality is where people can become selves other than their daily selves. When they temporarily become or enact another, people perform actions different from what they do ordinarily.’ 

‘The performing arts, sports, and games combine ritual and play.’  

Varieties of Ritual

SACRED

-‘Religious rituals give form to the sacred, communicate doctrine, open pathways to the supernatural, and mould individuals into communities’  

-Sacred rituals are those associated with expressing, or enacting religious beliefs.’ 

SECULAR 

Definition: Not connected with religious or spiritual matters. 

-Secular rituals encompass anything considered to be a repeated activity, movement or event not associated with a religious belief. For example ones boring routine can be considered a secular ritual at its most basic form. In relation to my essay attending a party with music or a rave is a macro sized secular ritual. However Shcechner recognises that most rituals are a blend of the sacred and secular, take weddings for example. ‘A wedding is the performance of a state sanctioned contract, a religious ceremony, and a gathering of family and friends. Sacred wedding rituals include cutting the cake, throwing the bridal bouquet and the first dance etc.’ In modern society it is standard for the sacred and secular to be separated by having the wedding ceremony in a church and the party elsewhere, usually a pub, hall or garden.  

-Schencher and Eisenberg both note that the mixing of secular and sacred is common to many celebrations or life events such as birthdays, funerals, retirement, job-related celebrations and christenings. It is interesting that Schechner uses the phrase ‘numerous holidays punctuating the calendar’ for he notices that these ‘rituals’ (almost all accompanied by music) become the ‘architecture of time’. (Eisenberg)  

NOTE: This will be a cool comparison to make in my essay, the flow from Schechner to Eisenberg will flow this way.

It would also be interesting to distinguish the difference between sacred and secular in party form. The focus of my essay is on particular places such as the Loft, the Music Box, Paradise Garage etc exclusive party spaces intended for deep listening and serious dancing. Fast forward to modern day it is rare that party goers will attend the same place week in week out, the same way people would attend church. I must make sure to distinguish the difference between a casual ‘night out with the lads’ and an intense musical journey.

Here are a number of quotes from multiple sources I feel relate to my topic. These should be worked into my essay or used as paragraph talking points.

1. ‘Ritual and play lead people into a ‘second reality’, separate from ordinary life. This reality is where people can become selves other than their daily selves. When they temporarily become or enact another, people perform actions different from what they do ordinarily.’ (Schencher Chapter 2)
2. ‘Another way of putting this would be to say that music is the architecture of time…whenever any number of people hear any piece of music played in any way, they share, in this sense, a common time.’ (Eisenbeg, The Recording Angel, Chapter 2)
3. ‘Private Music, music no one hears, reinforces your invisibility by giving you a private structure of time to set against public time.’ (Eisenberg, Chapter 2)
4. ‘The absence of clocks contributed to the dance dynamic. In the every day world the clock signifies the unstoppable forward movement of teleological time, but partly time unfolds in a different dimension…When clocks are nowhere to be seen, time starts to dissolve, and this provided the dancers at the loft with an opportunity to forget their socialised selves.’ (Lawrence, Love Saves the Day, Chapter 1)
5. ‘Time, though didn’t simply stand still, but went into symbiotic reverse thanks to Mancuso’s practice of decorating the Loft with hundreds of Balloons.‘ (Lawrence, Chapter 1)

–Ritual, Play and Performance: Readings in the social sciences/theatre by Richard Schencher and Mady Schuman

–The Recording Angel: Music, Records and Culture from Aristotle to Zappa by Evan Eisenberg

–Love Saves the Day; The history of American Dance culture 1970-1979 by Tim Lawrence

Rituals and Parties: An exploration into the similarities between ancient and modern rituals.

Following on from my Creative Sound Project research I intend for my essay to explore the similarities between ancient and modern rituals, looking at why humans have constantly used music as a tool to reflect, connect and transcend. I will discuss the google definiton ‘Ritual’ compared to Schencher’s definition and evaluate a specific quote, using this as reference throughout my essay. The quote reads; ‘Rituals are collected memories encoded into actions. They also help people deal with difficult transitions, ambivalent relationships, hierarchies and desires that trouble, exceed, or violate the norms of daily life’.  My essay will cover ancient ritual sites such as the Hypogeum in contrast to Mancuso’s Loft, with focus on the acoustics and desired outcomes of the ‘hosts’.

Reflecting on the two sessions with Jose and Gareth in which the whole class took part in a length jam using an assortment of objects , I feel inspired to explore this method more. I have never experienced or been involved in sound creation this way and at first I must admit I was rather sceptical. But I can confidently say this is no longer the case.

The objects at hand were a range of broken work tools, nails, watering cans, tiles etc, anything you would associate with a hardware store. (As I write this I have literally just come back from my local store with a few of these items.) With the objects each student was designated a microphone, contact mic or amp, some objects were connected to guitar pedals as well. I will note that the objects hooked up to the pedals created some of the most textured and sonically ear catching sounds I’ve ever heard. I have been aware of these methods for a while I just haven’t had the confidence to really try. Now I fully intend on incorporating this practice into my creative sound piece as my main focus is on Auto-Destructive art. I feel there are many similarities through improvised sonic art and destruction.

How will broken objects, equipment, instruments sound when passed through a effects pedal? Think back to Darcha Hewitt.

I feel there are many similarities through improvised/performance sonic art and destruction. For example, in the first session I decided to use my own voice for the majority of the jam. Usually I stay very far from using my own voice, and I think that mainly comes down to my confidence. However in the session I had to ‘destroy’ my own insecurities and just do it. Another would be the destruction of ones self. I.e to become a character or present a feeling through sound, film and dance that feels totally unique to the audience. (I did find sitting under a table on my back to be of some help, it almost became my private recording studio where I couldn’t be seen, just only heard.)