Carly - Project #2

I’m not sure if this audio file I’m attaching will go through or not, but here’s the info to contextualize it:

“Bush Meets Bakhtin”

In Rabelais and His World, Bakhtin seeks to explain the origins of traditional folk humor. This is a bawdy humor, linked to the lower regions of the body: orifices, sites of excess. Excess give way to a physical performance of transgression, a state of “festive madness” that allows participants to mock the authority of the state.

The following soundscape responds to Bakhtin’s notion that “fear is the extreme expression of narrow-minded and stupid seriousness, which is defeated by laughter … Complete liberty is possible only in the completely fearless world.”

Samples from:

“Cocoon” by Björk (album: Vespertine)
“Putztito” by Besho Drom (album: Maszco Himszes)
“Alili” by Fanfare Ciocarlia (album: Fanfare Ciocarlia 1)
“In the Tower” by DeVotchKa (album: Una Volta)

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

The Bene Gesserit Littainy against Fear.
Frank Hurbert, Dune

Sympathetic vibrations. I’m curious about your choice of music. On the topic of music and Bakhtin, I remember reading reviews of various metal bands, sound systems, subwoofers, etc. over the years which reference bodily/scatological effects of listening to live music with amped up BASS. This relates more to a linkage of anxiety around bodily functions, but thought it relevant to your project.