Geisha, Turning - Valeska
529
Published 2019-01-20
by Valeska
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some thoughts:
The figure in the video is not a geisha, but a “Yama-uba”, played by Kabuki theater actor Bandō Tamasaburō V. The original footage for this performance is unaltered on Youtube. Kabuki theater is gorgeous, I recommend checking it out.
According to wikipedia, in traditional Japanese folklore a Yama-uba is a "monstrous crone (old woman) with cannibalistic tendencies” who has "unkempt hair, long and golden white… (and wears a) kimono, filthy and tattered”. She would steal children, and after nursing them, eat them alive using a mouth that’s hidden under her hair on top of her head.
If you listen closely, you’ll hear a sort of chanting wandering about the background. These are excerpts from Gregorian chants that I sampled directly from vinyl. I have a record by the Deller Consort called “Gregorian Chants: Elegies for Kings and Princes”. These are ancient prayers and songs, dating as far back as the year 700. These pieces were written for the deceased to ease their journey into the next life. According to the record sleeve, most often elegies were written by monks, usually having no key signature noted, and were heavily modular, as was the tradition at the time. Sometimes, manuscripts were found without musical notation at all, and scholars would infer the music through the lyrics left behind…
The violin is improvised and cut pretty much from first takes. I used a rubber mute and a looping station. I listened to the chants and played over to the sound in that moment, doing my best not to think. I tried to stay away from matching the key/pitch of the chant, as it felt against the music to play so closely to their voices. Instead, I tried to float around it, to reference the emotion and color of the elegies rather than the musical content.
I like to think that the Kabuki actor can hear the music and is dancing incongruously along, letting his emotions flow through him without a thought…
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Listen to Valeska's debut album, "I Want Proof That I Have Lived" through these links:
Full album audio-only: • Full Album Stream - I Want Proof That...
Playlist with all music videos: • All Music Videos For "I Want Proof Th...…
Playlist with more music from Valeska:
• Music by Valeska
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bandcamp: valeskagavotte.bandcamp.com/
Valeska is Kevin Leahy