Occupying our own voice

[Dover]

I've been reading and posting about the somewhat puzzling absense of a unique musical component or anthem
arising from the OWS movement. There has been a steady stream of 60's era singer/song writers to infuse
and inspire the occupations like a ritual procession of wise elders bringing blessings and support. There
has also been the ever present drumming circles who have acted as the heartbeat of the fetus growing in the collective womb of the awakening masses.

Lately I've been waxing nostalgic, listening to the music of my own generation, idealistic, searching...Pink Floyd, The Band, Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash...recognizing that those early experiences and will to birth a significant change were perhaps ultimately stillborn. I, for one, had been left in a state of mourning, longing for that lost child and all the hopes and dreams that I had held in my now empty womb for so many years. Some piece of me felt a failure and my heart broken at the loss of innocence, of so much creative potency and brave beauty of the time, given over to
grey hairs and a darkening cynicism.

And then the most amazing thing happened...a dawning realization that much more had been growing in the long gestation, in the deepest recesses of the collective heart and mind that was now kicking and moving within the womb. And like a pregnant expectant parent all the dreams and expectations began to arise again.
At last, in mid-September it was born. And while this birth is a truly collective one, it does feel as though the reins are in the hands of the youth.

I have to laugh at myself. I have watched over the OWS movement like an overbearing parent wanting to provide guidance while trying to remember to see and honor its individuality, independence and uniqueness.

So lately I've been pondering this question of why on earth OWS didn't look more like the 60's, creating a message- laden soundtrack to inspire the journey and make it their own. Other's wondered why they didn't speak and articulate their purpose and goals. Still others felt the need to clean up after them...lol. Clean your room! Get a job! etc. etc. etc.

Ultimately, as with all our collectively conceived offspring, this movement will be what it will be. Maybe we'll recognize some piece of ourselves in the look, the feel, the sound....maybe not. Maybe we're in unexplored territory.

I was answering a poster here at DU who had responded to an article I posted about the lack of an OWS soundtrack, as in 'protest songs' by singer/song writers. The poster replied that he/she was very content with the drumming circles. My first response was to suggest that both the drumming AND the introduction of new protest song material would be just what this movement needed. Or more accurately what I needed. But the more I thought about that, the less I believed it. In truth I couldn't imagine being inspired in the same way that I had been by, for instance, Dylan back in the day. Not because no one could write as well but because I couldn't think of any words that could be written that would move me or adequately sum up this new happening. In fact the thought of a protest song (old or new) seems to reduce the experience down like a wool sweater that had shrunk in the wash. Would it ever fit again? Naybe it's just me, but it feels like we are all done with words and now we need to be touched in a new way. Then I thought of the drums again...their tribal, rhythmic, percussive sound that penetrated and engaged my whole body. It seems a perfect expression for a movement without a lot of words.

This thought led me to ponder what it would be like to do some spontaneous voice intonations that would begin with a few voices and grow into a cacophany and include everybody's individual natural sound/tone. It just somehow seemed a more fitting and authentic form of expression and language. I imagined this beautiful sound as it would swell and dip like a massive flock of starlings in flight. Have you ever heard a large group do this? It's magical in its power. And it's universal in it's simple use of tone almost like chanting but different. No words. Just a collective
sound, beautiful and filling the whole group body with its tonal vibration.

=====

I found this article tonight. This issue of achieving a group sound certainly seems to be on people's minds.
A lot of expectant parents out there...lol


New Generation of Music Central To Protest.

NEW YORK (AP) — The sound of insistent drumming bounces off the sides of nearby office towers announcing the location of the Occupy Wall Street home base long before its inhabitants are otherwise seen or heard.

Turn a corner in Zuccotti Park and you're likely to run into a drum circle or find someone strumming a guitar. Maybe it's an amateur trying to keep spirits up, or it could be the real deal — recording artists such as David Crosby and Graham Nash.

Music and musicians are woven into the fabric of the Occupy Wall Street protest, much as they were in movements, confrontations and protests of the past, from the American Revolution to slavery to the Civil War, suffrage movement, labor movement, civil rights movement and Vietnam War. But no defining anthem such as "We Shall Overcome" or "Which Side Are You On" has yet emerged for the protesters who have taken on corporate America.

"Every successful progressive social movement has a great soundtrack. The soundtrack (for Occupy Wall Street) is just as democratic and grass roots as the movement," said singer Tom Morello, who was given an MTV online music award for his performance of "The Fabled City" at Zuccotti Park last month. A clip of the performance has spread widely online.

..//..

"There’s no centralized musical figure because there isn’t a coherent value that is going to be communally expressed in song," she said.


...cont'd

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/general/view/20111113new_generation_of_music_central_to_protest/srvc=home&position=recent

[OneGrassRoot]

1. I truly appreciate this beautiful post.

:hug:

K&R

[Dover]

2. Thank you OGR.

:hug: