[Dancecult-l] Music, Mind & Politics

[tobias c. van Veen]

Wolfgang:

This is an interesting text -- I do like it -- but I must admit, I was
expecting something more in the vein of anti-copyright measures or at least
anti-corporate control of copyright or anti-DRM as part of the manifesto --
i.e., a hard-hitting political aspect of the manifesto that confronts
something of the contemporary challenges posed by narrow copyright to the
communal sharing of rhythm.

Thus I am left with questions in my head... perhaps I can ask them here
(with good intentions, of course): What purpose do you see in gathering
signatures to "call" for "free spaces"? Why "call" for them? Shouldn't they
just be made? Is the situation this dire that we need to remind people that
one can create alternatives to the 'mainstream'? And isn't publicizing a
list of known-names as an appeal for an underground somewhat ironic?

Certainly I'd be interested in hearing more about the text here on D/C.

best/

    tobias




> 
> MUSIC, MIND & POLITICS
> 
> - International call of musicians for free spaces, far from the
> mainstream -
> 
> About forty musicians have already signed the manifesto "Rhythms of
> Change - Music, Mind & Politics". Most of them have a pioneering role
> in their specific musical scenes. Above all artistic differences they
> are all connected by an idealistic approach, which calls for
> engagement and a clear delimitation from the cultural mainstream. The
> manifesto itself describes the need for free open spaces, which are
> based on "self-determined creativity and communal responsibility".
> 
> The list of signatories includes (ex-) members of the bands MC5,
> Crass, Dead Kennedys and Asian Dub Foundation, and the Techno-
> Projects Underground Resistance and Spiral Tribe. In addition many
> different musicians have signed including Free-Jazz-Saxophonist Peter
> Brötzmann, the Country-Musician Rattlesnake Annie, the Industrial-
> Percussionist Z'ev, the Hip-Hop-Artist Telephone Jim Jesus and the
> Agit-Pop-Group Chumbawamba.
> 
> The English and the German written versions of the manifesto as well
> as a linked list of signatories can be found online at:
> www.sterneck.net/manifest
> 
> Contact: contact at sterneck.net
> 
> 
> --------------------------
> 
> 
> RHYTHMS OF CHANGE
> 
> Manifesto on ¹Music, Mind and Politics¹
> 
> Far away from the soft-rinsed TV-Shows one can still hear rare
> rhythms and breaks, which cannot be silenced. It's nearly all the
> same no matter which music culture one examines, or in which city one
> moves. Anyone who looks beneath the surface will find underground
> projects, which oppose the cultural conformity and try to forge new
> directions.
> 
> The rhythms differ sometimes and the lyrics vary in their symbols,
> but their fundamental messages are similar. It's always about free
> spaces in which the first steps of an other life can be realized.
> Free spaces based on self-determined creativity and communal
> responsibility.
> 
> Ideally a party or a session, a concert or a festival can be such
> free spaces. Therefore it is necessary. time and again, to break open
> the structures of consumption and commercialization. Not conforming
> to stars and trends, but common development in the flow of a night.
> 
> But it's not enough to search for the experience of the alternative
> reality on the dancefloor and the concert alone. In this age of
> ecological destruction, globalized exploitation and religious
> fanaticism, nobody can withdraw into their own worlds. In the long
> run the social conditions must be forced to dance. The energy of
> danced-through nights open their real strength only if they are
> unfolded in the reality-remix of the everyday life as a commitment
> for consequent change.
> 
> Hack Reality - Dance for Change !
> 
> 
> Signatories:
> Babu Dinkins (Underground Resistance; Detroit),
> Chumbawamba (Leeds),
> Conni Maly (Lava303 / Playground; Frankfurt),
> Dallas Swendeman (Moontribe; Los Angeles),
> Dick Lucas (Subhumans, Citizen Fish; Bath),
> Dirk Ivens (Dive / Sonar / Klinik; Belgium),
> Eule (Fusion-Festival / U.Site; Lärz),
> Eve Libertine (Dial House / Ex- Crass; Epping),
> Fermin Muguruza (Afro-Basque Fire Brigade; Irun),
> Gerry Hannah (Subhumans; Vancouver),
> Grup Yorum (Istanbul),
> Ian MacKaye, (Fugazi / Ex- Minor Threat; Washington),
> Jarboe - (Ex- Swans; New York)
> Jet Moon (Queer Mutiny; London),
> John Sinclair (Ex- MC5; Amsterdam),
> Jost Gebers (Free Music Production; Borken),
> Klaus Flouride (Dead Kennedys; San Francisco),
> Louis Fleischauer (Aesthetic Meat Foundation; California),
> Luix Saldana (Consejo de Visiones; Nierika),
> Maggie Nicols (Ex- Feminist Improvising Group; London),
> Martin Paul (Ton Steine Scherben Family),
> Massimo & Pierce (Black Sun Productions; Zürich),
> Milan Markovic (Stani Pani Kolektiv; Belgrade),
> Not4Prophet (Ricanstruction Network; East Harlem),
> Penny Rimbaud (Crass Agenda / Dial House; Epping),
> Peter Brötzmann (Free Music Production; Wuppertal),
> Rak Razam (ResisDance / Barrelfull of Monkeys; Melbourne),
> Rattlesnake Annie (Nashville),
> Stefan Knappe / BarakaH (Drone Records / Troum; Bremen),
> Sun-J Tailor (Asian Dub Foundation; London),
> Telephone Jim Jesus (Anticon / Restiform Bodies; Oakland),
> The Ex (Amsterdam),
> The Fire This Time (Indigenous Resistance; Toronto),
> Unknown Writer (Underground Resistance; Detroit),
> Wolfgang Sterneck (Connecta / KomistA; Frankfurt),
> Yeastie Girlz (San Francisco),
> Z'ev (Rhythmajik; London),
> 69db / Sebastian Vaughan (Ex- Spiral Tribe / Network 23, France).
> 
> Text: Wolfgang Sterneck.
> contact at sterneck.net
> www.sterneck.net/manifest
> - * -
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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tobias c. van Veen -----------++++
http://www.quadrantcrossing.org --
McGill Communication & Philosophy