2016年11月15日 星期二

Maya Deren - Voices Of Haiti


Artist: Maya Deren (Recording)
Title: Voice Of Haiti
Label: Elektra EKLP-5 (10-inch mono)
Country: US
Released: 1953
Style: Ethnic

美國實驗電影先驅Maya Deren於鄰近海地首都郊區城鎮Petionville地區錄製的巫毒教儀式錄音, 除電影相關工作之外, 同時身兼舞蹈家,詩人,人類學者的她, 晚年幾乎投注所有心力在海地巫毒教的研究上, 不僅出版了此錄音作品, 也拍攝了巫毒教儀式過程的紀錄片, 這部片也成了她生前最後一部影像作品.
該專輯封面由她時任丈夫, 實驗音樂家伊藤貞司所繪, 兩人合作過不少作品, 最著名莫過Maya Deren 1943年的短片名作"Meshes of the Afternoon (午後之羅網)".

The belief that the proper performance of a sacred formula of symbols or sounds is the means by which man achieves contact with divine powers is a basic principle not only of Voudoun, but of every religion. Such formulae were known as mantras in ancient Sanskrit, and this is still the term for all such ritual action, whether the chants of the Muslim muezzin or the saying of the Catholic rosary. The use of mantras is as ancient and as universal as man's desire to improve his condition and secure his destiny. It is as prevailing as the proud conviction of each man that his weaknesses and inadequaceis are, by and large, common to all men and that, consequently, the power which is sufficiently superior to sustain and fortify him is one which is superior to man altogether. In times of need a man may seek to enlist such assistance by magic means. (...) If the songs and drumming achieve the compelling power which I believe is represented in this album it is because the microphone, lashed to the center post of the ceremonial peristyle, has captured a record not of men and women at play, not of their relaxed spontaneities, nor of their effort to create an art work for other men or for the satisfaction of any employer. It is a record of labor, of the most serious and vital effort which a Haitian makes, for he is here laboring for divine reward, addressing himself not to men but to divinity. They are singing for the gods. It is a privilege to have overheard and to have recorded it.

-Maya Deren


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