Friday, March 12, 2010

Ô Satan, prends pitié de ma longue misère!


My podcast looks at the work of Diamanda Galas in the context of appropriation art, specifically Galas's use of poetry by Charles Baudelaire as a foundation for her vocal manipulations. Examining the relationship between language and sonic setting, or covering, and the radical turn Galas makes from other efforts to set Baudelaire to music, I turn to compositions of Baudelaire's poems by actress Yvette Mimieux, electronic composer Ruth White, and The Cure, analyzing the differences that animate these pieces.

Download the "Diamanda Galas" podcast (22:00).



3 comments:

tatina said...

Good Heavens! Where in God's name did
you come up with the term "appropriation
art"?
You must then consider the masses of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,Penderecki,Lutoslawki, and all the
composers who wrote masses, which, by definition
are complex works setting the poets of the
day in juxtapostion with ancient liturgical
texts, to be also "appropriation art."

Please do your research before writing such nonsense,

Tony Vega NYC NY

Roxanne Carter said...

Leaping lizards, maybe I would, since according to your description they are borrowing across media forms. Debussy's Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire also set this poetry to music, but I didn't highlight those particular settings - I was more interested in works that altered Baudelaire's words in some way, or spoke to the way I see Galas reinterpreting his poetry.

tatina said...

APPROPRIATION art.
The problem with art today
is not the artists but the imbeciles
who write about it.

Did it EVER occur to you that
Galas spent years doing her
own work so that Baudelaire's work
could be done PROPERLY, rather
than scholastically--as did RUTH WHITE.

APPROPRIATION ART is when you buy
a pair of socks at the KMART and write
DOLCE AND GABBANA on them.