music

Sounds of Africa/shot in the head

| Henna Timanttimetsä

You hear insects all the time everywhere. You are scared of insects. They are violent in their multitude. Their amount is unexpected and unknown small horror that creeps. Their force is their poison and need to go under your skin, to eat you and to consume you and move on to the next body. Africa is scary. It is enormous and endless and dark. Endless in its blackness, noise, violence, liveliness and uniqueness, but we like to see it as one block, because we must understand within our rational frame all, even the things which don’t fit the frame in any way. We need to force all into our frame to comprehend and control and use. All that we can’t control, what can we do with it?

Ethnic sounds, drums, stomping, whipping, singing.
Animal sounds, roaring.
Human sounds, shooting.
Nature’s sounds, the wind, eruptions, the grass, the rain. Cacophony distilled normal, a harmony, a naming. Making order, giving advice, giving comprehension and guidance, harmony like for a choir with a conductor. Do not make a mistake: you will be punished. Who are the people who punish? Who are the people who are punished?

Coffee cantata, tsinazil signifies the whipping of Jesus. Wondrous voices made with instruments invented. 

Giselle is losing her mind. Think that sound.

Case of Britney Spears is an excellent example of female oppression. It is obsession for hyper-sexual child-women who seemingly do not decide for themselves what is their image but they talk of control.

| Henna Timanttimetsä

Interest in how women are seen sellable objects is a curious one. First how much are we things to possess, material to be moulded and what is the purpose? How women are merchandise and for what reason? Is slave 4 u the answer? Merchandised as ever so often women themselves allow this to happen. They make the initiative and show the will to be that object. It is a wanted she-goddess, divine. To be a sex object is seen sexy as such, a deed, a statement to be had in any form possible, as long as there is picture of her it sells. Are women in control as many pop stars claim to be, active but playing passive? Have control you can have over your weight, a discipline, a routine, a way of life. How voluntary and aware of abuse of sexuality should we be and think actively about changing the repetition of gendered clichés? They seem to be effective in making millions. Isn’t it weakness to be unable to do otherwise, unable to have any other message with the whole of one’s being that one is supposed to control? It can be a powerful calculated strategy to use this tradition of stars and ultimately be able to do as one pleases in the end. To be super-rich and look beautiful in photos is one dream for many people regardless of gender. It is an idea of manipulating a mass of people by creating an idol. Are ways to get there different for men and women, more limited for women what comes to creating personal career path in entertainment?

Britney does sing about the culture of oppression around her, involving her, sheer tormenting of her by paparazzi portrayed in her song Piece of me. Is it oppression in the true sense of the word one might wonder. Imprisonment policed by what is said is nothing new. Will she be abandoned when she rebels? She is ridiculed which works well for the press. Shaming works for the tabloids, continuation of oppressive ways women are kept in their place as what is news concerning women’s lives, what kinds of things make headlines concerning women and how they choose to live their lives. Role of a nice girl she is not permitted to change and be more serious. Girliness is not serious shit? To develop further as an artist means to experiment with what one is expected to do and be and what could be escaped from to something unknown. Role that does not evolve beyond boundaries there are is very much the one for women, safety and known areas are given from early on. Outside are dangers which boys go after and test more freely. What are the dangers inside could not be more clear. Yes one can go crazy. Division to safety and to danger is artificial, essential things remain unnoticed.

Repetitious ways to act out are the ones we must speak out about, oppose. To live by what is known and acceptable stand the one barrier to climb over, to not just play the part given is basic rebellion for the young. That is the hard way to figure out what to do, how to find a way out. Ways for Britney to rebel have been to get fat, look ‘ugly’ not smiling to the camera, hit paparazzi with an umbrella, scream, quit the nice girl all-pleasing act which does not take much of effort to break. For women it is a glasshouse where any misconduct shows and is scrutinized. I wonder as she does not analyze it herself to the core the problematic nature of the business towards women in particular and her in it escaping photographers but she gives us clues to feel for her still as it is clear to feel for her is not the deal. She wants to be treated like a human being while working in the business that is not empathetic of failure and weakness, looking other than pitch perfect is not an option. Punk allows women to be ugly and behave as they see fit. It would have been interesting to see Britney change genre.

Song Piece of me which is a much needed critical point of view on her life as celebrity. The song is a picture of a person living hunted which she has felt is against her human rights, rightly so. Celebrities may seem kind of super humans who should be pleased for every publicity they get. That is what they are there for. They are livelihood for many not only for themselves. As they have what many want, they themselves should give all of themselves. Where goes the limit and what stands as interesting journalism, valuable for society? Social media has given us the option of revealing all and we are watching what happens next. It is a whirlwind. That makes a mess itself, a movement of what we see social today. Superstars pose interest to the public in their wealth, position as constantly looked at beings. Question often is why are we interested? What is it we pay attention to and why criticism does not change as much as it is legal to practice this business of vulture?

There could not be more perfect example of contemporary female oppression than Britney in the sense that violence against her is totally accepted by the media and public. It is not seen as violence or oppression, or if it is, it is not important as she is just a pop singer, doing something light-headed and stupid. How could something light be hurtful? She is very privileged and lucky to be where she is which for many equals happiness and perfection and justification. In this picture women are still sold as body parts, shrunken dolls who say what they are let to say, to play the part which is thought to be sexy, desirable and alluring as much as repetition can be. Look the look and get slapped either way. This role of perfection is not what women should want, but they must want it. Does it sound tricky and contradictory? When women go and break the role-play like feminists have done, maybe they have gone crazy and are in of need help since hell has broken loose for what they have done.

When women themselves break the machine, crack down the perfect engine, it is Hysteria, it is a scandal. It is meltdown, it is out of order, a sickness. Women in need of a doctor, in need of cure to set themselves in the right order where nothing is wrong or the matter is nothing special. Correcting themselves not to make the mistake of saying and doing other than what is planned and expected of them. Britney is seen only as someone who went nuts in front of us, got teary, which is documented and ridiculed, which is headlines. Popstar who is recovering from bad behavior and mending up her career, making a comeback, watching carefully out what she says, how she stands. It is tragic the way how she is treated as someone who had a meltdown, crying in front of us, being vulnerable and hurt.  There were 43 000 people in 2014 who committed suicide in the USA alone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_the_United_States

Tragedy is the complete blindness and indifference towards mental illness, shame and ridicule around  lunacy, mental issues altogether. Ways women are monitored and policed is neurotic and making women and all of society ill. The insanity of celebrity culture itself is something to be treated. Not to mention what goes on in the world as a whole. To laugh may help but it is not a comedy show. It is still her who is crazy, recovering from her condition. Something to be hidden and be embarrassed about. To talk about mental illness is to talk of those others who are ashamed of being ill and are not like the rest who are well in the head. It is a matter of how we look at things, isn’t it?

To play a part for money is slavery, as is constant need for gossip, growing need, or would we be needing the info of the rich and famous to copy them. Gossip is there nevertheless. The much hated and somewhat controversial artist of our time as Britney is especially via gossip journalism and music she makes, journalism which more or less laughs at her and her problematic relationships and  relationship with the industry she feeds from. When she makes a new album she is making a comeback. Does she evolve as a musician and is that the topic? She is making distance to her turmoil, to her problems of which she does not want to talk about in public. Problems are still hers not problems of those who watch. All she does is well, a kind of survival, behaving perfectly, playing her part. She has a part to play in this show and she is still present, acute, making money and interesting as she works, and as the journalists say, grows up, matures. Her age does not show that much, does it. She is interesting in a way how she is portrayed, how she presents herself. Is that her, are we supposed to know that? She is color of her hair, her dance moves, her unchangeable something in her.
 
Why I think of oppression when I think of a wealthy pop princess who has a history of strange public appearances and caused emotional trauma? Her conflicting with the image she is to keep up is interesting. Conflicting with the press she is to please with what she says and what she looks like and to be all about how she does all that floating like a feather, keeping up her appearance, her look. How she makes comeback again and has become fit again and gorgeous again. This all is about what is expected of women, to keep it together not lamenting. It is about how women are kept in tight leash and punished when they do differently, don’t obey and how that can be scandalous and something changes drastically. It is all about oppression wrapped around in a glittering image, perfected in a way there is no breath so she almost does not age, unable to breath, holding her breath. It is all very clear still she is the one who was deemed having mental problems when she shaved her hair off in public, she was hostile and showed her feelings towards the system that she was created for. All her ‘terrible’ outbursts and in some opinion strange choices do seem strange only in the context of pop, especially in context of American mainstream music aimed at young girls, which itself is more or less perverted and gives twisted ideas about how to be a girl and a woman. What is desirable, what to look like to be desirable and valuable, worthy of attention, what are good things for girls to be interested in and what is the relationship between girls and boys about, how this ideal and illusion evolves or if it does not. Why such ideals exist in the first place and what do they represent?
 
Stating the obvious, I guess, still I wonder why there is so much trashing of a princess who loves to dance and sing? How hungry are we for gossip is very telling of mental state of our culture. What is it all about, the need to get there in to the infantile mind, to slaughter and rip apart people who do something exceptional, are in the spotlight, put there for a reason which is to make money. Pop princess is a money making machine when she does well, so any outbursts of punk-ish manner totally seem crazy, even though when she herself sings she is going crazy. Not in real life you are not meant to go crazy, it is just a song. Mental illness is for the losers and that is scary shit.

What kind of ground do I have to listen heavy metal, to write about it, to identify with it?

| Henna Timanttimetsä

Again a stage for men which interests me and it has not been strange to me until I hear it is strange for a girl to listen to and like music of noise and anger. When I begin to think things I like the stages are invaded by men traditionally. I really don’t have much respect for traditions especially not for people of traditions who are prejudiced against women doing what they wish, for those who think women doing something traditionally male dominated craft are in the wrong place.

Wanted to start writing about my musical inspirations and idols. I find it demanding to begin since I do not have any other ground for music than that of a listener who experiences music and likes to listen a vast variety from contemporary to pop and disco, from classical to thrash metal. I don’t want to make walls between musical genres and ways of saying and doing. To me they mostly come from same kinds of desires to express and create. There are of course those who truly push the boundaries and those who don’t know how. Poetry and music were the first art forms which spoke to me and I started to think could I do the same.

Soulfly, Heavy metal speaks to me Heavy metal madness

To me there is nothing strange about it. Metal music addresses issues that are close to my persona, my interests, my heart and human existence as puzzling and never-ending creative and destructive force. Fears, hate, difficulty of living and existing in a contradictory world made by liars, warring, arms dealers, bankers, dirty politics, gender divisions etc. Heavy metal is strongly a Western music genre, at least very little of metal music from continents of Africa and Asia hit our consciousness, although definitely punk and metal are a world-wide phenomena and in world-wide use, one way or the other. Ways of saying, liking and making music differ much of course as we are very musical creatures. What would not be music. Music is in our blood. Interesting is how we become to like something particular, which things affect our liking, how do we grow to listen and make music. How music speaks to us on multiple levels and what kind of music does the speaking that hit the deepest and starts a snowball effect of human intellectual and artistic development. Skill is emphasized and it is important to pay attention to that metal music is born out of extraordinary talent, musical innovation, originality, out of marginal, that does, because it has to, which brings in the mind-blowing charm and energy of the scene.

Liking heavy metal is considered a manly case. Heavy Metaller is much of a stereotyped image that everybody recognizes. There is a distinct manly way of expressing by attacking that is prohibited from women, expression that appeals to me. Striking. The use of one’s voice by shouting violently, incoherently loud, fast and with massive force is part of heavy metals attractiveness, repulsiveness, heaviness and impact. It either sucks one in or makes a strong rejection. Metal is taking use of voice and noise to the limits of human endurance just as opera and can be just as theatrical. Experimenting one’s limits with as much energy as possible, as much as one has got. Lyrics attacking the society and hypocrites, class, tradition and conformity. Use of ultimate noise production is a provocation and a necessity, show off of ones strength and fury, making a distinct gap and tear between traditional, security comfort seeking mass, who do not wish to think for themselves, who wish to take the easy way. Metal is to wake those who sleep up and inspire to feel all emotional scales there may be. Metal is a social movement of rage, youth, hate and riot via music. Innovation and creating personal way of expressing anger, frustration, contempt and hate. Heavy metal is making constant revolution through noise and individual running free experience, but one can stay put in that thought rebellion as well, reject new. Disturbance interacting with the audience, performers themselves. The listener who can take part in freedom of making noise and being one rioting mind. Metal is an emotional community, who share the similar negative feelings mixing into a mass of aggression, which movement is cathartic and rejuvenating at best. At its worst it can be the opposite. To me it is a purification cult, steamy shower of human anger, a steamy act of ear fuck. Heavy metal way of living is expressing all there is to give within a certain masculine frame. So maybe all is too much to say. To me metal is to embrace individual decision-making and do an opposite of what society expects, choosing, resisting and refusing one-fit-for-all-model of civilized society and cherishing the dark side of humanity as creative force. Dark of human mind is also feminine and that feminine has masculine sides in her. For me metal is firstly pacifist, revolutionary, liberating, poetic and energetic form of art of noise.

Music genres make tribes separating different ideologies, groups of people, making stereotypes, separating sexes, music is heavily about feelings and emotional expressions, dancing, jumping, diving, shouting thoughts, some thoughts more valid than others, but shouting them anyway. Tribes disliking and looking down on each other, fighting and avoiding contact like avoiding disease and belonging to a wrong kind of group. Punks and heavy metallers have a history of hating each others’ music and each other as opposites, which I have found strange since they do come from a very similar mind-set of rebellion. Messages and ways of doing can be very similar. They tend to behave like they were two different kinds of nights, stormy and less stormy, edgy and edgier or a cyclone and a hurricane, Finn and Swede. Those who do not understand shut something worth while outside their comprehension out of prejudice. Testosterone, chauvinism and weird show off of masculinity tend to chase away those who love disco. Heavy metal can be a very straight world, although it itself is a multitude of ways of expressing. Is it straight forward or backwards going but strength of physical signifies going somewhere, probably and hopefully into the unknown drilling inside all ears. Fairies do not fit this kind of masculinity as they rarely do in something that has a working class background, for some reason feminine is the receiving one to be penetrated, at least that is the appearance of metal music and also punk. Men roar and women adore. Too much femininity is out, as is any kind of softness. Something to work with perhaps. Melancholy and dreaming yes, but no girliness, references to children and childhood are allowed as growing pains are in the essence of raging music. Maybe we should ban girliness and expectations of what a girl can be in an environment that is black with death, hell and diabolic images.

Expressing one’s masculinity in a way of a bull, which with very animal-like rage can seem repulsive, hateful and one-sided. Sexuality cannot be set aside what comes to music. Penises of herd of bulls are having hard-ons and liking it. Rage is an accepted and unaccepted way to exist. Music has been an important part of courting, bringing attention to oneself and testing the other if we like the same kind of music, are we compatible. Reasons why music has such a big part in human existence is immensely interestingly biological. It is as if we breathe music and certainly we live music. Noise is more or less always in the background. Main purpose is to please us, make us feel joy and share our feelings and thoughts. Heavy metal is the music of warriors and soldiers, of men who have a mission, who testify, who shut you the fuck up and make you listen. Does music make us do and make? Definitely. (Not a bad ideal for young girls to be able to shout and scream, manifest anger.) Thematic in metal often go around war, death, solitary struggle, torture, revolution, social injustice, sex, fantasy, any kind of drama and queer a person might face, any tragedy humanly possible and impossible. Use of fantasy in lyrics and wardrobe bring storyteller quality creating battle mentality and depicting desperado lifestyle as ideal way of living. Men and boys who are on voyage of finding and hitting back, making. It is much about heroics of man, men as a group making something solid and men as a crowd accepting this tale, identifying, being part of the story. Making story of themselves as heroes and capable individuals. It is a case of empowerment and taking over.

End of the world, man-made destruction that seems inevitable, a needed destruction of corrupt society are topics that fit metal music organically. Protest begins with drums, when one begins to sing without need to please the ear, but tear something apart. Destruction of melody, tradition, order and harmony, making new harmony and melody that hurt and invade, not as we have learned to know sounds as likable and friendly. Metal has turned liking into something new, a riot, taking space over. What is there to like anyway, peace and quiet of a suburb? It is not adequate to like metal, it is not adequate to like anything. Adequate is not enough a word. Adequate is to join the protest. Metal is made to resist and metalmen protest with all that there is to give via voice, instruments, manly energy, skill and spiritual force, rough appearance and self-made message. Metal is not without god and not without the devil as we all know, as is not the world without those entities. Evil that men do is still the worst there is. World is filled with devil and talk over god, but men are very godless in their actions. Full of fear, loss, crime, death and hypocrisy, full of shit. Full of liars, traitors, wars, powerlessness, injustice and famine. Men have shown their fear of the different with all kinds of crusades, bans and biases.

To talk about heavy metal as one entity is of course false, because it has huge variety of categories to choose from. It cannot be judged as easily as people tend to do. Interesting is the complexity of masculinity, appearances, maneuvers on stage and playing in personal way manifest power taken over, identity claimed and stated. Which is what people who make this kind of music have to say, manifest unity in pure anger and originality. To seek to find in music, ourselves, our place, humanity and originality.

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/why-do-songs-by-female-pop-stars-always-need-to-have-a-feminist-message?utm_source=noiseytwitterus “ Reducing the dialogue around all our biggest female artists to what they mean for feminism is limiting – we should allow female artists the space and agency to be creative without subscribing them to a set of rules that male artists are still largely exempt from.”

http://elitedaily.com/women/girls-cut-hair-cut-off-more/1039658/ 

Why Girls Who Cut Their Hair Are Actually Cutting Off So Much More

And liberating it was.

 

Go Beyond it. (no judgmental tone, do not judge, who is the judge) Part of those who entertain us.

| Henna Timanttimetsä
Powerful over whom and for whom? How does power manifest itself by women, via women, via visibility and what is the stage women can be powerful on? What is female power and do women have it in the end? Do women make decisions and decide for their work? Who is the weak in this image of making it? Who is stepped over in this business driven world as it is struggle for survival? Women have battled with those who have power over them, who have justified their power with god’s word. That woman is not capable of taking care of herself, making decisions not even over her own life. The repetitious mantra of having control and power over one’s body, life, work and art is rightful, but it is still a mantra if women do not take the stand. World is changing fast, women gain their rights by putting up a fight. There is no other way. The opposition is bigoted patriarchy and religious tradition, God’s word. 
 
How are we affected? How are we made numb?
Part of entertainer’s job is to entertain. The more it gets noticed the more political it is. The more people listen the more there is reason to put out a message to be heard. To share is political act, to act for all the oppressed couldn’t be more needed. The more people do not pay attention the more they have to be shaken and woken up.
How does entertainment shake the world other than making sexual advancements, opening a blouse, taking it off and showing genitalia. Nothing out of the ordinary. We have seen it. The most ordinary landscape on the scene. Do they who create this visual spectacle for us speak for free sex, for prostitution and sex trade, sexual expression and what it is to be a woman? Is that freedom to be able to show skin, sexual freedom to be taken over and had? Beyoncé showing her buttocks in her show becomes a hit in YouTube. It does not make the society more approving towards sexual expression. Our obsession over sex could still not be more obvious. A matter talked over in talk shows and by journalists. It is a funny topic. Scenery is exactly from a red light district as her dancers wear the same behind showing accessories, posterior-revealing lingerie. It is the latest superstar fashion on stage. Or is it? Position as standing back against the audience, bending one’s back and looking the crowd, gazing behind one’s shoulders and singing holding the microphone. This saying by me sounds I disapprove. I disapprove the cliché, I dislike the ongoing similarity and unwillingness of pushing any envelope. That envelope has been opened and seen. Lack of any kind of self-criticism nor effort to do differently. Is that power, to be a wanted body? Is that showing the world how to be wanted. To portray women on platter singing about relationships, having sex, breaking up and being a strong independent woman.
”Ms Winhoffer says Beyonce’s body yesterday represents a marked change from her more muscular shape of last year. ‘We can see a major change in her body from previous years. She represents female empowerment and embodies it on stage, her body is lean and elongated but most importantly, feminine.‘She was able to keep her V shape while maintaining her rear, keeping it plump and lifted.’She says this new silhouette is the holy grail for a female client.”

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2546821/Leaner-leggier-curvy-Top-celebrity-trainer-reveals-secret-Beyonces-showstopping-Grammys-body.html
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