MNM continues to cast its net wide! And this new edition promises to shock sensibilities and culture, to challenge mediums and practices.
To paraphrase the words of my friend Walter, the workings of a creative musician often borders on the delinquent and even iconoclastic. Think back to the magnificent painting by Max Ernst of Mary spanking the infant Jesus… or to Hugo Ball, George Antheil, Frank Zappa, Marcel Duchamp, and also to the ‘Refus Global’ manifesto, among others.
By definition, an iconoclast is one who destroys symbols or icons (like the Byzantine emperors who, beginning in the 8th century, opposed the iconography of the Saints). A delinquent thus takes (malicious?) pleasure in questioning and sidestepping established rules.
It certainly seems that these creative souls proudly share this deviant attitude, characterized by behaviour that breaks free of rules and standards.
Creative musicians nurture what makes them different, and—to our great delight and befitting of their talent—they go beyond iconoclastic and delinquent behaviour and ‘deviate’ along the path of their dreams: they forge new directions, giving personal testimony, which is given shape in a new and unique landscape of sound!
The wonder of musical expression is that it travels along paths as diverse, complex, and rich as those who create it. It carries the trace of cultures; it is testament as much as vision, and, like the seismograph, measures the vibrations of our hopes and fears, in a reverberation of sound. The start of our “globalizing” millennium is characterized by a growing consumerism, where the symbolic value of art (secular traditions based on the idea of the importance of a work) is surrendering to its value as pure entertainment, in the quest for higher audience ratings.
Creative music stand proud—as it always has—and we propose deviancy, invention, and diversity!
I have to smile when I think back to the brilliant concept of “malbouffe” (and its English equivalent, junkfood), coined at the beginning of the 1980s, by Stella and Joël de Rosnay. This ‘juicy’ term refers to bland and homogeneous-tasting food, which, if consumed regularly, leads to a chronic nutritional imbalance!
In this age of bulimic festivals, allow me to offer the analogy of pervasive ‘junkmusic’: a uniform, bland art, devoid of any nutritional value, which keeps its audience in a state of emotional and intellectual deficiency.
MNM 2007 is offering close to twenty-five concerts that present an ALTERNATIVE to this notion of ‘junkmusic’: Prolific and important music, music that, yes, will challenge taste, on all levels!
To stay with the gastronomic metaphor in closing, Quebec now boasts over a hundred micro-breweries, a slew of locally-grown produits du terroir each one more delicious than the next: we have been developing the fine art and pleasure of taste for over two generations. It seems only appropriate now that we fully take advantage of our capacity for enjoyment!
Dear public, please join us at our musical table and let us tantalize your taste buds!
To all our festivalgoers: Bon appétit!
Denys Bouliane
MNM Co-artistic Director
mnm2007@mots.bouliane generated in Montréal by litk 0.600 on
Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Development & maintenance: DIM.