I've noticed quite a bit of fascination with ritual amongst avant-garde artists; both an interest in traditional rituals from other cultures or the creation of their own rituals. Is this merely a coincidence or is there a reason behind this? It seems odd that artists so intent on breaking from/breaking down existing forms of artistic expression would have such an attraction to certain traditions.

Zach

I reckon a lot of artists want to get at the root of performance in their attempts to de/reconstruct a musical language. Music is pretty inextricably tied to ritual in general; these artists are only making it more explicit -- sort of unearthing the root systems of their music. Also, entering into a relation with ancient forms could be considered a break from many 'rootless' forms of abstracted avant-garde music. Walter Benjamin wrote about ritual a little bit in 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'. If I remember correctly, he basically said that for the first time art lost its ritual value and accumulated more of a political value in the 20th century -- but also that progressive movements would probably return to ritualized forms once the link had been forgotten and could be re-established in a new context. (I think that was the piece that Zorn named 'Angelus Novus' for, because of Benjamin's critique of the painting.) motecraw bob _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com