https://rollingstone.com.br/musica/memes-musica-e-voz-mais-antigo-que-a-internet-more-antigo-que–propria-musica/

https://rollingstone.com.br/musica/memes-musica-e-voz-mais-antigo-que-a-internet-more-antigo-que–propria-musica/

The first time I heard the word meme, it still had not inhabited the field of the internet

I believe we have seen memes emerge and accommodate themselves to our vocabulary, but they were already impregnated in our culture since ancient times, and tell us about our evolutionary character. Amazing: There is a science that studies the memes and its name is meetic. Who invented the term was Richard DawkinsBritish biologist, to refer to the evolution of the species, but in cultural aspects. If in the biological aspect – that of Darwin – What defines the evolution of the species is the gene, in the cultural aspect, our evolution is defined by meme.

Second SUSAN BLACKMOREin your book The Meme Machine (“The Meme Machine”, in free translation) Meme can be something that can be easily learned and transmitted as autonomous unit: ideas, drawings, skills, concepts, preconceptions, words, tongues, recipes and also music.

A lullaby, which your mother sang to you and your grandmother sang to her, who learned from her Bisa, etc., can be considered a meme. Just like that passed recipe from generation to generation, which takes hours to be ready, and at the height of family expectation for your tasting has the inevitable anticlimax provided by the refined mood uncle: Is it pavê or pacumen? Meme.

Humor and music have been together since countless times, just as countless internet memes are made from music. So let’s cut here more and talk about a specific type of meme, those that transform music, where there was apparently nothing musical there. And this has been done even before the internet exists.

The year 1912 may be a good starting point for something we have recorded. The German composer Arnold Schoenbergin the play Pierrot Lunairebrought the Sprechstimme (“spoken voice”). In the show, the voice is noticed in a score not to the singing, but to the speech. That is, the interpreter follows the written heights and rhythms, but does not support the note as in the corner; Instead, it slides up or down, getting closer to speech. And there is no definite tone, just like our speech. Keep this information!

On the trail of Schoenbergcame the Italian Luciano Berioalso exploring speech as singing, with the play Sequenza III per youin 1965. In the play we hear the singing, speech and vocal expressions, such as laughs, interjections, in a constant intersection, as it is with our voice, of course.

This story of singing in popular culture has always been common. Here in Brazil, the tradition of coconut, the embolled, for example, for a inattentive and perhaps culturally European and addicted ear may seem little melodic, but few would be able to sing the Greek language as Bezerra da Silva on the album The King of Coconut Vol.11973.

HeiferPernambuco, grew wrapped in this sound atmosphere of the fair’s trading session, animals of nature, embodied, as well as so many other genius artists in Brazil, such as Hermeto Pascoalthe sharpest and most sensitive ear that contemporary music has witnessed, without a doubt, so much that these sounds considered “non -musical” that are around us gave the name of “The sounds of the aura”.

In 1970, Hermetoin the song “Funeral“, I would reproduce, which avant -garde did Schoenberg and Luciano Beriothe textures of voices present in a wake, to bring us this idea of ​​voices overlays, composing a singing-only instrument and this experience continued to have developments throughout his career.

Airto Moreira, Flora Purim and Hermeto Pascoal in 1970 (photo Hulton Arhive/Getty Images)

I said it was important to remember that our speech is atonal, has no tone and does not respect a musical scale: it flows. And for that very reason, to notice your nuances, you need a good ear. In 1984, the musician, using the most meetic, recorded “Tiruliruli“A musicalization from the narration staff of the legendary speaker Osmar Santosextracted from the match between Flemish and Corinthiansin the same year. The goal of Socrates It yielded a “sung” melody by the speaker, worthy of being transcribed and accompanied by a harmonium (a kind of organ that works based on a bellows; the sound is almost accordion). Football, narration, staff and music. All culture capable of being reproduced autonomously. Everything meme!

Other examples of “Aura Sounds”In Hermeto’s work appear on top of the former president’s voice Fernando Collor de Mello in “positive thinking”, or on top of the poet’s speech Mario Lagodeclaring your poetry Three thingsalso in “Swimming class“All tracks present on the album Feast of the Gods1992.

On the “Aura Sounds”, Steve Reichone of the most important composers of minimalist music, would bring to the world DIFFERENT TRAINSa work composed of orchestration from 46 testimonials of survivors to the Nazi Holocaust. A year later, the Canadian guitarist would come René Lussier with LP Le langue (“The Treasury of Language”), exploring the accent and musicality of the spoken French language in Quebec, Canada.

The musicians Publio Delgado, Mono neon and Charles Crell They brought the experience of Alagoas de Arapiraca to Youtube and musical memes. Sometimes nerds and specific to musicians, I must admit, became globally known and inspired productions here, where “Aura Sound”He meets a form of art from the culture of the African Western Griós (members of society responsible for keeping his memory alive through orality) and that would flow into rap. I speak here of spokenworda performatic art led by the group THE LAST POETSwhose member Gil Scott-Heron would legacy the hymn “The Revolution Will Not Be Television“, In 1970, referenced during the performance of Kendrick Lamar node Superbowl 2025. The same Scott-heron appears in parody with the character Rafael do Ghettoin A crazy in the piece. Once again here, music, memory, joke, culture. Everything meme.

I am a witness to the meeting of “Aura Sounds”With the spokenword In the time I worked as a composer for the album Xenia2017, Xenia Franceindicated to Latin Grammy in the category Best Pop Album in Portuguese Language in the same year. In one of the tracks, entitled “Throat – Interlude”, The actress Roberta Estrela d’Alvaone of the founders of Hip Hop Theater in Brazil, interprets its poetry Throatmusic by the pianist Fábio Leandro and the drummer Vitor Cabral.

This last example, for me, exemplifies, the essence of the power of memes, where we have pop culture serving as a platform of arts existing from the most remote times, such as the griot culture that unfolds over time, unfolding in rap, the ballast of the successful parades of the 21st century or in the popular cultures that found Brazilian music, ballast for creativity and global musical renewal, such as embolled, the coco, the coco, the coco Funk.

Although they are different words, I like the “poetic justice” in rhyme between the two words, gene and meme, because there is a common purpose in them, implicit in our survival. Here is the reflection: what a point of following our existence, perpetuated by a genetic evolution, if we could not evolve as a spirit, through our stories, our art, our culture, our fears. Our memes?

+++ Read more: crying songs

Lucas Cirillo (@cirigaita)

He is a producer, composer, bookkeeping, member of Latin Grammy Academy, self -declared sound nerd, likes to dive into the album abyssal and bring stories to his productions, to surface, along with some fish, when the river is good for fishing: his other passion.

Source: Rollingstone

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