A presentation that I gave at Utrecht University on the 6th of November 2009 for Journée Szendy (a small conference dedicated to the works of musicologist/philosopher Peter Szendy) organized by Sander van Maas.
Tag Archives: rhythm
out of time
Invisible Man, the title of Ralph Ellison’s seminal 1952 novel refers to the lack of opacity of its main protagonist. Rather than reading this book as the exemplary story of a concrete, situated individual – an African-American intellectual before and during the so-called Harlem Renaissance – this article-in-progress will concentrate on the figure of thought that this central character expresses.
about pluralizing rhythm
The volume Pluralizing Rhythm aims to rid rhythm of its harmless, nearly esoteric, reputation as a cosmic unifier by understanding it in the light of the contemporary medial turn. It consists of contributions that combine the political, aesthetic, musical and theoretical dimension of rhythm, by performing a close analysis of text and objects from contemporary arts, music and politics. In short, Pluralizing Rhythm complicates, disturbs and pluralizes the notion of rhythm.
get on the good foot
This is the first draft of my contribution to the volume Pluralizing Rhythm that I am currently editing with Birgitte Stougaard. All comments and suggestions are welcome! In this text I analyse James Brown’s concept of ‘The One’ (or downbeat) into popular music as a revolution. “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” — the song in which ‘The One’ was introduced — is not a revolution because it made any major alterations. On the contrary, it simply performed a minuscule shift. A change that cannot be seen, touched, smelled, or heard but is real nonetheless.