Six days ago a proudly stated here about finding an equivalent of "a songstory" word in Russian language. Then I relaxed. But today I woke up with another candidate. You can kill me but I won't be able to remember what did I see there in my dream, but this new word has sat deep in my mind; on my way to work I was trying to remember all those arguments that stood pros for my first variant, and re-read that post of mine upon arrival to the office and now it seems to me that I have found at least three mistakes in my reflections.
1. Somehow I tied myself to "повество-" root that was suggested by the variant found on the Web. Yes, it seems more poetical, more melodious than "сказ-", but both words "повесть" and "рассказ" equally appear to be analogues of "a story".
2. Having once again thoroughly read the English original (as if I didn't do that before!) I understood that my approach of reading the word backwards has changed the essence. Songstory.... First song, then story. "song""story" is what should have been emphasized, and "story""song" is an adjective here. But I emphasized the process of singing, with just a shade of narrative applied. As a result I got "narrative singing", but it should be opposite: a narrative (story) that is being sung.
3. Finally, I suppose I was wrong in introducing the nature of a songstory as "the story finds its meaning (or starts living) when being sung". But we see the pictures as I read the lyrics, don't we?
To be short, I think I've had overphilosophized. I should not have changed anything, I should translate in a simple and easy way. For example:
a song - "песня"
a story - "рассказ", "история".
a songstory - a composite word, two roots used, the latter is the main one (story), the former just defines the nature (song-, as adjective).
"о" and "е" - two connective vowels in Russian. I am not yet sure whether I can successfully use "о", but if "е" is used.... "песн-е-сказ" is what we get.
But some worm is gnawing me: what if I wake up someday next week with another variant?
I need a judge to judge me. Judge would do it better....
Oh how many good and interesting people there are all around me, how much of goodness and kindness there is in this world. They say, this world is better than we feel it is....
This night I was browsing YouTube, watching Pixar-related videos, and somehow, just accidentally, I reached a page with different videos about hunting and hunters.... and then once again I praised all those disasters, diseases, catastrophes, wars, and most of all - Natural Rages that annihilate and turn into nothing all that biological rubbish called Human Being. The Earth tries to clear Herself from that multibillion filth, She groans and gasps for breath. Most likely She will prevail sooner or later: a Human Being does not deserve walking upon Her.
They also sometimes say regarding good people that "this world still exists because of them", which means that "if this world still exists then somebody deserves it still".
Cry those tears, then dry those tired eyes: every breath you take keeps you alive.
Butterflies as we are freeze in flight beneath the starry sky but the ghosts fly on and on... in this sense we all belong, oh, Gaia!
And the sum of all the parts is the all-forgiving heart of Gaia.
Oh, Gaia!
(Peter Hammill, "Gaia", 1992)
Mother-Earth, you have all rights to not forgive us for what we do to You!
I wasn't clear saying that I am doing a "rhymed" translation of 'The Climber'. It should be mentioned here that The Climber is not rhymed in principle (being a songstory). I meant not that I am going to rhyme what has not been rhymed, but that I was going to bring the Russian translation phonetically and rhythmically as closer to the English original as possible. And this is another story.
One more addition to be done: 'a songstory' term was actually suggested by John Ellis. Judge substantiated that musical form and approved the suggested term, to actively use it further on.
P.S. This Judge Smith's essay has been translated into Russian. Probably tomorrow everything will be ready to be web-published....
Are there any absolute, common for all age milestones on our life timeline? I think many people reflect in that direction. I fell there is something of that kind, and that I have passed two of those milestones.
The First Milestone.... Although probably our first milestone was someplace there, at a very young age, but we do not realise that consciously, and infants do not need that vanity at all. OK, my first milestone is 21. When I turned 21 I felt some incredible lift-up. I thought I could do everything I would want, any kind of undertaking. I found my future wife in that age and introduced my girlfriend to my family (believe me, all of those who knew me by that time were in shock). Over the years, growing older and meeting failures I started thinking that one can achieved nothing in his life at all, if started later than when he is 21.
The Second Milestone - 40. It has been more that 6 months since I celebrated my 40th birthday, so here is what I happened to collect of what I feel.
- desire to live in an absolutely white (walls) room, with minimum of items around (a computer table with a wheeled armchair, a TV set, audio/video players, obligatory shelves for my discs), no curtains, no pictures, no chandeliers....
- my teeth somehow began causing me troubles
- I want to get rid of useless items, and have sold several discs and "The Beatles - Anthology" book already
- I get so tired quite soon
- either the lack of practice (I don't remember already when it was that I went out of our home in the evening) or anything different, but I experience problems while singing (I start feeling discomfort in my nasopharynx)
- after I come home from walking anywhere other than "to work and back" I feel very tired
- when I am sleepy (both at home and at work) I put everything aside and sleep
- my old fears became my advisers
- many of what I accepted earlier is being criticized now
- the feeling of lifelongness of punishment for my life failures much amplified, it now does not imply any hope to get some feeling of forgiveness in this life, and after - it does not troubles me somehow (there should be something that I already lost due to my failures)
- if nothing has been created by me over a day, I can feel it dying in my hands
- I decided to start blogging
There should be something more, but I do not remember now. I do not force anything to stay in my head if I do not need that.
What next?
P.S. Here is another interest: could it be that when we were infants we were shown some key images from our future, remembered them at subconscious level, and now, when we follow our life paths and check with those milestones by means of deja-vu phenomenon, we wonder "this already happened in the past!"?
Added on April 28, 2012.
Meanwhile, I keep on remembering some details. - my already-not-such-high speed of playing strategic games became even worse - I no longer love bright sunlight and hot days
- success and achievements in different areas do not bring me joy, but fade when Sun goes down
Full circle is about to close, and it becomes so hard living endearment-less....
This post of mine is another bilingual one again due to the topic introduced. I found another equivalent in Russian language to express the meaning of 'a songstory' in one word.
The recently found "повествопесня" uses, as the English original does, two roots: "повесть" and "песня". However the latter refers to a single song. The word I chose - "пение" - stands for "singing", thus making my version slightly weaker. However if one goes through those words in reverse order, s/he can find that the term is described like "stories that are being sung", meaning that "the story finds its meaning" or "starts living" when being sung. Hence this would describe not the process but the nature of this piece of work.
Also, in Russian there is "повествование" word that means "narration", which supports the process of origination of this new word in the best way, I believe.
So, I propose another Russian analogue of the English 'a songstory' (invented by John Ellis): 'повествопение'.
You are most welcome to propose a better version! I will be happy if I find anybody else interested in this stuff.
Added 6 days later, on January 26, 2012: IMPORTANT! The development of this topic is presented here.
Status My Climber is ready. After I finished my "final" run yesterday I shut the computer down immediately, leaving only one chance for the ultimate "dress-rehearsal" run. What has been done is another comment of medical nature added, some better options chosen, but nothing reworked. There were three pieces that took most of that run time, but eventually I get back to the initial readings. I marked those three places in the text for my own records, just to see if any side feedback arrives in that regards. Also, I found much more minor places than I did yesterday that do not "match" mathematically or rhythmically or phonetically (and marked them too for my own internal use), however I decided not to go on correcting them all. There is no need for that already. So I can say that the translation of "The Climber" by Judge Smith has been finalized today.
Orfeas As for this piece of work, I think I will not be pursuing the same goal of providing rhymed translation. No need to tickle my own vanity. This can be done, I presume, but that will not be interesting for me already. "The Climber" demanded it, while "Orfeas" wants something new. In fact, what I tried to do in my Climber was already implemented in Judge's "Orfeas", at a higher level though. I adapted one language to another following the same rhythm and music; Judge adapted music to a human speech. He describes that process here, you should read it.As I wrote earlier - the draft is done, however based on my experience with "The Climber" I can make an estimate and say that this will require up to one week to present the ultimate version of my Orfeas. But before that...
Scheduled tasks .... before that I need to write an Introduction to the translations of Judge Smith's lyrics, and to translate that wonderful essay by Judge on Songstories. Once I met a Russian interpretation of that word invented by Judge, but I will think twice before I reuse it. Who knows maybe I will be able to find something more attractive. As soon as I have both prepared they will be posted on hammill.ru. So, "Coming soon!"....
Status
It turned out to be quite a busy day, so done nothing in this direction today. However, yesterday I succeeded in further polishing of my Climber (leaving only a dozen of out-of-sync syllables; in fact there were more before that), and also added more comments on the mentioned food and wines.
Questions
1. How to proceed? Should I take another look into my Climber or should I keep it aside and proceed with my Orfeas?
2. Do I want to present both translations together, or it would be better to post them in series? I think the latter option is the winner: let them arrive from time to time not bothering each other. Also, if I would want to post two of them together, then why not to post three?
3. So, I need to take a short rest before I am ready to post my Climber. He will climb first, and Orfeas will follow. But for how long can I postpone the launching date?
Status of "The Climber"
The translation of "The Climber" is verified, a couple of minor (hopefully final) edits done and, I think, correct decision made: I am going to present the rhymed translation as my ultimate output. The lyrics is so deeply interconnects with the music that I think it deserves such a treatment. Those dozen of tiny fragments that simply need to be sung quickly, or stretched to due to different syllable count and differences in the rhythmic construction do not affect overall impression, and in general the whole piece can be read without singing as well (something like watching a movie without sound).
Orfeas
Yes, about to start the second round of going through Orfeas draft. While running through The Climber I noticed that my translation got improved by the moment I reached the end. Not to say that it was weak from the beginning, but that I caught the thread, and successfully followed it. Since Orfeas was my second output, I hope this will be felt even better here. By the way, only four comments have been added to The Climber, mostly the translations of minor occurrences of some words in Italian, and one on the North Italian Plain, for the name of which I had to apply minor rewording. Orfeas already has more than thirty....
Questions
No such at the moment. Now need to take a short break, and then make some noise to welcome the George Orfeas Band!
Status
Both "The Climber" and "Orfeas" are translated (one week passed since then, in fact). In-line versions were done on one and in one and a half days, respectively. However, I felt that this is not enough and I can do more than go over them polishing and improving some rhymes. Having Judge's approval in hands, I decided not to get into rush and produce some decent translation made of words and phrases, but to put myself in them. So, what can be done here?
The Climber
The Climber is a beautiful piece of work, requiring not just to be understood, but to be sung. At my first attempt (at work!) I did the first "Choir" part - and I decided to prepare another translation of the whole piece. A rhymed one! I want it to be sung in as many languages as possible. That was quite a challenge for me: the meaning should be delivered, the rhyme to be preserved, and, if possible, phonetically both original and derived texts should match. Today I am happy to say that this task is done. I celebrated it with another cigarette and now need to replay it with the Russian lyrics to see how the whole piece goes. Who knows, maybe I will decide to delete that file immediately? :-)
Orfeas
Orfeas is different. This is a powerful piece of music.... no, I should say "of Music". It is all about Music and people. It is so very different in styles, in music, in lyrics, that I need to think out a correct way of working in to get the ultimate translation.
Questions
I am still in doubt about which one should be the ultimate translation for "The Climber". Do people need to sing it anytime they read it, I mean to keep music in mind, or it will be better to present a simple version in poem-like form for easier reading? Or should I present both? I think I need even more time/effort to find the answer....
Six years ago.... OK, I'll be short (everything is written there anyway): my new essay about the Russian part of the Peter Hammill Quartet tour in 1995 has just been launched at http://www.hammill.ru Reviews section (in "English" branch for English-readers, and vise versa). The direct link to the PDF file is here. The title of this post shows the title to be searched for in the whole list over there. The old essay should only be considered as a part of history - I abolish it in its informative aspect. Аs mentioned in the newly added introduction (to its Russian version only):
For reader's information.
Being written many years ago based on a very small amount of information, this essay contains fragments that have been recently claimed to provide incorrect information. In particular, those are not correct description of the role of some of the mentioned persons, incorrect subjective imagination of the organizational structure of the described events, and subjective attitude towards some facts, persons and events.
Hence, based on the newly provided confirmed information I offered you the new essay. However based on some certain factors we came to a trade-off agreement: the old essay should not be removed from the site, but will include this Introduction and the cross-reference to the new one. In order to escape all possible conflicts between the two descriptions, please consider the latter to be the main (ultimate) material on this web-page (of my authorship) describing the Russian part of Peter Hammill's tour in 1995.
Today Hammill has announced about a special 7-disc life performance recording box set soon to be released.
It includes:
1 and 2 - September 2011 release of two programs out of four programs presented in Japan in 2010: "What if I forgot my guitar?" and "What if there were no piano?"
3 and 4 - next two programs: "What if I knew this was the last show I would ever do?" and "What if I played only VdGG/VdG songs?"
also:
5 - "What about songs I didn't play in Japan?"
6 - "What about songs I dropped from the setlists?"
7 - "What about the best alternate versions?"
Limited edition of 2000 sets. Release is set for February13, 2012.
It is specially stated that "even though it’s a box set (all the rage, it seems, these days) there are no signed artist’s plectra or sunglasses, no fourteenth mix of the fifteenth outtake, no surround sound revisitation." I have expressed my personal thanks for THIS in Peter's blog.
And then, in a few minutes I was informed that release date of the first three VdGG LPs was once again shifted to April 2012 (originally being set for November 17, 2011). And in the next few minutes I've learned about David Bowie being re-releasing his oooold material agaaaaain, probably in a new wrapper. I do respect Bowie, but regarding to what does he do.....and not only him......
And Hammill is now preparing his new studio solo album for release!
It happens to me that when I watch movies I meet some frames that by some hidden means are immediately being fixed in my consciousness like some small masterpieces. They contain something I have not yet conceived, and inspire me each time I see them (naturally, I go over those movies frequently).
Finally, I picked out yesterday all the movies I could recall, and found those frames. I also made some other favourite screenshots, but then decided to pick only one for this page, the most stunning representatives. To be honest, I made some exclusion, and provided additional commentaries.
This collection may look strange, inconsistent and mixed, hence – non-standard. Thanks God if it is so!
And so….
Thinking about how to start, I decided for the frame that, as far as I remember, appears to be the first “my” frame.
Stallone-Cobra. Calm in waiting, confidence, master of his job…. What else could I have seen in this frame then, in 80’s, while being a teenager? Stallone “came” to me earlier than Schwarzenegger did. The latter is highly respected by me, but I would hit “6” out of 10 if you would start asking me about his works. Some of his characters are ultimate, like Conan the Barbarian.
The new conan lack that charisma and brutality, like schwarz’s one does, hence starts with small “c” here.
Since we started discussing the superheroes, I am going to follow this thread and introduce my favourite comic book hero – Batman.
I am not fond of comics per se, but those installments that touched me found their place in my world. With a help from my friend I played all the contemporary Batman movies and checked the “done” box somewhere. However Christopher Nolan’s Batman played by Christian Bale captured me. This is exactly “my” type of Batman, the Dark Knight who “can stand it”! Maybe sometime in the future other superheroes will be revealed for me but today they are silent.
The “true superhero” topic has been touched in “Kill Bill, Vol.2” movie. However, Russian-speaking people accepted the official version of the title, which means “to kill Bill”, not the “list of those who must be killed”. So, Bill (David Carradine) presents Superman like the only true superhero. And despite Batman is my superhero, I really love his monologue! However the frame I chose from this movie comes from completely different scene, and does not show Bill. Oh, here it is.
Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) occupies only one-third of the frame, but the way she does it is magnificent! Looking over her shoulder with the “farther” eye, impale with her sight and pre-celebrate the victory of calculation over the confidence, not even showing the pupil of her eye…. Of course, this frame was seen, selected and kept for the movie by Tarantino, for which I would like to thank him! And for everything he did. Here is another example from his “Death Proof” (officially translated like “The Proof of Death”)
The following frame takes his special place.
I saw “Keoma” on video when I was a teenager, on VHS, of bad quality, but that all does not affect the contact of a person with a newly arrived small portion of his inner world that finds him. Lion-like Keoma (Franco Nero) fighting for justice, breaking the limits of the normal understanding of life (“Keoma, the [newborn] child will die [all alone]!”, “No, he will not die! He is free, and those who are free can never die!”), dying and being saved by the weird intervention of the same matter – all this is wonderful to me. And the songs! By the way, the scene from where this frame comes must be watched together with its soundtrack! Here is another frame, dull without music, but filling eyes with tears and throat with lumps with it.
Standard shapes of absolutely unique people, gradually blackening in the deep of the military airship that should take them far away from home to meet their death. People losing their identities and becoming cannon fodder…. Oh how much does this world lose in such moments!
There is another frame in my collection requiring its music in the background.
“Repo: The Genetic Opera”. In my opinion a much underrated movie, lost behind other Repo-creations. Many people consider this movie being muddled for the mixture of metal music, sinister screens from the creators of “The Saw”, the Alexa Vega’s character and Sarah Brightman’s vocal, but I love the suddenness and bold ideas, I love music, I love beautiful scenes, and I liked this movie. And I liked this music too. I usually do not listen to the music of the presented music style (sorry for this word), but this doesn’t matter already – the movie became a part of my world.
I often being impressed with how do the actors play, with their faces. Here are some of them.
Leader William Wallace ruined by the treason brought about by friend
Soldier Michael (Robert De Niro) playing for life and standing all possible humiliation acts
Criminal Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero (Al Pacino) finds himself deadlocked
Junior sergeant Varvara Sinichkina has just found lost hope and love
Open-hearted Bernard (Gérard Depardieu), puzzled but suspected of nothing at all asks his wife: “Qui est cette fille?” (“Who is this girl?”)
Doctor Levan Tsintsadze (Sergo Zakariadze) in peace with the world, people and himself says farewell to his life.
Pure Juliette (Olivia Hassey) in love
Inspired by her faith, Joan of Arc (Milla Jovovich) lets her emotions out
Count Nikolay Rezanov (Nikolay Karachentsov) has instantly raised above all the reasonable obstacles in his love.
Wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) exposes all his terrible ideas by one elusive motion of his brow
One frame with two faces. Guard Brutus 'Brutal' Howell (David Morse) refers to his colleague Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) saying: “Paul, you have to say it, you have to give the order.”, although both do not want this to happen.
Here is, of course, the duel between a bishop (Peter Vaughan) and a criminal Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson) that in several seconds turns into the scene of the salvation of a human soul. Two faces, two fates, two lives meet together in time and space. It is probably impossible to show them together in one frame, like in the previous example. We need to see both faces in full. Naturally, I put two frames here.
All those frames are staggering in themselves, but I believe they will have much more sense when those sequences are watched on the screen, with dialogues, with music…. After all, you better watch those movies in full.
There are frames I would happily hang on my wall, because they are beautiful, actors also play brilliant, and given the context finalizes the connection, although many of them are literally torn out from those seconds of motion that affect me in the known way.
Romantic Ostap Bender (Andrey Mironov), not sparing his *life in the name of his Dream (Rio de Janeiro)* with the objective reality provided for his sensation.
President Walsingham (Alexander Trofimov) and Mary (Svetlana Pereladova), bravely looking into the face of the Plague surrounding them with the dawn sky in the background.
Murdered John Doe (Kevin Spacey) has risen in his madness and envy above everything and even has extinguished the sun.
DJ Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman), accepted challenge, and now is standing on the top of the mast high above the sea and looking into his fear’s eyes, saying “A-Wop-bop-a-loo-lop a-lop-bam-boo!”
No comments
Another example of a hopeless hope, an unexpected help, and harmony between internal and external, a union of a human being and the world – Captain Boromir recovered (Sean Bean)
Yes, here I used two frames from “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”. Let’s assume I am allowed doing this because the three movies of the trilogy were release on two discs each (the shortened theatrical version is not considered in principle). Here is another pair from the third installment of the trilogy.
Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and hobbit Peregrin Took (Billy Boyd) approaching the White City in Gondor
The Ride of Rohirrim through the Sauron’s army in Battle of the Pelennor Fields
Another return of a king. Odysseus (Armand Assante), suddenly appeared in the centre of his wrecked but not demolished world, and his son Telemachus (Alan Stenson) meet the hour of their wrath.
Leaving his past in the past, armed with the present, and with a help of his student Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) believing in future Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) finds his place in this world.
The second (promised) frame from “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”. Gandalf the White (Ian McKellen) brings down the riders of Rohan on the horde of orcs, thus giving victory.
Teacher Justin McLeod (Mel Gibson) is shaking farewell. He was the only man who was near and made a man out of a boy Chuck (Nick Stahl). In the finest sense of the word and not in the one the vicious society thought of.
Oh, maybe I will dedicate a special essay to this actor somehow. Now he is a lifetime reality-show object Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey), who has just finally understood the meaning of what is going on all around him and stops with a wave of his hand not only a bus….
It turns out that there are four things one can look at forever: fire burning, water flowing, choose the third thing for yourself, and the fourth – those several seconds from the life of Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman), by which Stanley Kubrick opens our eyes wide.
Erotism in cinema – this is a separate topic. You can discuss it, argue, but it is impossible to deny it. It exists in everything, so why can’t it be in movies as well? Here is one of my favourite frames from the latest movie of Maestro Tinto Brass “Monamour” (I intentionally do not translate it as “my love”)
By catching her hand, Leon (Riccardo Marino) catches Marta (Anna Jimskaia) unawares in the middle of an official party and makes her follow him
And one more frame “taken” from two perspectives (i.e. two frames). When there is no hope but some close soul is near you – take each other’s hands. Salvation comes in such moments.
Finally, one more frame.
Everything is there: a suddenly-found-new-peace of my world, one more hero of mine, and a nice frame too, and the actor born-to-play-this-role, and a picture of I-would-like-to-see-it-hung-on-my-wall kind, picture/sound harmony, and “must see in action”.
In addition, yesterday we finished another round of going over all the parts of the cycle in series. There are four so far, and I truly hope for more.
And I truly hope for more frames that will add to my life and will give me more energy.
I don't remember if I told it here earlier, but I do read, listen to or watch anything new only then when it comes to me itself. I do not search for new mental bread by nature, instead it finds me.
I saw Pushkin's "Small Tragedies" directed by Mikhail Shvejtser in 1979. The genius of Pushkin in conjunction with Shvejtser's director talent gave birth to a wonderful classical result. Actor's play, originality of the screenplay (however curious it does sound here), music - magnificent are they all! Yes, one must be able to read Pushkin, to show him, one must relive the role. This can be done only by the real dramatic artists.
My highest emotional point was observed when I realized just how effective was the move of the Walsingham's song from the middle to the very end of "Feast in Time of Plague". Maybe it somehow changed the Pushkin's idea of the plot, but to Shvejtser's movie benefit undoubtedly.
Unfortunately, the duo of Vysotsky/Belokhvostikova was annoying. I believe in the same metamorphosis of "Cabaret"'s hero, but here - alas....
