Composers Forum is a daily web log that allows invited contemporary composers to share their thoughts and ideas on any topic that interests them--from the ethereal, like how new music gets created, music history, theory, performance, other composers, alive or dead, to the mundane, like getting works played and recorded and the joys of teaching. If you're a professional composer and would like to participate, send us an e-mail.


Regular Contributors


Adrienne Albert
Beth Anderson
Larry Bell
Galen H. Brown
Cary Boyce
Roger Bourland
Corey Dargel
Lawrence Dillon
Daniel Gilliam
Peter Gordon
Rodney Lister
Ian Moss
Tom Myron
Frank J. Oteri
Carlos R. Rivera
David Salvage
Stefano Savi Scarponi
Alex Shapiro
Naomi Stephan
David Toub
Judith Lang Zaimont

Composer Blogs@ Sequenza21.com

Lawrence Dillon
Elodie Lauten
Anthony Cornicello
Everette Minchew
Tom Myron

Alan Theisen
Corey Dargel



Latest Posts


The Composer Next Door: April 15th - Bielawa, Moon...
Rob Deemer

James MacMillan Interview
Cary Boyce

Kyiv-Lavra Perchersk Monastery
Cary Boyce

Female Composer Commissions in the Chronicle of Hi...
Rob Deemer

A More Perfect Union
Galen H. Brown

'In C' Follow-Up
jodru

Text and Con-Text
Cary Boyce

Will choral music always be tonal?
Roger Bourland

Two Questions
jodru

New Music Clarification
Cary Boyce


Beepsnort Lisa Hirsch


Record companies, artists and publicists are invited to submit CDs to be considered for review. Send to: Jerry Bowles, Editor, Sequenza 21, 340 W. 57th Street, 12B, New York, NY 10019


Archives
01/02/2005 - 01/09/2005 01/09/2005 - 01/16/2005 01/16/2005 - 01/23/2005 01/23/2005 - 01/30/2005 01/30/2005 - 02/06/2005 02/06/2005 - 02/13/2005 02/13/2005 - 02/20/2005 02/20/2005 - 02/27/2005 02/27/2005 - 03/06/2005 03/06/2005 - 03/13/2005 03/13/2005 - 03/20/2005 03/20/2005 - 03/27/2005 03/27/2005 - 04/03/2005 04/03/2005 - 04/10/2005 04/10/2005 - 04/17/2005 04/17/2005 - 04/24/2005 04/24/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 05/08/2005 05/08/2005 - 05/15/2005 05/15/2005 - 05/22/2005 05/22/2005 - 05/29/2005 05/29/2005 - 06/05/2005 06/05/2005 - 06/12/2005 06/12/2005 - 06/19/2005 06/19/2005 - 06/26/2005 06/26/2005 - 07/03/2005 07/03/2005 - 07/10/2005 07/10/2005 - 07/17/2005 07/17/2005 - 07/24/2005 07/24/2005 - 07/31/2005 07/31/2005 - 08/07/2005 08/07/2005 - 08/14/2005 08/14/2005 - 08/21/2005 08/21/2005 - 08/28/2005 08/28/2005 - 09/04/2005 09/04/2005 - 09/11/2005 09/11/2005 - 09/18/2005 09/18/2005 - 09/25/2005 09/25/2005 - 10/02/2005 10/02/2005 - 10/09/2005 10/09/2005 - 10/16/2005 10/16/2005 - 10/23/2005 10/23/2005 - 10/30/2005 10/30/2005 - 11/06/2005 11/06/2005 - 11/13/2005 11/13/2005 - 11/20/2005 11/20/2005 - 11/27/2005 11/27/2005 - 12/04/2005 12/04/2005 - 12/11/2005 12/11/2005 - 12/18/2005 12/18/2005 - 12/25/2005 12/25/2005 - 01/01/2006 01/01/2006 - 01/08/2006 01/08/2006 - 01/15/2006 01/15/2006 - 01/22/2006 01/22/2006 - 01/29/2006 01/29/2006 - 02/05/2006 02/05/2006 - 02/12/2006 02/19/2006 - 02/26/2006 02/26/2006 - 03/05/2006 03/05/2006 - 03/12/2006 03/12/2006 - 03/19/2006 03/19/2006 - 03/26/2006 03/26/2006 - 04/02/2006 04/02/2006 - 04/09/2006 04/09/2006 - 04/16/2006 04/16/2006 - 04/23/2006 04/23/2006 - 04/30/2006 04/30/2006 - 05/07/2006 05/07/2006 - 05/14/2006 05/14/2006 - 05/21/2006 05/21/2006 - 05/28/2006 05/28/2006 - 06/04/2006 06/04/2006 - 06/11/2006 06/11/2006 - 06/18/2006 06/18/2006 - 06/25/2006 06/25/2006 - 07/02/2006 07/02/2006 - 07/09/2006 07/09/2006 - 07/16/2006 07/16/2006 - 07/23/2006 07/23/2006 - 07/30/2006 08/06/2006 - 08/13/2006 08/13/2006 - 08/20/2006 08/20/2006 - 08/27/2006 08/27/2006 - 09/03/2006 10/29/2006 - 11/05/2006 12/31/2006 - 01/07/2007 04/08/2007 - 04/15/2007

Powered by Blogger

Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Is John Zorn Sexist?

CUNY professor Ellie Hisama and composer John Zorn don’t talk to one another anymore. Hisama thinks Zorn has gotten away “scot free” with writing overtly sexist and racist music; Zorn believes he’s simply following the creative path he needs to follow.

Hisama presents her views in “John Zorn and the Postmodern Condition,” an essay recently published in an anthology called “Locating East Asia in Western Art Music” issued by Wesleyan University Press. After summarizing Zorn’s achievements, Hisama describes her own exposure to his music during the 1980s while attending performances at the Knitting Factory and Performing Garage. Then, beginning with his 1987 album “Spillane,” Hisama charts Zorn’s increasingly disturbing use of sexist and racist imagery – both in his music and his album illustrations.

There is the female scream opening “Spillane;” the “Asiophilia” of “Forbidden Fruit” wherein “white men pursue East Asian women as fantastically exoticized, stereotyped objects, models of demure Oriental deportment” (73); the “visual, textual, and sonic manifestations” in the same work that “contribute to an understanding of the song as a narrative in which an Asian woman functions as a soft, infantile, exotic object of male sexual desires” (78). There are the black and white liner photos in “Torture Garden” depicting women performing sadomasochistic acts and undergoing various forms of torture; a color picture depicting “a ponytailed schoolgirl whose flayed face has been incised across the forehead to expose her skull; a soldier grasps her shoulders while he licks the iris of her bulging eyeball” (77). Hisama goes on to remark viz. “Torture Garden” that the “male-identified figures (the voice and the saxophone [Zorn’s instrument]) can be heard as having an emotional outlet and freedom to play and do whatever they want, the women remain mute and thus uncomplaining about whatever is done to them” (79-80).

Hisama knows Zorn’s music and imagery have gotten him into trouble with concert venues and record companies, and she quotes at length Zorn’s responses to these accusations. The following comments, concerning “Torture Garden,” are typical of his remarks as quoted by Hisama.

"[They’re] coming to me, and . . . they’re saying, “This is wrong. This is not progressive. This is Neanderthal. This happened years ago and you should know better than this. You shouldn’t be doing this. This shouldn’t be out there.” Things are getting confused. It’s a scary time. Nevertheless, I feel right now is a real strong time for me. I’m figuring a lot of [expletive] out, drawing my moral line, and saying, “[Expletive] you. I don’t need this. I’ve got to follow my artistic vision, whether you think it’s repulsive or anti-women or anti-Asian or whatever. I have to follow it through." (81)

While I’m not sure Hisama makes her case, Zorn must entertain the possibility his work plays a supporting role in preserving social structures that abuse certain genders and races. He must then decide whether such structures are a fruitful part of his artistic vision.



Search WWWSearch www.sequenza21.com