published on
You might like to watch a video clip for this track at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_07erk0_mDs
During the first days of this newly started pandemic era, I couldn't help but rereading Sophocles' tragedy "Oedipus the king" and meditate on how it was meant to be interpreted at the time of its first mise-en-scène. Despite being normally considered today as a quintessential hero (and victim) of rational (self-) knowledge, following the subsequent Aristotelian interpretation of this character, my impression is that Oedipus, holder of the political power, is somehow pressured to investigate his own roots (and infamy) by the public of his subjects asking him for a solution to the plague infesting their town, more than by his own, allegedly inquiring will. Oedipus' behaviour, consisting in minimizing the extent of the plague and claiming to be doing every effort in order to fight it at first, then panicking as more as his responsibility (and his sin...) becomes clear to everyone, somehow reminded me of our current, global situation; so I've tried to portray it by recording this experimental track. The recited ancient Greek text is drawn from the initial verse of Sophocles' work, and this is its English translation:
"My children, latest generation born from Cadmus,
why are you sitting here
with wreathed sticks in supplication to me,
while the city fills with incense,
chants, and cries of pain?"
ὦ τέκνα, Κάδμου τοῦ πάλαι νέα τροφή,
τίνας ποθ᾽ ἕδρας τάσδε μοι θοάζετε
ἱκτηρίοις κλάδοισιν ἐξεστεμμένοι;
πόλις δ᾽ ὁμοῦ μὲν θυμιαμάτων γέμει,
ὁμοῦ δὲ παιάνων τε καὶ στεναγμάτων
This track is dedicated to my friend Thomas @ansound-655183295
Teth Sin : electric guitars, bağlama, vocals, Cretan lyra, bass guitar, samplers (percussions, raw data, electric piano), synthesizers, field recordings, sound design
Original composition, arrangement, mix, mastering & cover artwork design by Teth Sin
- Genre
- Ambient