Aesthetics for Birds

Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art for Everyone

Endre Begby on Le Trésor de la Langue

| 1 Comment

This is entry #49 in our 100 Philosophers, 100 Artworks, 100 Words Series.

Philosopher: Endre Begby, Simon Fraser University

Artwork: René Lussier, Le trésor de la langue. Ambiances Magnétiques (CD/LP/CASS, 1989).

Words: Both Frank Zappa and Hermeto Pascoal had previously toyed with the idea of crafting music from the unpredictable rhythms and sliding pitches of spontaneous human speech. René Lussier took the concept further, painstakingly transcribing a staggering amount of location recordings and archived speeches, all centering on the “French question” in Québécois politics, and embedding it in an absolutely ripping 65 minute avant-rock suite. Trésor is among the greatest achievements of 20th century music.

The following clip contains Lussier’s treatment of Charles de Gaulle’s infamous 1967 “Vive le Québec libre” speech and the 1970 CBC broadcast of the FLQ manifesto.

One Comment

  1. This is very cool. Reminds me of some stuff Steve Vai – proégé of Zappa – did too, in, e.g., 'The Audience is Listening,' or 'Next Stop the Earth.' He's often struck me as someone who's guitar-playing sounds incredibly vocal/human – even in a song such as 'Tender Surrender,' which is not 'mimicking' the voice in any simple way such as this is.

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *.