hop-frog's drum jester devotional "Bakshish111" from the (12" vinyl only!) album WEST-COAST POST-ASIATIC
http://www.urckrecords.com
hop-frog's drum jester devotional is Jeremy Morelock with Adam Reese on tabla
I have yet to discover the story behind the ceremony during the first 3 minutes of the video. I find the energy of things like this fascinating. Very reminiscent of the group ritual inherent in punk shows (before the violent thug morons took over).
I have for a long time been troubled by the images of this monk's self-immolation. This video is comprised of footage from the film "Mondo Pazzo". To watch this in slow motion is truly haunting and I thought that it perfectly captured the depth of spiritual intensity and the extreme throbbing repetetiveness of the Bakshish 111 track that we've been playing live for some time now. (This version doesn't have the post-punk bassline that I normally play live though.) I feel this is the first track to really employ the influence of "noise", a ridiculously broad term anyway.
Vietnamese Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explains why Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation was not a suicide, which is contrary to Buddhist teachings:
"Suicide is an act of self-destruction, having as causes the following: (1) lack of courage to live and to cope with difficulties; (2) defeat by life and loss of all hope; (3) desire for nonexistence..... The monk who burns himself has lost neither courage nor hope; nor does he desire nonexistence. On the contrary, he is very courageous and hopeful and aspires for something good in the future. He does not think that he is destroying himself; he believes in the good fruition of his act of self-sacrifice for the sake of others.... I believe with all my heart that the monks who burned themselves did not aim at the death of their oppressors but only at a change in their policy. Their enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred, and discrimination which lie within the heart of man."
Tags: hop-frog's monks protest self immolation buddhist Vietnam hop-frog muslimgauze myanmar post-asiatic bakshish
