the revolution will not be televised

7. August 2012, Kunstmuseum Basel, Salon für Wort und Ton, Stadtmusik.fm
6. July 2011, Zürich Starkart live


You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and drop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials
Because the revolution will not be televised.

 

The performance is dedicated to the recently deceased musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron. He is regarded as one of the most important pioneers of hip hop and rap music. In his texts he refers to social and political issues. The media and capitalism-critical play “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” from 1970 is regarded as one of his key works.

In the performance, this three-minute piece will be used as the starting material for a 35-minute performance. The piece of music is reassembled live in time with the help of repetitions and time jumps and stretches. The word blocks of the songtext become visible on a video projection.