Saul Williams ~ DNA / Coded Language
Live from the streets of Toronto. Shot by Southern Souls during CMW a week and a half ago.
Saul Williams - Explain My Heart
I have a lot of music/EP related stuff I’m looking forward to getting to posting over the next week or so, but I really wanted to stick this video up.
Saul Williams is probably amongst my favourite artists to come around in the past ten or so years. He has one of those careers that is not limited by narrow definitions of what an artist should be, and like another long-standing influence of mine, his career spans multiple mediums, from poetry to music to the occasional acting role.
On every level, Saul’s work challenges both expectations and rigidities, not only within concepts like hip-hop and music generally, but those of art, love, creativity, race, and all with an emphasis on the meaning of living an artistic life fearlessly and without constraints. And doing so for it’s own sake.
I’ve had the opportunity to see Saul in concert a couple of times in the past six years or so, and the first of those shows in particular will forever stand out in my mind as one of the most memorable concerts I’ve ever been to. Because it wasn’t just a ‘great show’, though it certainly was that as well, but it was like being struck by a powerful artistic force; and not one that was simply performing for an audience, but was actively embracing it, taking it into it’s arms to share in its energy firsthand. It was inspiring to say the least, and I came away from that feeling like I took a little bit of it away with me, and things I wanted to do suddenly felt more possible somehow, and I, more hopeful about them, even though at that point I had no idea what form they would take or how to go about it. It was like the show recognized a chord already resounding somewhere in my heart, and amplified it, the sustain stretching out further and more audibly than it had previously.
The man is a shaman in the truest sense. Much respect.
I am in a process of transformation, despite myself. Even with a clear understanding of God as Change, I sometimes fight and resist the changes that are essential to my being and growth. I fixate upon the challenges of accepting greater and greater responsibilities. I begin to desire results without maintaining the discipline that is required to manifest the necessary changes of heart and of mind, of balance, and inner harmony. I lose patience. I acquire doubt and debt.
The silent b
in doubt and debt
mutates our right
to be.
They crave control
of how we think
of how we feel
and see.
We learn
to shroud
self-mastery
with mystery
and fail
to understand
that even
within fate
is the power
of the will.
If freedom
needs a sanctuary
history needs
a cell
with bars
to keep
it’s hands
from reaching
out beyond
what mothers tell
their young.
We are
songs
in fact
anthems
unsung.
I am in the process of creating a masterpiece. I am not referring to any album, book, film or creative endeavor, rather, I am referring to the process of self-realization that aligns one with their highest and innermost ideals and values and renders them fully alive. It is a process of overcoming the obstacles imposed upon self, by self, perhaps society, and a fearful mind that refuses to accept the upward spiral of being. What I have chosen to embrace within myself are the very values I caught glimpses of as a kid when I questioned how a world so beautifully diverse in it’s simplicity could be made violently complex by the check-points and regulations of man in his quest to control and manipulate the forces of love and nature for the sake of individual gain and power. My decision to live my growth outwardly as an expression of my artistic being, and to earn my living as such, has forced me to engage with a reality that I might have otherwise evaded and has put me up against a cultural perception of entertainment as escapism, which has only enhanced a once non-existent desire to escape. There is no escape. Even my most recent move to Paris has simply shifted something deep within me as I wander through the ancient artifices of ambition, the dome-like cathedrals of clarity, and walled in worlds of art, I feel startlingly closer to my truth and a greater urgency for disciplined transformation. I am growing and have chosen to do so consciously and creatively while remaining engaged with both my inner and outer audience.
I am a reality show, tuning into myself on a daily basis simply to see which emotion tattled on which unchecked ambition. My mind gossips about the actions of my heart. My fears attempt to seduce the cameras for airtime. My soul would vote them off the show. I am checking my habits, re-acquainting myself with age-old disciplines. I am meditating and staying focused (which is a bore for that overactive mind which wishes no more than to follow a trail, any trail to more thoughts, pretty pictures, and inevitably inaction). I am starring in a spin-off of myself where I sing and dance and dress in pomp and costume. I am evolving while simply playing my part. I am staring myself in the eye without flinching or blinking, standing still while moving beyond what holds me in my place. But mostly, I am dancing, everyday, and sleeping perched above the skyline. And I awaken to a new day, a new season, the latest episode….
Manifest your dreams before you manifest your fears.
— Saul Williams
An exploration into a multitude of processes, creative and otherwise.
aquietend@gmail.com
More information can be found through the network links to the left.
A self-titled EP is available and can be found here as a free download.
'Past Fragments' is a newly released series of instrumentals, which also available for free digitally via
bandcamp.
THE REST - Always On My Mind (Live w/Choir + Animals) (by therestband)
Team Animal SexOn April...
dear ludwig,
i wish you would
have stitched the tenth
by your...
a quiet end is powered by the Spartan Tumblr theme by r3ginald.
10 notes
