Welcome! On this first page you will find my most recent newsletters. Hopefully they will serve as a good introduction and spur you on to click on more things. Happy reading, listening…whatever you’ll be doing here….
| Where were we? Ah yes! New Stupidity Friends,I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be able to squeeze my little newsletter into all of your already overflowing mailboxes. Believe me, I’d like to but I can’t. Since the previous instalment in which I announced the launch of a worldwide movement in contemporary music now known in pretty much every city, town, village and floating centre as New Stupidity, I have received countless letters of endorsement and phone calls of complaint from composers all over the world. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you!Let me just give you a taste of the enormous outpouring of heartfelt support that I have received. (All those quoted have given me explicit permission to fabricate their names, addresses and comments. ) Teddo Nguyen of Building Chingfong, 53 Quang Trung, District Hai Ba Trung, Ha Noi, +94 04. 3.9479079, Vietnam writes:Bạn đang làm cái quái gì làm tôi khó chịu lúc 3 giờ sáng? Giật ra! Sandip Chatterjee of 33, Ismail Bldg, Pathak Wadi, Lohar Chawl, Mumbai, +91 02222085139, India writes:यदि आप मुझे इस सभी मूर्खता के बारे में संपर्क करना बंद नहीं करते हैं, तो मैं इंटरपोल को कॉल करने जा रहा हूं। तुम्हें वह मिल गया?and Christos Paphitis of 5, Apostolou Varnavakatastima 3, Limassol, +357 25577751, Cyprus writes:Τι το fuck είναι ένας συνθέτης ούτως ή άλλως; Εσείς κάποιος παιδεραστής ή κάτι τέτοιο. And those, my friends, are just 3 people! New Stupidity has definitely struck an augmented 7th, flat 9, sharp 13 chord. (No pun intended) While naturally I’m absolutely elated with all the interest, a number of composers have written to me with very astute questions regarding the differences between Old Stupidity and New Stupidity. And I agree that the differences are quite subtle. Let me try to explain this using two audio fragments. Here is an example of Old Stupidity: https://soundcloud.com/gabortarjan/old-stupidity (click on link to hear fragment, this will take you to Soundcloud but please come back) And here is an example of New Stupidity: https://soundcloud.com/gabortarjan/new-stupidity It’s okay if you don’t quite hear the difference the first time through. It often takes a very well-trained ear to pick up on all the nuances. See if you can hear the difference: Well, I certainly hope that helped. And, again, if you still don’t hear the difference please don’t worry. Give it time.  [A little-known fact about old Anton B. is that he just loved balancing mini-vegetables on his head and would sometimes engage in this adorable behaviour for hours or even days on end. The girls loved it! Apparently, the 19th century music critic Eduard Hanslick found that Anton’s talent for balancing vegetables on his head far exceeded his gifts as a symphonist. Well, judging by this photo, Hanslick was certainly on to something!]  FAQ’s Do I need any protective clothing when using New Stupidity? Absolutely not! Protective clothing may even hinder your full enjoyment of New Stupidity. Is it safe to use New Stupidity in the shower? Well, yes and no. Yes, it’s safe to use New Stupidity in the shower and no, it’s not safe to use New Stupidity in the shower. Does New Stupidity give off any unwanted odours? I certainly hope so! (There will be more FAQ’s in the next instalment. I’m getting new ones every day!) Oh, before I forget, some of my music is now available for the first time ever on Spotify, iTunes (Apple music), Amazon, Deezer and a few other streaming services like Anghami, Yandex, Zvooq, Kuack and Qishui Yinyue (I’m serious. These really exist.) So if you’re not doing anything feel free to stream a piece of mine 3 or 400,000 times. Some of them even have violins. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/g%C3%A1bor-tarj%C3%A1n/1727143897 https://open.spotify.com/artist/7a0XnOnXDkvxIsHBT24rNL?si=9OgScEAGRnu_Pz6xD0krAg Well, I guess that’s about it for now….oh no wait…one more thing. In March, April and May, I’ll be touring with Het Filiaal theatermakers’ Talking Hands, a pretty wonderful production featuring two actors, a dancer-turned-signing interpreter, a Syrian-born ud player and singer and a Hungarian-born composer-turned-New Stupid.I wear glasses and a tie; I count to ten in Chinese and make quite a few rude gestures with my hands. Definitely not something you’ll want to miss.Click HERE for the trailer. Thanks for reading all of this. (If in fact, you did read all of this. If you didn’t read all of this…well, thanks then for just reading these words of thanks…and if you’re not reading these words of thanks…Oh, never mind.) Thank you and until next time: May Stupidity be with you! If you or someone you love has been a victim of New Stupidity, please call our New Stupidity hotline at 1-800-754-4478 (charges may vary, please ask your provider for details) |
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Dear friends,Allow me to make an earth-shattering announcement: Over the years, we have all witnessed the emergence of numerous ‘neo’ movements in the world of contemporary music. We’ve seen the coming (and staying) of New Romanticism, New Spirituality, New Complexity and New Simplicity. Wouldn’t you agree with me, my friends, that the time has come for something truly new? I thought you would.That is why, dear friends, as of the very moment that you read these words, I am announcing the launching of a spanking new worldwide movement in contemporary music: New Stupidity.That’s right, friends, Stupidity. I know most of you might probably not have even considered the notion that stupidity is what we have sorely been missing in new music. But believe me, it is, and we have.Well, let’s get into the meat of this thing: what exactly is New Stupidity? I’m glad you asked.Obviously the name implies that there has at one time been something one might refer to as “Old Stupidity”. And this, my friends, is indeed, exactly the case. Throughout the history of Western Music, there have been random instances of stupidity. One need only recall the third component of La Monte Young’s Compositions (1960) entitled How to Feed a Piano, in which a performer feeds a grand piano hay or brings it hay and leaves it to feed itself; the Sonata in E major for guitar and recorder (1641) by Ernesto Bonifacius, and of course the complete symphonies of Anton Bruckner.Some of these random instances of stupidity were intentional, others considerably less so. (I’ll leave you to figure out which is which) But never has there been a consolidated movement which has manifested itself as as a stupid force to be reckoned with. Until today.Morton Feldman once said, Music’s tragedy is that it begins with perfection. What did he mean by this? Who knows?The point is that contemporary music is suffering, my friends. Suffering under the enormous weight and burden of forever having to be deep, emotionally charged, complex, important, riveting, mesmerising, hypnoticand so forth and so forth, etc, etc. andare avanti in eterno. Why do we not allow music to simply be stupid, silly, playful, meaningless, foolish, ludicrous, idiotic, ridiculous, für immer und ewig in der dummheit? My answer is: we can! And we must!Therefore, I call upon all my fellow composers and musicians to join me in freeing music of its burden. How? Well, by writing and spreading stupid music of course. Imagine the freedom and joy we and music itself would experience if concert halls were to announce the premiere of:‘Another splendidly stupid new work!’or‘A new opera of stunning stupidity!’Of course, for some of you, stupidity may be unchartered territory. This is understandable. You might be asking yourself: How do I go about writing a stupid new work? Not to worry. Here is an example of a stupid bar of music. |
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There, that should help.
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Oh and by the way, before I forget: I’m working on the music for The Neverending Story at the moment. It’s the new Christmas production by Het Filiaal theatermakers in co-operation with the Stadsschouwburg Utrecht and Slagwerk Den Haag. Seven actors and five musicians: 3 percussionists from Slagwerk Den Haag (Niels Meliefste, Dirge Seçil Kuran and Joey Marijs), AND Emma Breedveld, violin and Emine Bostanci, kemençe and Cretan lyra. Most of it will not be very stupid, I’m afraid, yet nevertheless still quite enjoyable. I will attempt to sneak in as much stupidity as I can but I can’t guarantee anything, my friends. There are other forces at work. Still, I do urge you to come and see it if only for the free drink during the intermission. They serve quite a lovely Chardonnay. |
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gábor tarján, composer, percussionist 