Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present
For over three decades now, David Byrne has been a leading light in American culture - in popular music, experimental theatre, film, television, fine art, and writing. Based on the cultural capital he gained with his groundbreaking band Talking Heads, Byrne is able to enter into collaborations with many artists, some of popular fame -Brian Eno and Jonathan Demme, for example - and others known best in more specialized circles - such as Joseph Kosuth, Twyla Tharp, and Caetano Veloso. The map of Byrne's collaborations, including the casual and incidental ones, reveals an ongoing effort to combine avant-gardism with popular appeal.


This highly original and illustrated account of David Byrne's career is structured by choosing a specific abstract approach, or a combination of two approaches, for each chapter, discussing the parallels and contradictions between such approaches to benefit the interpretation of Byrne's art. As a result, the fertile conceptual brew that characterizes Byrne's way of making art is present from the beginning, while each chapter adds to thorough insight and developing perspective.
"1111890392"
Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present
For over three decades now, David Byrne has been a leading light in American culture - in popular music, experimental theatre, film, television, fine art, and writing. Based on the cultural capital he gained with his groundbreaking band Talking Heads, Byrne is able to enter into collaborations with many artists, some of popular fame -Brian Eno and Jonathan Demme, for example - and others known best in more specialized circles - such as Joseph Kosuth, Twyla Tharp, and Caetano Veloso. The map of Byrne's collaborations, including the casual and incidental ones, reveals an ongoing effort to combine avant-gardism with popular appeal.


This highly original and illustrated account of David Byrne's career is structured by choosing a specific abstract approach, or a combination of two approaches, for each chapter, discussing the parallels and contradictions between such approaches to benefit the interpretation of Byrne's art. As a result, the fertile conceptual brew that characterizes Byrne's way of making art is present from the beginning, while each chapter adds to thorough insight and developing perspective.
36.95 In Stock
Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present

Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present

by Sytze Steenstra
Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present

Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present

by Sytze Steenstra

Paperback

$36.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

For over three decades now, David Byrne has been a leading light in American culture - in popular music, experimental theatre, film, television, fine art, and writing. Based on the cultural capital he gained with his groundbreaking band Talking Heads, Byrne is able to enter into collaborations with many artists, some of popular fame -Brian Eno and Jonathan Demme, for example - and others known best in more specialized circles - such as Joseph Kosuth, Twyla Tharp, and Caetano Veloso. The map of Byrne's collaborations, including the casual and incidental ones, reveals an ongoing effort to combine avant-gardism with popular appeal.


This highly original and illustrated account of David Byrne's career is structured by choosing a specific abstract approach, or a combination of two approaches, for each chapter, discussing the parallels and contradictions between such approaches to benefit the interpretation of Byrne's art. As a result, the fertile conceptual brew that characterizes Byrne's way of making art is present from the beginning, while each chapter adds to thorough insight and developing perspective.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780826441683
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 03/30/2010
Pages: 301
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Sytze Steenstra, PhD, isAssistant Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University, The Netherlands, and a freelance author/editor.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations
INTRODUCTION

The world is a song

Singer and conceptual artist

Mythology and methodology

Conceptual Romanticism

The method of this book

 

Part One: STRIPPING DOWN ROCK SONGS

The tentative rejection of mimesis

Cybernetics as inspiration

The first years of Talking Heads

Ethological and neurological aspects of music

Experiments with rhythm, texture and persona

 

Part Two: A WIDER MUSICAL COMMUNITY

Music and dance as social exchange

Isolated voices embedded in rhythm

At the crossroads: "Remain In Light"

Comparative studies of myth, archetypes and ritual

Archetypal conflicts: "goin' boom boom boom"
Speaking in Tongues: persona as ritual texture
 

Part Three: RITUAL IN DAILY LIFE

Introducing performance theatre

A concert in the cinema: "Stop Making Sense"

Music in context: "Talking Heads vs. The Television"

"The Knee Plays", music for Robert Wilson

"Little Creatures": television's naiveté

"True Stories", a generic Gesamtkunstwerk

A soundtrack for Mabou Mines' "Dead End Kids"

"The Forest", a Byrne-Wilson piece

"The Forest" as film script

 

Part Four: ROCK STAR AND ETHNOGRAPHER

The artist as ethnomusicologist

"Naked", Talking Heads' most ‘African' record

"Ilé Aiyé": a musical ethnographic documentary

"Rei Momo": incorporating Latin sensibility

Soundtracks for ethnographic art documentaries

Luaka Bop

In the mirror: Sex ‘n' drugs ‘n' electronic music

Critical responses

 

Part Five: IN THE VISUAL ARENA

The arena of visual communication

Photographic repertoires

"Strange Ritual": documents of sacralization

The voodoo of the business world

"The New Sins": a new mythology of chaos

Dressed objects and other furbaniture

 

Part Six: TROPICALISMO IN NEW YORK

The singer as imaginary landscape

"Between The Teeth"

New York Tropicalismo

TV presenter

"Live at Union Chapel"

Choreographed songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno
History in the disco mirror ball
 

Part Seven: AN EMOTIONAL EPISTEMOLOGY

Cloud diagrams

"Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information"

Arboretum: the garden of correspondences

The representation of politics

Who owns our eyes and ears?

Philosophy in installments
Bicycle Diaries: a comparative mythology of cities
Conclusion

 
Acknowledgments

Notes
Discography and Filmography
Bibliography of David Byrne writings
General bibliography

Index

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews