Ecstasy & Activism: Can the Mystical be Political?
Joseph Tawadros, an Egyptian-Australian musician, recently performed a record-breaking 25-hour long concert to benefit the people of Gaza.
On a particularly murky night in late December, I found myself driving across town in what felt like the darkest storm of the year. A tar-like shroud blocked out the stars as torrents of rain raged against my windshield. The headlights of passing cars seemed like solitary angler fish, alien lifeforms of the deepest sea.
I turned on Portland’s community radio and suddenly found my ears awash in provocative tones that pierced me like a golden arrow. The distinct, gut-taught tones emerged out of what sounded like the throat of some beautiful grassland mammal – a gazelle or impala – if only it could cry out like a bird. Listening to the beak-sharp plucks and tendonish bends, I knew I could only be listening to a Middle-Eastern oud.
I let the solitary, grief-hewn tones steep into my bones. Wave upon wave of emotion pumme…