Monday, October 29, 2012

Bastardizing Expressions of the Sacred

Should there be some kind of censure or penalty for someone who massacres art?  Am I the only one who considers such an act sacrilegious?

When an artist puts heart and soul into creating a meaningful work of beauty, is that not a sacred act?

If someone went into a museum and painted mustaches over all of Vermeer's faces, Dégas' ballerinas, Rosa Bonheur's horses, what do you think would happen?  If someone tagged the Pietà, what do you think would happen?  

I ask because I have just witnessed this being done with some of what I consider to be our most beautiful Pagan songs.  The music director (using the term loosely) over-produced and “popified” these songs, altering the phrasing, and even presuming to change the melody in places, all done with off-key and weak solos, an out-of-sync chorus, and appalling synthetic keyboard masking as a piano.  To me, these changes were done in service of ego, not to enhance the listener’s experience.

Does this not disrespect the efforts of the artist?  Does it not disrespect the creative inspiration from the muses?  Does this serve to honor the memory of our ancestors and beloved dead?  Is such “reworking” worthy of our gods? 

I think not.  What say you?