How do the wave-like notions of fluidity, mermaids and music collide and spill over the constructions under which we share sounds and truths?

The project titled Mermaid Tails is an EP (piece of music that can be considered a short album) expressing individual musical translations of a mermaid called Hydrophrodite, as she exists fluidly on land, in a human world. Each track calls upon different elements of her history, ancestry, mythologies, truths, environment, experiences, relationships and takes the listener on a journey into the ocean to reimagine an underwater fantasy. 

Track 1: “Is the mermaid an agent of The Devil?”, inspired by attending mass, is a piece which relates back to my Catholic ancestry. In the eyes of a priest, would mermaids be sinful creatures? Were they created by God or might they be agents of Satan? Would they be expelled from society along with anybody who followed them? Is there space for otherworldly creatures such as mermaids under the umbrella of Catholicism? 

The piece takes the listener into a Church setting where they might hear an Organ playing, echoes, spoken word, the reading of prayers, and the mermaids freeing themselves from this restrictive environment.

Track 2: “Protection” is a piece which references the heavy, relentless drag of water when travelling through deep, dark parts of the ocean. Submarines are one of millions of inhabitants of these lively places. They patrol the depths in silence; stealth is their greatest weapon. Warheaded submarines use passive sonar for listening to their surroundings without giving away their own location. There are rumours of the future of warfare existing more and more underwater, with spy vessels skirting around territorial waters and trigger-ready anti-submarines “defending” their ocean. Submarines offer protection for the physical human body to survive for periods of time underwater: under high pressure, cold temperatures by providing a metal bubble to breathe in.  Do they truly offer protection on a “National Security” level? 

The piece includes sampled sounds that were recorded in a bathtub, MayaLae’s voice calling on the water Goddess: “I Call on Mami Wata of Ghana”, Eeshar on Santoor, looped cello by Chloe and spoken poetry.

Track 3: Coming soon…

Project

How do the wave-like notions of fluidity, mermaids and music collide and spill over the constructions under which we share sounds and truths?

All things that cross our path are waves of energy. Every movement, thought, idea, creature, person, sound… even the Moon has more impact on our Earth than we know. Each passing wave of energy causes all the atoms around us, including our bodies, minds and souls to vibrate. There is a reaction to every action and our bodies respond to more than words, whether it be subconscious or active. Despite all that is happening in the atmosphere around you, the notion of fluidity is to be in a constant state of flow; to be shapeless, yet may take on infinite forms, and enter with a mind that is open to new possibilities and most importantly, the truth.

By decolonising our “global truths” and working outside of existing constructions on a queer collective consciousness, we are more susceptible to adopting the analogies that water fluid motions can share with us in this rapidly changing world. They encourage us to unbox the categories that have been laid out for us and allow ourselves to explore an instinctive, diverse, hydro-fluent worldview. Over billions of years it has created the most mesmerising of environments and mind-blowing organisms that are richer in colour, shape and movement than most sci-fi fantasy stories. Water is a natural force of creation and a body of the past and the future. A space of secrets, for much about its depths, is a mystery to us, yet contains vital elements for the existence and survival of the natural world.

Picture this. A room filled with glass jars. Stacked, filling shelves upon shelves much like a library. A scientific title reigning over each category. A short description explains each section like an allegory. 

Mermaids are otherworldly creatures that appear in mythologies across the world. Their depiction responds to their natural environment and their image carries the burden of their human projection: whether they be a creator, goddess, sea witch, fallen woman, seductress, Originating from water, mermaids exist in parallel to humans, yet are rarely spotted. Mermaids possess the gift to overcome all kinds of constructions that exist in human society, beginning with the binary notion of land and sea as separate entities.  

As a means of inter-species communication, the Moon Arkestra experiments with music that is fluid. It is inspired and it goes on to inspire: to connect, to build bridges, show new passage ways to navigate our environments and our histories. Each person in the Arkestra brought sounds and rhythms from different origins and melted them together, thus creating music that was genre-less. The motion of the sound waves are constantly reformed by pulls from currents flowing around the stage. There are myths and truths that emerge from the lowest tones to the highest squeaks of a collective melody. There are no names for some of these hybrid creatures that break through the surface of the rhythm. They have never been heard and their DNA does not exist in a lab. If this is the case, how can we explain things that we have never seen?

Bibliography 

Deep Sea Dwellers by Nettrice R. Gaskins

The Ocean Reader The Aquatic Uncle by Italo Calvino from the Complete Cosmicomics 

The Shape of Water directed by Wes Anderson