Maintenant #59: Gabriele Labanauskaite
Talking about AVaspo and the texts I create, not all of them are possible to perform in the way I imagined, connecting with music. I‘m always avoiding a correct versification, because that reminds me of simple songs. Clipped, tricky, strange rhythms are my favorite, but it‘s not always possible to unite them with mathematically precise music… if you do something of high quality, there are not so many obstacles. For example, AVaspo don’t often perform at literary or poetry festivals in Lithuania (there are many reasons — we need more equipment than just a microphone, we are noisy and not always ‘suitable’ for the programme), but we do get financial support from the Ministry of Culture for releasing our cds and dvds and so on. So I could say that I feel like a strange conspicuous flower in the Lithuanian poetry desert — not so common or understandable for everybody, but not so bad that you would need to tear it out.
In the 59th in the Maintenant series, SJ Fowler interviews the Lithuanian poet, playwright & singer Gabriele Labanauskaite.
Ten Poems
A thick nectar pours from the depths of intoxication
with butterflies, dragons from the east it flies
away…
During your childhood you met many fantastic beasts
Lynx rubbed against your legs,
Snakes whispered sweet little words,
Adorned in scorpion beads.
During adolescence you began to shun your acquaintances
And learned to sleep with a loaded weapon under your pillow
All of your beloved having turned into
Monkeys bounding in wilderness…
By Gabriele Labanauskaite.
A Hybrid Commentary on Paris, Paris Je T’Aime & Harold Jaffe’s Paris 60
As a collective, Paris Je T’Aime‘s 18 segments serves its viewers a buffet of varied takes on the life of the city; alloted about five minutes each, each filmmaker dishes a version of the city which does and does not differ from the next. Aimed towards objectifying the city’s unforeseen, Harold Jaffe’s Paris 60 is a book which delves into many different subjects, spans 60 days, comprises 60 entries and is penned solely from the perspective of an outsider, though a frequent visitor.
By John-Patrick Ayson.