BD narration

[ozarkbugler]

Thank you! That was enough to help me find it. Here is the poem, which seems to be "Pour compte" (1948-49), by Tristan Tzara:

- - - - - - - - - -

Dans l’Arabie des trois midis

Des tours aux fronts de caïmans

Dans l’Arabie de ta peau neuve

Et des turbans de rêve noir

Le feu tinte dans les cloches

Douce est la parole de l’eau

Sous la clé des nuits légères

Enchaînées au coeur des filles

Le feu lèche les miroirs

Les museaux des endormies

Brûlent sous le regard fendu

Dans l’orange du matin

C’est pour ces pays d’un sou

Que se vide la mémoire

Pour la neige et la flamme

Dont se parent les étoiles

Sous la crinière aveugle

Court le feu inassouvi

Le cristal vivant des sources

Dans les eaux de l’avenir

Va mon enfant, dors mon cheval

Il n’y a pas assez de paix

Dans les justes mains des cimes

Pour couvrir la voix des villes.

- - - - - - - - - -

(The last line is not audible.)

And here is a translation:

- - - - - - - - - -

In the Arabia of three noons

Towers with crocodiles foreheads

In the Arabia your new skin

And turbans of black dream.

The fire tinkles inside the bells

Soothing is the speech of water

Under the key of light nights

Chained to the hearts of girls

The fire licks the mirrors

The muzzles of the sleeping ones

Burn under their closed eyes

In the orange of morning

It is for these single-penny-countries

That memory empties itself

For the snow and the flame

Of which stars adorn themselves

Under a blind mane

Runs the unsatisfied fire

The living cristal of springs

In the waters of the future

Go my child, sleep my horse

There is not enough peace

In the fair hands of the summits

To cover the voice of the cities.

- - - - - - - - - -

(Source 1)

(Source 2)

Thank you for taking the time to do the research. Having read the above the show now makes perfect sense to me.

[Guardguy89]

Wow - I'm amazed that you were able to find it from the few words I was able to translate. I was close on some - but totally off on theo thers. Which goes to my point, that it's not so much what words are being said, but the effect it gives - I live that part of the show!

Later,

Mike

[N.E. Brigand]

Of course, now that we know the words, the question is: does it make any difference?

Is it appropriate for a GE judge who knows French and thinks, "That poem makes no sense here", to reduce BD's score accordingly?

Or suppose a GE judge has been rating BD fairly low because she thinks that confusing the audience is a bad thing -- if she now reads this DCP thread and learns the meaning of the poem and likes it, is it appropriate for her to increase BD's score accordingly the next time she sees them?

Is there a different French text that would serve BD's purposes better? The major aesthetic point of the narration is presumably to create a collage effect with the music -- but are all collages created equal?

Also, what if a judge agrees with the position, put forward by some on these forums, that the entire Dada movement represented a cowardly abandonment of duty to country in WWI -- can she find fault with BD for using Dada themes? What if a judge hold the opposite view, expressed by others on these forums, that the Dada movement represented an valuable response to the insanities that led to WWI -- can he praise BD for adopting themes of that movement?

Edited July 31, 2012 by N.E. Brigand

[flammaster]

Before Dada was there, was Dada there.

Dada is an ancient, four-legged crossbow, which leads a little dog at the line.

[3rd Glasgow BB]

This isn't in the show, they were just trying to woo some of Phantom Regiments guard who were in the lot across the street.

[MikeD]

Of course, now that we know the words, the question is: does it make any difference?

Is it appropriate for a GE judge who knows French and thinks, "That poem makes no sense here", to reduce BD's score accordingly?

Or suppose a GE judge has been rating BD fairly low because she thinks that confusing the audience is a bad thing -- if she now reads this DCP thread and learns the meaning of the poem and likes it, is it appropriate for her to increase BD's score accordingly the next time she sees them?

But who determines what "makes sense"...and what does that really mean?

I mean, look at this quote from the Marx Bros film "Animal Crackers"

We must remember that art is art.

Well, on the other hand water is water isn't it?

And east is east and west is west.

And if you take cranberries and stew them like applesause

they taste much more like prunes than rubarb does.

Now uh...now you tell me what you know.

...It makes no sense whatsoever when read literally, yet fits into the film perfectly...very 'dada' to me!

The key to me if I were judging a show like BD on GE is to evaluate whether what is being presented in and of itself generates an effect, as defined by the judging criteria, regardless of whether or not I like it.

Look at the woman in my sig picture...Deng Li Jun...a very famous Chinese pop singer from the 70's and 80's...I love her recordings, yet I speak no Chinese, Korean or Japanese, which are the primary languages she recorded in. To me her music generates an 'effect', based on listening to her voice as a musical instrument, not having to know the lyrics.

[Cron]

Of course, now that we know the words, the question is: does it make any difference?

Is it appropriate for a GE judge who knows French and thinks, "That poem makes no sense here", to reduce BD's score accordingly?

Or suppose a GE judge has been rating BD fairly low because she thinks that confusing the audience is a bad thing -- if she now reads this DCP thread and learns the meaning of the poem and likes it, is it appropriate for her to increase BD's score accordingly the next time she sees them?

Is there a different French text that would serve BD's purposes better? The major aesthetic point of the narration is presumably to create a collage effect with the music -- but are all collages created equal?

Also, what if a judge agrees with the position, put forward by some on these forums, that the entire Dada movement represented a cowardly abandonment of duty to country in WWI -- can she find fault with BD for using Dada themes? What if a judge hold the opposite view, expressed by others on these forums, that the Dada movement represented an valuable response to the insanities that led to WWI -- can he praise BD for adopting themes of that movement?

I get what you're saying here, but all your questions are aimed at what could be considered personal opinion. While various judges may have differing interpretations of how something should be scored in relation to the sheets, personal opinion is removed as much as possible from their judging as it should be. All of your questions related to judging refer to "likes" or "dislikes". While these are great measures of entertainment from individual to individual, a good judge should never let their likes or dislikes color their scores.

[Grandpa]

I never expected to see people discussing the relative absurdity of an obscure French poem in a drum corps forum.....

For Pete's sake - it's blowing horns and banging drums on a football field. It's not the weekly meeting of the Cape Cod Ladies Fine Arts Society.

Would you like the concession stands to ditch the hotdogs and start serving cucumber sandwiches and tea?

The fact that people are actually taking the time to dissect this pretentious crap is mind-blowing to me. March, play, spin. Do it better than the other guys and you win. It's really quite simple. At least, it should be.....

/rant

[Lincoln]

Make your own Dada Poem with the Dada Poem Generator.

Charlie1223 - the Internet is always full of surprises but to have found a Dada Poem Generator is one of the biggest in a while....thx for the link.

[Rocketman]

Soooo, the eternal question remains, if Bluecoats were doing this show at the exact same level of execution, would they be undefeated right now? I say no. BD can do what they do because they are BD, and what BD does has long been regarded as "the" thing to do in the activity. Even Dance Derby of the Century was rewarded fairly generously, while there are some that thought it was beneath them (BD).

Just once, I'd like to see three corps decide on the same theme (including music), we could then make the determination as to who carried off the theme better both in programming and execution. With the 2012 BD show (which except for the narration, I like), how can you say their concept is better than, for example, Cadets? At that point it seems to come down to a matter of preference/taste which shouldn't have any place in the activity.

RM