You Millions, I Embrace You! (2017) from Alex Yiu on Vimeo.

《擁抱吧，萬民！》姚少龍的參與演出
‘You millions, I embrace you!’ A participatory performance by Alex Yiu

策展人：陳子澂
Curator : Andre Chan

About the performance

As Slavoj Zizek once described ‘Ode to Joy’ as an ‘Empty container’, this music itself is being used by people in almost any forms of celebration. Written in the summer of 1785 by German poet Friedrich Schiller, the poem ‘Ode to Joy’ celebrates the heavenly joyfulness of mankind and expresses the idea of unifying people in mysticism. While Schiller remains one of the most important poets of Germany, it is Ludwig van Beethoven’s setting on this poem with his Symphony No. 9 marks the historical monument of Western classical music.

The verse ‘You millions, I embrace you!’ from ‘Ode to Joy’, which is also the title of this work, is a participatory performance by the Hong Kong sound artist Alex Yiu. In this performance, audience is invited to participate a rehearsal, which is lead by the artist himself, to learn how to sing a section of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ in its original German texts. As music provides an aesthetic experience through a process of reinforcing and incorporating our body’s movement and memory, the artist attempts to re-enact the aesthetic experience of singing in practice, and he also questions about the purpose of music in our contemporary society.

表演簡介

哲學家齊澤克曾形容《快樂頌》為「真空的容器」，因為這樂曲曾經被無數人引用並成為各種慶典的音樂。於一七八五年，德國詩人席勒寫下了《快樂頌》，歌頌人類崇高的快樂以及團結世人的理念，當中不乏神秘主義的色彩。雖然席勒被喻為德國最重要的詩人之一，但真正令到《快樂頌》家傳戶曉的，是作曲家貝多芬用了席勒的《快樂頌》的詩文，譜寫了人類歷史裡最重要的音樂——D 小調第九交響曲《合唱》。

由香港聲音藝術家姚少龍所創作，《擁抱吧，萬民！》為今次作品的題目，也是《快樂頌》裡的一詩句，這作品是一件參與演出的表演。藝術家本人將會帶令著觀眾，進行一次正式的合唱團排練，並學習如何頌唱貝多芬《快樂頌》原版的選段。音樂通過強化和協調身體和記憶，給予演奏者和聽眾美學經驗，藝術家企圖通過歌唱行為，去重演其美學經驗，以及質問到底音樂在當代社會的政經意義。