Greg Genre – Nondualism, Anti-Consumerism and Artistic Responsibility

Intro

A few years ago I came up with the composer/performer name of Greg Genre and i have been performing under that name ever since.  More recently having looked at the etymology of both Greg and Genre and i have realised both terms refer to both my compositional technique and to the essence of how i view myself as a human being.   Greg comes from the ancient Greek Gregorius meaning ‘Watchful’ and ‘Alert’ and in Folk Etymology the name became associated with the Latin Grex meaning To ‘Flock’ or ‘herd’ .  The name Gregorius also later became the word Gregarious meaning ‘Sociable’, or ‘Liking The Company Of Other People’.  Genre comes from the French meaning type or kind or latin Genus meaning race or stock. 

Hence Greg Genre refers to how I flock or herd a number of different kinds of music and also to my sociable nature as I enjoy the company of many different types of people, independent of age, gender of ethnicity.

For me composing and performing music then is a process of self-definition and self-creation, although I am aware that the music I play and how I act and behave as a person results from all of the people I have met, music i have heard, experiences i have collected, and in this sense the music i play before you today should be understood as ‘our’ music rather than ‘mine’, I understand that the process works both ways in that the music that i perform can also affect and influence the lives of others and the world around me.  As musicians we are all responsible in our own way for shaping and defining not only how we are understood and perceived but also for shaping how music itself is defined and perceived and as a result we all have a hand in shaping the larger culture. Musical composition and performance empowers me to address my own repressed emotion, allows me to voice my concerns about the world around me and as a result music encourages me to take a more active role in contributing to the larger communities of which i am a part.  Through my music i Hope to encourage and empower other people to creatively express, to get out the social boxes, the biggest being the fear of what other people think of you, which results from the other smaller boxes which bring with them various normal protocols and behaviours, which may limit your ability to express who you are. 

Non-Dualism

A couple of weeks back I announced how I am particularly fond of artists such Genki Sudo who use art as a means of spreading messages of Universal Peace.  After receiving some feedback

I realised that my statements were largely ambiguous in regards to what I meant by Genki Sudo’s ‘We Are All One’ statement and also what I meant in terms how much allows me feel a greater sense of connection to everyone and everything.   Sudo’s statement has both scientific and spiritual significance for me. 

Firstly from a purely this world is all there is scientific standpoint such a message communicates how we are all in turn responsible for the world in which we live and the message also highlights how there is an interdependence between things within nature.  As one of my favourite Hip Hop musicians KRS ONE has asserted in his book The Gospel Of Hip Hop:

Realise that everyone is a role model because every object in Nature affects every other object in Nature.  Every object and/or event in Nature appears to the human mind as a symbol-everything means something to us.  As an object in Nature you are a symbol to other people as to what reality is and what is even possible.  To assume, that you are not a role model is to deny your own influence upon Nature and upon other people.  Such an assumption confines you to your own limited thinking.  (KRS ONE 2009, pp.699-700)

As a performer of music there is in some way a heightened degree of responsibility in that on stage, musicians have a privileged chance to communicate a message to an often passive audience.  Whether this message is consciously or unconsciously manifested the stage provides the performer of music with a heightened chance to influence. 

Secondly on a spiritual level I do believe that there is some infinite force at play beyond the five sense plain which connects all (I like KRS Ones definition as the Love that Guides Our Direction).  Whether these beliefs have any validity for you or not is in some way unimportant.  How these beliefs affect how I approach and live out my life do.  Although my beliefs don’t necessarily prescribe to a singular, named religion and as my beliefs are influenced by innumerable sources, some important elements of what I believe relate to Vedanta, a branch of Hindu Philosophy.  One of the most widely known exponents of Vedanta, Swami Vivekananda, sums ups the philosophy in saying: 

The whole universe is one existence.  There cannot be anything else.  Out of diversities we are all going towards this universal existence.  Families into tribes, tribes into races, races into nations, nations into humanity-how many wills going to the One!  It is all knowledge, all science the realization of this unity’ (Vivekananda The Complete Works Of Vol.8 p.138)

Essentially Vedanta philosophy proposes A Non-dualistic reality in which the part is in the whole and the whole is in the part.  The aim of all life from such a perspective is to realise the oneness of all.  Through Vedanta then-or through the acquirement of such a knowledge that all is one- an individual realises also that what he or she was searching for in life (happiness, contentment, peace, bliss etc.) is already within and no longer without.    

As a performing musician I of course would love for people to take pleasure from the aesthetics of my music, but my lyrical content more recently has been more focused on making the listener aware that it is the beauty within themselves that allows the music to be beautiful not necessarily the beauty of what I am playing.

Danielle Parziani, in a presentation last year, discussed the search for and the possibility of an objective music.  I would argue that the objectivity is to be found within not without.  Everything is a question of perception.  Your perception comes from the thoughts you habitually think and the beliefs and views that you hold.   The more that one looks outside for beauty, fulfilment, enjoyment and happiness the more external protocols that need to be met in order for beauty, fulfilment, enjoyment happiness to be realised. 

Consumerism   

In a lot of my songs I critique the consumer society in which we live and the model of cyclical consumption on which our economic system depends.   In Consumer society an increasing consumption of goods is economically beneficial as the more goods that are produced, sold and consumed the more the economic growth.

Refer to the diagram above which shows cyclical consumption at work.  As you can see The Employer or company and the employees of a particular company are completely dependent on the process of consumer purchasing for wages and profit.  If less people began to purchase and consume the products or services provided by the company than the companies profits would decrease and they may have to lay off some of there employees, this obviously has negative results for the economy as a whole.

As economic growth is constantly needed to maintain the system it is beneficial to have a populace who rely on the purchasing of more and more commodities to provide well-being and happiness and who believe that the more they have, or the more that they consume the better that their lives will be.  This means that people must be encouraged to look outside of themselves for a source of fulfilment and enrichment in their lives.  On the other hand this means that those are content with what they have and those who look within themselves for fulfilment and identity are actually detrimental to the economic system. 

Of course, I cannot claim to be performing purely anti-consumerist music as the music that I compose follows a lot of the protocols associated with consumerism.  I compose mainly in the western standard tuning, I write in a verse chorus popular song structure and I often release my music as the neatly packaged e.p.  I also compose various styles of instrumentals which i sometimes sell for film and TV. 

Of course you could argue that such irony and contradiction within my musical approach nullifies the messages found in my lyrical content .

For example how can i claim to preach anti-consumer messages yet still sell CDs or perform in pay per entry venues?  But to be honest I see composing and performing as I do not as much as an anti-consumerist statement but instead as being anti-catalystic (in apposition to the theory that an external catalyst is necessary)

The best example I can give to demonstrate my theory is a real life event which I witnessed last week.  I saw a couple of kids jumping in and out of puddles with massive smiles on there faces.  There mother told them off and pulled them over to the side.  She then walked them over to Fenwick’s window and pointed up at Santa Claus holding a bag full or goodies in his right hand.

Through the process of ‘growing up’ these kids will learn that as adults there is no enjoyment to be had jumping in and out of puddles.  They must for wait for multiple branches of criteria to be met before fun can be contemplated. 

Has the whistle blown yet? Has the match kicked off yet? Have the band started playing yet? Do the shops have a sale on?  Is it you Birthday? Do you have a reason to celebrate your existence? Is it Christmas? 

I can’t admire the dead, the lifeless statues in Fenwick’s because the beauty is in the child and not the window. 

Peace and love and more to come!