But then I thought, 'OK, I'll use it as a springboard. I'll take a musical course that has integrity and tells a story. The opera transcends the political motivations of the Jesuits in that it was written as propaganda, a teaching tool for the conquered. This episode is followed by a series of Portuguese fado, bluegrass and Texas prison work songs, all of which reflect on the notion of longing. This longing, this need for place and identity, is the one by-product of all these colliding cultures.
People feel they've lost something, so they mythologise about better times.
But it's mainly a by-product of the meeting of cultures. It is barely detectable save through the agency of poetry and art. Cage is just sitting there chanting and not doing much else, which eventually provokes violent disapproval. As company members try to dance through the cacophony, the very act of watching them becomes increasingly difficult. We're suggesting how hard it is in this overstimulated time to concentrate on any one thing.