The Wiz: Who's behind the Mask🎭? New pair of the Revolutionary Art Army!✊🏼
Who's hiding behind the mask🎭? A revolutionary musical pairing!
How far are we from the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, now Russia? A very long way.
But there are still plenty of things to rebel against in both countries, and musicians whose political positions, justified or otherwise, can sometimes overshadow their musical careers.
Like any great invention or collaboration, it makes you hold your head and ask: "How did nobody think of this before?!"
That's how I feel about this latest, aggressive🥊 collaboration between representatives of the United States and Russia:
In the Stars and Stripes corner, Tom Morello, may he keep doing his thing, the tireless guitarist known for "Audioslave" and above all "Rage Against the Machine". Some would call them the greatest live band in the world. I won't argue. His guitar sound and riffs are unmistakable, and from the very beginning, he's never stopped speaking his mind...
The "Rage" members' neo-Marxist outlook led them to include a reading list with "Evil Empire", featuring criticism of American capitalism, culture and education. Then there was their attempt to display an upside-down American flag, a protest against government policy, during a prime-time "Saturday Night Live" appearance; burning🔥 the flag at Woodstock '99 three years later; and, with "Audioslave", becoming the first major American band to perform on communist Cuban soil.
In the hammer-and-sickle corner🇷🇺, Nadya Tolokonnikova of the Russian feminist punk band and art collective "Pussy Riot". Beyond their brightly colored ski masks, they openly oppose the oppression of the LGBTQ community and Putin's policies more broadly through protests, performances and, of course, songs. Members of the collective have paid, and continue to pay, for this with arrests, sparking an international movement calling for their release, including in Israel. Around three years ago, the group's producer was hospitalized in serious condition, with suspicions of poisoning by people connected to the authorities😈.
Morello describes them as one of the most radical and revolutionary bands of all time, constantly fighting injustices in their own country and beyond. For him, collaborating with them is a great honor.
Nadya returned the compliment, describing social and political engagement as inseparable from both artists' work. She added that working with Morello was empowering and respectful, and a welcome addition to the arsenal of their revolutionary art army, in which they march as allies🤝!
Nadya accompanied by Russian police during her arrest.
The song💣
The product of this radical pairing is "Weather Strike". Weather is changeable and beyond our control. "Strike" can mean a blow, perhaps a storm gathering strength before it breaks and brings down the existing regime. It can also mean a refusal to work: perhaps the weather imposed by those in power is due to go on strike.
A dynamite track full of rises and falls, explosions, whispers and screams. I can easily imagine Zack de la Rocha of "Rage" delivering his own thunderous version behind the microphone🎙️.
Morello's unmistakable sound and heavy riffs crash in from every direction, including a background riff resembling a siren🚔. Against them, Nadya's gentle whispers become full-blooded punk cries of rage in English and Russian. She asks for those sirens to be silenced, apologizes for throwing up on police uniforms, and taunts the officers with a future in which they lick her boots👢. She hopes that one day Russia's secret-police headquarters will become a museum teaching people about the injustices taking place in Russia.
The video, with its flickering lyrics, flashing lights⚡ and imagery directed by Germany-based Russian artist Ksti Hu, fits this subversive blast perfectly. A warning for viewers sensitive to flashing images. The video itself plays; only its preview is censored.
Enjoy! (...the Revolution)
O.Miz🎧
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