WHITE TIGER by DUBAIS

Here is my newest video as DUBAIS

DUBAIS: past meditations on future presentations. a manifesto by Nadia Buyse

DUBAIS was formed in a bathroom in Antwerp as homage to all past representations, meditations, or predictions of future utopias, states of being, and technologies. The city of Dubai stood as a metaphor or representation of what the new modern Middle East could be; a place of great economic wealth, abundance, culture, and futuristic architecture on land or in sea (palm island.) Now, 45 years after the discovery of its rich oil fields, Dubai still stands, but is demystified of its past expectations.  It is these moments of expectation that shape our understanding of time and development. How do these moments morph as time passes? What once was a mystery is now a memory, even if the mystery was never solved.

My original intent for this project was based in a series of rules and regulations, reflective of my conceptual concerns. First of all, no instruments could be used. Only drones,blips, beeps, generated by my cell phone or consumer grade programs like Garageband, and samples taken from either Space disco of the late 70s or break-beats from the early 80s. Now it has expanded and changed. My interest is still in not exclusively using instrumentation to write/arrange songs. I also use video clips to generate the arrangements and tempo. I use memories, Billy Strayhorn, psychoanalysis and cultural heart ache to determine lyrical content. Although DUBAIS exists as a band, it really exists more as a vehicle in which I can explore multidimensional compositional strategies through a displaced cultural lens.

I often think of the state of music now. I think of what my expectations of music, especially punk music, were. When I was young, I saw it as a way for me to feel comfortable in my own skin. I projected punk into some utopian realm where I can say, be, look, do, whatever I am/want. I was always aware of my differences and tried to conceal them. Tried to pretend that my frizzy hair would eventually turn blonde and straight.  Tried to pretend that eventually my skin would lighten and I would get taller. Tried to pretend that someday people wouldn't notice or comment on my differences. That I would B L E N D into my white-washed rural youth. When I discovered that I wouldn't and didn't want to B L E N D I turned to music, to this subculture of punk to give me permission to be different, to not compromise or submit to some sort of homogenized ideals or expectations. It all felt very revolutionary at the time.... but that time is gone.

Now, years later, where am I? I've been in countless bands, (well, actually about 30) toured various places, made records, music videos, etc. and at the end of the day I've come to realize what is at the heart of what I love about music. I love the community, I love the activity of playing and composing, I love combining music with politics, I love teaching kids to do it and being a positive role model for them, I love using music to express social change, I love the healing effect it has on my soul, I love that I can incapsulate all that I feel in one song.

I am also faced with the things that I hate about music. I hate the way capitalist ideas of commodification has so much influence in the presentation of the music/musician.  I continually am searching for ways to challenge this and to take myself out of that context. This video below is for a song I wrote called TUNISIA SPHINX. The song is originally sample based and heavily effected, as is the performative aspects (ie. video, costuming,etc.) I wanted to strip all of this away to see what was left. For this video I reconstructed the song into a minimalist keyboard arrangement and wanted the video to be unaffected. I also wanted myself to be not in costume or makeup but to be as I am in a rehearsal space. I wanted to see what is left after removing these elements.


thank you for being here.

ANIMATION EXPERIMENTS #1

EAST END IN NOVEMBER

"The degree to which we see to it that we women are participating and developing the revolutionary struggle is the degree to which the female perspective will be dominant in our struggle and in the future society." 

-Roxanna Dunbar-Ortiz

PERSPECTIVES AND PERFORMANCES

feminist art, community, and performance in portland. 

VISUAL

Lauren Barret 

Ellis Burnheart

Joseph Derouselle

Allison DeWilde

Pooooorincess

Victoria Reynolds

Samantha Wall

Molly Wolfe

SOUND

Tombstalker

Jewels of the Nile

Cat fancy

PERFORMANCE

Fuck Relational Aggression

a performance/ workshop/ panel discussion

led by 

Lydia Schmidt

Nadia Buyse

NOV 4th

 East End 203 se Grand Ave

 6$ all proceeds go to RNRC4G portland www.girlsrockcamp.org

SCHOOL SHMOOOOOOOL

Do I still have time to blog?

coming soon WHAT TO READ/READ....

at night I become yoko

Wizard is my favorite

The newest in the puppet profiles