Uwe Rasch: versprecher

versprecher is based on the dubbed voices of »HAL 9000,« the talking computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs, excerpts from Louis Armstrong’s hit »What a Wonderful World«, material from the CD »nie mehr allein–62 minuten zweisamkeit« (sound wallpaper: vacuuming, washing dishes, baking cakes, etc.), and a passage from Robert J. Shiller’s The New Financial Order, performed with two Servox speech aids (which demolish speech through their very act of articulation).

 

How does a voice, a sound, or anything sonic hit us through the ear? The brilliant dubbed voices of Rolf Schult (Anthony Hopkins) and Peter Schiff (HAL) create an exorbitant disparity between warm, convincing, empathy-simulating vocal tones and the true, human-destroying intentions they conceal: messages from the realm of sonic deception, fraudulent intent, and emotional captivity.

 

Sonically, the manipulation occurs through simulated social interactions and the promise of alleviating social disadvantages: »The ultimate CD for those who have everything–except a life partner (…). ‘Never Alone Again’ sweetens solitude–banishes loneliness!« Promises like these often act as direct appeals to the subconscious, attempts at emotional manipulation through atmospheres of sound, gesture, and superficially coherent texts.

 

The idea of something being an evergreen–literally »evergreen«–is also just a promise. »What a Wonderful World«, written in 1967 specifically for Armstrong during the Vietnam War protests and the Civil Rights Movement, assembles every conceivable cliché, both lyrically and musically, to streamline Armstrong’s image for the entertainment industry.

 

What would a »real« feeling be? How could one discover it, dig it out from all the prefabricated melodramatic sedimentations that have settled within us? How could it even be recognised, and–could it be protected? To simply let oneself go? EVERYTHING on reception, trusting.

(Uwe Rasch)