Obsolete Capitalism Sound System
Chaos Sive Natura
Rattling Self-Propeller
An important question for the relationship between music and chaos is the one that Nietzsche poses in his fragment n°84 in The Gay Science:
In short: was there anything more useful than rhythm to the old superstitious type of human being?
In fragment 84 Nietzsche lists the reasons why ancient people, in particular the Greeks, invented and used «rhythm» in poetry, music, dance, assembling the various artistic expressions in only one act. The German philosopher talks of «superstitious utility» because the integration of the rhythm in the speech “reorganizes all the atoms of a sentence, bids one to select one's words and gives thoughts a new colour and makes them darker, stranger, more distant.” Hence the paradox: what is today considered «useless», we mean poetry, was at those ancient times of a great importance, because the verse was better remembered than ordinary, practical and straightforward speech, especially for anthropomorphic gods of ancient times. “The rhythmic discourse was supposed to make a human request impress the gods more deeply.” This suggests the superstitious nature Nietzsche confers to the utility of poetry in its origin. The philosopher adds: “one wanted to take advantage of that elemental overpowering force that humans experience in themselves when listening to music: rhythm is a compulsion it engenders an unconquerable desire to yield, to join in; not only the stride of the feet but also the soul itself gives in to the beat - probably also, one inferred, the souls of the gods! By means of rhythm one thus tried to compel them and to exercise a power over them: one cast poetry around them like a magical snare.”
