I believe in letting an invader in and then setting a good example. That is the reply Benjamin Britten gave to a tribunal for the registration of conscientious objectors in 1942 when asked "What would you do if Britain was invaded?" I was reminded of it when researching my recent article on Marco Pallis , who was an authority on both Tibetan Buddhism and early music, and, together with Britten, a champion of Purcell . In his best-selling book Peaks and Lamas , which was written in 1939, Pallis tells this story about the Sakyas , the ethnic group of which Gautama Buddha was a member which inhabited the foothills of the Himalayas. News was brought to them of an impending attack by a hostile tribe and it was debated anxiously whether resistance should be offered or not. Eventually they decided that, as followers of [Buddhist] Doctrine, they were debarred from offering armed resistance, but must welcome the invaders as friends, so they threw down their arms... The Tibetans, how...
Comments
D.M. was one of the early professors at Mills college.
Have a look at the current M.C. site.
http://www.mills.edu/academics/faculty/mus/rmitchell/rmitchell.php
Who’s in charge of the D.M. chair? Roscoe Mitchell.
The most serious man from the jazz ensemble Art Ensemble of Chicago.
BT
Thanks for the Dave Brubeck post. Thought I'd forward you an excellent link/podcast re: Brubeck's earlier, more experimental trio and octet recordings that I learned of through Marc Meyer's fine "Jazz Wax" blog.
http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/playland-beach-dave-brubecks-early-octet-trio/
http://www.jazzwax.com
TEMcC