One of the great Tenors of our time!M.A have a timber voice that is a pleasure for our souls!May he soon came back to Gothenburg again and give us joy!
To those of you asking "WTF?", try to see the big picture in this video. -Firstly we have the last proposition from Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus repeated over and over again. There is a lot more to the book than that, all the other six theorems, their subtheorems and their subtheorems. Yet we have only the last one in this song. We also have a choir repeating it, not just Numminen himself. -Secondly he (and the pianist as well, but that is pretty normal for them) is dressed in a tailcoat, which, atleast in Finland, is worn during the presentation of one's doctoral thesis by the upcoming doctor, their opponent(s) and their supervisor. Thus the tailcoat is somewhat a symbol of sophistication. -Third thing to notice is that the pianist does not play but just turns pages. It is almost as if he did not understand what he was reading. What should be our conclusion? We have someone, who is part of the intellectual elite, reciting proposition 7 after the choir. This is like it was after Wittgenstein had published his work, it was deep, so, to appear intelligent, one had to have read the book. Those who had not understood Tractatus, kept repeating the last proposition to show others they had. That's the choir, that's the pianist too. He just skips everything to get to the last page. To be part of the intellectuals, Numminen joins the choir when it is his turn to speak. That's my interpretation of this video.
I recall reading that Wittgenstein, talking to a friend who could not understand the Tractatus, suggested that he just read the introduction and the last few pages. That, of course, is fairly easy to understand. But the irony is that quoting just the very last line out of context, it is liable to be misunderstood.
I love Wittgenstein as I love Numminen's parody of the intellectual elitism around Wittgenstein after his death by people who quote his great one-liners without any real understanding of his philosophy apart from those. Numminen here is the "serious intellectual" in all proper upper-class setup. Wittgenstein is a super-legend but really understood by not so many.
Like with most smart art it´s good to have some knowledge about the artist. M.A. has been one of my very few "idols" since I was a child. Some think he´s a joke... and he make me happy but the man is a genious. With a big help from Pedro. Get to know him!
This is a piece that enlights me every single time, regardless whether it rains or not. Eventhough it's a short piece with a few words it still makes a strong statement. L. Wittgenstein was considered as a major western phillosopher of 20th century and the sentence here was his final outcome of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The very last sentence. However, this song makes it even more meaningful or totally meaningless, it's up to you.
Absolutely fantastic. Numminen did a whole album with pieces of wittgenstein in different musical styles. I think it's called Numminen sings Wittgenstein.
Strange that so many people can miss the one obvious point of this song (although as a philosophy quote it may have many points). “Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen” (what cannot be spoken of, people must be silent about” -my interpretation) To combine this with nazi type military march, we are reminded that any philosophical argument can be misused if accepted as an absolute truth by lesser minds and written to a flag. The singing style of M.A. Numminen is carefully planned. One heading that is comes under is “uusrahvaanomaisuus”, hard to translate but maybe neosimplicism with some carnevalism would be close. Listen to him more. His art makes you think and is loaded with sophisticated humor at the same time.
That 'rahvaanomaisuus' would be 'folk-like', in simpler English. So uusrahvaanomaisuus might be neopopulism, except that populism is already quite an occupied definition. But I could imagine M A N had that on his mind, when coining his term :)
I posted this video to British Wittgenstein Society's FB and been kicked out by moderator Prof Constantine ;-) I think they should change the name of the BWS to CWS ;-) Bebe Ludwig sings this to shut up Slum LandLords mouth ;-)
When they were starting their band, he forget his drum and pianist said "you can sing then". Being stressed, Numminen invented accidentally this singing voice and later he made it on purpose. I think he can sing in normal way also.
The Finnish culture says that all things should to be observed by one's own eyes and heart. Just memorizing what others have said is thin, without spirit, almost better left undone - thus the singing style which is disrespectful toward the highly respected theory but gives room to Your own perceptions about life.
Hammer wie geil ist das denn bitte!! Gleich mal volle 5 Punkte! Diese Interpretation wäre bestimmt voll im Sinne Wittgensteins gewesen. Aber davon kann ich nicht sinnvoll sprechen, also muss ich drüber schweigen.
@Ptrrrrrrrr I dont understand german language so that part goes over my head... But i do know M A Numminen, and He has great sense of humor. Just take this, as these random videos You stumble on You Tube.
Ei näitä VOI vertailla keskenään, kaikki omalla tavallaan nerokkaan mahtavia! Omat ehdottomat suosikkini ovat mm. "Munat jäi vetoketjun väliin" ja "Laulu jossa on tunnelma"! Kannattaa kuunnella!
I like how much this song mocks the pseudo-intellectuals that are drawn to and quote Wittgestein without actually understanding any of the philosophy. The pianist in the back doing absolutely nothing, just wanting to appear important, and the fact that they only repeat the most famous part of Logica-Philosophus, when it describes pseudo-intellectuals: ”Wovon mann nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss Mann schweigen” roughly translates to ”What cannot be spoken of, must be silenced on”. Pretty much meaning if you don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s best to not talk.
@xjuhox Line is from Tractatus logico-philosophicus by Wittgenstein. "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be quit". Meaning that some sentences appear to be correctly formed by their syntax, yet lack any meaning. Such propositions should not be stated at all, as they cannot give rise to meaningful discussion (ie. their truth value cannot be determined).
Strange thing, i must admit, put in music the wittgenstein propositions...the result sound to me like..uhm, this: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent” ;)
Yes, there is. I've got a copy dedicated by Numminen to the civil name of Marathon-du-Médoc-participant and cartoonist Tex Rubinowitz. If anyone cares.
Though I must mention that his antics as an underground performer shadow his numerous high culture achievements way too often. Singing like that is just a fraction of what he does.
