While the current mood in contemporary art tends to be spooky and dark, the Los Angeles based performance troupe My Barbarian, a.k.a. Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, and Alexandro Segade, just wants to dance and sing. With a campy, deadpan delivery that you just can’t help loving, My Barbarian’s performances are a celebratory mix of musical theatre, glam rock and pagan fantasy. Although one might be tempted to describe them as an art band, this label would hardly do them justice. First of all, their costumes are fabulous — especially the low-tech stylings (the Gods of Canada video on YouTube is a don’t miss).
Performances like Non-Western (2007), “a historiographic fantasia about L.A. in the 1840s” have the psychedelic storylines of rock operas and the gestural high drama of 1980s music videos. With lyrics that sing of the colonial mixing pot of L.A. in Spanish and English, My Barbarian creates a mind-boggling blend of styles, eras and musical genres. It’s a cultural remix galore that keeps everyone moving to the beat:
In tones of tropical heats
To Afro-Iberian beats
Now’s the time to sing the song
That goes ba ba ba ba ba
This kind of silliness combined with the troupe’s winning, amateurish bravado delivers a healthy portion of irony that never goes sour. Their video series Pagan Rights looks like a home video clip of fantasy role-playing game, but it is just too clever and funny not to be art. In You Were Born Poor & You Will Die (2006) the band members play the high priests of Moloch, a barbarous ancient religion that mirrors the excesses of capitalist greed. Numbers like Microwave Minotaur (“part human, part oxen, part oven”) or Gomorrah, Xanadu, Babylon, Atlantis make clear that playing pagan is a good way to confront the dark troubles of the times — and definitely the most fun.
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Link:
http://www.mybarbarian.com
