Artist’s Statement: Pierrot

Link to playlist

Pierrot is a character I have been drawn to since I was a teenager learning about theatre history; I was drawn to commedia dell’arte both as a way to learn about my Italian ancestry, and the origins of dark humor. Pierrot was one of the first stock characters created in commedia dell’arte, and he has symbolized slightly different things through different eras, so I tried to wrap up all things Pierrot in this piece and its soundtrack. Pierrot has been depicted as both a human fellow sufferer of the human condition/hypocritical human society and as an inhuman spirit observer of human beings. The playlist had to begin with the greatest slight against human community out there: capitalism. “The Capitalist Blues” is a playful critique on how cold and lonely it is living in a world of forced capitalism rather than a society that values strengths/weaknesses/teamwork/health/happiness. The next song, “Where Is Polly Blue” is when we start looking and chasing after the elusive eyes we feel on us that seem to disappear when we look for them (aka Pierrot observing us from afar). 

The contradiction of Pierrot being with us and also living through the difficulties of life in isolation is where “Soledad” comes in. Flor de Toloache sing with such emotion, that regardless of what language you speak, you can hear the cries for connection and pleading from solitude. Next, we jump back in time to hear the song that could have been sung by Pierrot himself: “Supernaut” by Black Sabbath, and the most Pierrot lyric possible, “I’ve seen the future, and I’ve left it behind.” Jumping forward again in time, those unseen eyes are still on us in Priests’ “Not Perceived”. Is it actually that we feel eyes on us, or do we really just long for someone to understand us and truly see us for who we are? Going deeper, why do we feel certain things at all? Cue “Phantom Feelings” by LaLuz. Am I feeling this for myself or for others? Sneaky Pierrot at it again. 

Artistic depictions of Pierrot often place him among the moon and stars, and I was hard-pressed to find a more fitting song that tied together all of the concepts and imagery of Pierrot than “Starship Trooper” by Yes. After traveling through the stars and weaving between galaxies of loneliness and nostalgia, we land gently into Yasmin Williams’ acoustic barrage of sound and feeling. The restless feelings mirror that of Pierrot making the world around him laugh, but being left crying at the end of the day in his isolated understanding of life’s ultimate joke: we all die. The A’s come in swinging hard with dark humor in “Why I’m Grieving” that would definitely leave Pierrot in stitches. Playing on the nonsensical sounds, the lyrics “some things can never be spoken, some things cannot be pronounced, that word does not exist in any language” from “Give Me Back My Name” feel welcome and needed. 

The overarching themes of feeling unseen/misunderstood get flipped on their head with “The Problem of Other Minds” by Animals as Leaders. It’s not my fault I’m misunderstood, but rather their fault for not being open. Feeling sad for those doomed, closed minds brought me to “Lullaby Of The Doomed” by Bennie Green. This song simultaneously stands as a gut-wrenching lullaby for us all to fall into our final sleep with as well as a way to lay whatever is dooming us to rest so we can go on with ourselves. The final two songs of the playlist are what I consider the home runs; songs that most people will be familiar with (Pierrot has been around with us since the 17th century, after all). “Tracks of My Tears” is, of course, playing on the classic sad clown Pierrot, and “A Day in the Life” brings us back into the depth of his observer/fellow sufferer persona.