Titre : « Honi soit qui mal y pense »

La pièce : Europa, Europe, Heureux qui comme Pénélope. Ma foi, langues étrangères à nous-même.

Frédéric II: « Hunde, Wollt Ihr ewig leben? » Cette phrase, l’a-t-il dit afin de motiver ses généraux prussiens la veille d’une bataille ou en vantant son amour pour le français, langue de l’esprit aux côtés de l’allemand, langue de la guerre ? Du côté du Rhin, rien d’autre à signaler que des broutilles du type Die Suppecroisière, Zürich-Strasbourg en une journée et la soupe est toujours chaude. Pfff. Mais qu’apprend-on à l’école ? «Ariane, ma sœur, de quel amour blessée, – Vous mourûtes aux bords où vous fûtes laissée ! » Prochain épisode. « Ti rata poum-pier, t’katz hat yo mâga wé – legt ouf t’er Canapé – oun trink Kaméla thé. »

Europe is the subject. Maybe the underlining subject of this Klangstück. Some existing languages – like the one used as material for this piece –  are evidence of a transnational reality sometimes forgotten and replaced by the history of the building of the nation-state over several centuries. Europe is an idea that for some time now has the apparence of a political whole, an imperial ambition sometimes mixed with universalism. But with boundaries. They are static, and if one decides to change them, then the question of sovereignty rises. War, conflict, bellicosity.

Citizenship is a nation-state characteristic, a part of the mechanics. Europe cannot be a political whole based solely on this nation-state model. But a European identity can emerge through the idea of citizenship built together from scratch, not a nation-state built and imagined by leaders.

The question of language is at the same time a quality and a difficulty in this construction.

Back to boundaries. The Rhine is the embodiment of a frontier where you can find sounds of what could be a European Heimat : East/West, North/South. We have a long way to go, all of us. Europe is a body with intestinal problems; full of subconsciously deliberate mistakes (actes manqués) and a wealth of several sickly personalities. And if we are winning on one side, we are definitely losing on the other. It is the minimum. But this is only a conversation.



Honi soit qui mal y pense is a cut up of archive samples recorded all over Europe. A plane over the Balaton lake, a voice in a train through Switzerland, consumptive memories of a person born during WWII in a German town which today is French.

Auteur : mABuSeKi (MCOTF / EL)

Ancien bassiste reggae reconverti en claviériste (reggae toujours). Appréciateur en matière de radiophonie, tout du moins sa mise en œuvre, la sorcellerie de la mise en onde. Pour toute réclamation merci de vous adresser à Paul.

mABuSeKi (MCOTF / EL) is a former reggae bass player, reconverted to keyboard player, but still into reggae. He is a great admirer, mover and shaker of all matters related to radiophonics. Any complaints should be addressed to Paul.