A Musician´s Credo

In those times when democracy almost everywhere is under threat, but especially in the USA, the voices of public personalities are requested to show that there are still chances for a change. For the readers, especially those outside America, those voices remind that, in fact, there were always there, except that as for now, they may be overwhelmed by the anti-democratic screams.

Tori Amos is more than a special voice and composer. A child prodigy having a Methodist priest as a father, she is aware that her role is more than that of a creator. Especially in the current times of ´unprecedent crisis´ she is raising her voice against the dark forces. 

Resistance, her latest book, is a ´story of hope, change, and courage´. I´ve listened to the audio book, narrated by the author, and had to stop more than once to listen to some of her more or less recent songs. I needed an almost perfect immersion into the creative and intellectual world of Tori Amos.

The short articles included in Resistance are chronological and are not covering exclusively politics, although most part of them are mentioning it - from the invasion of Iraq to the current administration - but also personal episodes, like the death of her mother and the sadness of mourning one´s parent passing away. I am not necessarily subscribing to all her political opinions, but the threats to democracy as an institution shall not be diminished. Artists can either be instruments of propaganda, as it happens easily in totalitarian/non-democratic regimes - or be the voices of change. Tori Amos chose to firmly tell her opinion because there is no other way to be honest to one´s self. She is an artist documenting times when the patriarchy seems to get drunk on its partial victories, when empowering through hate seems to be the name of the deal and when minorities of all kinds are under threat. Partially, she experienced - although at a very limited extent - the threat many artists are coping with on a daily basis, when there were attempts to intimidate her during her concerts in Russia and in Turkey, particularly for her support for LGBT.

Indeed, it is true that we are living very complex times, but the gain of those times are the many intellectual works of artists and creators and writers publishing their worries and outrage against the current situation. Their voices serve as a warning that things cannot be cover up too smoothly. And they will never be covered for good, no matter the deal. 

An extra point for the cover: indeed, Tori Amos can put that red piano on fire.

Rating: 3 stars