"To be just, that is to say, to justify
its existence, criticism should be partial,
passionate and political, that is to say,
written from an exclusive point of view,
but a point of view that opens
up the widest horizons."
(Charles Baudelaire)



"As I have all the freedom
to express myself here, I sometimes ask
your pardon if I can be occasionally more personal. However, I am led to believe that so
is extinguished a possible relationship without human warmth, typical relationship of some
critics who prefer be more serialized as informative machines or disguising emplacements stunted or, unlike, distantly pedantic (recurrent low self-esteem?) - all cases seem unpalatable to me. We are not here to impose hierarchies, halters or passivity but to hold meetings. Mutualism is the way two organisms of
different species exist in a relationship in which
each individual benefits from the activity of
the other. Similar interactions within a species
are known as co-operation. From Biology to Metaphoricity (artistic, social, etc.), so be it.


Neither I nor Caio Campbell -
we are not public figures. Do not participate
in social and related networks. For many - this may seem, I can say, ´exotic´ in post modern times but is a common feature that coincidentally
we have. By choice and conviction. With so many histrionic and invasive showcases,
we prefer to be the more anonymous beings
as possible. If we are in against Draconian
trends, on the other hand this enables
the focus in high esteem links, qualitative bond among us and a few other people in our circle
of interlocutors. We are not airtight persons,
I believe. Yes we prefer not to be part of an overexposure - to put it mildly. And point,
only that.
 
[A curious aspect: these days, if you do not take
a public virtual life (a virtual life accessible by all), even your very existence, your real life
is now doubted. There's a kind of inversion
of values. I do not mean 'give up on having
a productive life in the digital world',
but this paradoxical expectation that
a significant number of people have about
an unlikely existence if not demonstrably
virtualized - to use an euphemism,
is really pathetic.´Cogito, ergo sum´, a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes usually translated into English as
´I think, therefore I am´. Nowadays, the phrase would be: ´I am in the digital world, I belong to
a social network ... and only from that I come
into existence.´ Or, ´if I see that others
(virtually) see me, therefore I am.´ Or rather,
´I get their permission to be someone.´
Pardon, we don't allow ourselves to be
kidnapped for it]. And point, only that.
 
On the preservation of privacy, you can
see that´s a conduit even adopted, as far
as possible, by own Otacílio Melgaço - besides being a brilliant being, an old acquaintance.
I am not among those who think that
connections - between critic and artist -
must be non-existent. If they do exist, if we
are ethical professionals - don´t affect
the legitimacy and the discernment of ideas
and´verdicts´, for sure. In my case,
a contact slightly nearer enriches
and expands the views and I value that.
If there´s ethics, everything becomes
responsibly feasible. But I respect those who prefer to remain distant. (Prefer or, at long
last, do not have proper accessibility). Okay.

 
Anyway, both I and Mr. Campbell -
apart from reviewers or critics - we are, with great honor and diligence, official (virtual) Curators of the  Melgacian  Work. Always it will be a challenge. We have established a very unusual praxis so that we can realize it - more and better. I can cite one example among many unusual mechanisms that elevates our performance to an exuberantly creative condition and, why not?, also artistical. Sometimes, when so excitingly decided, we create points of intersection amidst our perspectives
(even aiming for a common copydesk) - just like part of a surreal ´blind man's buff´ that respectfully borders on unimaginable (at its most inventive artistic sense), that is, constantly look for ways that are prodigious. Just like if one of us could penetrate into the nature of the mind
of the other to find out how there
would be a specific translation of
this or that sonic creation.

[Somehow it reminds me of 'Persona'. 'Persona'
is a 1966 black and white Swedish film
written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Bibi Andersson as Alma, Liv Ullmann as Elisabet Vogler. Leaving aside the sickening prospect between the two, here I am referring purely
to a singular kind of interpenetration. A fusion
so widespread when (you certainly know
the iconic scene) the halves of their faces become a single face. Decode it in a figurative sense - of course, and exclusively in terms of deciphering - as much as possible - the artist's universe on which we place our focus. That's it].
 
Yes, just like if one of us could penetrate into the nature of the mind of the other to find out how there would be a specific translation of this or that sonic creation. To try to elucidate each Melgacian fetus, would not be otherwise - we had to absorb his genial Daedalian modus operandi! Another valuable detail: interferences of one in the text of the other are also welcome, often enclosed in parentheses. Also, I talk about a certain pact. A pact that we did (without asking permission because it was part of our jurisprudence) was try, in our reviews, to be closer to the way Otacílio writes. Yes,
there´s a chameleonic nexus here. I can reveal what served as the north for this decision: the fascination of his writing and how important it´s to have the public access to. Even if indirectly, through our intention to embody / personify, to
a certain point, the unmistakeable Melgacian stylistic. This created an exciting amalgam: our ideas won a corporeality that refers, as intimate as possible, to the Artist in focus. Our content on a continent so peculiar. And as this is a privilege that we have privately (direct contact with him through the/his art of writing), how could we to deprive each of you of? From now on,
the pact extends to all of us.
 
Joseph Brodsky once referred to himself focusing on Wystan Hugh Auden as follows:´Critics, and especially biographers of writers who have developed a singular style, often adopt, however unconsciously, the mode of writer's expression they examine. In simple terms, we are always changed by what we love, sometimes to the point of completely losing our own identity. I am not trying to say that this is what happened to me; I only intend to suggest that these selves, which otherwise would be excessive and of bad taste, are in turn forms of indirect discourse whose object is Auden.´ From critics / biographers
to curators (both in one?), from writers to musicians; if, regardless of context, there is
a decryption key for that, after all, it's the same. We are disinclined to any loss of identity if it means self-annulment. We think of a sense of expansion. The Self that aborts what should be left behind; the Self that, well-illuminated, becomes, constantly, more open to ´pregnant´ contents. What or who we love: metamorphoses us. And their way of expressing themselves
often swallows us, metabolizes us,
unifies us, symphonizes us.

Announcing the culmination
of such confessional parenthesis, I´ll return to what really interests us, Ladies and Gentlemen. The people closest to me (through my real gatherings and not the pregnable internet; private contacts - professional or not - I have with friends from all over the world but privately) ask questions about O.M. (a more secluded personality, mysterious, that does not usually do live performances; does not have the habit of disclosing personal data - even professionals with the exception, sure, his works themselves - ... thus prefers to stay away from mediatic ´spotlights & showcases´) and how I have no virtual windows open to the public - as I explained above -, will take this opportunity to address these issues both of whom personally summons me as, I ratify, by the wide range of Net Citizens following and honoring the Melgaço
career. I´ll take this occasion to make three succinct clarifications that seem very relevant
and which may be useful both to my ´next-door questioners´ as (in this site, yes, using the proper support) to all reputable world
wide web travelers:


















1-That's right, most instruments
and the development of notes & noises is Melgaço who respectively plays and articulates. Here it is
definitely clarified that, in gigantic part of
its discography, o.m. handles all the apparatus, whether adopting his own name or pseudonyms.
 
chiefly. That's right; there are also many Otacilian  inventions and interference - post recording - through cyber electronic paraphernalia. As in
´The Brothers Karamazov´, the last and most complex of Fyodor Dostoevsky's philosophical novels: ´Everything is permitted!´ In fact, he never wrote that. It was Jean-Paul Sartre who quoted from a mistranslation. The original phrase of
the Russian author would be: 'All things
are lawful' (´всё позволено'). Anyway,
in the context here present, I'll take this misunderstanding in my own mode: Precisely ´because God exists, everything is allowed
´! We must always remember that Melgaço
is a self-taught artist and he takes 
the autodidactism to its ultimate
consequences. The level of freedom
and iconoclasm and expansiveness and
omnipresence ... that he proposes to
himself is even more devoid of
any restraints, shackles, limits.
´Taking the infinite as a starting
point´, here is a motto that
could be typical of Otacílio.
 
F u r t h e r m o r e,
O.M. is
the creator,
the founder of
CadavreXquis +
Zycluz Quartett +
THE OMPHALLUS TRIO +
Nausícaaa Ensemble +
L'Anus Solaire Projet +
The Dark Midas Combo +
HoniG Stahl Orchester +
THE OTAC​Í​LIo∞mELGA​Ç​O GESAMTKUNSTWERKESTRA +
The Mahashiva Orchestra
& all the others that will arise. It´s a cluster of musicians around the world (the same spiral with several sobriquets), which also prefer to remain unidentifiable. I dare say that when names come
to the fore, are tasty noms de plume. It would
be a tacit and unorthodox and rhizomatic
and syncretic and interpenetrated
and multidisciplinary ... kind of
subterranean / collaborative
A n o n y m o u s S o c i e t y.
 
In these terms, as historical precedents, among others is the Groupe de Recherche d´Art Visuel (Grav), which had the figure of the Argentine Le Parc as one of the constituents. He intended to materialize and shape the confrontation of broad experiences and ideas. The group refused to depend on the art market and conventional cultural and aesthetic recurrences, valuing confidentiality
in line with collective creation, emphasizing the notion of multiplicity and public participation.
So there is a contestation aspect here,
which covers not only artistical niche
but also social, political, etc. It becomes perspicuous that for Otacílio,, all such fields prove to be stimulatingly intercommunicating, synesthetically permeable. Yes, a tacit and unorthodox and rhizomatic and syncretic
andinterpenetrated and multidisciplinary...
kind of subterranean / collaborative
A n o n y m o u s S o c i e t y.
 
They, the participants, are not concerned
about a one-to-one disclosure but with the development of a cohesive and sophisticated set work. Sometimes special guests, but most of the time there are new partners - in reality. It´s a Brotherhood, a secret Sect, a pseudo Mafia? (I ask forgiveness for the cordial prank): can we use various denominations but what actually is
vital to know: everyone remains under
the Melgacian conducting baton.

[>>For a more extended exegesis,
check out a penetrating expert analysis: here.<<] 
 
The various etymological baptisms are internal reorganizations that suggest a more specific character. A string quartet; an agglomeration with oriental accent; a properly experimental nature of another supercombo etc. [Out
of curiosity: the reverse is true. Musicians
who participate in the aforementioned combinations and produce their
own discographies, all rely on the
collaboration of  O.M.  (incognitly)
and so on].
 
Even so, after all that has been said, in order to reveal how much we are unfailingly being visited
by an unforeseeable conundrum: still being
aware of all these other´designations´
(orchestras, groups, guests etc.), in another
one of his ludic´machinations´, we
can be listening to sounds given birth
- yet - by a single a-r-t-ist: O.M.
(...)
at all events, let's get back to
the really collective segments:

Not always all the instrumentalists
record their performances simultaneously nor under the same roof. By the way, this rarely happens - even when they belong to the same continent. Here, the conductor´s role is fundamental: Otacílio sends instructions [sporadically in the form of sheet music; most commonly, are encryptions invented by him  - sometimes under the plasticity of sculptural forms and drawings and paintings, but always
(as he is in the habit of uttering)´giving rise to
sounds heard by the synesthesia of the senses´,
not exactly figures or geometricities or random abstractions or... -. are various notations starting from the customary with attached several
descriptions (the´spirit´of a genesis, intrinsic denominations and vast characteristics) until countless other personal ways ´shaped´ by him] 
and, between this and that, are usually made individual records. What I mentioned, such trace elements of an (yet) visibility-in-diversibility,
are actually exceptions. The Melgacian
conviction of transmitting compositions is by playing them himself. for other musicians:
it is listening (and not reading) that
the process happens most of the time.
 
[>>If you want to go deeper in this regard,
read the following article: here.<<] 
 
Concurrently the very Otacílio sends to
them his own performance (having multiple
sound sources) to serve as a reference to
each of the involved and, after receiving - in
return - their interpretations / interventions, ostensibly Melgaço adds more personal executions, of course. Just like they say, are layers of an onion. (Just as film actors do not usually be shot in chronological order; is totally unlikely that all performers participate in same scenes, many of them never meet during the process and only have the sense of what will be the work in its entirety: when watching in a big screen, months or years later). After that, O.M., cloistral, performs the addition of all the rich and cosmopolitan material. Therefore develops the mixture - everything becomes part of the ubiquitous art of arranger. A composition only gains the full feature after enshrined alchemy through the soundboard. It may be noted
that through this methodology, is all part
of a constant creative process. Melgaço
is creating all the time, even in the last
moments in conducting the binders
joints - lonely in his monastic studio.
 
Something that illustrates this very well would be a comparison between Verrocchio and Da Vinci. Master Andrea surpassed by apprentice Leonardo. While the first one was, with all competence, restricted to a key invention; the second dealt with the making onitemporally, interfering in
all phases of the operation - as if breaking
with the´syllogism´ of beginning-middle-end.
The work as a continuum through which
the parturient, omnipresent, conceives and generates. As stages of a ceaseless cascade.
It is no coincidence that, also attributed to others like Valéry and Picasso, the famous quote ´Art
is never finished. Only abandoned´ is possibly authored by the genius born in Anchiano, hamlet (frazione) in the comune of Vinci, Metropolitan
City of Florence, Tuscany, central Italy.
 
[>>In order to absorb a summary of approaches (from the audience of the artist) that address this all-pervasive topic and, on our part, meticulously deciphered & replied, visit: here.<<] 
 
over and above that, he also has a parallel series of records that are fragmented own compositions (consisting of solo instruments), all in robust files gingerly organized and, from illimitable combinations & always different potential effects, our musician dominates
a prolific ringing source to generate new
and new works exponentially - if so opt.
Under these circumstances, there are divers projects underway simultaneously in distinct parts of the globe. All this panorama explains
the eloquence and capillarity of a supernal
harvest thusly. the case of Otacílio Melgaço is
not unique in the world [and I make it clear to the unaware, none of them, starting with Otacílio himself, appealed or appeals to Artificial Intelligence] - see Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hans Werner Henze, Keith Jarrett, sun ra, John Zorn, Frank Zappa, Tangerine Dream, Jandek ... - but there are rare artists across the orb who have produced such zestful ultitudinous opera or
more than consistent 250 either 300 albums
signed by themselves and, adding to
that, remain active and creative.
 
yes, superhuman eloquence! Still on how surreal it may seem to find such a grandiose power of germination, but there are quite touchable examples: A very suitable - and, it seems to me, conclusive - specimen to be cited here is that of Hermeto Pascoal, correspondingly composer and multi-instrumentalist; Melgaço's compatriot, Pascoal is a significant figure in the history of musical culture in Brazil, mainly known for its abilities in improvisation And orchestration. It is no coincidence that the following motto is his: 'my master / mentor / preceptor was my gift / don / flair'. Hermeto set out to contrive a sound piece a day for a year, from June 1996 to the same month of 1997. From there came the´Calendário do Som´ (Sound Calendar), through which a book was published containing all 366 sheet music. If he
had also made audible each one of them (with elementary or labored arrangements; on sole instrument or on several; with the participation
of other players or not...) and pronto providing accessibility of everything directly via streaming: how many phonographic embodiments would
there be (in a single year!) at the end of this unflagging endeavor? GUTTA CAVAT LAPIDEM.
 
Picking up again our Ariadne's Thread: aye, superhuman eloquence and capillarity of
the harvesting - further  if in the hands
of a preterhuman being who - as Otacílio -
has, with  (when needed) all the ´heretical iconoclasm´, the art as a´priesthood´,
a profound vocation, unbroken
state of mind, a fate.
 
As a side note but certainly synchronic, I think it´s essential to say that, although in the reviews
of the Melgacian resonating progeny we still
talk about, concepts such as Harmony, Rhythm, Melody ... are only shortcuts to a more immediate understanding. Because, in reality, I do not believe that the music that´s made there fits in them.
They´re territorialities that have become very small for the giant steps given there. What´s being worked out through these compositions
and interpretations is not a daring variation
of already conventional prescripts. It´s
the sound phenomenon, the very condition
of sound itself that´s in constant
experimentation and creaturization.
 
It´s worth adding that his ´monkish´, translucent studio is better known as O || M. And finally, as such coda to this Homeric process, the ultimate outcome is released through his own label,
YoknapOTAwpha.