Read this amazing interview Suzy X conducted with Inuit throat singer, Tanya Tagaq in MTV Iggy. As one who seeks to wear traveling pants as much as possible, this resonated. She’s saying important things here we ought to collectively listen to:
“I love traveling and studying the social structures of different places. Through my years of traveling, it’s apparent to me that there are incredible people everywhere. But humans have managed to fuck up every system possible. We’ve lost our way spiritually, environmentally, physically. And no matter how much humans try to tear themselves away from nature, what happens in nature recurs in modern society. Take caribou, for instance. On average one male caribou impregnates seven female caribou. You see the same patterns in humans, but it’s mediated by things like commitment, marriage, religion, shame. Humans really put a stick in all the gears of progress, except for a very narrow technological window. Society is like a Rubik’s Cube getting passed around; it’s stressful. On stage, I let go of all that intellectually plagues me!”
There is power in knowing that your body can create a person, that your body can kill an animal and haul it away on your shoulder, that your body can feed a family. In many ways, technological progress that has left us all disembodied. You have to feel that you’re outside of your body to keep scrutinizing its appearance.
Focusing on how you look everyday seems exhausting. Think of all the energy you could expend on developing your mind or your physical ability. How can you even enjoy yourself, how can you enjoy sex if you’re so worried about your belly hanging out? You’re not there to put on a show, you’re there to get off! When I’m on stage, it’s like a big release, I don’t think about performing at all. It just happens, like I’m sitting in a car and watching the landscape pass by.