BARNUM'S FREAK

Crossover Prog • Italy

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Barnum's Freak biography
Why Barnum's Freak?

The sleep of the reason produced monsters; but a too reasonable reason produced as many.

On 25th February 1835, at the New York City Saloon Coliseum, there took place the dissection of the dead body of Joice Heath, an afro-american woman. It was the last chance for everybody to see the woman who was shown at various times, under the careful supervision of the young business man Phineas Taylor Barnum, as the most long-lived human being on earth, as George Washington's nanny, as an very pious afro-american whose aim was to redeem her nephews kept as slaves in Kentucky, without considering the rumours about her that she was a mummy or a robot.

Truly speaking, that woman was just different. Different people about body, behaviour and morality such as idiots, fools, gipsies, bandits, imbeciles, streetwalkers, savages from far away, all these ''other-than-self'', during the 19th century became 'monsters'.

The big top of the American circus by Barnum gives to the visitor an amazing and unreal show: the freak show represented a general transformation of the approach about reality, the strange body was no longer perceived as a prodigious event or heavenly sign but as a fault, an exception to a regular process of the nature. An ordinary man, an ordinary woman, if strange, any irregular body, conveniently dressed up and showed according to precise plans, was considered as freak. The monsters to be showed are men having behaviours that our culture thinks are immoral: nakedness, sexual freedom, polygamy, lackness of hierarchy, normal use of drugs. The monster is necessary to the mental integrity of us all and, against its will, increases the cohesion of the so-called ''normal people'' against all the forms of perversion. A quite confused conception, but sufficient to satisfy the early craving of normality: that blurry desire of conformity and uniformity that each of us harbours inside ourselves.

The Project: R-(e)volution Loading

The world in which we live is a professional system created to hide a terrible reality - we are all slaves, locked into a prison with no walls, no bars, no smell, a prison to our mind.
The title of our concept starts from 2 keynotes, according to us, indivisible revolution and evolution that merged each other create a neologism well-beloved to us ''r (e) evolution''.
Both the name of the band and the project are born as an ideal symbiosis, r-evolution loading, of which ...Why Barnum's Freak?

The sleep of the reason produced monsters; but a too reasonable reason produced as many.

On 25th February 1835, at the New York City Saloon Coliseum, there took place the dissection of the dead body of Joice Heath, an afro-american woman. It was the last chance for everybody to see the woman who was shown at various times, under the careful supervision of the young business man Phineas Taylor Barnum, as the most long-lived human being on earth, as George Washington's nanny, as an very pious afro-american whose aim was to redeem her nephews kept as slaves in Kentucky, without considering the rumours about her that she was a mummy or a robot.

Truly speaking, that woman was just different. Different people about body, behaviour and morality such as idiots, fools, gipsies, bandits, imbeciles, streetwalkers, savages from far away, all these ''other-than-self'', during the 19th century became 'monsters'.

The big top of the American circus by Barnum gives to the visitor an amazing and unreal show: the freak show represented a general transformation of the approach about reality, the strange body was no longer perceived as a prodigious event or heavenly sign but as a fault, an exception to a regular process of the nature. An ordinary man, an ordinary woman, if strange, any irregular body, conveniently dressed up and showed according to precise plans, was considered as freak. The monsters to be showed are men having behaviours that our culture thinks are immoral: nakedness, sexual freedom, polygamy, lackness of hierarchy, normal use of drugs. The monster is necessary to the mental integrity of us all and, against its will, increases the cohesion of the so-called ''normal people'' against all the forms of perversion. A quite confused conception, but sufficient to satisfy the early craving of normality: that blurry desire of conformity and uniformity that each of us harbours inside ourselves.

The Project: R-(e)volution Loading

The world in which we live is a professional system created to hide a terrible reality - we are all slaves, locked into a prison with no walls, no bars, no smell, a prison to our mind.
The title of our concept starts from 2 keynotes, according to us, indivisible revolution and evolution that merged each other create a neologism well-beloved to us ''r (e) evolution''.
Both the name of the band and the project are born as an ideal symbiosis, r-evolution loading, of which appearance and neway are respectively the beginning and the end of a musical presentation of a spiritual growing process of the man.

A journey towards the aware existence starting from the apparent and unconscious normality made by conformity and uniformity (appearance), cracking with the arising of the doubt (doubt), defining into the fall (crisis) following the lost of the old certainties and of the dramatic debate with the ''other-than-itself''. In the awakening (awakening) a new attitude to observe and perceive the world, till the final landing to the new way (neway).

Biography provided by the artist and used with permission.
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BARNUM'S FREAK discography

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3.88 | 5 ratings

Revolution Loading
2014

BARNUM'S FREAK Reviews

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Revolution Loading by BARNUM'S FREAK album cover

Singles/EPs/Fan Club/Promo, 2014
3.88 | 5 ratings
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Revolution Loading
Barnum's Freak Crossover Prog

Review by andrea
Prog Reviewer

Barnum's Freak began life in Naples in 2012 on the initiative of Massimiliano Romano (guitars), Sergio Vassetti (keyboards) and Salvatore Oroso (drums). Their music was influenced by seventies prog bands such as Pink Floyd, Goblin, Focus or PFM but also by post rock and more recent acts. The name of the band refers to some attractions of Barnum's Circus, monsters and curiosities such as Joice Heth, an African-American slave who was exhibited by P.T. Barnum with the false claim that she was the 161-year-old nursing "mammy" of George Washington. According to the band, the monster is necessary to the mental integrity of us all and, against its will, increases the cohesion of the so-called 'normal people' against all the forms of perversion. A quite confused conception, but sufficient to satisfy the early craving of normality: that blurry desire of conformity and uniformity that each of us harbours inside ourselves.

In 2014 Barnum's Freak self-released a debut work featuring the collaboration of two guest musicians, Alessandro Bagagli (bass) and Manuela Papa (vocals). It's a concept album about a spiritual journey towards a new awareness titled Revolution Loading, where the words revolution and evolution are in some way merged to create something new. The album is almost completely instrumental and you have to rely upon your imagination and on the explanations of the band to understand and appreciate the storyline. According to the band, the world in which we live is a professional system created to hide a terrible reality... We are all slaves, locked into a prison with no walls, no bars, no smell, a prison to our mind... So, we have to search for a way to breakthrough!

The calm opener "Appearance (DayDream)" describes an unconscious, apparent normality made by conformity and uniformity. It's sung in English and, unfortunately, it's the only track where we can appreciate the vocal qualities of Manuela Papa. Behind an ethereal, surreal dreamy mood you can feel an impending change in the air...

The following "Doubt (UnReal)" begins by the sound of a storm in the background and marks the loss of confidence and a state of uncertainty. The rhythm rises, doubts are spreading all around, you feel confused... It leads to the dark, powerful "Crisis (SetBack)" which tries to describe the dramatic inner conflict and the confrontation with the 'other-than-itself'.

Next comes "Awakening (Resurgence)" that tries to depict the birth of a new attitude in the way you observe and perceive the world. You begin to breathe again fresh air under a dark sky, eventually the sunlight shines through the clouds... "NeWay (Beaming)" ends the album with a surge of cosmic energy and a touch of optimism while the gates of the house of the king open for you.

On the whole, a very interesting debut work from a band that deserves credit and that could have a bright future.

Thanks to kev rowland for the artist addition.