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The Wheel

PJ Harvey
Language: English


PJ Harvey

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2016
The Hope Six Demolition Project
sixHope

In The Hope Six Demolition Project PJ Harvey si spinge oltre, rispetto al precedente album Let England Shake: non era soltanto l’Inghilterra a tremare, non era soltanto la battaglia di Gallipoli a seminare morti sulla Battleship Hill, era tutto il mondo che si stava sgretolando sotto i nostri occhi. Per questo motivo il nono album in studio della fu Polly nasce e si sviluppa nell’arco di quattro anni e di vari viaggi tra il Kosovo, l’Afghanistan e Washington. Ed è proprio quest’ultima a suggerire il titolo del disco, riferimento al progetto Hope VI tramite il quale il governo degli Stati Uniti ha demolito gli alloggi pubblici dei quartieri più poveri della città per far spazio a nuovi nuclei abitativi e a una nuova assegnazione delle abitazioni, situazione che ha creato molti disagi alle famiglie meno abbienti.

The Community of Hope - The Ministry of Defence - A Line in the Sand - Chain of Keys - All Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln - Dollar, Dollar - The Wheel



It’s on firmer footing when Harvey goes for straightforward reportage, attempting to devise a lyrical equivalent of stark, black and white photojournalism. The Wheel depicts children in a village near Prinzen in Kosovo squealing with delight on a fairground ride, next to a building plastered with “sun-bleached photographs” of other children killed in ethnic cleansing.
A revolving wheel of metal chairs
Hung on chains, squealing
Four little children flying out
A blind man sings in Arabic

Hey little children don’t disappear
(I heard it was 28,000)
Lost upon a revolving wheel
(I heard it was 28,000)

Now you see them, now you don’t
Children vanish ‘hind vehicle
Now you see them, now you don’t
Faces, limbs, a bouncing skull

Hey little children don’t disappear
(I heard it was 28,000)
All that’s left after a year
(I heard it was 28,000)
A faded face, the trace of an ear
(I heard it was 28,000)

A tableau of the missing
Tied to the government building
8,000 sun-bleached photographs
Faded with the roses(*)

Hey little children don’t disappear
(I heard it was 28,000)
Lost upon a revolving wheel
(I heard it was 28,000)
All that’s left after a year
(I heard it was 28,000)
A faded face, the trace of an ear
(I heard it was 28,000)

And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade out
And watch them fade...
(*) This is probably a reference to the collection of 2,000-3,000 photographs which have covered the fence around the Government Building in Kosovo since 1999. The subjects are ethnic Albanians who disappeared during the 1999 Kosovo war — presumed to have been systematically massacred by Serbian nationalists. The photographs are there to pressure the government into revealing where the missing are, as well as serving as a tribute. Family members often leave flowers there.
muro

Contributed by dq82 - 2016/4/16 - 11:43




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