{"id":269,"date":"2013-04-19T22:20:45","date_gmt":"2013-04-19T22:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.burningmax.com\/stairway2heaven\/?p=269"},"modified":"2013-10-23T09:00:57","modified_gmt":"2013-10-23T09:00:57","slug":"cargo-cult-and-french-culture-serge-gainsbourg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.burningmax.com\/stairway2heaven\/cargo-cult-and-french-culture-serge-gainsbourg\/","title":{"rendered":"Cargo Cult and French Culture? How About Serge Gainsbourg?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"13_theme_cargocult\"<\/a>The Cargo Cult<\/a> is a Melanesian millenarian movement that started with the first contacts of locals with the commercial networks of colonizing societies. According to the Melanesian cult’s beliefs, rituals can lead to material wealth, the “cargo”.<\/p>\n

During World War II, when the US Navy stormed the islands of the South Sea, brought in thousand of “things” that the locals never saw before, like canned food, mechanical stuff and plenty of power sources. Then the troops left, leaving behind only broken vehicles and tools, crashed planes, empty beer and food cans, and the memory of abundance.<\/p>\n

To the natives, this was a miraculous occurrence, so they started praying for the return of abundance, building junk totems to bring back these Visitor from Elsewhere and their legendary leader, the man the Melanesians called John Frum<\/strong>, the dispenser of endless abundance and wielder of mysterious technologies. A Man from Elsewhere<\/em> that always existed: John Frum, Quetzalcoatl, Osiris, you name it. Across the ages and around the world, the stories all agree: one day he will return, bearing great gifts.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the cargo cult, its causes, beliefs and practices, as well as its theoretical explanations, we invite you to explore the Wikipedia<\/a>. And if you want to know more, and most of all why Burning man adopted the cargo cult as a theme for this year’s festival, please have a look at the 2013 Art Theme page of the Burning Man website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But why are we publishing this blog post today? Because Cargo Cult is also something strongly connected with the French culture. One name: Serge Gainsbourg<\/strong>. What’s more French culture that him? <\/p>\n

In 1971 Serge Gainsbourg produced a classic record, a true masterpiece, “Histoire de Melody Nelson<\/em>“. In this “concept album” Gainsbourg sings the story of a sexual affair with an underaged lolita who Gainsbourg\u2019s character meets when he almost kills her while driving his Rolls Royce. Melody Nelson is played by Gainsbourg\u2019s wife and partner in crime, Jane Birkin, whose erotic voice balances Gainsbourg\u2019s deep tones, all wrapped up in dirty basslines, luscious psychedelic music and epic orchestral arrangements. In the closing track of the album, \u201cCargo Culte<\/strong>\u201d, Serge Gainsbourg sings about Melody\u2019s tragic death in a plane crash in the Pacific, comparing himself to a New Guinean shaman who tries to put her body together through the wrecks of the crashed plane. A pure cargo cult – or “Cargo Culte”, en francais<\/em>. Here is the original video of the song, a pretty psychedelic video, well ahead the video production of that time. Enjoy it!<\/p>\n