Billy Corgan is a man of many curious tastes and talents. The Smashing Pumpkins auteur will put both on display with an eight-hour live interpretation of Herman Hesse's novel Siddartha played on synthesizers to a precious few attendees at a tea house he owns in the Chicago suburbs. The performance is scheduled for February 28.
I'll be doing a show at Madame ZuZu's Teahouse; start time noon, and due to nature of performance it'll last 8-9 hours," Corgan wrote of his Facebook. "Performance will be centered around an ambient/musical interpretation of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha; built by modular synthesis, on the fly. Readings of the text to go hand in hand with whatever is created."
Hesse wrote Siddhartha after a long period of dissatisfaction with his own life, and set about studying Indian sacred texts such as the Bhagavad Vita. The resulting novel revolves around the title protagonist, who seeks out enlightenment during the age of the Buddha. The text has become a classic for both counterculture and intelligentsia alike. Corgan's statement suggests someone will be reading along with his performance. The book is only 152 pages, so it seems probable that Corgan can get through the whole text. Unless he takes some solos. Which seems something Siddartha would frown upon.
Maybe our one buddy who copies all of his music from the Smashing Pumpkins can learn something from the performance.
"I shall no longer be instructed by the Yoga Veda or the Aharva Veda, or the ascetics, or any other doctrine whatsoever," wrote Hesse. "I shall learn from myself, be a pupil of myself; I shall get to know myself, the mystery of Siddhartha."
