原题：Travels Over Feeling: Arthur Russell, a Life review – down the rabbit hole with a musical maverick
编译：王欣园
校对：代玉龙 陈熠菲
时间：2024年4月22日
今年年初，音乐人理查德·金（Richard King）出版了一部亚瑟·拉塞尔回忆录——《随心而行》（Travels over Feeling）；而与此同时，伦敦巴比肯艺术博物馆（The Barbican）于近日也宣布了其下以“音乐家亚瑟·拉塞尔”为主题的活动将于2024年5月25日举办。而诸上种种也使得这位恣意盎然的音乐家亚瑟·拉塞尔再次进入大众视野。
亚瑟·拉塞尔全名为查尔斯·亚瑟·拉塞尔（Charles Arthur Russell），1951年美国爱荷华州（Iowa）出生。为追求他理想中的音乐，拉塞尔于上个世纪60年代末背井离乡来到旧金山学习印度古典音乐与作曲。这样的经历也对拉塞尔的音乐与人生之路造成了深远影响。由于一直居住在佛教社区，拉塞尔不久便与佛教徒艾伦·金斯伯格(Allen Ginsberg)结识并成为了“人生之友”；而与此同时，拉塞尔高超琴技的名气也在为诗歌朗诵配乐的过程中声名远扬。于是，1973年，拉塞尔再次踏上音乐旅途，而这次他来到了纽约。如果说旧金山是60年代末传统与古典乐的象征；那么纽约就是70年代大胆、创新的中心——这座城市在凌乱的角落孕育了无数个人才。
起初，为了融入纽约的先锋派和极简派，拉塞尔加入了“The Kitchen”并多次参与策划音乐活动，但其所安排的现代恋人(Modern Lovers)等乐队的演出最终惹恼了先锋派的纯粹主义者。由此，拉塞尔进入了其音乐创作的第三时期。该阶段，拉塞尔疯狂迷恋于崇高的理论领域之外的非线性、肆意发展的重复性音乐。
于是，20世纪80年代早期，拉塞尔推出了令人“眼花缭乱”的迪斯科摇滚乐，如Dinosaur L中的“Go Bang!”与Loose Joints 合作中的“Pop Your Funk”等作品。而除了这些为舞池创作的实验曲外，拉塞尔也录制部分电音作品、为严肃的舞蹈或戏剧作品配乐并参与各种合奏中演奏，从而赢得了作曲家菲利普·格拉斯（Philip Glass）等人的尊重。1986年，拉塞尔被诊断为艾滋病并于1992年去世。
Bob Dylan
纵观拉塞尔的职业生涯，其虽结识了不少惊人的人脉，如鲍勃·迪伦（Bob Dylan）与布鲁斯·斯普林斯汀（Bruce Springsteen）的伯乐——约翰·哈蒙德（John Hammond）等，但却在商业上一直无人所知。或许，正如《另一种想法》(Another Thought)中谱写的那般，拉塞尔的另类想法就是他对理想音乐执着与忠诚的象征，也使得他远离世俗眼光，恣意潇洒。
作为舞池里的神秘英雄，拉塞尔一生虽然低调，但却从不虚无。从他的作曲中，我们不仅能感受到其异质性的温柔，而且还能了解到一个人对音乐的偏执与奉献。
Earlier this year, the musician Richard King published an Arthur Russell memoir, "Travels over Feeling". Also, recently, London's Barbican Art Museum announced that its "musician Arthur Russell" themed event will be held on May 25, 2024. From all the things, it has brought the free-spirited musician Arthur Russell back into the public eye, again.
Arthur Russell, whose full name is Charles Arthur Russell, was born in Iowa in 1951. In pursuit of his ideal music, Russell left his hometown in the late 1960s to study Indian classical music and composition in San Francisco. This experience also had a profound impact on Russell's music and life. Living in the Buddhist community, Russell soon met and became "friends for life" with Buddhist Allen Ginsberg; At the same time, Russell's reputation for his skill on the piano was well established when he composed the music for poetry readings. So, in 1973, Russell embarked on another musical journey, this time to New York. If San Francisco is a symbol of tradition and classicism in the late 1960s; New York, then, was the center of bold innovation in the '70s - a city that spawned countless talents in its messy corners. Initially, Russell joined The Kitchen in an effort to fit into New York's avant-garde and minimalist scene, and curated several music events, but his arrangements for bands such as Modern Lovers eventually irked avant-garde purists. Thus, Russell entered the third period of his musical composition. During this period, Russell was infatuated with the non-linear, unrestrained development of repetitive music outside the lofty realm of theory. So, in the early 1980s, Russell put out "dazzling" disco rock, such as Dinosaur L's "Go Bang!" With Loose Joints "Pop Your Funk" and so on. In addition to these experimental pieces for the dance floor, Russell recorded some electrical pieces, scored serious dance or theatrical works, and played in various ensembles, earning the respect of composers such as Philip Glass. In 1986, Russell was diagnosed with AIDS and died in 1992.
Throughout Russell's career, although he made some amazing contacts, such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen's beau John Hammond (John Hammond), but has remained commercially unknown. Perhaps, as written in "Another Thought," Russell's alternative ideas are a symbol of his dedication and loyalty to the ideal music, and also allow him to escape the secular view, with free will.
As a mysterious hero on the dance floor, Russell's life was low-key, but never empty. From his composition, we can not only feel the tenderness of its heterogeneity, but also understand a man's paranoia and dedication to music.
