“If my karma is good, then I will die well. ‘Dying well’ means that I will die the way I intend – doing my death dance. My prayformance is my death dance.” S.K. THOTH
You never forget the first time you experience S.K. Thoth. Costumed like an ancient Greek superhero, complete with loincloth and a red feathered headdress, he is a striking sight to behold. Then he opens his mouth and begins to sing in his three range operatic voice, with a violin on his shoulder, dancing like a man possessed by something otherworldly, stomping rhythms with his heeled sandals and belled ankles making an indelible impression in your mind.
Thoth calls this expression his “prayformance” in which he presents his “solopera,“ a multi-disciplined and multi-media performance piece, drawing on the mythological world of the Festad about he has been writing since he was a child. The story of his life was made into an Oscar-winning documentary film.
In what ways has your life changed as a result of the documentary film win and your appearance at the Academy Awards?
The main way my life changed as a result of "THOTH" winning the Academy Award was that I stopped getting harassed by a certain police officer who I’ll refer to as "Officer Joe." On a regular basis, Officer Joe would interrupt my prayformances in the Angel Tunnel and force me to pack up my things. He had no right to stop me, but he did. When Sarah (Kernochan, director) was shooting the film, he showed up to harass me the same way he always had, but this time his behavior was caught on film. After I came back from the Academy Awards, he approached me while I was setting up and I thought, "Here we go again." But instead he was unusually friendly and chatty. He congratulated me for the film winning the Academy Award and asked if he was in the film. I knew what he was getting at: he was afraid that everybody had seen him harassing me. Instead of telling him no, I told him I didn’t know. He has since stopped bothering me.
The majority of your prayformances are in Central Park. Why have you chosen this route, as opposed to more traditional music venues? Is it a challenge to build a loyal audience because of the large number of tourists in the park?
First, let me say that I will go anywhere to prayform if my work is welcomed there and it doesn’t cost me anything to prayform. It is just that few venues offer me that. That said, I have chosen tunnels in Central Park to prayform in because they have beautiful acoustics; much better than "traditional music venues" which have been gutted to make way for the loud amplified music revolution. The Angel Tunnel or Trefoil Arch (where he prayforms presently while the Conservancy renovates Angel Tunnel) offers me the best opportunity to fully express my work daily and provides me with a small amount of money upon which I live. Additionally, I have yet to find a "traditional music venue" that is fully open to my work. Yes, it is a challenge to build a loyal audience, thus I really do not have much of a loyal audience or fan base.
The language your songs are written in is one of your own creation. What is it like singing in a language foreign to the people who hear you?
It is liberating! When someone sings in English, English and American people understand, but those who don’t understand English are left out. In my case, everyone is equally left out. My main contention is that music, not words, is the universal language of the soul.
Your outward appearance is intentionally colorful. What do you intend people to infer from your costume and what kinds of reactions do you get?
People’s main reaction to my costume is that they want to know what I’m wearing under my loin cloth. I don’t concern myself with what people infer from my costume. My intention is to be true to the costuming of Nular-in – the heroic hermaphrodite and narrator of my solopera "THE HERMA: The Life and Land of Nular-in."
I noticed that you write performance notes with both hands creating a mirror image simultaneously. Describe what’s going on there.
As I try to do with everything, I use both hands – switching hands to do simple or complex tasks like throwing a ball, cutting food, shaving, eating, etc…. I also play the violin left and right. Writing with both hands reminds me that one of my many practices during a prayformance is to seek to maintain balance and evince the neutral path – be neither yin nor yang but be the orb that embraces both.
You have a new CD coming out. What can we expect to hear?
"Space Gypsies" is my first CD since releasing the entire solopera. It is a collaboration between me and my friend Rhan Wilson. We took formerly recorded tracks from the 1990’s and updated them with new material. The result is a tonal adventure similar to something Maurice Ravel might have done. It is the first time I have been overdubbed singing with myself. You can hear some of it here: http://www.altared.com/space_gypsies
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I will either be prayforming or dead; and my life’s work "The Festad – an encyclopedia of an imaginary world," which will be finished yet incomplete at my death, will be further developed.
LINKS
http://www.skthoth.com
http://www.myspace.com/skthoth
Photos by Susana Bates
