Cultural life + Ziyals drawings

[TerokNor]

How rich do you think would Cardassian cultural life be?

Just wondered...humans have lots of dances, theatre acts, poetry, art, songs ....

While I can imagine Cardassians who play theatre, do poetry and also art (they must excell at realty drawings and paintings...don´t you think? I mean with there photographic memory? However I guess it must be quite restricted as to what is allowed to paint...but at least we know they have an art academy)... I have a hard time imagining Cardassians sing, play a music instrument and dance.
Maybe thats because we mostly see soldiers...the hard guys so to say?
Cause like imagining Damar as a grateful dancer or Dukat on the piano (or what kind of instruments they would have) and singing or whatever...hmmm...
Well than again..in our todays armies of the world soldiers do sing their marching or how to call it songs... but I could not even imaging that kind of singing from Cardassians.

In other cultures that we get shown, we sometimes see a bit more, like the songs and tales of the Klingons or... well, thats all I can think of actually... however how do you think the cultural life of Cardassia looked like? I mean they are not really encouraged to express themselves I guess....so would the cultural life not also become lesser and if its still there one sided? Would also the tatses as what they like be more similar, becaue of the indoctrinations they get or just as many sided and individual as on earth people?
I wish they would have shown us a bit more of cardassia or at least some more characters, besides soldiers, agents, dessidents and scientists.

And while we are at it...how did you like Ziyals drawings?

TerokNor

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Hmmmm...

I can at least give you what I have portrayed in my own work, but it's NOT canon.

At least in my own work, one is required to apply for various types of licenses in order to be involved in the arts. One could speculate that Ziyal had help in getting her licensure from her father--I'm sure that given Dukat's position by that time as head of the Cardassian Union, he could threaten anybody and everybody that he had to, to make this happen. In my own work, you must apply first to be permitted to perform any form of art or to study by copying the works of others. This first level gives you no freedom to create or to deviate from acceptable works that have gone before you. The composition license is more difficult to come by--and even once you have it, you would be under constant scrutiny by the Obsidian Order. Unauthorized/unsupervised artistic expression would be strictly forbidden.

Foreign influence is likely banned as well--though again I would think Dukat bent the rules for Ziyal (and I could go into a whole dissertation about why Dukat did that even with the risk of opening himself up to charges of disloyalty). But the reason I suspect foreign influence is banned is this: look at Dejar's reaction when she heard Belor and Rejal bitching about Cardassian food when they got onto DS9, and how the scientists feared that reaction.

Overall, I would imagine THE hardest things to get a licensure to do would be anything involving the written word, be it books or song lyrics--because those are ideas, and those would be VERY dangerous. I actually suspect that some of these people we hear about, like Preloc, Shoggoth, and the author of The Neverending Sacrifice, were major politicians/military officials, perhaps even members of the Obsidian Order charged with creating propaganda. Iloja of Prim may or may not have been...whatever happened, he did something that landed him in exile.

As for music itself--if we take away the politics--I personally think Cardassian music is noticeably different from human music, and that this makes sense given that Cardassians have a reduced range of hearing in comparison to humans. Some music may well be louder and heavier than humans might expect...and this volume/hard rhythm may well NOT have the subversive connotations it typically does on Earth (because it takes increased volume to seem "too loud" to a Cardassian). I also think that if the frequency range is a bit more restricted, pattern within a narrower band of frequencies might become more important than melody in the traditional sense. I know I often find myself listening to Steve Reich or Phillip Glass when I am trying to get into the mood for writing a more domestic setting on Cardassia. (But, when I think of military music, I tend to get something more Soviet in mind. Or even something like Juno Reactor or "B Mashina" by Laibach.)

Here are some examples of the music that inspires me.

"B Mashina" by Laibach...I have used this as a theme for Tret Akleen, the father of the Cardassian Union. Even the lyrics fit in a rather twisted way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgqjnzkYPnA

"Immaculate Crucifixion" by Juno Reactor...this is the overall "series theme" for Sigils and Unions, and is one expression of the sort of pattern/rhythm-driven music I imagine for Cardassia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYD0GoFC47A

A couple works by Steve Reich. Just look at the intense concentration required of the musicians to play these. None of that is synthesized--it is ALL live.

"Pulse" from Music for 18 Musicians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiV9f1_PFHE

"Cello Counterpoint": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTGwFZxRRbU&feature=related


As to Ziyal's paintings...I could actually see the Cardassian side of them much more clearly than the Bajoran aspect. The austerity and starkness of the strokes--the aesthetic--struck me as Cardassian, and I took it as an inspiration to draw the Sigils and Unions logo. What I suspect Ziyal may have been doing was imitating the form of certain Bajoran artworks...taking them and translating them into a more Cardassian-like aesthetic. But to me...I got more of an impression of "Cardassian" than Bajoran.

 

[Trek_princess]

I though Ziyal's drawings were ok. I assume from looking at them that Cardassian visual art (at least at that time) values simplicity, contrast, and expressive line quality. I thought it was really cute how proud Dukat was of Ziyal's art.

 

[TerokNor]

Thanks, thats interessting! I will listen to the songs soon (after the examinations). What about dancing? Do you have something in your universe about that as well?

And yes, that Dukat was so proud was nice to see. Though I felt more like Weyoun I have to admit..I wasn´t sure, if I should like what I see or not... I think I was not that impressed by the drawings. *L*

TerokNor

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Dancing I have not addressed yet--I can see it better on my AU Cardassia, where many religious traditions still exist.

Still, when I do manage to get some kind of image of it, I see it as something like classical Indian (subcontinent) dancing. Something like this...one thing you see in some Indian dancing is that there's a LOT of care paid to the hands and the gestures, because they almost "sign" a story. For a species that might place a higher value on unspoken communication, I could see this being a plus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prQO...07E76BFD3&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=6

Cardassian dancing outfits and some of the moves would probably be quite different, but I see something similar going on with the use of the hands.

EDIT: One more thing about Ziyal's drawings. What I saw most similarity to was Asian drawing styles--specifically Japanese sumi-e (though with a bit more color, and more abstract).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumi-e

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Personally I liked Ziyal's drawings, I liked their floral, a little bit abstract theme. But were they really soooooo perfect that each and every art school principal wanted Ziyal as his scholar? I didn't find them that great. I can understand Dukat tough - he was the father and many parents are proud of their children and their work. I could also understand Kira, she loved Ziyal.

Cardassian culture? I always wondered what the Hebitians were like. IMHO the potential was ruined by the books - somehow the Oralian Way is not what I had in mind. It's too much "Bajoran", if you know what I mean.

Nerys_Ghemor, I MUST read your works. Definitelly.

I have never immersed myself in Cardassian culture. I wrote 2 books about Romulans (another of my favourite races), but it's also more from a military point of view, although there are some cultural references, not based on canon.

Currently I think about a Cardassian project. It's riping in my head

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Hm...well, the nature of the Hebitians was alluded to in "Chain of Command," from Gul Madred's words--so personally I always HAD envisioned them as a deeply religious people. I don't necessarily agree with what the novels did by making it seem like they might be Prophet-worshippers, though...nor did I like the dithparu angle, either. I thought it would've been nice to actually leave a species' mysticism be, for once.

I do think Dukat would've exerted his influence to get Ziyal the art education he wanted for her. I don't think her drawings were bad at all, though...I think we were missing some cultural references, though.

I did, however, use it as an inspiration for this, where I tried to capture the more Cardassian aspects of it. Please bear in mind that MY art skills are not that good--it looked better in my head than what I actually drew.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/stexpanded/images/8/87/Sigils_and_Unions_Logo_%28small%29.jpg

 

[Gul Re'jal]

I would admit you to the Cardassian art school at once

Hebitians deeply religious, yes, but almost the same way as Bajorans - no. While I understand the need of similarities for the sake of Day of the Vipers storyline, I think they could have come with something more unique.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

LOL, well, that's nice of you to say, but I would require a LOT of training--I think it's fair to say that.

I don't have as much of a problem with what was done in Day of the Vipers as I do with what happened in Well of Souls, which I thought was just typical "religion is bad and its followers are deceived fools" Trek. At least in Day of the Vipers, something mystical is allowed.

It would take a long time to explain what the relationship between the Prophets and deity is in my own work and I won't bore anyone with that here. But suffice it to say, better what Day of the Vipers did than Well of Souls.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

I really like your painting (is it a painting? it's seems to be a painting, not a drawing), honestly

I haven't read Well of Souls. Shall I put it on my list of books to read higher or rather lower?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I'm not really sure what to say about Well of Souls. I just know that I didn't like it.

And I actually used calligraphy pens for my drawing...I barely have control enough for ink, so I know paint would be even harder to do.