Performance Venues are very excited to be hosting David Bramwell in his latest performance ‘From Shaman To Starman‘. Based on his latest book ‘Ghosts of the Medicine Show: An Odyssey into the Shamanic Roots of Popular Entertainment’, the performance discovers the link between ancient shamanism and modern day live entertainment and artistry in the 20th and 21st century.
Recently, they spoke to Bramwell and he answered some questions on the performance, which we’re sharing here…
Describe the show in 1 sentence.
It’s a secret history of live entertainment, and it’s based on the idea that everything we call live entertainment, everything we call art and culture, has its roots in shamanism.
Can you explain what shamanism is and its link to the modern day?
Perhaps a simple way of exploring the idea of shamanism is what the psychologist Carl Young described as a wounded healer. That is a person who has been on a psychological transformation in the underworld and becomes what we could say is the keeper, the holder of the spirit of a society. Who holds the spirit of Western culture? It’s not our politicians, it’s not our economists; it’s our artists.
For example, a festival like Glastonbury: you’ve got the big pyramid stage – we think of it as a festival tent, but what is it? It’s a large yurt, and where does the yurt originate from… from traveling cultures, those nomadic animist traveling cultures who experience a show inside the yurt.
What should audiences expect from the performance?
I’m gonna take them on three journeys into the underworld and hell with a little known artist called Lingua Ignota, one with an artist who a lot of people know, Nick Cave, and one with Dr Who. I hope that at least one of those people will connect with.
What inspired you to write ‘Ghosts of the Medicine Show’, which the show is based on?
I was inspired to write the book because I came across a book written 40 years ago. I became obsessed with the ideas in the book; no one had ever presented culture and live entertainment from this perspective before. It also occurred to me that this book written 40 years ago was pre-internet age and his references in the book were all white male artists like Elvis, Bob Dylan and John Lennon. I thought maybe I can take these ideas forward and broaden it a little.
What do you want people to take away from the performance?
Ultimately what I’d like people to take away from this is that it has the potential to change the way they might relate to gigs, music and culture, as these ideas did for me.
The performance will be held at 8pm on Sunday 15th November at the Drama Studio and tickets can be found here: https://performancevenues.group.shef.ac.uk/our-events/from-starman-to-sharman/.
