Save The Best For Last: Interview with Guillaume Kashima

 “We asked friends, musicians and other "music obsessed" ones to make a seven songs podcast as a soundtrack for their funeral."

Pat McNally: Your project, Save the Best for Last, features podcasts from an eclectic and creative group of people, with the brief of putting together a seven song podcast of music for their own funerals.  I’ll tell you right away that I wish I had more clients like your friends, as it’s not often that I get to play the music of the Baka Forest People of South Cameroon, The Mills Brothers ‘Smoke Rings’ or Bjork’s Aurora at a funeral.  This project is a wonderful way for us to experience new music, or familiar music in a new context, as well as for us to get a new perspective on what kind of expression can be meaningful at a funeral.  Please tell me how this project started and what your goals were in pursuing it. 

Guillaume Kashima: It started at my grandfather's funeral, few years ago. We were asked to choose a song. My mother and my uncle argued as she proposed a Nana Mouskouri song, my grandpa's favorite singer. He said it was not appropriate ...or something like that, I can't really remember. Then there was the ceremony with this cheap random song that they play when nobody can agree on one. It was a really sad moment. 

Nad Love Less' Podcast

1 . Slowdive : When The Sun Hits (1993)
2 . Suede : The Next Life (1993)
3 . Nick Drake : From The Morning (1972)
4 . Mazzy Star : Into Dust (1993)
5 . Johnny Cash : I See A Darkness (2000) ~ Will Oldham Cover (1999)
6 . Antony And The Johnsons : Hope There’s Someone (2005)
7 . Echo & The Bunnymen : The Killing Moon (All Night Version) (1984)

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Photo by Nobuyoshi Araki “Kajou” (2000)

SBL Nad LOVELESS by savethebestforlast

PM: What are some of the songs you would have chosen to play at your own funeral?  Has your involvement in this project changed what you would choose?   

GK: I still don't know what I would play. I guess that's also why I ask people to do it ... So I can get inspired. I have started to work on it a thousand times.

PM: How did you go about selecting this diverse and creative group of collaborators to create these podcasts?

GK: I was in charge of the first 10 ones. I wasn't really sure about how it was going to be so I asked close friends, who are related to music or for whom music takes a big part of their life. There needs to be trust also, because it may sound weird to be asked a podcast for your own funeral. Some refused, but I would say, I'm really glad about the ones you can listen today. 

Henning Specht's Podcast

1 . Olivier Messiaen : Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus (1940)
2 . Nico : My Only Child (1970)
3 . The Mills Brothers : Smoke Rings (1932)
4 . Roy Orbison : Crying (1962)
5 . Elliott Smith : Everything Means Nothing To Me (2000)
6 . Henning Specht : Daddy's Gone (2008)
7 . J.S. Bach : Jesu Bleibet Meine Freude, by Dinu Lipatti (1950)

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Photo by Valerie Belin “untitled” (2008)

SBL Henning Specht by savethebestforlast

PM: Based on your impression of the participants, have you been surprised by the contents any of the playlists?  Based on the podcasts, whose funeral would you make sure you attended?

Guillaume: I would say no. As I said, those are close friends and I really see them through their selection. Not that I would know all the songs they selected, but I was not surprised by the tone. Sad, melancolic, happy or at moments, even funny, it's often a good picture of everyone's personnality. As an "amateur" of music, I could notice that people from and after my generation listen to the same bands. Globalisation I guess. For the next ones, I wish I can ask older people, who got other references and backgrounds. You woud be a perfect collaborator, if you're up for it!

Jules Julien's Podcast

1 . Schubert : Ein Wolf Im Schafspelz, by Josephine Foster (2006)
2 . Piero Umiliani : Crepusculo sul mare (1969)
3 . Nico : Secret Side (1974)
4 . John Zorn : Invitation to a suicide (2002)
5 . Chopin : Valse, Op. 69, No. 2 en Si Mineur, by Alexandre Tharaud (2006)
6 . Ghedalia Tazartes : Tazartes Transport (1977)
7 . Chicks On Speed / Kreidler : Where The Wild Roses Grow (2001)

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Photo by Guido Mocafico “Nature Morte à la Vanité” (2007)

SBL Jules JULIEN by savethebestforlast

PM: I would absolutely be up for it, Thank you!  What is next for you and for this project? 

GK: The next season is curated by Marie.  She chose the collaborators and the images that illustrate each podcast.  

Please visit Save The Best For Last for the full Season One Podcasts, and more information about the participants.  My thanks to Mr. Kashima for sharing this work on The Daily Undertaker. 

How to Deal with Death Online: Death on the Internet

As part of a continuing series on Virtual Funerals, I'm pleased to post a piece about death online by guest blogger, Tanja Baudoin of Mediamatic

http://www.mediamatic.net/page/49221/en

A Funeral in World of Warcraft

Although most social network sites and online games today enforce extensive regulations on their members, one issue is continuously overlooked or ignored: what happens to a profile or an avatar when its user dies?

A lot of social networking websites do not have a clear policy on this subject. Some websites remove users who don't sign in to their account for a certain amount of time. But frequently they don't get the chance, because profiles are turned into veritable memorial sites for the deceased. Many personal MySpace and Facebook profiles thus become a place of collective mourning for the bereaved where they may leave messages and prayers. Or, when passwords can be retrieved, friends or family may change a profile into an online shrine with pictures and information about the lost loved one.
Facebook is one of the social networking sites that has included a statement on death in their Terms of Use: 'When we are notified that a user has died, we will generally, but are not obligated to, keep the user's account active under a special memorialized status for a period of time determined by us to allow other users to post and view comments.' The Dutch dance-community Partyflock allows members to post condolences to the profile of deceased friends. Their profiles remain on a special section of the site, with a notification of their death. Livejournal has a similar group for deceased members, but it is created by a member, not by Livejournal itself.
For most social networking sites, it can be difficult to know whether a user has died. Even if they are contacted by family or friends, they may feel it is necessary to officially verify the report with a death certificate. At the same time, for family members it is often impossible to know about all the accounts and communities a person was a member of. If the deceased was not in touch with any of his or her online friends in the real world, this means these friends often have no way of finding out what happened to this person. An Online Death Notification Service offers one solution. Such a Notification Service involves the storage of a list of online contacts that are notified when family informs the Service that the user has died. It could also be helpful to sign up to OpenID, a website that provides their users with one single login for various sites. In case of death, OpenID is then able to inform all the sites at once, although it is still up to every individual site what they will do with the news.
In online games, players sometimes organize an online funeral when a member has died in real life, for example in Batteground Europe/WWII online. The death of a fellow player raises the awareness of users to the fact that online friends exist not only virtually, but also physically. When it is not possible to attend a funeral service in real life, holding an online ceremony may be an appropriate way to grieve.

http://www.mediamatic.net/page/49813/en

A Funeral in World of Warcraft

Guest Blogger, Tanja Baudoin, is a researcher and editor at Mediamatic in Amsterdam. She holds an MA in Art History, and was the 2008 organizer of Specters, Hauntings & Archives and Afterwords. This article was originally posted at Mediamatic.

Visit Mediamatic to view a list of recommended readings on the subject of Death on the Internet, and to see more of her projects and articles, at http://www.mediamatic.net/

World Mourns on Facebook

Our world has gotten even smaller.

Great interest in the tragic passings of strangers is nothing new. However, when much of the world is separated by only a few degrees of friendship on social networking sites like Facebook, we become aware in a more personal sense of the loss of someone half the world away. My hope is that in focusing online, we don't lose touch or forget to support the grieving person who lives across the street.

SINGAPORE: The tragic and untimely death in Mumbai of Singaporean hostage Lo Hwei Yen
They may be strangers from all walks of life, but the death of the 28—year—old Singaporean lawyer has brought the nation together in a common outpouring of sympathy.
Sympathies have been pouring in from Internet users as well.
A memorial group page on social networking site Facebook has seen its number of members swell into the hundreds since it was set up early Saturday morning.
Many blogs and forum entries saw users describing their shock, grief and even anger at the news.http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20081129/tap-087-singaporeans-mourn-tragic-death-231650b.html

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_310625.html

Some 200 people followed the hearse carrying Ms Lo Hwei Yen's coffin as it left for Mandai Crematorium after a service at St Teresa's Church. Thousands more mourn her online.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_310625.html

In respose to the family's request, mourners at the wake wear 'fabulous black' in memory of the stylish Ms. Lo Hweih Yen

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52642605469

Profile Photo from Ms. Lo Hweih Yen's Memorial Facebook Page

As of Friday there were 11,062 members of this open group and 1,319 wall posts/ condolences. Here is a quote from the page:

"May her passing, as the first Singaporean to have lost her life to terrorism, serve as a reminder to everyone, Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans alike, to treasure life and the loved ones around us.Yen lived her life with passion and she treasured her friends & family dearly. Let us cherish the zest for life and through us, she lives on. Yen, thank you for your smiles and for touching our lives. We miss you dearly."

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52642605469