Felipe Oliveira
I am a graduate of Drum Performance from the Cornel School of Contemporary Music in Los Angeles, which was a blessing that helped me catch up on some music knowledge and skills I had missed before and meet talented musicians and other music industry professionals — some of whom you can hear and enjoy in Joy in Jail.
In addition to Desmadres of Invention, I am a member of Oliva, a world-pop project co-produced with Xochitl Martinez, who deserves my deepest gratitude and without whom Joy in Jail would not have come to fruition. Oliva’s first EP, “Flow,” was released in December 2021.
My collaboration with Brazilian author LC Guimarães, writing and setting music to recited poetry (in Portuguese) for our project Orix, can be found on our website.
The Sun & Saturn
The name “Joy in Jail” sprang spontaneously from that part of the mind that wants to speak in symbols, like poetry.
The name is not random or a coincidence. Just about everything we do in life is part of a script written on the larger cosmos of planets and stars. For some, that is a matter of belief; for others, it is nonsense. For me, it is a fact that has been verified so many times that it has become second nature and an integral part of my expression, including art.
Those familiar with Traditional Astrology may know what a birth chart Sun-Saturn opposition might mean in a person’s life. It plays out differently for different people. For me, it is summarized in the haiku “Joy in Jail”.
The interplay of restraint, obstacles, discipline, patience, coldness, and sobriety of Saturn with the light, warmth, dissipation, knowledge and joy of the Sun. If one is present, the other never fails to show up in my life.
In other words, this personal cosmic script elicits an acute awareness of life’s pendulum of opposites and thankfully, the blessing of a profound acceptance of its duality in all of its pleasure and pain.
At this point, the reader may have figured out that the album cover is a graphic rendition of these concepts. Plus, I think it is pretty, and beauty is good.
For more of my thoughts on these subjects, there are some links on the connect page.
The name “Joy in Jail” sprung spontaneously from that part of our minds that wants to speak in symbols, like poetry. It means what it says, and it synthesizes how I perceive life:
The experience of physical life is like a jail. Yet, joy is the expression of the Essence of our being.
I don’t want to make this into a philosophical essay. For those interested, I have a website and a book published devoted to the spiritual dimensions of Joy in Jail.
However, I want to present the name’s connections to Traditional Astrology because they are not random coincidences.
Just about everything we do in life is part of a script written on the larger cosmos of planets and stars. For some, that is a matter of belief; for others, it is nonsense. For me, it is a fact that has been verified so many times that it has become second nature and it has become an integral part of my artistic expression.
Those familiar with Traditional Astrology may know what a birth chart Sun-Saturn opposition might mean in a person’s life. (I have yet another website that elaborates on this subject.)
How that opposition plays out is different for different people. For me, it is summarized in the haiku “Joy in Jail”.
The interplay of restraint, obstacles, discipline, patience, coldness, and sobriety of Saturn with the light, warmth, dissipation, knowledge and joy of the Sun. They are never alone in my life. If one is present, the other never fails to show up.
In other words, this little personal cosmic script elicits an acute awareness of life’s pendulum of opposites and the blessing of a profound acceptance of its duality in all of its pleasure and pain.
At this point, the reader may have figured out that the album cover is a graphic rendition of these concepts. Plus, I think it is pretty, and beauty is good.
The links to the aforementioned websites can be found in the Connect section below.
