What the history is behind this photo?
"This is the story of what a "Magic Chord"is. It was first seen in the performance of "And" at the Theatre des Nations in 1972. "Magic Chords" were developed as an extension of an exercise called the "Amoeba" in which one literally passed through all the stages of evolution from amoeba to man. It culminated in a sustained major chord which was held for many minutes as the chorus sang and held tension around the central solo figure until they collapsed exhausted from their vocal efforts. This final sustained chord, the "Magic Chord", was retained without the "Amoeba", first in "And" and later in "L'Economiste".
The photo shows me in the role of the 'Technarque' at the centre of such a chord during 'L'Economiste' in 1976. To find myself at the middle of a "Magic Chord", the axle pin, just a few months after Roy's death was indeed a strange experience. The theatrical chaos that surrounded me on stage reminded me strongly of the real chaos that reigned around me on the 18th May in the middle of the fatal car accident. It was probably good therapy for me to undergo this process, for I felt that only in truly finding an internal anchor in myself could I be prevented from being sucked into the terrible vortex that surrounded us all at that time. I did find that anchor and I did not disappear off the face of the earth for ever."Paul Silber 2000
The above is an extract from the book "A Celebration of Life".