The Concept of Strangeness: Planning the Libretto

On the 1^st of February our group finally met for the first time. Until then we’d communicated mainly via modern gadgets like phones and computers, but on this wintry Sunday evening it was time to sit down for a cup of tea and a serious chat about how to proceed.

I and Itzam originally planned to make an opera about immigration. (Yes, we thought about how good it sounds in a grant application.) We were thinking mainly about what happens to an individual in a strange culture – what kind of problems arise when you try to find a balance between your own background and the new environment. During our meeting we talked about the approach we would take. Writing about immigration per se didn’t seem like such a good idea: we might end up insulting some country’s culture, or even worse, end up lecturing to our audience about tolerance. I think it was Juho who came to our aid with The Concept of Strangeness (my translation). It’s fairly simple: other cultures seem strange to you if their habits and rules are different from your own. The bigger the difference, the stranger they seem. I guess everyone’s had an experience of not quite getting what’s going on – be it on a vacation abroad, in a new work environment, or wherever. The list is endless. Not understanding the code of behavior can be so frustrating.

A personal anecdote to further illustrate my point:

I spent my exchange year in Cardiff, Wales. I had thought that since Finland and Britain are both European, fairly wealthy, democratic countries, it couldn’t be so different. Well, it was. People would ask how I am and I would tell them, in great detail. It took me a while to get that you’re only supposed to say “Great! You?” My new friends would think I’m unfriendly or sulking when I simply wasn’t smiling all the time. (A neutral expression is completely acceptable in Finland. Smiling to strangers is a bit weird here. So imagine my reaction when a British cashier greets me with a “How are you love?” – I’m still thinking we could’ve had a beautiful future together.)

Anyway, we’re beginning to shape our story from something like this. Not wanting to leave Juho alone with the workload, we’ve decided to make the story together by improvising and throwing good, bad and horrible ideas around. The business will continue in two weeks when our second meeting will be hosted by Milla, one of our lovely sopranos.