SIXTEEN CANDLES

Sixteen Candles (2015)

FOR PARIS

This video was made in response to the attacks, to both mourn the loss and celebrate the lives of those who died in Paris on 13th November 2015 and for those around the world who suffer the same needless violence everyday.Sixteen Candles (2015) continues a new series of socio-political videos by Ndiritu that use 80’s movie titles. Filmed outside the Bataclan club on the artist’s cell phone, Sixteen Candles (2015) was made in the week after the attacks happened, as a way for the artist to understand what had happened so close to her home in Paris.The statement “Today’s News is Tommorrow’s War” originally comes from Ndiritu’s video Desert Storm (2004) about the War in Iraq. Sadly, the human race seems incapable of learning and instead it perpetuates the same cycles of war and extremism over and over again. The fact nothing changes is a sentiment echoed in the looped edit and the soundtrack of Sixteen Candles (2015) which features ‘How Fortunate the Man With None’ by Dead Can Dance. The haunting melody is from 1993 and is inspired by the kings, emperors and religious extremism that has taken place throughout history but can be equally be applied today. The lyrics were originally written in the 1930’s by Bertolt Brecht, the German poet and playwright whose anti-Nazi sentiments forced him into exile in 1933. Brecht’s books were burned in his native land, and he also had his German citizenship revoked during the Nazi era.The lyrics are as follows:You saw sagacious SolomonYou know what came of himTo him, complexities seemed plainHe cursed the hour that gave birth to himAnd saw that everything was vainHow great and wise was SolomonThe world, however, did not waitBut soon observed what followed onIt’s wisdom that had brought him to this stateHow fortunate the man with noneYou saw courageous Caesar nextYou know what he becameThey deified him in his lifeThen had him murdered just the sameAnd as they raised the fatal knifeHow loud he cried “you too my son!”The world, however, did not waitBut soon observed what followed onIt’s courage that had brought him to that stateHow fortunate the man with noneYou heard of honest SocratesThe man who never liedThey weren’t so grateful as you’d thinkInstead the rulers fixed to have him triedAnd handed him the poisoned drinkHow honest was the people’s noble sonThe world, however, did not waitBut soon observed what followed onIt’s honesty that brought him to that stateHow fortunate the man with noneHere you can see respectable folkKeeping to God’s own lawsSo far he hasn’t taken heedYou who sit safe and warm indoorsHelp to relieve out bitter needHow virtuously we had begunThe world, however, did not waitBut soon observed what followed onIt’s fear of God that brought us to that stateHow fortunate the man with none