(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) According to the World Economic Forum, the near future promises that we, as a global society ruled by a one-world government will “own nothing and be happy” as we sit down to our daily ration of grubs and crickets, all laced with the latest COVID vaccine while waiting for Al Gore to deliver the nightly Two Minutes Hate address.
If that were not enough to entice the world’s 7 million residents, however, WEF founder Klaus Schwab and the gang took a break from plotting the “Great Reset” on Thursday to offer a glimpse of what the arts might look like in the new world order.
Suffice it to say, it may take some getting used to.
The musical interlude was billed as “Noa’s Ark—Music as a Catalyst for Change” and featured the vocal stylings of Israeli singer–activist Achinoam “Noa” Nini accompanied on guitar by longtime collaborator Gil Dor.
On paper, the two seem to combine a high degree of classical music training and performance accolades—with their online biographies boasting that Noa has “ graced many of the world’s most important and prestigious stages like Carnegie Hall and the White House and has performed for three Popes” (which likely means every pope since 1978).
But in practice, the low-energy set—which featured Noa appearing to perform on an invisible instrument while incanting tonal scales—resembled what one might expect from the open mic night at the Starbucks in Hell.
The true reason for Noa’s appeal may, in fact, be her progressive views on Palestine, as her online bio vaguely hints.
“In addition to her prolific musical activity, Noa is considered Israel’s most prominent cultural advocate of dialogue and co-existence, her ‘Voice of Peace,'” it tells us.
Moreover, the WEF revealed that the two performers were outspoken environmentalists.
“They dedicate their time and creative efforts towards raising awareness of the climate crisis and the plight of the Red Sea corals in particular,” it noted.
Noa’s vocal delivery did, however, evoke other futuristic interpretations of the sort of reductive songwriting that might produce the aural equivalent of molecular gastronomy or Jackson Pollock paintings.
While less stylized, the singing called to mind Albanian opera singer Inva Mula’s memorable turn as the diva Plavalaguna in Luc Besson’s 1997 sci-fi film The Fifth Element.
And that may not be the only way in which Schwab’s vision borrows from Besson’s beloved cult classic.
His beachgoing attire also calls to mind the outfit worn by Ukrainian knockout Milla Jovovich, the movie’s titular star (meaning its title is based on her character) as her character, Leeloo, is introduced after being spliced together in a DNA-based 3-d printer.
“Leeloo’s costume had to show enough skin so that doctors can easily take a sample or do an injection, but covered up for modesty's sake. That's where the bandage idea came from.” @MillaJovovich on her iconic #JeanPaulGaultier costume in ‘The Fifth Element’.#JPGLovesCinema pic.twitter.com/QwWMBap4Gz
— Jean Paul Gaultier (@JPGaultier) May 7, 2020
Jovovich has since called Jean Paul Gaultier’s wardrobe design—which consisted of little more than a few selectively placed bands of fabric—“a bit embarrasing” due to the unwanted attention that it received.
Schwab, however, was far less modest—because, in the future, evidently, we will wear nothing and be happy.
It’s Klaus Schwab….beach ready. 😉😂#KlausLikesDressingUp pic.twitter.com/Ju7FGWPjCO
— Christine Smith (@cocoandboris) April 7, 2021
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/realbensellers.
