Giulia Gambino retells the story of the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs, as depicted on the West Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, through song.
The sculpture - of which a plaster cast is displayed in the Museum of Classical Archaeology - shows a battle between humans and centaurs: a wedding party gone disastrously wrong. A woman fights off a centaur - a creature that is half-man, half-horse - with a well-placed elbow.
Giulia writes,
"My submission is a song inspired by the legend of the battle between Lapiths and Centaurs. I imagined the statue taking life and singing her story to the audience, explaining why she's reacting to the “abduction” of the mythological creature with all her might: it's a matter of principles and destiny, since -as we know- civility couldn't be beaten by irrationality, as Apollo’s presence confirms. But it’s also a love story: by surrendering to the Centaur, the protagonist would have lost life’s most deep purpose, Sappho’s “Theia Mania”!"
This track is part of the Museum Remix: Unheard project.
