Hugo Ball (born 22 February, 1886; died 14 September, 1927), pictured above performing his poem ‘Gadji Beri Bimba’, at the Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, circa 1916
‘…I was carried out onto the stage in the dark and began slowly and solemnly:
gaji beri bimba
glandridi lauli lonni cadori
gadjama bim beri glassala
glandridi glassala tuffm i zimbrabim
blassa glassasa tuffm i zimbrabim ……I was carried down off the stage like a magical bishop.’
—from Hugo Ball’s diary, 23 June, 1916
‘Life rhymes incessantly, it exaggerates incessantly. One person discovers another anew every day, and everyone moves around in the illusion. Generally speaking, it is a stammering ballad, a sad song, or at best, a sentimental melodrama. But it could also be an epigram and a tragedy of divine catchwords. This depends on the talent of the players, on the favorableness of the scene of action, and not least on the mercy of whoever is planning and directing the action.’
—from the diary, 6 June 1921
(Both diary entries above are taken from Flight Out of Time: A Dada Diary by Hugo Ball, edited and with an introduction by John Elderfield; translated from the German by Ann Raimes; University of California Press: 1996)
