Gene Karaoke Groove
This is episode 17 of The French Tech Comedy by DNA cowgirl.
For Patrick Merel and Emily Leproust
Episode 1: The Science of Sakura
Episode 2: Lost in Telomere Translation
Episode 3: Feel Flee to Donate
Episode 4: Pasteurising Tech With the French Touch
Episode 5: The Newborn Symphony Project
Episode 6: The Unknown 9% of the Human Genome
Episode 7: The Apple Tech Specs Conference
Episode 8: religA.I.on
Episode 9: Hiroshima is Japan’s World Trade Center
Episode 10: Mao’s Robots
Episode 11: Zazen in the Shinkansen
Episode 12: The Last (French) Samurai
Episode 13: To Humanity and Beyond
Episode 14: The Music of Genomic Origami
Episode 15: Direct-to-consumer Ikigami Genetics
Episode 16: Underground Science
Yuki the Japanese geisha tried to go back to sleep, to little avail. Her brain was still trying to sort things out. It was the middle of the night in Singapore, and Nono the French engineer who had invited her to stay in this huge apartment conveniently located in Clarke Quay was sleeping like a baby. The night life was so vibrant here. So many gigs and restaurants and bars. And the marina…
Just before travelling to Singapore, where he would stay for a few months, working with Facebook, Nono had arranged for Yuki and the Japanese manga artist to meet in Tokyo. The French Tech Manga project was born, up and running. As he couldn’t attend the meeting, he sent a friend of his, Miss Proust, founder of the synthetic biology consortium GrooveBiotech.
“ — Proust, like the famous French writer?”, asked Yuki.
“ — Exactly. Have fun!…”
Yuki wasn’t sure why this meeting was supposed to be fun. The place Nono had chosen for the meeting was quite strange: a karaoke studio. Why would one choose a karaoke studio to talk about synthetic biology — reading, interpreting and writing DNA?
The first question Miss Proust asked Yuki was:
“ — Are you a musician?”
“ — Er…, yes, I am.”
“ — Can you write lyrics to songs?”
“ — Er… I suppose I could do that. I’m working as a classical music composer and musician here in Tokyo.”
“ — Do you like house music, the groove, you know?”
Yuki had trouble understanding American english, she wasn’t sure what housemusicgroove was, but Miss Proust was talking with a French accent, which helped tremendously in her case, as the Japanese geisha was perfectly fluent in French. The manga artist could understand English a little.
“ — Yes.. Yes I do,” said Yuki, who thought her own specialty, Baroque music, was born from the interaction and reunion of two things that seemed completely opposed: shadow and light. She loved talking about universal features in the music, but wasn’t sure she could do that in English. She tried it in French, while the manga artist was busy drawing an Evangelion Shinkansen for the 500 TYPE EVA PROJECT.
He interrupted Yuki.
“ — Your flute…”
“ — …”
“ — Your flute is the Evangelion Shinkansen.”
Both women laughed. The manga artist sounded very much like Nono.
The meeting was actually a karaoke session, where Yuki had fun writing lyrics. For starters, they wrote something about Star Trek.
Star Trek Haiku
If Mister Spock
Could see me
As I have
No God no Religion
He would say
I am not a good companion.
As people
I admire most
Are dancers
Choreographers, writers;
Not scientists,
He would say
I am an escape artist.
My faulty logic,
My love for Edgar
Allan Poe,
My woe…
All
A minor
Mishap.
A grave
Misunderstanding,
When it comes to my
C Sharp
Or Python coding.
If Mister Spock
Could see me
His diagnosis
And Freudian logic
Writing an algorithm,
A sci-fi beam,
A beating-heart
Force bypass.
If Mister Spock
Could see me
May the Force
Be with my coronary artery.
At the reception desk they asked if they could sing French artist Francis Cabrel’s songs. But the guy at the karaoke studio had just one song: “Sarbacane”.
“ — What does it mean?”, asked the manga artist.
“ — A blowpipe of some kind. Maybe a flute.”
“ — Good choice,” said the manga artist.
“ — Sheer coincidence…”
Yuki quickly wrote lyrics to the song Sarbacane, this time in English and about synthetic biology. Miss Proust explained quickly what her company was about. Then the two of them got to sing, karaoke style — the manga artist said he couldn’t sing and wasn’t too fond of karaoke. Yuki and Miss Proust liked Cabrel, so they had fun singing a “meme” song, even in a slightly chaotic style.
Sarbacane
All Thanks To DNA
On croyait savoir tout sur l’amour 9
DNA is the next silicon 9
Depuis toujours, 4
Making from scratch 4
Nos corps par cœur et nos cœurs au chaud 9
DNA! valley of wonderment 9
Dans le velours, 4
10 thousand genes 4
Et puis te voilà bout de femme, 8
Screen, select for desired function : 8
Comme soufflée d’une sarbacane. 9
Mammalian cells and algae bio- 9
Le ciel a même un autre éclat 8
factories, plants, construction… re- 8
Depuis toi. 3
-genesis. 4
Les hommes poursuivent ce temps 6
Designing DNA 6
Qui court depuis toujours, 6
Mutations. Won’t you try 6
Voilà que t’arrives 5
Synthetic bio,
Et que tout s’éclaire sur mon parcours, 9
A billion dollar market, to change 9
Pendue à mon cou comme une liane, 9
The world? Like making more food with less 9
Comme le roseau de la sarbacane. 9
Arable land and fertilizers. 9
Le ciel s’est ouvert par endroits 8
Eliminate oil as a source 8
Depuis toi. 3
Of our life 3
Pas besoin de phrases ni de longs discours, 10
Bacteria in soil feeds natural genes 10
Ça change tout dedans, ça change tout autour. 10
As a fertilizer to the plant and 10
Finis les matins paupières en panne, 9
Gives vitamin A to children, thanks 9
Lourdes comme les bouteilles de butane, 8
To gene clusters making rice with 8
J’ai presque plus ma tête à moi, 8
Vitamins. Vanilla from yeast, 8
Depuis toi. 3
3 No phenol
oh, no phenol 4
Pas besoin de faire de trop longs discours, 10
With modified yeast you ferment sugar, 10
Ça change tout dedans, ça change tout autour, 10
Much healthier than vanilla coming from 10
Pourvu que jamais tu ne t’éloignes, 9
Oil. And use DNA to solve some 9
Plus loin qu’un jet de sarbacane, 8
Diseases. In yeast ferment and 8
J’ai presque plus ma tête à moi, 8
Sugar, make artemisinin 8
Depuis toi. 3
You beat, oh 3
Malaria. 3
Alors te voilà bout de femme, 8
All thanks to DNA you can 8
Comme soufflée d’une sarbacane. 9
Modify white blood cells that will kill, 9
Le ciel s’est ouvert par endroits, 8
Locate’n target all of your 8
Depuis toi. 3
Cancer cells. 3
Oh depuis toi 4
Oh cancer cells 4
Pas besoin de phrases ni de longs discours, 10
Or making keratin-like proteins10
Ça change tout dedans, ça change tout autour. 10
Like the ones in rhino horn. Heroin 10
Finis les matins paupières en panne, 9
Only is pricier than rhino horn! 9
Lourdes comme les bouteilles de butane, 8
Squalene, a cosmetic coming 8
J’ai presque plus ma tête à moi, 8
From shark livers, can also be 8
Depuis toi. 3
Engineered, 3
And…
Spider silk 3
Pas besoin de faire de trop longs discours, 10
Drug screening, antibody enginee- 10
Ça change tout dedans, ça change tout autour, 10
-ring, discovering new drugs, all thanks to 10
Pourvu que jamais tu ne t’éloignes, 9
DNA, that can help replace coal, 9
Plus loin qu’un jet de sarbacane, 8
Fuel, gaz, used to create plastic, 8
J’ai presque plus ma tête à moi, 8
Fertilizer, energy, not 8
Sustainable 4
Alors te voilà bout de femme, 8
Instead of oil, modify yeast 8
Comme soufflée d’une sarbacane. 9
And organisms like e-coli 9
Le ciel s’est ouvert par endroits, 8
Create biofactories, use 8
CO2 3
sunlight and 3
sugar and 3
DNA 3
Oh, DNA 4
It wasn’t quite the right rhythm, though. But Miss Proust had an idea in mind. She was going to speak, but the karaoke guy was back to their booth, asking if he could come in.
“ — Actually we happen to have another song, by a French artist. I thought maybe you’d be interested.”
“ — What song?,” asked Yuki.
“ — Il est cinq heures, Paris s’éveille, by … oh I’m sorry, I can’t pronounce it right. Doutllonneque or something? Suimasen.”
“ — Oooh, that’s a great one, thank you!,” said Miss Proust. Yuki didn’t know the song at all.
“ — Do you happen to have your flute with you?,” asked Miss Proust.
“ — Er… yes,” said Yuki.
“ — Then let’s try that one.”
“ — Er… With the new lyrics?”
“ — No, the original ones, by Dutronc, in French.”
“I am the heir of the Place Dauphine
And the Place Blanche looks bad
The trucks are full of milk
The street-sweepers are full of brooms
It is five o’clock (a.m.)
Paris wake up
Paris wake up
Transvestites are going to shave
The strippers are dressed again
Bolsters are crushed
The lovers are tired
It is five o’clock (a.m.)
Paris wake up
Paris wake up
The cafe is in the cups
waiters clean the mirror
And on the Boulevard Montparnasse
The station is a carcass
It is five o’clock (a.m.)
Paris wake up
Paris wake up
Suburbanite are in stations
At La Villette we slice the bacon
Paris by night, return to the coaches
The bakers are making bread
It is five o’clock (a.m.)
Paris wake up
Paris wake up
The Eiffel Tower has cold feet
The Arc de Triomphe is revived
And the Obelisk is drawn
Between night and day
It is five o’clock (a.m.)
Paris wake up
Paris wake up
The newspapers are printed
The workers are feeling down
People get up, they are bullied
It is the time where I’m going to bed
It is five o’clock (a.m.)
Paris get up
It is five o’clock
I don’t want to sleep.”
Yuki had to rehearse a little bit, though her French was excellent. Then both women sang together, karaoke style.
“ — I’m no expert, but that’s much better,” said the manga artist who was now drinking his third Suntory beer. When their performance was good enough, Miss Proust recorded it. Then she asked Yuki if, since she had her instrument with her, she could play that song by ear.
The manga artist seemed to be completely put under Yuki’s spell.
“ — Excellent. Now, I’ll try something,” said Miss Proust once she was done with the recording of the music, both singing and instrumental.
“ — This is something for your French Tech manga project.”
The three of them sat down and more drinks were ordered. The manga artist wasn’t used to working in the company of women, and was quite shy, in spite of the beer. Miss Proust still struggled to understand the love of Japanese people for Calpis soda — milk soda. Yuki ordered a plum wine soda and Miss Proust a peach wine soda. Both were excellent. Miss Proust showed a couple of videos where scientists were busy encoding music performances onto DNA. They wanted to see if they could read back the music with great accuracy. If this could work one day, it would be a great way to store music. Loads of it in only a few grams of DNA. Forever high-fidelity sound quality…
“ — I suppose this isn’t exactly going to be cheap…,” said the manga artist.
“ — Quite the opposite. I would guess it’s going to end up being much cheaper than that high-tech paraphernalia we currently have. If we can get it to work, it’s gonna be a thing.”
“ — Are you going to try your experience with today’s recordings?”, asked Yuki.
“ — You read my mind,” said Miss Proust. The manga artist said he could draw what was being shown on the videos. Encoding music performances onto DNA. He found it quite cool.
Yuki was not quite sure where the whole thing was going, but it had been great fun meeting with Miss Proust for a karaoke session. At last, she fell asleep. It was 4:55 am local time. Had she been on twitter, she would have seen a great tweet by Miss Proust, which she might have retweeted. Taka, her brother working as a bioinformatician and oncologist in Tokyo, might have found the whole thing brilliant, too…
Mougin, a French biologist and the founder of a startup based in San Francisco, Gene-i-us, was attending the Synthetic Biology Beta-conference where Miss Proust was now presenting live, giving updates on the synthetic biology consortium GrooveBiotech. Mougin decided he would start another business. Genomic entertainment. Music made from your genome. GeneGroove…
“GeneGroove makes a unique music melody from your genes. Expect graphics and videos soon. GeneGroove is the Art & Science contribution of Gene-i-us.”
Catherine Coste
MITx 7.00x, 7.QBWx, 7.28x1–2 certified
Member of the Walking Gallery of Health Care, founded by US activist Regina Holliday
