| Author | Message | ||
| davehouck
Moderator Username: davehouck Post Number: 4288 Registered: 5-2002 |
I've recently become more interested in what I guess is termed "world music". I get the impression that the bands fellow member Jazzyvee plays in might fall under this category. For those of you who know more about this music than I, examples of what I'm listening to are Rara Avis and Jai Uttal. The point of my saying this is to segue into an article I read in this morning's New York Times. The article, written by Gautam Malkani, a novelist who works as an editor at the Financial Times, talks about the role of music, and in particular I type of music called Desi Beats, in helping to integrate an increasingly multicultural British population. The article talks about the recent London Mela, an annual festival that celebrates British South Asian culture. And the article talks about the Desi Beats in the wider context of perceived successes and failures of government policies regarding multiculturalism in Britain. I don't know anything about Desi Beats and I've probably never heard an example. My guess is that club members who live in Britain might have a greater appreciation of the article I've cited. However, the idea of music, of world music, as a bridge between people of differing cultures, if very appealing to me. In a world where many political and religious leaders seem to believe that violence is the only response to violence, the idea of picking up guitars and drums and dancing together at street festivals seems revolutionary. | ||
| fc_spoiler
Advanced Member Username: fc_spoiler Post Number: 258 Registered: 5-2006 |
Well said Dave, I'd love to see someone with your vision in the White House. Multi Cheers! Flip | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 2452 Registered: 9-2002 |
yes! Moder Dave for president! The term "world music" is something that is common used ovehee in Europe. Giving the fact that countries like France, UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany etc ...have a "colony"-past it is not so strange to see cultural mix-ups. Those other countries are "other continents" so the worh ""world" is appropriate. Paul TBO | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1007 Registered: 6-2002 |
The funny thing of course being that these days local ethnic music also gets labeled as "world music", and (in Europe) Americana too ... It's become a pointless category. | ||
| dannobasso
Advanced Member Username: dannobasso Post Number: 359 Registered: 3-2004 |
Kinda like affluent suburban white kids with dredlocks who drive to festivals in BMW 4 bys? I seem to recall the first association with the term World Music was Peter Gabriel a long time ago. He was ahead of the curve bringing attention to the difficulties of the people of the non-West. Also what do you call famous white musicians who breeze in, adopt a band, make an album, become lauded as noble heroes, sell a few million copies then move on to the next enclave? Sorry for the rant, a bit off this morning. Off to Ch'i Kung class to get some balance. | ||
| bracheen
Senior Member Username: bracheen Post Number: 1046 Registered: 11-2003 |
I'm a big fan of the Chieftains. Those guys tour with the most interesting folks. I saw them a few years ago and their guest was an Asian fellow, Mongolian if memory serves, who could vocalize two different sounds at the same time. Amazing. Sadly they only make it around here every 3 or 4 years. Sam | ||
| dannobasso
Advanced Member Username: dannobasso Post Number: 360 Registered: 3-2004 |
I belive that type of vocalizing is referred to as "throat singing" practiced by Tibetan monks written about by Houston Smith and a fellow professor about 40 odd years ago. Mickey Hart recorded them ( the monks) at his studio. | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 1009 Registered: 6-2002 |
You'd be amazed how many of the most exotic cultures do yodeling. And some even sing and play a stringed instrument! Of course Duke Ellington put it much better - there's only two kinds of music: good and bad. | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 3475 Registered: 6-2000 |
"Namaste America" is aired every Saturday on one of our local stations. On their website is a list of markets you can watch. One of the segments, Desi Jams, focuses on the Desi Beats music. I don't own Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance, but you can listen to some clips on Amazon. You might have seen this before, but César López makes guitars from AK-47s. It seems mildly related to your original post, Dave. Music is powerful stuff. |
