Re: AJ in Britain ?

Carlos Mondesir (mondesc@gov.on.ca)
Mon, 18 Dec 1995 11:56:54 -0500 (EST)


On Fri, 15 Dec 1995, Tim Arland wrote:

> On Fri, 15 Dec 1995, Joe Spaeth wrote:
>

> The basic point is that America has a LOT of
> problems IMO, and much of that stems from people's inability to accept
> others, whether it be their ways of thinking, beliefs, and/or cultural
> heritage. This also affects many facets of our daily lives. The
> television programming we watch (simpson trial included), to the music we
> are often "forced" to hear :) I sometimes believe that there will need
> to be some sort of "upheaval" to keep the current system from
> crashing...simply my opinion...flame if you wish...
>

No flame here but a comment or two... about some of the self flaggelation
on the part of a couple of our American friends coming from this thread.
Sure the US has some serious race/class problems but African American
culture is absorbed there to a great extent either overtly or
subconciously, and this goes way beyond music.

The problems that do exists are not exclusive to the US though. That AJ
may be considered more mainstream in the UK than in the US does not owe to
any type of unique benign social enlightenment. The UK does have its Yobs and
such. The trashy end of British media can be as bad as anywhere on Earth.

IMHO Generally, people who are part of underground culture everywhere
transcend these social failings come together and create. The results
would be different in various locations all things being equal in any case.

So if the UK provides some excellent AJ which filters up
naturally to their commercial market, the same happens in the US, Jamaica,
South America, Africa and other places which provide the the foundations
from which AJ fusions derive from.

Is it 'cooler' to have a BNH tune in the top 40 UK charts than
'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' on a U.S. T.V. commercial
or the latest dancehall flavour doing commercials on Jamaican T.V
an' on, an' on, an' on, an' on?

Carlos
Toronto (London native)