Re: This Music & Race

From: Brian Carideo (bcarideo@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Apr 02 2001 - 23:53:54 CEST

  • Next message: B. Young: "Re: the most spiritual"

    Has anyone else out there read the book "Blues People"? It is a social
    history of African-Americans told through music. The author's name I can
    not remember although I know when he wrote the book he was using his given
    'American' name and has since changed it to a Black Muslim name. The
    surname he now uses is Baraka. He is a very well-known African-American
    scholar; it's just been a while since I've been reading social history.

    -BC

    >From: Velanche Stewart <vstewart@calpoly.edu>
    >Reply-To: velanche@ckpr.org
    >To: Acid Jazz List <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
    >Subject: Re: This Music & Race
    >Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2001 14:28:50 -0700
    >
    >
    >Just want to throw in my two-cents on this one.
    >
    >I, too, am black. I have been weened since I was a young one on 70's
    >funk and R&B, the music they now label "slow jams," and jazz fusion
    >(Grover, Watanabe, Crusaders, etc.). I even listened to quite a bit of
    >"white" artists who, you can tell, were very much influenced by some
    >element of blues/R&B from blacks.
    >
    >Per Megan's (she of the list) suggestion, I purchased a book in Seattle
    >called "Last Night, A DJ Saved My Life." I'm sure some of you have heard
    >of it, and perhaps read it. I'm barely through the first 100 pages of
    >the book, but it affirms very much that one person's loss is another's
    >art. This is especially true of the British and other European DJs
    >(mostly white) who scoured the bins far and wide for rare R&B grooves,
    >and the dancers who embraced such sounds. Color didn't matter to
    >them...it was the quality and soulfulness of the music. If it sounded
    >hip, if it made their inhibitions shed away, if it gave them soul and
    >rhythm, then that's all that mattered.
    >
    >As I was reading the book, it reminded me of a public television special
    >that I saw some years ago about the history of rock n' roll in the
    >United States. What struck me as I've viewed the program was the
    >insidiousness of which music was so "whitewashed" for mass consumption.
    >By this, I mean in particular tunes that were recorded originally by
    >blacks, and then remade by white artists (it made me shake my head
    >watching Pat Boone get away with some of the stuff)--who ended up with
    >the claim to fame at the expense of the original artists. Such artists,
    >as further insult to injury, were either not compensated for their work
    >or were inadequately so.
    >
    >The documentary made it so abundantly clear that there was a huge void
    >in history that continues to this day. And that is that many
    >people--black and white--are still misinformed on how the music we are
    >into (ie, techno, jungle, breakbeat, house, acid jazz, nu-groove, future
    >soul, etc. etc.) were derived.
    >
    >I think that the book and the documentary would really open up hearts
    >and minds in terms of educating the masses on what the real deal is. It
    >would also lend itself to giving those who continue to be neglected here
    >in the States, only to find fame (and, sometimes, rejuventation)
    >overseas.
    >
    >I know that many blacks here would perhaps get blown away that artists
    >such as Rae and Christian, Fauna Flash, and others can shake the hip-hop
    >sensibilities with the best of them. I'm sure they would be truly blown
    >away by the great funk culture that resides in Austria (Mum, Planet E,
    >Kruder and Dorfmeister), for example. But the point is that such artists
    >seemed to have transcended--or perhaps even embracing--black culture in
    >their own, unique ways while showing their appreciation and respect for
    >such artists.
    >
    >And there you have it...my two-cents. :-)
    >
    >V.
    >
    >--
    >Velanche Stewart
    >Information Technology Consultant
    >College of Liberal Arts
    >Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
    >Phone: 805-756-7326
    >Email: vstewart@calpoly.edu

    _________________________________________________________________
    Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Apr 03 2001 - 00:24:48 CEST