Re: Negative music.../ Positive Solutions

From: steph99 (beleza@speakeasy.net)
Date: Wed May 29 2002 - 23:55:33 CEST

  • Next message: Nathaniel Rahav: "Re: Negative Music... Positive Solutions"

    > Now imagine people looking up to me with impatient rolling eyes, what are you
    > playing and can you pick it up shrugs, and worst of all people not even
    > nodding their heads or tapping their feet. For the context, I'm black, and I
    > know that my people once upon a time, danced to Jazz music, vigorously. I
    > watch my own people sit still to music that is truly an extension of our
    > entire musical experience...jazz, soul, blues, hip hop, disco, etc. I watch

    I'd like to chime in with a constant source of frustration for me, closely
    related. I have been squarely pegged as a "downtempo" dj, and while I have no
    beef with downtempo, it's just not what I play. I eve get it from my close
    friends who have followed the music I play for a couple of years. Even they
    need training to realize that it's not down at all. I explained to one friend,
    hey, this is as fast as house, and some is much faster. Do you consider house
    to be downtempo? (No.) Ok then. I think she gets it now. The other night at a
    house party I had someone who was doing his best to tell me he liked what I was
    playing, but gave the same impression. He was talking about how my music was
    "well, not exactly beginning of the night stuff, but soulful." Do you see what
    I see? That "soulful" is equated with "not dancefloor-worthy?" I find the
    whole thing astounding. I'm honored to play the rhythms that started it all...
    Without this heavy percussive influence, where would dance music (and black
    music) be? But the connection is impossible for people to make, until they are
    covered with sweat and exhausted because they've been dancing all night, which
    does happen, thankfully. When that happens, people usually think that they've
    been listening not to downtempo, but to house. UGH. Well, it's better than
    nothing.

    > People, even Rugged was converted as he know wants every mixed CD that I do
    > and has even propositioned me about promoting them.

    Hehe, my analogy is one night when ?uest Love came into my little friday night
    gig and put on some records. He and his friends got distracted and he left his
    record bag. Now, granted, he'd just come from a store that I go to a lot and
    bought the place out, but I happened to, you know, well, some of his records
    were sticking out, ok, I looked through his bag, and my reaction was "got
    it...got it...skipped it...got it...didn't like it...coming in the mail...got
    it..." It's encouraging, and frustrating, but most of all, funny.

    I think what needs to happen to salvage popular music is the dismantling of the
    corporate structure and/or capitalism as we know it, combined with the
    reinvigoration of the education system with a special and passionate emphasis on
    the arts (I'm thinking capoeira in gym class, and I'm not kidding), and i'm sure
    some wealth redistribution and restructuring of the moral fabric such that money
    takes the back seat, wouldn't hurt, but file sharing, internet radio and
    burnable CDs are a good start. I'll take it. I guess it's plausible to see
    your djing or influencing your friends as a bit of a mission. You are one
    little match in the incendiary force that will burn music-business as usual to a
    crisp.

    (ok just one more little paragraph) At the same time, the best good music will
    always be in the minority. It's kind of like an ecosystem, though, the
    relationship between the mossy, fertile "underground" scenes and the music
    company redwoods. I think the redwoods are very foolish to try to extinguish
    the underground through legislation and strongarming, because, of course, the
    underground is what feeds the mainstream its ideas. You have to think that
    eventually people are going to get sick of hearing the same crap all the time
    and seek alternatives. eh, but maybe not.



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