[FA Worldmusic] relativity

[Steve Hochman]

I have no problem with an act's country of origin figuring  
prominently in promotion, especially if its relevant to the nature of  
the music. Heck, even if it's only tangential. Is Abba's music  
particularly Swedish? but there's no reason not to identify them as  
being from Sweden.

The problem is lumping so many things that have no relation together  
in one big category, as well as treating anything in that big ol'  
jumble as different and separate from "western" or "first world" music.

And from the other side of the coin, there's a built-in snobbishness  
about the "authenticity" of music being the most important thing, as  
well as excluding things that somehow don't fit what often is  
arbitrary criteria. For example, why isn't bluegrass music just as  
much "world" as Bulgarian folk music or anything else?

-----------------------------------
Check out my column:
http://www.spinner.com/category/around-the-world/
-----------------------------------

On Aug 14, 2007, at 3:03 PM, Dmitri Vietze wrote:

> Good and bad are in the eyes of the beholders. And what each person
> perceives as good or bad includes a lot of data that has less to do  
> with
> issues of technical skill, production quality, and even musical  
> passion, and
> more to do with subconscious factors. Including what friends listen  
> to,
> personal and cultural identity, what people think they are  
> "supposed to
> listen to" to fit into their affinity groups, and some wacky song  
> they heard
> on the radio when they were a kid and their parents turned it off,  
> etc. So
> in the end, if we eliminate labels and categories, how do we talk  
> about
> music?
>
> I still think there is a place for organizing music and presenting  
> it in a
> framework. I think it is interesting how emotional some people get  
> about how
> you should or shouldn't categorize music, how certain music should or
> shouldn't be grouped together. (Heck, why call it music? Let's call it
> sound.) The point is that with so much sound out there, it is  
> helpful to
> create entry-points for newcomers to a particular sound, and reference
> points for talking about sound when playing the sound is not feasible.
>
> The question is how to create entry-points for people in (North)  
> America to
> listen to music in other languages, with other rhythms, harmonic  
> structures,
> timbres, etc. In an ethnocentric USA, is it really the same for  
> global music
> forms as it is for other forms of music? How many of you in the so- 
> called
> "world music" field have promoted a concert, sold a CD, etc. without
> mentioning the country of origin of an artist. Isn't that just another
> category?
>
> Much respect,
>
> ===> Dmitri!
> music at rockpaperscissors.biz
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phil Ballman" <philballman at gmail.com>
> To: <fa-worldmusic at folk.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 1:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [FA Worldmusic] FA-Worldmusic Digest, Vol 18, Issue 14
>
>
>>> What I meant is I'm not a fan of music categorization.  It  
>>> results in
>>> arbitrary boundaries that encourage pre-conceived biases and
>>> discourage open-minded listening.
>>
>> Bill, I'm with you 100%. Forget categories; just listen. I hate  
>> the term
>> "world music", it's awful.
>>
>> My man Duke Ellington perhaps put it best:
>> "There are only two kinds of music: good and bad."
>>
>> Phil
>> -- 
>> Mondo Mundo Agency
>> www.mondomundo.biz
>> 347-535-0927 office
>> 347-365-0926 cell
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