[FA Worldmusic] relativity

[Bill Bragin]

Speaking of music as organized (or unorganized) sound....

Here's a great (good? bad?) video of John Cage on the TV game show I've
Got a Secret.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdtPFncgbHo

"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."

I actually got great feedback when Ceu played at Joe's Pub recently -
they were excited to see that we didn't either menitn Brazil or boss
anova in her description in our calendar....

But usually, categories and labels give at least some shorthand framing.
In the end maybe every artst would just be their own name/category -
though I still wouldn't know what to do with Elvis Costello.





-----Original Message-----
From: fa-worldmusic-bounces+bbragin=publictheater.org at folk.org
[mailto:fa-worldmusic-bounces+bbragin=publictheater.org at folk.org] On
Behalf Of Dmitri Vietze
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 6:03 PM
To: fa-worldmusic at folk.org
Subject: [FA Worldmusic] relativity

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
> _______________________________________________
> FA-Worldmusic mailing list
> FA-Worldmusic at folk.org
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