[FA Worldmusic] politics and language; (redux in different context)

[Dmitri Vietze]

I have argued with Robert in the past about his campaign to get the global 
music community in North America to use technology to help with translation 
of lyrics of global musicians. Making a similar argument to Steve's. But as 
time has passed I am starting to think Robert is right. When I am writing a 
press release, I always want to know a lot of different types of background 
on the artist, the songs, the cultures, the politics, the spirituality, etc. 
behind/underneath the music, because you have to mine these things to figure 
out which aspects are going to be most profound to the press and to fans. 
And it is often not obvious on the surface for a newcomer to a particular 
repertoire/genre/style. After studying more Persian music, fado, and even 
the music of singer-songwriters in the "modern" sense, there is a lot of 
information in the lyrics. Sometimes it is totally critical to "getting the 
music" and the context from which it comes. Part of my argument was that I 
cannot see going to certain concerts -- say a Daara J concert -- and having 
digital boards with lyric translations up. But even if it does not work in 
all contexts, it could work in some, certainly in the performing Arts Center 
context, think operas. And if someone can do simultaneous translation for 
the in between song stories, all the better. Also, maybe there can be some 
creative thought about HOW one provides this info. A good multi-lingual 
artist can also explain things between songs, give phonetic instructions for 
singing along, etc. and really engage the audience in both the meaning and 
participation (if appropriate). A tangent on this subject, then, is how to 
prepare artists for performing on stage across cultures and languages. Some 
don't want to bother, but others would probably respond positively with 
ideas about how to reach across cultural divides to reach new fans, etc. 
Last week when the 17 Hippies were here they told us that they recorded a 
special album for the French market including extra songs in French. As a 
result they became very big there, so big that people thought they were a 
FRENCH band. And then and only then did they start getting calls from German 
presenters who were kind of jealous that they were being co-opted and wanted 
to start booking them more. An interesting model.

Robert, how is that whole music video translation technology thing going? 
How much is it being used with music by educators, etc.? And how much use of 
visual translation are you seeing use in live music venues?

Much respect,

===> Dmitri!
music at rockpaperscissors.biz

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Hochman" <shochman at pacbell.net>
To: "Robert Singerman" <robert.s at french-music.org>
Cc: <fa-worldmusic at folk.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 2:31 PM
Subject: Re: [FA Worldmusic] politics and language;(redux in different 
context)


> There are many different levels of enjoyment of and involvement with
> music. Understanding the lyrics is not required in order to get
> something of worth, even of great worth, from any particular piece of
> music. Just as I can appreciate the beauty and artistry of Arabic or
> Chinese calligraphy without being able to read the words.
>
>
> Around the World
> http://www.spinner.com/category/around-the-world/
>
>
>
> Robert Singerman wrote:
>> To the Julia Banzi remarks and questions, it is obvious that the
>> context of music is generally political, (if not also cultural,
>> sociological, economic, emotional ...) but to me, again, one of the
>> main problems we have with so called world, or international music is
>> who among us can actually understand the context and meaning of the
>> songs, without understanding the lyrics, especially if they are in
>> many different languages?
>>
>> Many of the most important leaders of the world music community have
>> expressed to me personally their fears that the lyrics of their
>> "favorite" artists are banal, or worse, politically repulsive. My
>> belief is that like one of these people discovered, when he learned
>> Portuguese, (even with these same fears), that the songs of the
>> artists he loved and some he hadn't even learned about yet, were
>> actually exquisite and more profound, more poetic, than he could have
>> imagined.
>>
>> With certain new media tools being developed these days, translations
>> and adaptations are coming, so that we will all be able to understand
>> world and international pop music lyrics in any language.
>>
>> If you are coming to CMJ, or are in NYC and want to come to a panel
>> called "Say What, Music with Subtitles and International Music" with
>> five leading companies in this field presenting some of these
>> technologies to the music industry leaders, (Oct. 19th at 11.45 am at
>> The Kimmel Center of New York University), please respond to me
>> personally and I'll try to get you a panel pass, even if you are not
>> registered at CMJ.
>>
>> It is almost impossible as Dr. Banzi remarks, otherwise, to truly
>> know exactly what is being presented consciously, although
>> subconsciously, we probably have some good idea.
>> _______________________________________________
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