Miguel de Maria -> RE: MUSIC & CULTURE... (Jan. 13 2006 3:32:21)
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I first wrote Yes. Then I erased it and wrote No. Then I erased that. So what do I think? I think this is a tough question. One way to look at it is that music is a multifacted phenomenon that can't easily be so pinned down into such a specific question. To go to the beginning of music, maybe some people slapping a hollow gourd or blowing on a reed between their thumbs, there does seem to be a universal element of rhythm and melody that all cultures enjoy. Kind of like a reverence of the supernatural/religion, which seems to be a common element among human societies. To me this means there must be an innate appreciation of music that exists in all human beings, just as there is an innate like of sweet things. On the other hand, there is a way that music exists firmly in a culture. For example, flamenco or blues. These musics are/were intricately a part of what it meant to be a part of a particular group. If you were in the fields and hollering back and forth in those spirituals that preceded the blues, that was music but it was also just being there. Like speaking a language, it was just part of the whole thing. To suggest that an outsider could appreciate or understand this sort of music to the same degree as one who used it as part of his language or identity seems impossible. So in this way, it is part of culture and is inseparable from it. Some people vehemently despise rap primarily for the values that it generally espouses, drugs, gangs, hos, violence... There is a racial and generational component to this dislike as well. On the other hand, people who are not from the ghetto of all races have liked rap, and that's why it has sold millions upon millions of albums. But do those who are not of and from this culture, but still like rap, somehow buying into these values in an escapist way? Does the middle-class suburban teen buying a Ludacris album get a thrill from pretending to be a gold tooth-havin, prostitute-ownin, drug-dealin, thug? Most definitely. Shifting back to flamenco, are then the fans of flamenco interested in escaping into gypsy or Spanish culture? I think some are and some aren't. Myself, I don't have much interest in hanging out in Poligono 86 all day and join in the bulerias when it spontaneously springs out of the hot sun. But some do. It's some form of escapism--but there's a lot to run away from, at least here in America. Where I live there is a Walgreens convenience store on ever street corner, a big well-lit drugstore where you can buy aobut anyting you need, including stuffed animal Reindeer that sing and dance when you press their paws. If you want a guitar, you can go to Guitar Center and try out a bunch of overlacquered pieces of plywood, as dead a thing as you can imagine. Probably a lot of Western aficionados want in some way to retreat to simpler times, when music was created, not manufactured in some record company executive's office in LA. They want to find a place where families exist and actually hang out, and have a good time having a copa and clapping por bulerias. They want to go to a store and find the owner, grumpy or nice, behind the counter instead of some teenager who would rather be somewhere listening to rap. In any case, to my way of thinking the answer is yes and no. You don't have to know anythigna bout culture to get Mozart, I think, if you give it a chance. Same thing with rhythm or clapping or dance. On the other hand, intimate knowledge and connection with culture can immeasurably enrich your enjoyment and understanding of music. I don't think either answer is right or wrong.
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