Sounds heavy
|-----Original Message----- |From: David Powers [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] |Sent: 18 June 2003 16:31 |To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; David Powers |Cc: 313@hyperreal.org |Subject: RE: (313) Soul Music (was some nonsense spw was going |on about) | | |Great post. I may have been misinformed, I was thinking about |it more in terms of the classifying of music by the record |labels than the meaning of the music for the people who made |it. Now I'm trying to remember which label it was that the |record industry used, maybe it was R&B? | |And actually, I have to admit that the concept of "soul" you |are speaking about does not require any kind of metaphysics |and could be a very useful Idea. I come from a very |conservative white Christian background where "soul" is used |as an extremely repressive idea and justifies oppresion rather |than encouraging people to seek for a better life here on |earth. So what is really interesting is that |African-Americans took a notion from their oppresors and |transformed it, took it down a life of flight so that it |became a liberating concept. | |And if you think about it in terms of music, this is really |interesting because African-Americans have always borrowed |from the white European tradition, but at the same time have |often been successful at liberating these elements from their |hierarchical origins and set them in motion, into a continuous |variation where the elements that are ripped from their |foundation in an oppresive hierarchical Culture now enter into |free play and communicate with all the other elements of |music. A continuous line of variation rather than a strict |code of meaning. (On the other hand there is always a Winton |Marsalis at the end of the line trying to block the |development, saying "our music is a CLASSICAL music", hip hop, |techno and free jazz, well THAT doesn't swing, that's not real |music, that's not our identity, we need to find our place as |an extension of Western Culture.) | |313 people, you might think I'm off topic but really I'm |talking about things like jazz chords, instrumental |virtuosity, 808, 909, 303, DIY use of technology, sampler; all |the elements of Detroit techno can be understood very well in |this context. | |dave | | |---------- Original Message ------------- |Subject: RE: (313) Soul Music (was some nonsense spw was going |on about) |Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 01:41:17 +0200 |From: "Sylvia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> |To: "David Powers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | | | ||>On the other hand, "Soul Music" as a genre was a just a euphimism for ||"black music", and doesn't have anything >to do with "soul" as a ||spiritual or metaphysical concept. | |Euphemism ???? | |'blues' is without hope and that its singers accept their |conditions without complaint or expectation of anything |better. Soul borrowed an expectation of a better world from |gospel, but translate it into a worldly context as opposed to |a religious one. Gospel gives soul its optimism because it |believes in a better world in heaven, soul starts looking for |that better world on earth. | |Soul Music is the product of ever evolving social conditions |and a diversity of musical influences Soul Music is about the |problems faced by groups of people, not of individuals Soul |Music is about poverty and day to day drudgery Soul Music is |the belief that circumstances can improve Soul Music is about |realism, it is not blinkered by romantic ideals The 'Moan' is |a defining characteristic of Soul Music Soul Music is tolerant |Soul Music is..... | |Euphemism, psssst, dubya! but yes understanding Soul Music can |just escape from a brain with 2 neurons without connector. | | | ||-----Original Message----- ||From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ||[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ||Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 12:58 AM ||To: David Powers ||Cc: 313@hyperreal.org; spw ||Subject: RE: (313) Soul Music (was some nonsense spw was going on ||about) || || || ||>On the other hand, "Soul Music" as a genre was a just a euphimism for ||"black music", and doesn't have anything >to do with "soul" as a ||spiritual or metaphysical concept. || ||The hell it doesn't have a spiritual concept! Where the hell do you ||think Soul music came from? || ||Listen to Ray Charles man, and then tell me that there isn't a ||spiritual side to Soul music - one of the biggest influences on Soul ||music was the church. All those singers - All Green, Mavis Staple, ||Aretha Franklin, and so many more got their start in the |church. That's ||not to say that Soul = Gospel but there in a huge influence of Gospel ||on Soul. Soul music is the merging of the spiritual with the |physical - ||that's why it's so great to dance to... it satisfies the |body, mind and ||"soul". (That's why I love the term "High Tech Soul" = Techno or ||"Techno Soul") || ||MEK || || || | | |
