--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradh...@...> wrote: > > > On Mar 1, 2009, at 1:07 PM, grate.swan wrote: > > >> Anyway I appreciate your dialoging on the issue here. I live in an > >> African American dominant community, so I am always finding my own > >> way > >> on a daily basis with these issues. > > > >> I am also often presenting > >> African American dominate audiences with their own musical history > >> > so > > > > I have some Irish genes but I don't consider Irish music "my own > > musical history". I don't feel culturally enhanced or having better > > understanding of myself if I hear the Irish Tenors (I think more, WTF > > am I doing in this audience with all these old people.) > > > > Some (of rude nature) could perhaps make snide remarks about your > > possible, perhaps hidden, vision of your role in bearing the burden to > > educate blacks about their past. I can hear the inner minds of some > > saying "WTF is this white guy telling me about what he thinks are my > > cultural roots and part of my identity." I am sure lots of black don't > > dig the blues the way you do. That's personal taste and preference. > > They may dig the Irish tenors over delta blues. > > > > There is one stage of world music. There is one audience. Its for all > > of us, all of it is all part of all of our heritages -- whether its > > blues, new punk, puccini, miles, robert johnson, the grateful dead, > > bob marley, amedeus, trotaka, aretha, gershwin, gretchen wilson, > > charlotte sometimes, alison krauss, muddy waters, robert plant, taylor > > swift, lily allen or duke ellington. > > > > We are all culturally enriched by so many variants on the thing we > > call music. And it belongs to none of us but all of us. > > Unfortunately many African-Americans don't see it that way. > > I remember seeing a segment on TV where Paul Simon went into some > college or HS in NYC and was sharing his recent hybrid music on his > album The Rhythm of the Saints, which featured much inspiration from > African music and included a number of African musicians. A contingent > of blacks showed up and raised holy hell at his presentation, claiming > that whites had been stealing "black music" from blacks for a long, > long time, and that this was just another example. It didn't matter > how Simon tried to explain it, their 'tude was it was cultural robbery. >
yeah, well just let them try to rip my bob markey, muddy waters, aretha, lightenin hopkins, robert johnson, miles davis albulms from my clutching fists! :) > Unfortunately many African-Americans don't see it that way. "Many" is not supported by one concert example. However, some groups have ripped off other groups. The 50's an early 60' rock'n'roll WAS essentially white folk singing black written and performed songs but in wonder bread clothes and mindsets. The white guys got rich and the black artists got shafted. I can relate to some groups being a bit edgy about other groups screwing them over. But in 2009, Beyonce, Rhianna, Kanye West, Alicia Keyes, Maria Carey, T.I. and countless others with black heritage are at the top of the music industry. Hard to make the claim that whites are ripping off their cultural heritage.
