I am a little suprised at a kind of a-historicism and cultural insensitivity of Bill and Doug with respect to both classical music (in particular opera) and fold music a la Seeger et al. With respect to opera, Verdi's music was considered so politically dangerous by the elite that he was heavily censored on a number of occasions by the political authorities. Case in point was the original version of Un Ballo in Maschera (Masked Ball) which involved the murder of royalty in Sweden -- he was forced to change it to a murder of a politician in Boston if I remember correctly -- with the bad guys named Sam and Tom. He was, himself, politically active being elected a senator after the unification of Italy as a liberal though he resigned because he did not like political life. However, his songs for the freedom of enslaved (read political) peoples were extremely powerful and extremely popular with the common people and a rallying cry against political despotism. Two pieces, in particular, became quite famous for their appeal to the masses, the chorus of the oppressed from McBeth, but most particularly, the chorus of the Hebrew slaves from Nabucco. It was the anthem of the revolutionary movement in Italy and when Verdi died, his funeral procession was lined with hundreds of thousands of working Italians who all new and sang it as the procession passed by (Va pensiero!). If you have ever heard it or sung it, it really 'swings' and gives one goosebumps. It is still so popular that Nana Mouskouri wrote an upbeat 'freedom' version of it and released it on one of her most recent "Classique" album. I heard her sing it at a sold-out concert a few years ago in Winnipeg -- and the people at the concert were not 'the elite' but mainly working-class people. So a great deal of that music can, and still does, move common people. Another case in point, at the local folk-music, jazz and local rock performance centre, each year near easter, they sponsor a "sing-along" Handel's Messiah. The place is packed and, believe me, not with the hoi poloi -- though the conductor is usually the conductor of the Ballet co. By the way, one of the most recent popular CDs released in Winnipeg is a jazz trio, featuring the piano jazz of the conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony orchestra. Now as to folk music. Bill is a little young to remember, but for many of us the Weavers were what woke us up to political action. And I can remember marching in the aldermaston anti-bomb marches in London in the early 1960s with 44-50,000 people singing "ban the bomb forever more" which was originally based on a Welsh children's hymn "Calon Lan" and taken by Welsh miners to the US where it became both a white gospel song and, in turn, the miners union song, "union miner". Over the last few years I have sung with both the local opera company and with the Winnipeg labour choir, a choir put together orignally to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. When we sang at one union function and ended with the labour anthem "solidarity forever", the labour audience jumped to their feet their fists in the air and sang along, some with tears running down their cheeks. So don't tell me that kind of music doesn't have the power to inspire and to bring emotion to people, including a lot of young people. At the winnipeg folk festival this year there were 30,000 people -- a hell of a lot of them teen agers. An when a Celtic bank started a fast number, there would be a thousand of them dancing in the grass. So don't tell me it doesn't swing either. By the way, if it makes any difference, one of my favourite performers is Bruce Springsteen. Have any of you listened to his latest, "The Ghost of Tom Joad". Time to go listen to some music. Paul Phillips, Economics, University of Manitoba
