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

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