Yeah, man. After all, we invented the analog synthesizer, the digital
sampler and the personal computer.
U-S-A! U-S-A! Woo-hoo! :)
Seriously, sometimes people get blinded about this "mainstream" or "selling
out" business that they actually lose touch on what is the real beauty of
it: Its artistic impact. What I mean by it is the genre's contribution to
music, in this case, American music. As an example, take hip-hop; sure it's
gone mainstream, but that only pushes the envelope further on the other
end. And if someone had the ability to stop hip-hop from going mainstream,
there would be no hip-hop artists outside the US. No MC Solaar, etc. In
fact, it probably wouldn't even go outside New York City. Surem that's an
extreme scenario, but remember, for better AND for worse, hip-hop has
influenced music all over the world, either in the form of rapping,
scratching or use of drum loops. Some hip-hop purists may call it
bastardization, but from another point of view, it only shows how powerful
its influence is...something that grew out of the streets of NYC is now
enjoyed all over the world...Jungle has the potential to do the same thing.
Also, look how the progression of musical influence cycles itself - take
for example hip-hop artists from Africa; hip hop's roots were from Africa,
but developed from an American perspective (some would say African-America,
but to the rest of the world, it's still simply "American."), and brought
back to Africa. Isn't that amazing? Same for African jazz artists. As for
Jungle, I don't know how big Jungle as we know it is in Jamaica, but if and
when it does, same thing...
Elson
-30-
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Elson Trinidad
Los Angeles, CA, USA
elson@westworld.com * http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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