Has anyone else out there read the book "Blues People"? It is a social
history of African-Americans told through music. The author's name I can
not remember although I know when he wrote the book he was using his given
'American' name and has since changed it to a Black Muslim name. The
surname he now uses is Baraka. He is a very well-known African-American
scholar; it's just been a while since I've been reading social history.
-BC
>From: Velanche Stewart <vstewart@calpoly.edu>
>Reply-To: velanche@ckpr.org
>To: Acid Jazz List <acid-jazz@ucsd.edu>
>Subject: Re: This Music & Race
>Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2001 14:28:50 -0700
>
>
>Just want to throw in my two-cents on this one.
>
>I, too, am black. I have been weened since I was a young one on 70's
>funk and R&B, the music they now label "slow jams," and jazz fusion
>(Grover, Watanabe, Crusaders, etc.). I even listened to quite a bit of
>"white" artists who, you can tell, were very much influenced by some
>element of blues/R&B from blacks.
>
>Per Megan's (she of the list) suggestion, I purchased a book in Seattle
>called "Last Night, A DJ Saved My Life." I'm sure some of you have heard
>of it, and perhaps read it. I'm barely through the first 100 pages of
>the book, but it affirms very much that one person's loss is another's
>art. This is especially true of the British and other European DJs
>(mostly white) who scoured the bins far and wide for rare R&B grooves,
>and the dancers who embraced such sounds. Color didn't matter to
>them...it was the quality and soulfulness of the music. If it sounded
>hip, if it made their inhibitions shed away, if it gave them soul and
>rhythm, then that's all that mattered.
>
>As I was reading the book, it reminded me of a public television special
>that I saw some years ago about the history of rock n' roll in the
>United States. What struck me as I've viewed the program was the
>insidiousness of which music was so "whitewashed" for mass consumption.
>By this, I mean in particular tunes that were recorded originally by
>blacks, and then remade by white artists (it made me shake my head
>watching Pat Boone get away with some of the stuff)--who ended up with
>the claim to fame at the expense of the original artists. Such artists,
>as further insult to injury, were either not compensated for their work
>or were inadequately so.
>
>The documentary made it so abundantly clear that there was a huge void
>in history that continues to this day. And that is that many
>people--black and white--are still misinformed on how the music we are
>into (ie, techno, jungle, breakbeat, house, acid jazz, nu-groove, future
>soul, etc. etc.) were derived.
>
>I think that the book and the documentary would really open up hearts
>and minds in terms of educating the masses on what the real deal is. It
>would also lend itself to giving those who continue to be neglected here
>in the States, only to find fame (and, sometimes, rejuventation)
>overseas.
>
>I know that many blacks here would perhaps get blown away that artists
>such as Rae and Christian, Fauna Flash, and others can shake the hip-hop
>sensibilities with the best of them. I'm sure they would be truly blown
>away by the great funk culture that resides in Austria (Mum, Planet E,
>Kruder and Dorfmeister), for example. But the point is that such artists
>seemed to have transcended--or perhaps even embracing--black culture in
>their own, unique ways while showing their appreciation and respect for
>such artists.
>
>And there you have it...my two-cents. :-)
>
>V.
>
>--
>Velanche Stewart
>Information Technology Consultant
>College of Liberal Arts
>Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
>Phone: 805-756-7326
>Email: vstewart@calpoly.edu
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