Axel, you are so right on. Te adoro.
> If there is such a thing as a Hip Hop
> culture it should not
> be identified with its ORIGINAL culture, but with
> its current and evolving
> one:
For the millions of us who are stuck between cultures,
groping around for hooks to the past and future, this
is an incredibly helpful idea. Even more than that,
I've found that soaking up and contributing to
contemporanous culture is the most *sincere* cultural
action I can make. My genes may come from four
corners of the world, my world view is informed by
consciousness of all of them, but my life is here and
now.
I once had a girl (american, african american in fact)
tell me she liked house because it was a funkier,
"blacker" form, and that jungle was for white suburban
kids. Since then I've often wondered if her
perception would have been different if she'd known
the history of the music, and it gets me to thinking
about how important it is to try to comb out
preconception when observing art, which isn't miles
away from the point you're making. Wouldn't it be nice
to be able to, for example, watch both commercials and
independent film, with no baggage, and be able to
observe them both purely for content, not intent?
Almost impossible for me, but rewarding when I can
pull it off. Good practice for the millions of people
floundering in this big primordial ethnic soup, trying
to tie (sometimes untie) ourselves to past and future.
So refreshing to see scenes where diversity is
reality, where all influences are celebrated with
equal enthusiasm, where the present is as valid as the
past. That seems to me be the most effective way to
level the playing field, culturally anyway.
That's why I like shiki. You got an african chant
over here, somebody speaking spanish over there, a
sitar over in the corner, a pinch of Parliament,
perfectly blended, drizzled over a bed of white
bleeps. Oh wait, those detroit bleeps are as black as
they are white, right Mr. Craig? Raise a glass to
musical miscegenation.
A few days ago you also said this, which got me to
thinking:
--- "Dr. Axel Barcelo Aspeitia -- Investigador"
<abarcelo@minerva.filosoficas.unam.mx> wrote:
> Funny that you bring it up. Just last night I heard
> my mother say
> something similar than your btoher. She said she
> liked 'brown music', by
> what she meant cumbia, salsa and merengue and a
> little of reggae, which
> she called black music (along with jazz and blues,
> which she does not
> like), and she also said that the music I listen to
> is white music,
> meaning electronic and rock music.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Jul 11 2001 - 21:59:21 CEST