The Guardian is tracing the recent clash of egos on the trans-Atlantic "Gypsy/Balkan music scene". As it turns out, neither is it a scene ("most of these musicians have never met" if we're to believe the author), nor is there Gypsy or even Balkan music (according to Shantel). Still in this definitional vacuum there's an (un-)surprising amount of finger pointing and name calling.
I don't find authenticity particularly interesting these days (any Roma musician in Bulgaria claims to be more "authentic" than the next, just like in any other music scene, existing or not); even less interesting are rigorous definitions of the genre - leave it to the gurus in the World Music section of Virgin to come up with the most marketable category. What is fascinating to me is Zach's pseudo-naive question "Isn't a melody enough?"
A DJ would never (I hope) permit herself such innocence in using/appropriating a style of music. When I spin an Arabic track form
Through DJ /rupture's blog, I ran across Orlando Patterson's piece on the dialectic between Western/American culture and
So, when all is said and played, "isn't a melody enough"?
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
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11 Comments:
The Guardian made a few misses here:
first of all, the bands in the balkan/gypsy/eastern-european and generally ethno-mesh scene know each other quite well. the new york scene is extremely incestuous - we share musicians, we play, party, dance, and listen to music together.
even more importantly, many of us have travelled to eastern europe and elsewhere to learn from musicians there, to find new music, to get inspired... many musicians in "the scene" are as much ethnomusicologists as performers, for better or worse.
there are also threads - real and intangible - that connect all of us. many of NY musicians have moved from the west coast and keep in close touch with bands there. i met some of our musical soulmates on myspace, and it's safe to say that wherever in the world I travel, I'd easily be able to fnd other performers and fans of this music. quite likely, those people will also be listening to something else - completely un-balkan - that will blow my mind and have me raving for weeks.
quite tellingly, neither of my friends have ever met Zach of Beirut, so perhaps it's no surprize that the Guardian writer got the impression that "the scene" is disconnected... but I hope he gives us a buzz next time he's in New York :)
"Authenticity" can be a difficult thing to determine, and it seems that in many cases, those who make claims regarding authenticity's base (origin vs. sincerity etc.), may be willing to change their perspective when their own work is put under scrutiny. Condon didn't really have any place to be publically criticizing another band in the way he did, and in my opinion, does come across as a bit of a cultural tourist. New Orientalism? Possibly. When I heard Gulag Orkestar, I thought it sounded like Neutral Milk Hotel, with dirge horns in a minor key that were attempting to "sound Balkan".
Anyway. Not sure how to put this, but in the case of several of the groups within our little "scene", as far as I'm aware, the music that is produced is often an extension of or augmentation upon music that is somehow culturally familiar to some or all of the musicians performing it. There is some sort of root, be it strong or implied, that brought people to a sound that they may have known before ever hearing it.
In the case of Beirut or similar acts, this seems to occur in reverse/maybe from the side, not sure yet. Something becomes attractive because it is "exotic"/novel- and what isn't when one knows nothing about it? Even the name of the group was based on absolute unfamiliarity- with an entire country.
The point about (hopeful) conscious mixing/use/appropriation is an apt one. I share Joro's hope about the whole thing.
And to feign naiveté in such a case is convenient, but of course, if one has taken the time to study the music they are playing/appropriating, as it's apparent Condon has (maybe not the culture, but the music), then his question/statement/implication about a melody being enough is pretty much voided.
"Authenticity" can be a difficult thing to determine, and it seems that in many cases, those who make claims regarding authenticity's base (origin vs. sincerity etc.), may be willing to change their perspective when their own work is put under scrutiny. Condon didn't really have any place to be publically criticizing another band in the way he did, and in my opinion, does come across as a bit of a cultural tourist. New Orientalism? Possibly. When I heard Gulag Orkestar, I thought it sounded like Neutral Milk Hotel, with dirge horns in a minor key that were attempting to "sound Balkan".
Anyway. Not sure how to put this, but in the case of several of the groups within our little "scene", as far as I'm aware, the music that is produced is often an extension of or augmentation upon music that is somehow culturally familiar to some or all of the musicians performing it. There is some sort of root, be it strong or implied, that brought people to a sound that they may have known before ever hearing it.
In the case of Beirut or similar acts, this seems to occur in reverse/maybe from the side, not sure yet. Something becomes attractive because it is "exotic"/novel- and what isn't when one knows nothing about it? Even the name of the group was based on absolute unfamiliarity- with an entire country.
The point about (hopeful) conscious mixing/use/appropriation is an apt one. I share Joro's hope about the whole thing.
And to feign naiveté in such a case is convenient, but of course, if one has taken the time to study the music they are playing/appropriating, as it's apparent Condon has (maybe not the culture, but the music), then his question/statement/implication about a melody being enough is pretty much voided.
i think people should just be happy that music they like is being made. forget the critics- their job is to criticize, and they have to criticize something.
not every "...gorgeous whirl of accordions, ukuleles and rich, resonant brass sounds..." is gypsy. there is gypsy music. and you don't necessarily have to be from the balkans, romania, turkey, spain to know it when it plays.
i think a melody is enough only to those who lack the memory to recall the tunes of the past. And the pleasures they brought. the world is changing, cultures are changing and even the most authentic gypsy band of the past might have gone progressive-gypsy today?
(some reading here http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/music/Ethnomusic/Ethoworld/Romanian.htm )
Hello. And Bye.
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