A masterful takedown of meme-driven mediocrity, and a standing ovation for artistic freedom! As a speaking coach and die-hard music lover (and singer/harmonica player), I know that creativity doesn’t check your ancestry before handing you a guitar. Imagine telling Beethoven he couldn’t riff on gospel, or the Beatles to stay out of Memphis.
Fusion, not finger-pointing, drives greatness. Thank you, Rebecca, for reminding us that true artists tune into the universal chord. And if there’s a jam session for principle-driven creators, save me a mic.
Thank you so much for reading, Robert. "The universal chord." I love that! I love the examples you gave too, especially regarding the Beatles. One of my favorite Beatles songs, "Come Together," finds them unapologetically embracing the blues. It's nice that the song's title directly relates to the topic at hand. And should some miracle ever cause me to cross paths with a jam session like the one you mentioned, I'll make sure to save you a spot 😎
As a counter revolutionary, you already know that debate is futile when confronting the hopelessly indoctrinated, and all you speak of is well represented in the legacies of oral and musical history. Strange that the proponents of protest music are inhibited by the very same indoctrination. I'll make a distinction between the music critics and the music makers: music makers have a relationship with music and possess the innate ability to recognize the power of sound, including that of the drums of war.
"well you can vote to the left
or you can vote to the right
you can vote for the black
or you can vote for the white
you can follow the papers
or follow TV
but for lack of good leaders
I'm following me", from Wave Interference, sometime around 1985, my protest song.
Thank you so much for reading and commenting, David! Your thoughts have given me much to think about, and you bring up such interesting and important points regarding protest music. I love the original lyrics you shared! It is interesting to me, the evolution of the protest in its art forms. We don't, in my opinion, really have any new protest music being put out these days- or any I should say that live up to the tradition and standard. Even in the world of poetry, with spoken word often being an outlet for protest, much of what I've seen today is in no way poetic, but simply a screaming tantrum in the name of some cause they don't really even understand. Sorry if I'm rambling! Your words got my mind turning :)
I'm really just a hillbilly who can read and write Rebecca, and appreciates a critical thinker.
My own story includes the strange and unusual along with bio, open mic nights, hocus pocus and nowadays empire building starting from below the fed poverty level and barely on the grid. Stop in, love to have ya'.
Most days I feel the same David, a hillbilly who can read and write 😊 I'm never going to fit in with the intellectual world, especially because my etiquette regarding conversations tends to rub them the wrong way (my kindness is mistaken for ignorance/weakness). I bet we could trade some stories one day 😂
Well, I will say you get my guard hairs up, inspires me to dole out a bit of "tough love" when called for. Let's call it "code switching" and folks are deeply shaken when confronted by someone who is not as they appear to be. So many of them feel forced into living artificially.
At the very least we lead colorful lives, don't we? So we have that. And now I'm duty bound to DM you, a thing I do for all my new subscribers.
It sounds like you're arguing that cultural appropriation is a good thing. In fact, it might be better to call it cultural cross-pollination. I do think one kind of cultural appropriation is inappropriate, and that is the Boy Scouts imitating Native American religious dances or similar things. But that's not because stealing culture is wrong; it's just because it's disrespectful.
I love "cultural cross-pollination," that is brilliant 😊 I do personally think the voluntary fusion of cultures, especially when it comes to the arts, is a good thing. One thing I realized after writing this that I may touch on in a separate essay is the unique cultural background I grew up in. I forget that the South has its own culture that supersedes individual background as well. I've grown up eating meals and having conversations with people from all different ancestral backgrounds, but we found immense common ground within our shared southern culture- which is very much so thoroughly cross-pollinated 😂 I wonder why the Boy Scouts imitate Native American religious dances? Is it a hold over from their early days? I wonder what the point of them doing that is?
All music in the modern sense came from Europe, which codified the diatonic scale used in one form or another by all the genres listed. In addition, before Europeans invented harmony, sometime between 1100 and 1500, there wasn't any. No other culture bothered to invent it separately, and all world cultures eventually used and claimed it.
I was thinking along these lines as I thought about the meme in my head but lacked the theoretical knowledge of music to put it together. Thank you for this! I was thinking there had to definitely be some type of European influence regarding these genres from a music theory standpoint alone. Not that I was trying to force a narrative, but I recalled learning about this some years prior. I was even thinking as far back as Ancient Greece- didn't Pythagoras discover musical tones, or something like that, by way of a blacksmith? In that sense, following the concept of the meme, would all music technically stem from "Ancient Greek culture"? 😅
Here's the money quote: "Murray denied that American culture is white. America, he preached, is mulatto. Blacks are no less American than whites, and the blues idiom is quintessential American art."
Thank you so much for these links! I can't wait to check these out! I agree with you, I really do think the term race as a concept is invalid. I kept trying to figure out what the meme meant by "black culture" because, I don't look at black people as a "race," I look at them as people (I don't look at anyone as a "race"). And, quite frankly, I will never support labeling "culture" by such a reductionist criterion as "race." I've asked others (of differing shades and hues) since publishing this if they could define what the term "black culture" means, and they couldn't either. I'm looking forward to reading more of what Murray has to say :)
I'm a Black man in the USA and still want to know who defines "black culture". What is commonly promoted and celebrated as such is most often ghetto subculture stereotypes, to put it kindly.
There's not even a singular (much less monolithic) "black community" here, so it's impossible to have a definitive "black culture".
Thank you so much for reading and commenting! You bring up such a great point, and one that I was actually thinking about last night and debating on adding to the essay last minute. I was attempting to define "black culture" as well, and I couldn't. I'm too much of an individualist. And to your point, are they referencing what is out there being promoted? Or something else? Exactly what you brought up, the lack of a proper definition, was the first red flag for me when I initially scrolled across the post.
Profound, and so true. I observe our culture today, and sometimes I wonder what kinds of lives haters actually have. Beautifully expressed, and I feel exactly the way you do. I dared to write sonnets--appropriated them from Shakespeare, lol. I guess I appropriated my "classic nose" (lol) from some long ago mongrel ancestor. We are most definitely a diverse bunch ancestry-wise.
A masterful takedown of meme-driven mediocrity, and a standing ovation for artistic freedom! As a speaking coach and die-hard music lover (and singer/harmonica player), I know that creativity doesn’t check your ancestry before handing you a guitar. Imagine telling Beethoven he couldn’t riff on gospel, or the Beatles to stay out of Memphis.
Fusion, not finger-pointing, drives greatness. Thank you, Rebecca, for reminding us that true artists tune into the universal chord. And if there’s a jam session for principle-driven creators, save me a mic.
Thank you so much for reading, Robert. "The universal chord." I love that! I love the examples you gave too, especially regarding the Beatles. One of my favorite Beatles songs, "Come Together," finds them unapologetically embracing the blues. It's nice that the song's title directly relates to the topic at hand. And should some miracle ever cause me to cross paths with a jam session like the one you mentioned, I'll make sure to save you a spot 😎
As a counter revolutionary, you already know that debate is futile when confronting the hopelessly indoctrinated, and all you speak of is well represented in the legacies of oral and musical history. Strange that the proponents of protest music are inhibited by the very same indoctrination. I'll make a distinction between the music critics and the music makers: music makers have a relationship with music and possess the innate ability to recognize the power of sound, including that of the drums of war.
"well you can vote to the left
or you can vote to the right
you can vote for the black
or you can vote for the white
you can follow the papers
or follow TV
but for lack of good leaders
I'm following me", from Wave Interference, sometime around 1985, my protest song.
Thank you so much for reading and commenting, David! Your thoughts have given me much to think about, and you bring up such interesting and important points regarding protest music. I love the original lyrics you shared! It is interesting to me, the evolution of the protest in its art forms. We don't, in my opinion, really have any new protest music being put out these days- or any I should say that live up to the tradition and standard. Even in the world of poetry, with spoken word often being an outlet for protest, much of what I've seen today is in no way poetic, but simply a screaming tantrum in the name of some cause they don't really even understand. Sorry if I'm rambling! Your words got my mind turning :)
I'm really just a hillbilly who can read and write Rebecca, and appreciates a critical thinker.
My own story includes the strange and unusual along with bio, open mic nights, hocus pocus and nowadays empire building starting from below the fed poverty level and barely on the grid. Stop in, love to have ya'.
Most days I feel the same David, a hillbilly who can read and write 😊 I'm never going to fit in with the intellectual world, especially because my etiquette regarding conversations tends to rub them the wrong way (my kindness is mistaken for ignorance/weakness). I bet we could trade some stories one day 😂
Well, I will say you get my guard hairs up, inspires me to dole out a bit of "tough love" when called for. Let's call it "code switching" and folks are deeply shaken when confronted by someone who is not as they appear to be. So many of them feel forced into living artificially.
At the very least we lead colorful lives, don't we? So we have that. And now I'm duty bound to DM you, a thing I do for all my new subscribers.
It sounds like you're arguing that cultural appropriation is a good thing. In fact, it might be better to call it cultural cross-pollination. I do think one kind of cultural appropriation is inappropriate, and that is the Boy Scouts imitating Native American religious dances or similar things. But that's not because stealing culture is wrong; it's just because it's disrespectful.
I love "cultural cross-pollination," that is brilliant 😊 I do personally think the voluntary fusion of cultures, especially when it comes to the arts, is a good thing. One thing I realized after writing this that I may touch on in a separate essay is the unique cultural background I grew up in. I forget that the South has its own culture that supersedes individual background as well. I've grown up eating meals and having conversations with people from all different ancestral backgrounds, but we found immense common ground within our shared southern culture- which is very much so thoroughly cross-pollinated 😂 I wonder why the Boy Scouts imitate Native American religious dances? Is it a hold over from their early days? I wonder what the point of them doing that is?
All music in the modern sense came from Europe, which codified the diatonic scale used in one form or another by all the genres listed. In addition, before Europeans invented harmony, sometime between 1100 and 1500, there wasn't any. No other culture bothered to invent it separately, and all world cultures eventually used and claimed it.
I was thinking along these lines as I thought about the meme in my head but lacked the theoretical knowledge of music to put it together. Thank you for this! I was thinking there had to definitely be some type of European influence regarding these genres from a music theory standpoint alone. Not that I was trying to force a narrative, but I recalled learning about this some years prior. I was even thinking as far back as Ancient Greece- didn't Pythagoras discover musical tones, or something like that, by way of a blacksmith? In that sense, following the concept of the meme, would all music technically stem from "Ancient Greek culture"? 😅
A fine essay! Have you ever read Albert Murray? Here's an excellent short introduction to his thought: https://omniamericanfuture.org/albert-murray-vs-the-lachrymose-conception-of-afro-american-history/
Here's the money quote: "Murray denied that American culture is white. America, he preached, is mulatto. Blacks are no less American than whites, and the blues idiom is quintessential American art."
As to "race", I'm coming around to the viewpoint that it's an invalid concept. Check out https://freeblackthought.substack.com/p/deracialization-now and be sure to follow some of the links! Another good one is https://freeblackthought.substack.com/p/blinded-by-colour-the-irish-case
Thank you so much for these links! I can't wait to check these out! I agree with you, I really do think the term race as a concept is invalid. I kept trying to figure out what the meme meant by "black culture" because, I don't look at black people as a "race," I look at them as people (I don't look at anyone as a "race"). And, quite frankly, I will never support labeling "culture" by such a reductionist criterion as "race." I've asked others (of differing shades and hues) since publishing this if they could define what the term "black culture" means, and they couldn't either. I'm looking forward to reading more of what Murray has to say :)
I'm a Black man in the USA and still want to know who defines "black culture". What is commonly promoted and celebrated as such is most often ghetto subculture stereotypes, to put it kindly.
There's not even a singular (much less monolithic) "black community" here, so it's impossible to have a definitive "black culture".
🤔
Thank you so much for reading and commenting! You bring up such a great point, and one that I was actually thinking about last night and debating on adding to the essay last minute. I was attempting to define "black culture" as well, and I couldn't. I'm too much of an individualist. And to your point, are they referencing what is out there being promoted? Or something else? Exactly what you brought up, the lack of a proper definition, was the first red flag for me when I initially scrolled across the post.
Profound, and so true. I observe our culture today, and sometimes I wonder what kinds of lives haters actually have. Beautifully expressed, and I feel exactly the way you do. I dared to write sonnets--appropriated them from Shakespeare, lol. I guess I appropriated my "classic nose" (lol) from some long ago mongrel ancestor. We are most definitely a diverse bunch ancestry-wise.
I think it's safe to say as writers we've all appropriated from Shakespeare at some point 😂😂 Your sonnets are some of my favorite poems ❤️
Thank you. Those sonnets are a definite labor of love. :)
I happen to strongly dislike all of those genres.
I found it interesting quite a few genres were conveniently left off the list 😅
Indeed.