Approved-By:  Discussions on all forms of Music <ALLMUSIC@AUVM.BITNET>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Wed, 27 Jan 1993 23:46:12 EST
Comments:     Warning -- original Sender: tag was ALLMUSIC@AUVM
From:         OGRADYT@GBVAXA.UWGB.EDU
Subject:      Re: Take-home exam

>1) musical synthesis that are actually equally balanced (or
>close to it) in the degree to which they draw on different
>styles have not always been too popular in the west.  This
>has been particularly true in American popular music.  We are
>willing to accept South African pop music in sofar as it
>meshes sttylistically with characteristics that define pop to
>us (the fact that it does is hardly unexpected given the
>importance of the African American tradition as a source of
>the rock tradition and the successful importation of western
>musical style into Africa for more than a century), but when
>a synthesis draws more equally from its source
>material, e.g., George Harrison's 1960s experiments with
>Indian flavored western pop, we tend to have great difficulty
>with it.  Were they unpopular because they were poorly done
>or because they strayed too far from the comfort zone of
>western pop?

Realise that we draw our roots from Africa, as far as music.
The rhythms we use in the United States and the UK are derivative
of the complex rhythms found in all regions of Africa.  So, in
essence, we are "going back" to the roots of the blues, jazz, rock, etc.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Silk Road (the road that joined
Europe with the Middle East and China), there were other hybridizations
happening.  The oud, a Mid-East fretless guitar-like instrument, which l'oud
in France and eventually--lute, was being transformed into a wild
group of instruments in India--the sarod, the sitar, the tamboura, the vina.
Focus on improvisation instead of set melody.  The whole perspective
of music was turned around in India, and was canonized as "Classical
Indian Ragas".  Far removed from the simple folk melodies of the
Renaissance period in Europe.  And melodies developed further into
other things in Western civilization--symphonies, where melodies
worked together in contorted ways to produce a grand-scale sound.
In India, different tunings and times and modes were being tabulated.
And then, Western civilization began to adsorb other cultures during
the late-Romantic and Impressionist periods, bringing in Russian
modes and African percussions--African ties were not as far removed as
Indian raga from the West.  The Western sound was getting bigger, and
the classical Indian trio was still intimate, hypnotic, introspective.
So when the floodgates opened during the 1960s with George Harrison's
(some great credit goes to George Martin for scoring the Western
side of the Beatles' stuff) tunes, it was just too weird.  Also with
Harrison, the hybrid was at best superficial, because of his limited
understanding of raga at that time.  But it was enough to introduce
a new form of music to the masses.  No one understood it, but it
got people interested in Ravi Shankar, Anil Bhagwat, L. Shankar,
and a host of many Indian artists--Northern and Southern (different
styles...).  The second wave of understanding happened IMHO in 1991, when
Peter Gabriel's _Passion_ hit the stands. Peter Gabriel, David Byrne,
Paul Simon, Johnny Clegg--they are the second wave of world music.
The fusion of African rhythms with pop is a little easier than
pop and raga.  It can be done, but it always sounds "inauthentic" to
our Westernized ears.  We just have to become accustomed to it.


>2)  A synthesis of all of the different styles to which
>Americans are exposed might be less than rich simply because
>there is so little diversity of style for listeners
>preoccupied with pop--commercial or alternative.
>What sort of syntheses might be the most successful?

For closed minds, there is no success.
Pop is a matter of exposure.  Nothing more.
Well, one way to go about it is to start with rhythm.
Try sifting in a little world beat at a time.
Bass is prominent in pop these days, but what about jazz bass?
Instead of having the same bassline loop over and over again,
have it change and be different with each measure?
How about using different temperments instead of the modern equal?
How about using meantone temperment for the tune, just for fun?
How about using a Persian modal scale, for an eastern flavor?
How about using a tabla instead of regular drums, and
  substituting fingercymbals for cymbals?
There's a lot that can be done.  We just have to open our minds and
  our ears.

Mike.
One ear to the Cosmos, and the other to my soul...  ;)








    Re: Take-home exam
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