Philip Gelb wrote:
> This authentic style that Brian Miller writes about....what is it?
> Was Yoshida Seifu authentic? Was Shiro Yamaguchi authentic? Was
> Watasumi authentic? Is Hozan Yamamoto playing with bass player Gary
> Peacock authentic? Is Riley Lee playing australian folk tunes,
> authentic? Is Brian Ritchie playing Albert Alyler tunes on shakuhachi,
> authentic?
>
> Has each generation sounded just like the one before? Should each
> generation sound exactly like the one before it? Is such a thing
> possible? Is it desirable?
>
> Now that shakuhachi exists outside of Japan, should non-Japanese
> players (and composers!) sound just like Japanese players? Is such a
> thing possible? If it is possible, why would such a thing be desirable?
>
> As European classical music entered other cultures such as Japan, did
> Japanese composers find their own voices within the idiom? Or did they
> choose to compose like the great dead white composers? Looking at
> composers such as Takemitsu, Ichinyanagi, or Hosokawa, it is quite
> obvious that these composers created (Hosokawa is still very active) a
> uniquely Japanese voice while writing for European (and sometimes
> Japanese) instruments.
>
> It only makes sense to me that non-Japanese players come up with their
> own styles, approaches and in some cases, repertoires, while at the
> same time studying styles of previous generations. Otherwise we would
> be awfully boring not to mention dishonest to ourselves
>
> phil
This question makes me think about American white boys playing The
Blues. Some of them seem like they are just doing it to be "hip". They
take on the embellishments of Black music and it comes off as an
affectation. Others play it because the music speaks to their hearts. In
turn, they put their hearts into their music and make it more real than
any Scholar of Hipness could ever hope for.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the musician's motivation will
eventually come out in the music. And since the best music (IMHO) is
communication of emotions, the personal motivation of the best musicians
becomes transparent.
The scholarly pursuit of a formal authenticity may be quite rewarding to
the scholar for its own sake, like the Early Music movement for example.
But it's honest music since the scholar-musician's love for it is honest.
Now that I've given myself a good dose of "e-mail therapy" I guess how I
feel about the subject is that musicians should first worry about
playing honest music, however they honestly define that. When they do,
they will know how much "authenticity" they should strive for.
Don
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