Stav,
My turn to rant...
I know what you mean by "traditional" music, but what do you mean by the word
"authentic"?
I think music that honestly reflects and directly communicates the
experience of
the musician would have to be called "authentic". Although hip hop and rap
continue to be co-opted by the likes of Time Warner, they began as the very
powerful and original artistic voice of a neglected cultural subgroup, made by
musicians who relied "on their own creative capacities". It is (or at least it
was) very authentic!
While I tend to agree with you about techno, there is creativity in that music,
also. It seems to me that we can't have it both ways. How can we
expect others
to be open-minded about honkyoku music while we maintain an
intolerance of other
musical forms such as rap or techno?
As shakuhachi players, we should promote an attitude of openness, tolerance and
exploration, thereby making the world safe for all neglected forms, including
our own. We can celebrate the richness of the banquet even if we don't partake
of every dish.
I agree, this has been an interesting thread!
Mark Miller
Stav Tapuch wrote:
> What an intresting conversation! It has been a pleasure to read all of these
> perspectives. Of course these themes connect to much larger issues beyond
> that of the shakuhachi and the classical arts in Japan.
>
> I am of the opinion that the arts that are popular at a particular moment of
> time are reflctive of the mood and psychological mind set of its host
> country. I find it fascinating, and deeply disturbing, that youth all over
> the world love techno 'music' - probably the biggest artistic crime the
> world has ever known. To sit in a bar or cafe with friends I am often
> forced to endure the endless mindless thump, thump, thumping of techno
> "music" that is deviod of even the slighest hint of grace and beauty. Why,
> why why would people listen to techno in a world that has produced Bach? And
> when I say techno, you can throw in rap, hip-hop and 98% of its other
> twisted, ill-begotten kin.
>
> And so in Japan the people grow disdainful for their nation's most precious
> cultural fruits, and instead wait in line to buy CDs of N'Sync and The Back
> Street Boys. Very sad. This is the ugly side of globalism - the
> destruction of non-mass producable culture. When the powers of the world
> mixes us all up, we inevitably sink to the lowest common denominator.
>
> And likewise this also connects to the "surgance" of shakuhachi in the west
> - which is not really a rise, but an appearance. In the US- a country more
> characterized by the mass production of culture - including fashion, music,
> literature, art, even speech patterns, expressions and sense of humor - than
> any other country -there is a small minority of people who crave the
> authentic, and the traditional. People who are moved by a cultural
> tradition that goes back farther than the previous meeting of the marketing
> execs of Time / Warner / AOL.
>
> I read the other day about why John Walker was moved to seek out a school to
> study 'true 'Islam - he claimed that he was searching for something
> "authentic." There are a lot of Americans who can understand that feeling
> -but who obviously have a more active moral compass - who are finding
> authenticity by relying on their own creative capacities as opposed to just
> depending on television, mass produced music and block buster video to
> provide for the cultural and spiritual content of their lives.
>
> Sorry for the rant - but these were the associations that this conversation
> brougt up.
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
name="markm.vcf"
Content-Description: Card for Mark Miller
Content-Disposition: attachment;
filename="markm.vcf"
Attachment converted: Up:markm.vcf (TEXT/ttxt) (0002E059)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Feb 03 2003 - 09:09:50 PST