Brad McEwen
Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:22:28 -0700
Roman: Still, it seemed to suggest that all folk music originated in the upper classes. We all knoow how capable the peasant and other "lower" classes were of creating music. Brad Roman Turovsky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: He neither said nor implied anything of the sort. Aristocrats rarely composed. Professionals did. RT > Roman: > > That sounds like a crock of #**!! to me, quite frankly. It suggests that > only aristrocrats and their ilk are cpable of creating music. Rubish. > > Brad > > Roman Turovsky wrote: > An ethnomusicologist-composer friend of mine in Ukraine (seen with a > cornetto in the video here http://torban.org/pisni/ghomin.html) recently > wrote an article in which he argued that virtually all folk music is > aristocratic in origin, leaked into lower stratum of society and digested > and transformed by it, usually for the better (and not only poetically). > In > particular he traced Polish Renaissance courtly poetry and the way in > which > it was adapted by the common folk in Ukraine. Unfortunately he didn't > white > his article in English.... > RT > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Brad McEwen" > To: ; "Cittern NET" > Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 8:20 PM > Subject: [CITTERN] Re: Traditional British (plucked) instruments > > >> Frank: >> >> An icon of the traditional English folk music scene, Rod Stradling, >> recently told me about a place in Italy that had recently redicsovered >> its >> own unique traditional music and dances. They were said to be paticular >> to that reginalone. A small group of dedicted people wen tin search of >> the >> old players and dancer to preserve and revive their own distinct >> heriatage. >> >> Rod said that they proudly played a tune learned form one such old >> fiddler; a tune none of them had ever heard before. they were certain >> that it was one of those distint tunes unique to theri area. >> >> Rod had the unfortunate task of informing them that the tune was Redwing! >> >> I don't think that they were too happy about it. >> >> Brad >> >> Frank Nordberg wrote: >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote (although not in this order): >> . >>> But as Hitler got power, he used the music to fit his scheme of >>> "Hitlerjugend", adapted the camps, the songs, nature games, everything >>> to serve his purposes. >> >> Yes, it's a sad fact that the symbols of various population groups >> sometimes have been abused that way. >> >> There actually is a relationship between the average folk singing >> citizen of (insert-any-nation-here) and the full fledged fascist but >> it's the came kind of relationship as between the guy who drives his car >> carefully to work every day and the bloke who gets roaring drunk and >> speeds past the local childcare center at full throtle. >> >>> But until now the musical link between generations by knowing the old >> songs >>> is non-existent. >> >> I don't really agree with you there Martina. Yes, the direct, obvious >> link to the songs sung by previous generations may be broken but a tune >> is just a tune and the essence - or soul if you like - of a country's >> music is much deeper than that. >> There is no noticeable connection between German traditional music and >> Kraftwerk. But even so, that band is so unmistakably German it couldn't >> possibly have come from anywhere else in the world. >> >>> The following young generation did not want to learn any "old songs", >> sick >>> of everything smelling like "German". >> >> Slight digression: This isn't just a post war phenomena. Jazz was very >> popular in urban Germany long before the average American had heard of >> it. >> >>> And "Rock 'n Roll" WAS cool, for sure. >> >> And if it wasn't for the thriving rock'n roll scene in early 60s >> Hamburg, Beatles wouldn't have happened the way they did. >> If it wasn't for Kraftwerk, we wouldn't have had rap. (Some may argue >> the world would have been a little bit better that way but that's beside >> the point.) >> >> The thing is, a nation - or any other cultural group - doesn't build >> it's music from scratch. It takes some old bits - childhood memories >> burned into people's mind - some new bits (but not *that* much of it) >> and lots of "exotic" elements from far-off lands. Something old, >> something new, something borrowed - oh and something blue as well since >> sentimentality always sells. ;-) >> >> The mixture is unique to each and every culture and sub-culture but the >> elements it's made from aren't. >> >> Take a really close look at the mix that made up rock'n roll in the >> first place and try to see how many German bits there are in it. You'll >> be surprised. >> >> Cross cultural influences run in all directions, even the most >> unexpected ones. >> >> At the end of the 19th century a German traveller in Japan fell in love >> with a stunningly beautiful piece of traditional Japanese poetry. He >> translated it into German and published it back home where it became an >> instant hit. It took quite a while before somebody realised that what he >> had found was actually a Japanese translation of one of Goethe's most >> famous poems. >> >> A much more modern example is the U.S. anthropologists studying an >> isolated tribe in the deepest heart of Africa. They recorded a >> traditional tribal song. >> Oh, the music was actally genuine and unique and all that (at least >> as far as we know) but the lyrics turned out to be about some gentleman >> named James Dean... >> >> I could go on and on with such examples but I've already posted one mega >> size rant in this thread and althoguh I don't it's off topic to the list >> it's certainly close to the borders. >> >> So I'll just finish it off with a quote from Niels-Henning Ørsted >> Pedersen. When asked what idn of music he and is band was playing, he >> replied: >> "What we play is what we play - when we play it." >> >> >> Frank Nordberg >> http://www.musicaviva.com >> http://stores.ebay.com/Nordbergs-Music-Store?refid=store >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> >> >> >> --------------------------------- >> You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster >> Total Access, No Cost. >> -- >> > > > > > > --------------------------------- > You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster > Total Access, No Cost. > -- > --------------------------------- You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. --