Hey Dasun and Vij, Thanks for adding your perspective on the issue. I wish every success for A R R and his cause, which I am a silent part of, since his first meeting at the UN headquarters in 2004 here in NY when he became the ambassador. The ultimate sign of right and wrong is the effectiveness of the album with the public.
No matter how I feel about a song, I have never tried to influence A R's creativity (and neither does ANYONE else who is close to him) or the way he decides to interpret themes and ideas. Even in this case, I am not saying that A R R is right or wrong in choosing a certain type of music, just that I don't fully agree with it. At this time.. I have been wrong before about these things. I did not think that Mayya Mayya could be number 1 on the Hindi countdowns, among other things. --- In [email protected], "Dasun Abeysekera" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I don't think PFMB is completely hip-hop. However, even if you take the > section of the song that is rapped, it is not the social stigma associated > with rap that we need to look at, but the message. I mean, I agree with you > that a message like this conveyed through purely a rap medium (which is not > the case here), may have lost the majority of its intended audience even if > the message was good, but ironically, rap as a medium of art originated out > of the need to express a sense of helplessness and frustration of poverty, > and the situation of World Poverty is just the same problem with greater > magnitude and therefore not too far from the origins of rap. So, in that > sense I don't think ARR erred in his judgement in using rap. > > Then, I think the fact that the intended audience that he is trying to > influence, which would be the younger generation who will be leaders of the > future world, are currently listening to hip-hop as the main source of > popular art, would have been a key factor as well. Now I do not advocate the > messages with which hip-hop music has become synonymous these days, but I do > understand, that more than what the lyrics and the message of this hip-hop > songs communicate, it is the rythm of hip-hop songs that infect and draw > people to it. So, we should not dismiss a medium of art, just because it is > associated with thugs and rowdy men who have little civility, because those > are not attributes of the form itself, but its content. If an artist can use > a form's ability to infect people to pass on a good message, then more > strength to that artist for leading the way for others to follow. I still > think of No Problem from Love Birds (1996) as a prime example of how rap and > reggae was used to empower an audience. That's a great message right there. > > Another Day in Paradise is truly an al time great song with great feeling in > the league of We Are the World and Heal the World, but that was created with > an 80s feeling, but since this is the 00s, I think ARR is just following the > trends just like PC did in 1989. I have great respect for Rano's taste and > thoughts. Just wanted to share my view. > > Regards, > Dasun > > From: "Ranojoy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: [email protected] > >To: [email protected] > >Subject: [arr] Re: The making of the PFMB video > >Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:35:50 -0000 > > > >The benchmark for poverty videos is "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil > >Collins.. (newbies do search Youtube) Serious stuff. Similar, (tainted) > >BLACK AND WHITE video. But the song and the lyrics are much better in > >PC's case (it's only one of the best songs of all time). Without > >getting into semantics, or lyrical value, the hip-hop/rap attitude in > >PFMB unfortunately does not fully capture the seriousness of the > >project and leaves me confused about who the intended audience is. Just > >stating an opinion. Something like Oh! Bosnia! would have been more apt > >in my opinion. > > > >--- In [email protected], Gopal Srinivasan <catchgops@> > >wrote: > > > > > > Those who didn't get the concept of the video and those who are > >wondering why ARR was wearing > > > those rather uncharacteristic dark shades, get the PFMB DVD and watch > >the making of the video feature. > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Find what you need at prices you'll love. Compare products and save at MSN® > Shopping. > http://shopping.msn.com/default/shp/? ptnrid=37,ptnrdata=24102&tcode=T001MSN20A0701 >
