I think you'll find a majority on the lute list to which I subscribe to be in general agreement.
Leonard > > I disagree. This is a hot-button of mine. His use of the HG and of the > lute has been pure exploitation. He did primarily vocals on his lute > CD, and Edin Karamozov did the lute-playing. My impression of the CD > was that it was far from being anything special; there are much better > recordings of the same material, but for some reason we give a free ride > to the celebrity. Agreed, his use of the lute wasn't as blatantly > shabby as his use of the HG, and I think the argument that he's helped > to popularize the instruments deserves some consideration, but not > much. Shape-note choral singing experienced a burst of popularity for a > few months after the run of the movie "Cold Mountain," but it soon > faded. Both the lute and HG are instruments requiring serious > application, so the burst of interest induced by association with a > celebrity seems unlikely to long survive the realities of actually > grappling with the instrument. Meanwhile, Sting has cheaply acquired a > reputation for expertise he does not in fact possess. What's admirable > about that? > > Sorry to be such an old curmudgeon. People on this list who know me > know that I'm generally a mild-tempered old idiot, but as I said, this > is a hot-button. > > - Martin > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
