[Harp-L] music in other cultures

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rick Dempster writes:

"Then again, you might view the whole history of US popular music as an
expression of this attitude, both for better and for worse. What was hot
in 1929 was on the scrap heap a decade later; from New Orleans to Bop in
thirty years or so; from Chicago blues to gangster-rap in about the
same. Compare this to the musics of the old worlds; they change, but
very slowly, and remain rooted in their ancient traditions nevertheless
(a mind-set that probably connects to slow economic development too; but
thats another story)"

Have you listened to music from "the old worlds" over the last, say,  
fifty to a hundred years?  The popular bands in Vienna played music  
no less different from what's being played there today than is the  
case for the US.  The same for popular bands in Zimbabwe, Indonesia,  
Brasil, Ethiopia, India or everywhere else.  This is not an American  
phenomena, but rather a very well known, researched and recognized  
phenomena of the massive explosion in communications technology,  
particularly recordings, radio and the like.

You will find traditional music and musicians in most cultures  
(including the US: dixieland bands, for instance), but that is not a  
good indicator of what's going on now--nor over the last hundred odd  
years.











 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()   & Snuffy, too:)
`----'