Re: [Harp-L] Bad News Brown

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The first 'rap' I ever heard was the 'Last Poets', back in about '71 or '72. Recently I had a listen to some of that stuff again; jazz backing,and something more like 'beat' poetry. A far cry from what's called rap now. I first got the idea that rap was more to do with drama than music while watching speeches by our very recent prime minister, John Howard, whose extravagant hand gestures I found peculiarly distracting, even vaguely threatening. It reminded me of something...what was it...hmm rappers! with all that thumb & finger shaking and broad gestures that seem somehow dislocated from the words being incanted. Harp in rap? I've heard it, but it sounds like mammary glands on a male bovine to me.
RD

>>> Dave Murray <dmurray777@xxxxxxx> 3/12/2007 15:09 >>>
Jonathan Ross wrote:
> I think the attitudes towards hip-hop and rapping in particular are
> essentially generational, much like previous splits over jazz,
> rock&roll, punk and funk.  Most people (by no means all, but most)
> over a certain age simply don't understand or find value in the new
> musical form and it takes decades, if ever, for this to change.  But,
> most under a certain age embrace it fully simply because it is their
> culture--it feels natural to them.  Later, a more developed form of
> the new music emerges which tends to be made by those who grew up
> after the initial schism and so they fully accept and understand the
> new form.  We're in that phase with hip-hop; rock can be seen as going
> through that phase in the 60's, a decade or more after the first big
> rock&roll wave; jazz was in that phase in the late 30's and early 40's
> after jazz hit big in the 20's and 30's.
>
> This sort of schism is part of the nature of popular music as being
> essentially a youth experience (as has been the case for the last
> hundred years, if not longer).  Indeed, it's probably healthy in many
> ways, as all of these splits tended to be focused on a form of
> youthful rebellion, which is a natural part of growing up.
>
No doubt, there's some of that. I'm over 50, but I remember being 17
quite well. Daughter #3 is 17 which keeps it fresh. I enjoy virtually
all generas of music (some in smaller doses than others) but when I hear
the human voice in the context of music I expect singing.

I first heard rap in the 80s, it's had 20 years to mature. When I first
heard it, I got that it was rhyme and poetry. I could take it or leave
it back then, it had a nice beat. As it matured, it got worse, perhaps
the poisonous influence of gangsta rap. There's youthful rebellion, and
there's destruction of the minds of youth. Sad when they are the same
thing.

Perhaps RD nailed it.

> I'm just excited that there will be some harmonica played by someone
> on the youth side of the latest split--and that they're doing it well
> from.
>

Agree. Brown is capable of good music, and good harp. If he has to mix
it in with rap to be heard, and that's what it takes to bring the harp
to that group, well there's the silver lining in the cloud. I didn't
mention it with the objective of damning rap, as much as I intended a
statement that even our beloved harp played well, has it's contextual
limitations.

Peace and music,
Dave

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