RE: [Harp-L] "Authentic" pronunciation?

[chicago bluesman <chicagobluesman@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I imagine that you will receive varying opinions on this.  I'm a Chicago based harp player and I also gig with a band in the Ticino canton of Switzerland.  The band's whole repertoire is comprised of American roots/blues tunes, from bluegrass to Allman Brothers to Eagles to a number of blues standards.  To my American ear, what I find more peculiar than their accents is their mixed repertoire of material--they'll go from Tina Turner to Johnny Cash in a heartbeat--which you would not hear in a band based in the U.S., except for a wedding reception band.  Anyway, back to the accents question...I don't really have a problem with it.  Sure, sometimes I hear their Italian and German accents coloring the way they render vocals but it's not a particular distraction for me.  Actually, I'm personally kind of charmed by it and it makes me feel proud and kind of patriotic when I hear the music of my home town played in distant lands.




> Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 08:15:39 -0700
> From: martinoldsberg@xxxxxxxxx
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Harp-L] "Authentic" pronunciation?
> 
> (This is a question that strictly falls outside the Harp-l boundaries. Sometimes even such things find their way in here (mostly jokes, endlessly repeated ...), and I certainly don´t mind if it stays on-list; it´s not my call, but please reply off-list if you have any thought on this that you care to share and feel that you want to be on the safe side of list policy. And for goodness sake, skip all political correctness, or whatever the going expression is.)
>  
> Thing is that like quite a few of us I´m every now and then playing with singers (in my case specifically one guy) who´s command of English pronunciation leaves a bit to be desired, and quite a lot of the material that we play comes from that part of the world: US of A, mainly.
>   I´m simply wondering what you native English speakers think when you hear a singer wrapping him/herself around, say, da blooze ... and out comes something with a decidely un-American accent. 
>   Is that pathetic, slightly ridiculous, annyoing, disgusting! -- or quaint, cute, quite nice in fact: "don´t try to hide your origin", or whatever. Or perhaps of no significance at all.
>  
> As I write this I´m listening to an Italian band (with harmonica!) where the singer has terrible problems with his pronunciation ("iss a ´ard rod"), and their entire material is drawn from the Americana tradition.
>   It bugs me like hell, I must say, but I´m a Swede (whose own pronunciation probably is shaky, but owes a bit to what I was taught back in my youth: British English. In the US they frequently took me for a Briton; in the UK they think I´m a foreign tosser trying to sound posh. However, I think I can create a passable imitation of American English -- but sing I can´t).
>  
>  My musical partner has a truly excellent command of our Swedish material, pays careful consideration to lyrics and never sings a song that he hasn´t worked up some kind of relation to. I´d say he´s a bleeding paragon.
>   When it comes to English/American material it´s different, and I sometimes cringe when I hear his failed attempts at rendering these songs believable (for lack of a better word right now) with that Sveedish seeping through. Sometimes, covering behind a few pints, I´ve given him a few pointers but these are sensitive matters.
>  
> Would be interesting to hear you from the other side of the fence on this.
>  
> Cheers,
> Martin
> 
> 
>