Re: [Harp-L] Race, Gender and Blues

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes, he about covers it all. Pure genius. 
smo-joe

On May 24, 2012, at 7:50 AM, Rob Paparozzi wrote:

> Thank You Howard, I couldn't agree more and nicely stated.
> 
> all the best,
> Rob Paparozzi
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Howard Herman" <hherman@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 11:21 PM
> Subject: [Harp-L] Race, Gender and Blues
> 
> 
>> I have been a lurker and have been quite content to just bask in everyone's
>> wisdom regarding various topics up till now. This is my first post.
>> 
>> I have carefully followed the thread about the subject of Race, Gender and
>> the Blues. I admit I was clearly warned by another poster, but I am one of
>> those people who has had their blood pressure elevated.
>> 
>> I do not now, nor have I ever cared, whether a blues performer was black,
>> white, female, male or Samoan. My sole interest has always been to enjoy,
>> appreciate and listen to a great performance by a great blues performer.
>> Greatness was never measured by whether the performer allegedly had some
>> special insight into the blues or "street cred" by reason of possessing a
>> particular type of genitalia or being a part of a specific racial group.
>> 
>> The article/post I am responding to is just the latest confirmation for me
>> that we have now devolved into a "Balkanized" country with many and varied
>> identity groups seeking various kinds of entitlement. You simply have to be
>> a part of some special group for certain specific purposes and pursuits
>> these days. Positions in all walks of life now have to be reserved for
>> members of various racial, ethnic, sexual orientations, and gender groups.
>> Sheer talent, ability, art, and reaching out and holding the audience
>> spellbound is no longer enough. Is the author of the underlying article
>> that created this controversy suggesting some form of affirmative action
>> for blues performers?
>> 
>> There used to be an old TV show called "Queen for a Day" where the person
>> who told the most heart-rending, humiliating and horrifying life story to
>> the studio audience was voted to be the "winner" and received valuable
>> prizes. Are we now having such a contest about which person or group has
>> suffered the most with regard to man's inhumanity to his fellow man (and of
>> course that includes women)? I believe that you don't need any particular
>> background or have to "qualify" racially or otherwise to play the blues.
>> How does having ancestors a number of generations ago who suffered the
>> horrible abuse of slavery make the current generation of performers in any
>> way better? Does blackness or "femaleness" uniquely qualify someone to
>> perform this particular kind of music? Should Charlie Musselwhite or Dennis
>> Gruenling (and others too numerous to mention) be considered "less
>> authentic" blues performers because they are of the Caucasian persuasion?
>> I have found their live performances just as wonderful and satisfying (if
>> not more so) as any others I've heard. Should one or both of them be
>> disqualified from playing a gig because there is no other slot available
>> for a black or female performer to play that night?
>> 
>> I grew up in a neighborhood in NYC among far too many people with numbers
>> tattooed on their arms. They were imprisoned under unspeakable conditions
>> and had watched unarmed family and friends tortured and killed in the most
>> inhumane ways imaginable. These people had "thousand yard stares" whenever
>> there was any discussion (however gently it was attempted) of the Holocaust
>> and their lost family members. There were over 6 million Jews who were
>> slaughtered like cattle. It would be absurd for me to claim that this
>> religious/ethnic experience awards me any "points", "qualifies" me in any
>> way, or should somehow entitle me to a slot as a performer to play blues
>> anywhere. Does having this experience mean that only thereafter I was
>> entitled to credibly play the blues? Unimaginable sorrow and discrimination
>> are not the exclusive province of any racial, ethnic group or gender in
>> this or any other country or human endeavor. I don't see playing the blues
>> as requiring payment of some sort of emotional "ante" in a poker game of
>> "can you top this" played with horror stories. Heartache and sorrow are
>> equal opportunity experiences.
>> 
>> I am a neophyte musician. My time is better spent working on technique than
>> it is reflecting on ancestral sorrows. But even if I were a far better
>> musician than I currently am, I refuse to accept the premise that my
>> experience gives me some entitlement or credibility with respect to
>> performing the blues. I could undoubtedly argue that extermination is worse
>> than slavery, and that these events I have related happened far closer in
>> terms of time. However, I refuse to make such absurd comparisons and play
>> that destructive game as it does not make me a better musician. The only
>> qualifications I can think of for a blues performer are the quality of the
>> player's musicianship, forming a solid connection with their audience, and
>> how well the performer interprets blues music as an art form.
>> 
>> Is being sick, sore, lame, divorced, beaten, addicted, descended from
>> slaves, victimized, jailed, fighting in a war, being disabled (or fill in
>> your particular life's personal tragedy) a prerequisite to play or perform
>> blues? If so, we are all qualified because there is more than enough
>> tragedy, death, sadness and heartache in each of our lives for us all to
>> appreciate and understand the blues. I would even go so far as to say that
>> maybe it does help to channel some of the pain inherent in being human into
>> blues music. I just don't think any particular kind of pain or tragic
>> personal experience is necessary. Notwithstanding the roots of the blues,
>> it has evolved to where it does not belong to any one race or group long
>> ago. I refuse to believe that you have to be a beaten down and depressed
>> individual, or rendered inconsolable by a claimed lack of social justice of
>> one kind or another, in order to perform/play the blues.
>> 
>> My novel suggestion is to JUST LISTEN TO THE PERFORMER AND JUDGE THEM
>> SOLELY ON THEIR MUSIC!!
>> 
>> Howard Herman
>