deconstruct this AMG review of mark ribot

and he proves himself to be the most soulful white alive

I'm not even going to touch that one.

But it's that Taylor Hicks?

chekere? This reads like it was written by a writer for whom English is a second language ("the enduring Marc Ribot"?), which may explain some of the oddities.

Although there have been many attempts to produce authentic indigenous music of various cultures, most have fallen short

Would this include the attempts by the indigenous cultures themselves? (Obviously not, but there's something missing there.)

I like Koby Israelite more than Marc Ribot (though I've only heard an album or two by Ribot). Also, look out for Dave Garlitz, a great young guitarist who plays Cuban music, among other things.

The album is a nice one, to be sure, and a lot of fun. So is Muy Divertido! but Ribot surely should not be narrowly cast as a cubanismo-lite repertoire artist. His reading of Spiritual Unity gets my vote as one of the best of 2005.

And this is not to single those last two out as incompetent--far from it--just that their opinion and mine are usually not in sync.

x-post: that makes sense, max. is it ok if i don't play though?

I will grant that Divertido! is "cubanismo", but I would dispute the "lite". I find it more satisfying on a number of levels that many supposedly more serious or heavy Ribot offerings (in which category I include Rootless Cosmopolitans, Shrek (no relation to the movie of the same name), and Don't Blame Me).

It is also interesting how Mr. Whitey considers Jews as "whitey" when it is convenient, but not at the club.

I cribbed the “soulful white”—it should have been “whiteboy”—from a time when I saw a Zorn or Medeski, Martin and Wood gig or something and Ribot sat in. He was later introduced, mockingly, as “the most soulful whiteboy alive.” This is what you get for poor typing and proofreading skills.

I also have no formal familiarity with Cuban music, but AMG was all about contextualizing the review w/r/t genre and other works by the artist, so I threw that in there. I knew some of the songs were written by Arsenio Rodriguez, but hadn’t heard any other Cuban music. I confused original authorship with the originality / authenticity of interpretation / performance. FWIW, I really like Ribot’s recordings of Frantz Casseus songs, which are totally different sounding than the Cubanos, but are highly recommended. Solo classical guitar stuff. Very good.

Finally, lest any more confusion ensue about my shitty AMG scribblings, I am aware that in my review of Fourtet’s “Dialogue,” that the music couldn’t be further from “electro.”

Apologies to: Marc Ribot, people who rely on AMG reviews for complete accuracy and Afrika Bambaataa.