lets imagine that d'n'b, uk garage and hiphop all originated in britian and usa. (ok so we dont REALLY have to imagine...). so, the rest of the world hears these crazy new sounds. likes em (espeicallty in the case of the latter), tries to create their own scene. this consists of djs playing tunes in clubs, record shops selling new tunes, producers making own tunes in the new style. but 'foreign' versions of these three types of music havent really undergone this process. that it to say, that a german d'n'b dj hasnt become world famous, and respected (especially in the uk), for example....i know, iknow, dj marky. but hes the exception that proves the rule, right? im not even going to get into uk hiphop, but whatever british people think, i gather that its hardly setting the us alight. buts let take that out of the equation. unlike house and techno, both from the US but who has producers djs and labels that are respected around the world and can hold their won against anyone else. the problem seems particularly acute in terms of d'n'b - it also seems as though most of it is bound up in either a) snobbery of the UK scene, and unwillingness to let go of 'their' music, and b) relatively short timespan.
basically, i have heard some russian garage tunes and have been trying to work out what i thought of them. i was pretty impressed, but more on 'wow theyre russian and theyre not awful!' level at first. i think theyre pretty good, but not sure if their as good as what uk producers might do. but it seems more out of snobbery than genuine objecive assessment of them.....
with the advent of internet shopps and nmews groups, in theory theres no reason why a korean who is good at mixing and a great jungle dj who plays some of the freshest tunes out, shouldnt be playing round the world, in english clubs, in sweden or wahtever. but this isnt happening on anything like a global scale, just as a few isolated instances (marky again). why not?
and is say an mc from east london feeling that 'the yanks shouldnt nick garage off us' (my paraphrase of someone else) justified at all?
heres some of those garage tunes (from http://www.2step.ru)
a michael jackson bootleg
quite like this cheesy stringz tune
russian vocals on this one
silly samples
― ambrose, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
Fantastic examples. I can't wait to hear the rest of the world
adopting and starting to mutate my favourite dance genres.
In practice, I think it takes time for another culture to absorb
enough of a genre to get it's underlying logic and really start
producing good examples of it. But it can often be better if the
culture doesn't quite get it, and starts producing its own specific
creole of the genre with local traditions. A good example is the
Mexican Nortec Collective from Tijuana who's house / techno
derivitive is uniquely theirs.
Hip-hop is an interesting case. Because it's global but also
profoundly local - with the emphasis on representing one's home city
(or burrough). I think this regionality makes it transplant very
easily. French hip-hop is strong. So's a lot of latin hip-hop from
Mexico/LA's Ozomatli to Cuba's Orishas, to Brazilian and other south
American bands. Arabic hip-hop (although I guess mainly coming from
France) is fantastic, and the small bit of Russian rap I've
downloaded sounds very promising. Perhaps British hip-hop suffers
because we're a bit diffident about "representing" ourselves in so up-
front a manner :-)
I'm from the UK but I now live in Brazil. And one thing I've been
doing a lot of thinking about and comparing Brazil with Jamaica.
Brazil has, throughout the 20th century had an explicit artistic
philosophy of anthropophagy ie. eating and absorbing the strengths of
foreign culture to synthesize it with the local. The idea emerged in
the 20s and was re-iterated by the Tropicalia movement who tried the
same technique with 60s rock.
But, in general, Brazil doesn't seem succesful at this game. There
are many strong local, folkloric musics here : forro, samba etc. And
many bands who simply ape American rock, pop or hip-hop. But I
haven't heard much that seems to absorb the energy from the outside
world, and make it distinctly Brazilian.
(My wild hypothesis is that this is because people are too respectful
of existing music and traditional musical skills. Everyone can play a
guitar and knows a cannon of classics ranging from the Tropicalia
movement, to the Beatles.)
On the other hand, Jamaica is extra-ordinarily succesful at borrowing
everything from rock and roll, soul, blues, jazz, hip-hop and techno.
And spitting out wild mutant variants like ska, reggae and
raggamuffin. Not only does it successfully create local mutants, it
exports them back to the world.
There are lots of possible reasons. Maybe Jamaica is lucky to have
many emigrants who take the music with them. (But compare India, with
more emigrants and an equally rich musical tradition, which has some
success but not as great.)
Maybe, rastafarianism gives Jamaicans an evangelical outlook.
Maybe it's something to do with a symbiosis between Jamaican musical
culture and technology. Jamaican music often comes with technological
innovations such as sound-systems, dub mixes etc.
Maybe Jamaica is the biggest, richest, centre of attraction in an
archipelago of diversity and talent. (But compare Indonesia.)
Whatever it is, Jamaica proves that small, not very wealthy
countries, can be hugely influencial musically. And that they can
play the game of exchanging culture with the US / Europe.
― phil, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)
A) Amon Tobin
B)Maybe, rastafarianism gives Jamaicans an
evangelical outlook.
Jamaica is mainly Catholic, isn't it? I
went to Jamaica about five years ago, and I met all of two rastas.
It's obvious, then, that Jamaica's success musically can be
contributed solely to Magic.
― Keiko, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)