Re: [microsound] Refrains, community, music

[mar© hiatt <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

after accidentally finding myself at a club/venue where i hadn't been in a
while, and which tends to have djs playing techno/house/jungle in a loungey
environment, i was pleasantly surprised by a latin-style purcussion band.
they were playing just drums, very big drums, and doing it very loudly. it
was good to see people getting down like there was no tomorrow, producing
what can only be called a "good vibe".

as i joined them i immediately felt part of that sense of community which (i
guess) characterised the early manifestations of rave culture, and continues
to persist whereever dancing takes place without being dragged down by the
dead weight of dj-stardom.  loud noise is inherently subversive. not the
loud noise of the club dj or the rock star, those noises _silence_ you. this
kind of noise _liberated_ you : you became a creative participant, and part
of an organic body of like-(but not same-)minded individuals.

but of course these things degenerate all too quickly as we know. that
feeling of freedom is so good that its a cinch to slap a label on and market
to the masses. and then of course the freedom is lost.

how then, can we keep the music free?  there seem to be several proposed
answers to this question at the moment.

find a new sound that has not yet been co-opted by the industry. so we push
the envelope. we experiment, and find new ways of making sounds (usually
with new technology) and new ways of organising them. but this only works
for so long as we are able to keep ahead of the tastes of the masses. in a
year, a season, a month, they will catch up, and the media moguls will catch
on. and so we have the familiar cycle.

an alternative is to find a style and stick to it, come what may. there is
certainly much to be said for this approach. it allows the artist to perfect
their craft, and to concentrate on content rather than form. the masses will
probably discover the music, enjoy it for a while, and then toss it by the
wayside as The Next Best Thing grabs their attention.  the artist will then
be left with an smaller, yet more dedicated audience, who are prepared to
listen to what they have to say. of course, this can take place at the risk
of becoming stale: think for a moment of the multitude of boring hip-hop
artists who are still "keeping it real". but even in the better examples of
artists taking this route, the character of their creativity has changed,
and the opportunity for a creative involvement of the audience is, i think,
lost.

have i exhausted all the possibilities? i think not. so far i have only
considered the music, and even then only in a limited way. in any case, i
think there is also a lot that can be said for the way that music is
presented in the real world.  some of my happiest musical experiences have
had very little to do with technology or pushing the musical envelope. a few
months ago i presented a radio show on a local youth station here in
melbourne. we played purely independent local material. by "independent" we
meant music that was realeased by the artist themselves, usually for trade
with other people's music or creations. we played a lot of noise which
probably sounded not a lot different to a lot of japanese stuff from the
80's - but the fact that most of it was on cassette tapes and available only
for trade made a real difference. some of the artists didn't have email
addresses or websites <shock!> and so i had to correspond with them via
handwritten <!> surface mail <!!>. it was a real priveledge to be in contact
with people who did this with absolutely no regard for personal gain, either
monetary, or by way of gaining a reputation.

just last night i happened (again by accident) on a small inner-suburban
bar.  the front room was empty, and the back room held probably around
thirty people. there was a band playing jazz, no pa, no nothing, and
probably half the other people in the room had instruments. periodically one
the soloists would step down, and another would step up.  the music probably
hadn't come far since about 1955 (except to say that in-between it had
become a multi-million dollar industry, and that we were all now well
acquainted with something called "jazz") but the feeling in the room was
again one of community.  we all, even those without instruments, felt as
though we were contributing.

marc.

-- 
marc hiatt
mark@xxxxxxxxxxxx
soba |||) : http://skyboom.com/soba/
--

> ... now, maybe
> that's ok to create music that is for people to listen to all by themselves.
> but it certainly doesn't seem like there will be a "community" of listeners
> when all the listening is done alone.  and there is something sad about a
> generation of people wandering around with walkman on instead of enjoying
> music together.  makes me want to play beats.
> loudly.
> 
> graeme