Re: [microsound] another satisfied customer

["<<< audi sensa >>>" <audisensa@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> To play devils advocate:)
>
> I dont know who Diana Krall is so i can somment but i had a girl firend
once
> who was a big Shakira fan before she came state side.  She is a
classically
> trained musician, and South Americas Most succesfull female recording star
> ever.  Most of her work in S.A. was political.  This is all irrelevent as
> well.  I am wondering what qualifies someone as an Artist?  Also who is to
> judge if someone else is creating art.  This to me is elitist.  Dont mean
to
> offend because i tend to agree with you but when i play the devils
advocate
> i feel guilty about feeling that way.
>
> Any thought?
>
>
> aLEKs


i agree that it's good to play devil's advocate. but challenging somebody
and saying what you feel shouldn't necessarily be seen as the work of the
devil ; (

mostly the reason why i thought diana krall is vacuous (is there a krall
list anywhere that i can subscribe to?) is because her work reminds me of
what kim said so eloquently a few months ago (even if the context was
different) :

the recording industry is ALL about driving demand through spectacle and
fetishization
(desire)...the CDs they sell are merely widgets to shift in order to make
money...in the throes of its current collapse they are mining the past 25
years of music for fragments of melody/chord changes and repackaging it to
kids growing up listening to their parents "classic rock" records...this
subtle formula of subliminal "re-familiarization" or nostalgia is how they
are making most of their money today

now, substitute "kids growing up listening to their parents "classic-rock
records" with "adults who want to reaffirm their quasi-sophisticated
lifestyles by listening at home to the music that plays in the shishi
restaurants they eat in". it's quite simple to see that folks like diana
krall are heavily marketed *product*, she maybe doesn't even realize it (or
care, or understand). the desire for success becomes so great perhaps that
what were perhaps her original intentions as an artist (and however I feel
about their merit is irrelevant here) have now been co-opted and deformed by
those who are engineering her career. this to me, is the difference between
an artist and an entertainer. taking responsibilty for your own work.

s.