Re: [microsound] laptop music is the new jazz

[macrosound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Werthsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> I'm not too sure about this, but autechre once made the connection between
> laptop music and folk music in an interview a couple of years ago. They
> were
> referring to plans to equip high school students with their own laptops.
> It's
> more a question of availability I would guess. The idea sounds great,
> though.
> Talented children equipped with pure-data and pro-tools free...this might
> indeed spark some interesting developments.
>

Imo,

I'm not sure about talent but there are certainly a lot of kids with
pirated versions of expensive software (pd is free).  I wouldn't be making
computer music if there weren't.  But what, exactly, is folk music?  I
find the term rather indescriptive and broad, 'folk' meaning 'people',
quite literally.  So is punk rock also folk music? House? Hip hop?

I think the term folk is generally applied to music that comes from the
uneducated.  It's basically a class distinction.  The working class have
their music and the aristocrats have something altogether different.

Today, the question of whether one is part of a working class or an
aristocracy really depends how you look at it.  Compared to a large part
of the planet's population I am stunningly wealthy.  I have a computer and
a fully electric kitchen and machine-made clothing.  All I must do to get
food is go to the grocery store.  And yet, I've supported myself mostly as
a line cook barely making enough to pay the beasts on my back.

So..yeah, I think the term folk music is rather meaningless in this context.

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