Re: [microsound] Re: being 'political' in non-verbal music

[David Powers <cyborgk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

Josh Ronsen wrote:
"To listen to most radio in America, you’ve
already been politicized into accepting commercials, a
limited sense of intellectual inquiry, corporate
control over just about everything, etc."

I think this is a very important point.

Josh:
"Something that greatly concerns me as an electronic
musician is that my thoughts may be progressive in
some sense, but my actions actively support the status
quo through purchasing equipment, supplies and
services."

Yes, but that is in the nature of the system itself. Furthermore, I 
don't think the whole idea of putting the blame for the conditions of 
PRODUCTION on the consumer/end user is entirely justified. There does 
seem to be a progressive idea in the last few years that you can "get 
off the grid" and refrain from consuming negative corporate products. 
While this is a decent idea, in a limited sense, I daresay it does 
nothing to actualy improve the lives of, for instance, factory workers 
in Mexico. It's also not realistic to achieve for those of us who 
require computers and electronic instruments to do our work - though 
personally I do try to buy used equipment in some cases. I don't think 
you have to feel "guilty" about it buying a computer (unless that 
feeling helps you to be politically active in some other area). While 
the Marxist focus on conditions of production and ownership of the means 
of production might have been too narrow and dogmatic, it is a mistake 
to go to the opposite pole and only worry about the conditions of 
consumption. Consumption is itself PRODUCED by an elaborate and 
effective system.

What is much more important is political involvement in your nation, 
working for governments that don't push global economic strategies that 
make these exploitive factories profitable and inevitable.

However, realize that at a very important level, it is going to be up to 
the workers at the individual factories, or in the exploited nations, to 
fight their own political struggles and liberate themselves. I think it 
is rather more important to focus on those places in our lives, at work, 
school, the local neighborhood, and the voting booth, where we can make 
a difference. Our local success can allow us to then link up to broader 
global struggles, which we can support but which must be carried out by 
the individuals involved who have a stake in what happens. In 
particular, if the United States could ever assume a progressive role in 
world politics (I know this is hard to imagine!), it would likely assist 
ALL of the global struggles and lessen the ability of corporations to 
exploit around the world.

Josh:
"Music does not just have a surface political meaning,
but the very existence and consumption of music
implies the political and economic (is there really a
difference?) structures the music lives in. This is
what I got out of Attail’s book, which otherwise I
found to be not very rigorous and not too useful."

I agreed, the book was exciting when I first read it, but after some 
contemplation and analysis, the ideas don't really hold up and there's a 
lot of "grand meta-narrative" implying that history, in this case 
musical history, is inevitably marching on towards some glorious 
revolutionary destiny (telos) - the liberation of noise. I don't think 
we need yet another overblown grand narrative. Furthermore, Attali is 
very biased towards Western music, and if I recall correctly, make 
little mention of or analysis of non-Western music. I think that a more 
global and less ethnocentric vision of music would see that noise has 
always been an important part of music, though the particular quality of 
noise, and the balance between noise and pattern within music, varies 
with individual cultures.

I do think the production of music is political, and it's important to 
look at the conditions of PRODUCTION of music, especially in our own 
lives. The mainstream music industry exploits a great many people in the 
making and selling of a record, and one of the nice things about 
independent music is that normally the conditions of production are 
simpler and non-exploitive, tending towards individual efforts and small 
collaborations, often with a gift economy operating at some points 
rather than any strictly capitalist one.

Want to create a piece that is political without using words or musical 
signifiers that function in linguistic ways (quotations)? It's not 
difficult, once you put aside the tendency to "preach" and think that 
music must be some tool to convert people to your own point of view 
(which is a problem I have with a lot of progressive actions generally). 
Here are some of the political possibilities I see readily available:
1. Create music in an open collaboration with other artists, making sure 
to maintain a non-exploitive and progressive relationship with all 
parties involved. Or write music for multimedia/dance/etc where as an 
artist you collaborate with others in the artistic process in an open way.
2. Create music which you give away for free.
3. Create music specifically for an event or environment that is 
politically progressive and build solidarity while making life more 
beautiful and joyful for everyone present.
4. Study those composers and performers who feel are progress and create 
music that connects to and extends their tradition.
5. Take an experimental attitude in your music, and always seek to 
evolve and to move forward in your own approach, and structure your 
personal musical philosophy in a way which is reflective of your 
political outlook.
6. Use as much free, open source, independent, and used hardware and/or 
software as is practical in your music making.
7. Write versions of Russian and Chinese folks songs in the "socialist 
realist" style. (sorry just kidding!!!)

And I would say that none of these examples are "external" to the music, 
one could just as well say that the actual music is external to the 
process of production which gives rise to it! In the end, I strongly 
believe that the fact that you use your time to create music, much of 
which is probably given away freely, is itself political - since you 
could be using this time to build bombs, sell stocks and real estate, or 
even just passively consume corporate media.

~David

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