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Re: [microsound] folk-music instrument



thanks for your reply on this issue. i didn't quite
have the energy to muster a defense this weekend. i
grew up in a working class family and did not use a
computer until i was in grad school in the late 90's.
but i do play ragtime blues music on the guitar
occasionally when i can't work on my electronic music.
no back porch. instead a sixth floor apartment in
berlin, germany. no elevator. but somehow this folk
concept makes sense to me and you made an interesting
and clear statement that i appreciate.  

--- Graham Miller <grahammiller@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> folk music = people (folk) music
> 
> ('volk' from the german - as in volkswagen -
> peoplemobile)
> 
> more specifically, (and more importantly) 'a'
> people's music.
> 
> we, as computer users, internet dwellers, software
> dabblers - the 
> technologically inclined - are such a people, and
> this is our 'folk' 
> music. music -of- the people. music -for- the
> people. idealized as 
> separate from the marketplace (although, this is, of
> course, an 
> illusion). but you get the idea...
> 
> the southern porch cliché is the internet for us.
> microsound.org is our 
> town meeting.
> 
> it has nothing to do w/ banjos.  you can talk about
> bluegrass as a 
> genre, as an aesthetic, but not folk (although i
> understand the popular 
> misconception).
> 
> there are just as many folk traditions as there are
> 'folk.'
> 
> my roots, my folk, my people, have absolutely zero
> to do w/ anything bob 
> dylan pre or post - the so-called mainstream folk
> artists (there's a 
> contradiction in terms...). i come from computer
> culture. i come from 
> growing up upper middle class, immersed in
> technology and personal 
> computers from day one, in a wealthy, clean, safe,
> major north american 
> metropolitan experience in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
> 
> my folk music is techno.
> 
> folk music is a discourse, not a sound.
> 
> and laptop music as 'folk music' is without a doubt
> an extremely valid 
> and useful way for describing and understanding the
> kinds of grassroots 
> (well, closer to astroturf, for sure) spread of our
> culture and music 
> via electronic channels, such as the internet. 
> global village music, 
> perhaps.
> 
> there's lots of 'academic' writing on these kinds of
> ideas out there for 
> the academically inclined. but i'm retired from that
> kind of 
> self-inflicted pain now:)
> 
> my $0.02
> 
> g.
> 
> jeff gburek wrote:
> 
> >maybe you're right. the laptop isn't disposable
> enough
> >yet. maybe in a decade? 
> >
> >--- roberth <roberth@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >  
> >
> >>the dead c are my favorite folk band.
> >>actually i am quoting jack rose.
> >>
> >>i don't agree about the laptop sorry, 
> >>actually the cheap casio is the folk music 
> >>instrument all over the world.
> >>robert
> >>----- Original Message ----- 
> >>From: "jeff gburek" <tsazmaniac@xxxxxxxxx>
> >>To: "microsound" <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >>Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 10:25 PM
> >>Subject: [microsound] folk-music instrument
> >>
> >>
> >>    
> >>
> >>>i don't think devlashnull was saying laptoppers
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>should
> >>    
> >>
> >>>start "covering" folk-music traditions. maybe the
> >>>duelling banjos bit is a little too "hee-haw" to
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>take
> >>    
> >>
> >>>seriously. but there is a concept underlying this
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>that
> >>    
> >>
> >>>i find compelling: that the laptop has become
> very
> >>>common tool for expressing, akin one's voice,
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>which is
> >>    
> >>
> >>>also part of one's experience. i don't think of
> >>>folk-music as just a genre wherein you have your
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>rosco
> >>    
> >>
> >>>holcomb and your skip (or joseph) spence or
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>records
> >>    
> >>
> >>>and your harry smith anthology etc. set out on
> the
> >>>table to define what the music is. the argument
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>has
> >>    
> >>
> >>>been made that all folk-music is essentially
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>popular
> >>    
> >>
> >>>music. but i think of it differently: it comes
> out
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>of
> >>    
> >>
> >>>the songs you sing while working or after work
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>when
> >>    
> >>
> >>>waiting for the dinner that isn't coming because
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>the
> >>    
> >>
> >>>government seized all your chickens saying they
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>got
> >>    
> >>
> >>>some kind of flu. like that. arguably most people
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>with
> >>    
> >>
> >>>laptops don't have those kind of blues to sing.
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>but on
> >>    
> >>
> >>>the other hand, there is still isolation, death,
> >>>loneliness and desperation and the laptop itself
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>to
> >>    
> >>
> >>>make the material of laments
> >>>jg
> >>>
> >>>--- roberth <roberth@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>      
> >>>
> >>>>nice image
> >>>>except going no deeper into the folk tradition
> >>>>than a commerialized thing like dueling banjos
> 
=== message truncated ===


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