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Greg - 2007-02-21 11:00:05
Sooo... if he went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and sang... would it be a Fado Fais Do do?
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grigorss - 2007-02-21 12:23:20
"a concept essential to fado... nostalgia and yearning" -- well, I'm certainly not above either; and arguably afflicted with both. Tony Gatlif's Latcho Drom features a couple of fado songs (as well as a variety of native/folk singing from in and around Eastern Europe) and this favorite film of mine also features a fado chantreuse -- who does a bit of dancing, too.
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iwombat - 2007-02-21 17:46:09
I'll just stop lurking and say I enjoyed that Laurie anderson thing, I once saw her with Lou at AES. I don't know much about fado, but I have to remember to see "the saddest music in the world" there is something so anti-pop so un-corporate, un imperialistic about music that seeks out sadness, so admissive of the other human things, not always winning, conquering, not simply the "happily ever after" that is the dominant propoganda. (can anyone tell? this rant is the exact representation of one glass of red, red wine).
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Paula - 2007-02-21 19:10:13
dominant propoganda
It seems to me that the dominant propaganda is "life sucks and then you die," and "suffering is sexy," no? Maybe we've been absorbing different propaganda.
But this blog comments page has already been the forum for a long discussion about "sad music versus happy music."
Listen to some Jorge Ben, Wombat--hard to stay down listening to "Zumbi."
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iwombat - 2007-02-22 11:54:16
I mean in the world of promotion, self promotion, advertising, there's a mood, on average, of manic positivism, and art is even handed the job directly, "song promote thyself!" making for nervous, hypermanic, music and art, begging for attention, claiming exorbitant pleasures...the American way is to claim victory, claim dominance, call whatever state one finds one's self in to be success, I often sing the song "I'm a loser" (the Beatles one) to myself, it's not self pity, we all lose stuff, it's aceptance, recognition, I enjoy it.
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Paula - 2007-02-22 12:59:53
the American way is to claim victory, claim dominance, call whatever state one finds one's self in to be success
What about that quintessential American art form: the blues?
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iwombat - 2007-02-22 13:35:54
it's our better part. fortunately, America is a big place, big enough for wiggle room, dissent. But when art/music rises into general popularity, it often converges on a neutral point, heavy metal, the musical expression of the terrible twos, is, I would argue, the more generally american derivative of the blues (via Led Zep).
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Greg - 2007-02-22 14:19:24
Blues, and music in general, and art is the most compelling evidence that all our emotions, even the ones that hurt, are beautiful. There are songs that express the whole range, but I don't know if I believe in music in and of itself that is inherently happy or sad. Otherwise how could a lot of blues songs make us happy? How it's promoted and consumed are another story altogether--often not so pretty, but we have the choice not to buy into it.
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