Music and Political Power

I have had many occasions over the past few months to think about Politics and music- or rather, Political power and music. The relations between the two have often been adversarial. One of my housemates is a PHD candidate in musicology, focusing on historical musicology, and has educated me a bit about religious contrafacta in 18th century France and Germany- a time and place when warring Christian factions and their associated nobles, royals, bands of goons, etc. were basically synonymous with the "political situation". The Religious Contrafacta (essentially, contrafacta as I understand it means setting different words to a tune) of the time were spread in alehouses and so forth, where one of the very few literate people in a town would be charged by whoever wished to influence public opinion/religious-political alleigances etc. with the task of learning a new set of lyrics to set to familiar bawdy pub songs, and then to teach the new lyrics to all present at alehouse antics. At the time this was viewed as the most effective way to influence public opinion, and was one of the primary tools to fuel factionalism used by those who wished to do so.
A couple months back I was reading a book called 'Music is the weapon of the future; fifty years of African popular music' by Frank Tenaille (recommended), and there is constant mention therein of the Political power of music and the ways in which it was suppressed by corrupt governments in various African countries and contexts throughout the 20th century- for instance, about popular music in Zimbabwe in the late 1960's he says "Though banned by Ian Smith's racist regime, the songs were broadcast secretly. Thanks to them, Many youths joined the resistance. they also earned their composer(Thomas Mapfumo) several months of imprisonment - although the authorities were unable to charge him with a tangible crime, since the words of the Chimerunga songs were cloaked in the parables and metaphors so treasured by the national languages of Zimbabwe". In Angola, Liceu Vieira Dias was making music with his band Ngola Ritmos (named for Ngola Kiluanje, leader of the Angolan rebellion against Portuguese colonization in the 16th Century), when he was arrested in 1959, along with fellow musician Amadeu Amorim and sent to the Concentration Camp of Arrafel in Cape Verde. Their fellow musician Jose Maria was arrested in 1961 and forced into the Army (for some reason, this one really gets me). Last but not least, Carnival was banned in Angola from 1961 to 1968, because it was viewed as so potentially dangerous to Marcelo Caetano's ruling Portuguese colonial regime to allow Carnival to be held. The music had to be suppressed, at all costs. Problem is, music can never be suppressed. (Unfortunate sidenote: after Independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola became super-fucked. Civil war, Cold War meddling and all kinds of other shit, but that's another story for another day).
Speaking of Cold War meddling, lets talk a little bit about music and cold war meddling. Today I was transcribing an interview, I won't say why or with whom, but this is a person who spent a couple years in the Philippines in the early 1970's. He tells a story about visiting someone he knew back home in Mississippi on top of a mountain in the North of the Phillipines. The guy he was visiting worked for the U.S Information Agency- in other words, our Overseas Propaganda People. My source on this one describes being taken into this armored compound on top of a mountain, armed guards, barbed wire, intense security checks. The buddy from back home says okay now I'll show you what we do up here and proceeds to let him in on the big U.S propaganda protocol. They had set up giant broadcasting towers and they were broadcasting music into North Korea and China. Rock n' Roll. R+B. Classical. Jazz. Blues. Just think about that. This heavily armored compound on top of a mountain in the Philippines full of U.S Government employees in uniform whose sole purpose in being there is to broadcast The Supremes and Charlie Parker and Debussy into the closed Communist territories of North Korea and China.

in conclusion, I hereby nominate Olaf Mary Mohammed to be Minister of Propaganda for Imaginary America.

R.I.P Lhasa de Sela

I was not previously familiar with this singer, but friend-of-the-blog Muffy Sainte-Marie posted this beautiful song with the following obituary:

I blogged about Lhasa's new album back in April and have been listening to it (and her other two albums) ever since. I didn't know she was sick, and was floored to hear the news via CBC radio a few days ago that Lhasa died on New Year's Day of breast cancer. I feel such a huge sense of loss - I did not know her personally, but her music has been with me since La Llorona (a magical, magical album!) - I consider her to be one of the greatest talents ever to grace this planet. Her passing is so hard to believe. God bless Lhasa, and God bless her family in what must be an incredibly difficult time. Lhasa, you will be deeply, deeply missed by all who knew you and loved you. Thank you for all you gave us.

Processed, Completed, Aborted, Lost & Forgotten: www.itwaslost.org's 2009 New Years Resolutions

Before my Twenty-Ten list finalizes, now is the time to review my 2009 New Years Resolutions & see what did & didn't done get done. I shall re-post them here &, in full disclosure & fidelity to reality, report if they were completed:

-Stop going to see movies starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. I don't know why I kept making that mistake in 2008.

COMPLETED! I think I successfully avoided this man's overhyped acting talent. I even avoided The Big Lebowski.

-Throw a mint julep party. I have a humongous bottle of Maker's Mark hidden in my apartment, which I bought a long time ago to throw a fabulous mint julep party. Why haven't I done this yet?

ABORTED!
That dusty bottle of Maker's Mark, approximately the size of my head, is still hidden in my apartment. In 2010!!! Mint Juleps! My place! This summer!

-Homeless people make me uncomfortable. I think I'm going to stay the course on this one.

COURSE STAYED!

-Pay more attention to ladies' butts. You ladies don't get enough credit for your butts. Occasionally, I hope to notify a lady if she has something special.

PROCESSED!
Ladys' butts were routinely analysed, data collected, & I will be issuing a full report on Lady Butts of 2009 sometime in the 2011 academic year.

-Drink more beverages out of tall glasses. A tall glass of water. A tall glass of juice.

FORGOTTEN!
I forgot about this one after a few months, but it's a damn good idea. To more tall glasses in the Tweens!

-Sing more hymnody in small groups.

LOST!
Time is running low before the rapture to get thru the whole bloody psalmody.

-Date more white girls.

FAILED!
Four monosyllabic words, & I think I failed on each one individually.

-There are several cocktails I wish to invent. Specifically, my idea for the Long Thailand Iced Tea, which would involve some combination of sweetened condensed milk, iced tea, & all the booze in Long Island.

INCOMPLETE!
That cocktail sounds delicious, how come I never invented it yet?

-Jesus Christ walked on American soil.

SUCCESS!
Jesus Christ walked on American soil.

-Write a Text Message Novel. This has already started, more on that anon, but I would like to see this project thru.

UNFINISHED!
It was so good too, but I think the fad passed.

-Female Professional Midget Wrestlers.

DISREGARDED!

-616 Blog Posts. You probably saw this coming. That's like two a day. Are we up to it? The mathematical gods demand it.

MISCARRIED!
And we tried so hard too! 602!? We were almost there, despite heroic efforts from all parties, pinch hitters, we just didn't quite make it. Thank you all for your handsome mugs.

-A new format for this website. I'd like it to be more magazine style, like the Huffington Post, with different sections, like Fashion & Architecture. We are looking at the horizon of greatness.

NOPE!
Next year! A fancy new blog format! We want it! We will work towards it!

Grainne's resolution, to meet all her itwaslost friends in Bulgaria, was a roaring success, of course.

Like I said, my twenty-ten resolutions are a work-in-progress (they nearly all have to do with owning more money), but I do have two decade resolutions:

-Kill a man.

-Sleep with a woman.

Onward & upward!

Father Drank Himself to Death (Gila Monster Version) - Demo mp3

I apologize if the recordings I'm sharing on this blog continue to get stranger in the new decade. There are several different settings of this text, Father Drank Himself To Death. This is the "Gila Monster" version, recorded today for the Friends Around the Campfire Stuck Home Syndrome, (formerly known as the Special Summer Electric Ukulele Covers Project).

The album Stuck Home Syndrome available here! Friends around the Campfire on facebooks here!




The new verse added for this new version:

Once we owned a Gila monster,
But its terrarium was never dry.
So we set it free near Stockton,
Now it lives beneath the sky.

Samoan Characters wearing "Lava-Lavas" in Doonesbury, 1975

There hasn't been much follow-up, blogospherically speaking, from our lost Travel Correspondent, serving on the Navigator's Islands. Jenny Ruth has been writing privately, & I will share some more photos sometime. In the meantime, I've been digging up some of Uncle Duke's adventures as the irresponsible governor of American Samoa from 1970's Doonesbury strips. At one point, Duke procures a football scholarship for a massive Samoan kid, to go to Walden College.

Here is a photo of some of Miss Jenny Ruth's colleagues wearing lava-lavas in church choir. They seem extraordinarily comfortable.

New Decade - New Versions of Old Songs: "I'm Goin' To See My Lord" (Red Hook Version) mp3

I'll start the twenty-preteens with a new recording of a new version of my classic naughties-era song "I'm goin' to see my Lord" (the melody has been altered) - recorded yesterday, which was a palindrome day (01-02-2010). This all for my Friends Around the Campfire Special Electric Ukulele Covers Project - now with a fancy new name for the album, namely Stuck Home Syndrome. How do you like it?

The album Stuck Home Syndrome available here! Friends around the Campfire on facebooks here!

The lyrics were once posted here. Stay tuned for the stirring conclusion to the Stuck Home Syndrome album.

Happy Twenty-Ten, Blogosphere

We didn't quite make our goal (616 posts in 2009, double from the 308 in 2008), despite Grainne's valiant New Year's Eve marathon posting of Young Werner Herzog, his Bulgarious political party narration & other videos. I propose we don't attempt 1232 posts in 2010 - where will it end!? I've been down with a stomach flu all week, but still made it out for Balkan dancing with Brass Menazeri at Berkeley's Ashkenaz, after a roast goose dinner with a dozen good friends. Waking up feeling healthier than the last year is a good omen for the new decade.

And yes it is the New Decade. The first century started at Year One. The second century started at year 100. The first century was only 99 years, because there was no year Zero. This was a solution to the obnoxious 2000/2001 problem, a solution posed by an autistic child (according to Stephen Jay Gould), & the more I think about it, the more I think it's the only right way.

It's also the Tweens, the Obama era, the end of the Naughty Aughties, & an optimistic time for the players of the world. Also for the haters thereof.

Werner: The Catacombs