By: Phoebe Smolin

[Trying to Rule The] World Music

At First…

• Cumbancha= Exception?•Single Artists= More Focus on individual issues/ specific place.•Pure aid in production, not ownership.•Raw sound.•Creative.

•Finally something that recognizes/celebrates difference.•Music= communication. •Truly helped the causes that the musicians fight for.

What Changed My MindWHO

“Latin, Bulgarian, whatever world

music was trendy that week.”

John Cusak High Fidelity

“Latin, Bulgarian, whatever world

music was trendy that week.”

John Cusak High Fidelity

Jacob Edgar: Elitist-In-Denial

• Anti-Academic (but actually the embodiment of academic)•“The very fact that ethnomusicological expertise was needed to guarantee the authenticity of what was being sold called into question the notion of authenticity, itself. It was soon clear, for example that “the authentic” worked in retail terms as a redescription of the exotic” –Frith

•Privileged (Farmhouse in Vermont)•The only face of Cumbancha. No Help, apparently. • World= bite-sized variety pack “The good thing about working on the show is I get to do crazy things I might not otherwise do on a trip, like stay in a Maharaja’s palace in Rajasthan, get Dancehall lessons in a gang-ridden ghetto in Jamaica, eat bulls testicles and so on… (wearepanel.com)•Inherently sees the world as a product that he has authority over

•On Putumayo’s Mali Album: “A lot of people believe Mali will be the next Cuba” (putumayo.com)

• Claims to hate the label “World Music,” but acknowledges the necessity of using it so people will understand what he’s marketing (interview with momcultureonline.com, 5/21/2010).

The Harsh Reality of World Music

• Hierarchies are apparent the more he tries to make them disappear.

•Musical Hegemony• OTHERNESS, Marketing Poverty, Third-World Music•Why does the U.S. have to be the definition of success?

•Selectivity= manipulation=placelessness•Marketing Vs. Sharing•Creates romanticized and simplified identities.

Conclusions

• Localizing global music: why do Anglo-Americans get to start these labels? What if they started sponsoring people to start labels in their home countries and enter the world stage that way?

•Foster communication, not ownership.•Still agree that music can be used as communication, but I think marketing techniques taint that idea.•Record labels are inherently hierarchical and can’t be trusted to show you the world you can’t quality control the truth!

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