tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post5159942391117730199..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Friday MiscellaneaBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-30589028233538823732018-03-11T09:58:26.385-05:002018-03-11T09:58:26.385-05:00Valuable comments, as always, Christopher. We do l...Valuable comments, as always, Christopher. We do live in a challenging and transitional cultural moment when so many of the methods and practices of progressivism make classical music problematic. The fact that so much of the great repertoire of the West was inspired by religion is likely a barrier in places like China. But has the same been true in Japan, where Western classical music has been very widely appreciated since WWII? I can see a situation where for decades the religious side of classical music might be ignored until it is "rediscovered" and performances of the Bach Mass in B minor, the requiems by Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi and Fauré take the world by storm. Not to mention the Monteverdi Vespers...<br /><br />I admit that I wrote that little dig at Islamic music with an eye to seeing if there would be comments. I am certainly not familiar with much Islamic music, but I have heard some fine examples and even written about them here. There was some extraordinary singing from Pakistan, for example, on a vinyl disc from the 1982 WOMAD festival but I cannot recall the name of the singer I was listening to. (I just followed up on your mention of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and he was in fact the singer on that disc.) There are two discs of Andalusian music from Morocco in a box I have and I wrote about that music here:<br /><br />http://themusicsalon.blogspot.mx/2016/01/listening-to-non-western-music.html<br /><br />I suspect that Islam itself might have a bigger problem with Islamic music than we do as quite often the first thing following an Islamic revolution is the banning of all music (and education for women). Candidly, while some of the music from Islamic cultures is interesting, passionate and engaging, much of it to me seems tedious, haphazard and drearily similar.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-18902248032615091842018-03-10T20:09:24.159-06:002018-03-10T20:09:24.159-06:00"In the interests of multiculturalism we real..."In the interests of multiculturalism we really need to also acknowledge all those great pieces of music that were inspired by Islam, do we not?"<br /><br />There is certainly a great deal of it around. My own personal example is that long ago I was buying all the volumes of Smithsonian Folkways’ <i>Music of Central Asia</i> series out of a casual interest in the region. This series was funded by the Aga Khan, the leader of the Ismaili sect of Islam. Volume 2, <i>The Invisible Face of the Beloved</i> documenting the shashmaqam genre of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, ended up becoming one of my desert island discs. I was just floored by what I heard. Then on trips to the region I’ve collected a substantial amount of shashmaqam recordings now. These suites generally consist of poetry from poets like Rumi and Hafiz, interspersed with settings of lighter folk texts that are meant to be a rest from all that devotional intensity. <br /><br />I spent this past winter in Morocco and Senegal. Morocco’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnawa_music" rel="nofollow">gnawa</a> genre isn’t really my thing, but it seems to attract a lot of Westerners these days, and its performers are overtly inspired by their religious beliefs. Then, in Senegal, a lot of the mbalax repertoire is on Muslim spiritual themes because the musician – Youssou N’Dour for example – is affiliated with one of the Sufi lineages that are so influential in that country.<br /><br />The cultural impact of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and, <b>vastly</b> more so, Umm Kulthum is hard to overestimate, and both of them sang spiritual repertoire.<br /><br />Lord knows I’m no friend of Islam as a belief system, but a great deal of music that appeals to hundreds of millions of people around the world comes from musicians who feel their work flows from Islam.Christopher Culverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13497448580399752587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-83099139941190087312018-03-10T19:54:04.858-06:002018-03-10T19:54:04.858-06:00"how can anyone listen to music of the West w..."how can anyone listen to music of the West without acknowledging religion as one of its chief sources and inspirations etc."<br /><br />China is often seen as the great hope for classical music. If you want audiences in China to grow because audiences elsewhere are shrinking, then bring too much attention on the religious aspect might be counterproductive. I remember once talking from some musicians who had been leading performances of Western early music in China, that they had to be <i>very</i> careful with how they presented these works, because the fact that they had patently religious texts already drew suspicion from the authorities.Christopher Culverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13497448580399752587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-63864890531124981192018-03-10T08:40:53.522-06:002018-03-10T08:40:53.522-06:00Thanks, Jives! Yes, what irks is that we are const...Thanks, Jives! Yes, what irks is that we are constantly being told that second and third tier women composers must be honored and celebrated while second and third tier male composers are just part of the patriarchal hegemony. Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-56937828036364764652018-03-09T22:06:58.048-06:002018-03-09T22:06:58.048-06:00from the Guardian....Today, International Women’s ...from the Guardian....Today, International Women’s Day, you might hear her music on Radio 3 or be reading about her, but why is she, and so many of her female contemporaries, not celebrated every day? It’s not for lack of ambition, talent or accomplishment.<br /><br />Well, I just did a youtube sampling of Augusta Holmes and I think it's abundantly clear why she is not celebrated every day, or programmed by major orchestras. She is a competent composer with a good grasp of orchestration. But I don't find anything particularly inspiring or ravishing in her music to last the ages, and in the tide of history, minor figures such as she will naturally fall into obscurity. Let's not forget the multitudes of 2nd and 3rd tier Male composers who suffered the same fate. <br /><br />Jiveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02430049896063808671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-9888371137532020452018-03-09T08:45:35.902-06:002018-03-09T08:45:35.902-06:00Heh! There are at least three women composers that...Heh! There are at least three women composers that I listen to with pleasure, or real interest, at least: Elizabeth Maconchy, Sofia Gubaidulina and Galina Ustvolskaya. Not because they are women, of course, but simply because they wrote interesting music. Listening to music simply because it was composed by a woman seems to me to be a category error. Or a merely political act.<br /><br />In the interests of multiculturalism we really need to also acknowledge all those great pieces of music that were inspired by Islam, do we not? Like, uh... give me a minute here...Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-83539748888246302132018-03-09T08:20:30.252-06:002018-03-09T08:20:30.252-06:00Having killed my Facebook account, and looking abo...Having killed my Facebook account, and looking about for reasonable alternatives, I found Diaspora, which, apart from the fact that no one I know uses it, has certain advantages. Anyway, the point is that I have become acquainted there with someone who... <i>only listens to music composed by women</i>. It is possible to do this, evidently, with a strong enough will.<br /><br />And I meant to reply to Will's comment earlier in the week-- indeed, indeed! how can anyone listen to music of the West without acknowledging religion as one of its chief sources and inspirations etc etc. I get a crick in my neck occasionally from so much shaking of the head. :-)Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.com