5 Jul
2003
5 Jul
'03
11:18 a.m.
Daniel James wrote:
Surely in a folk tradition there's an assumption that music is passed
on from generation to generation? Musicians' egos aside, I've seen a
greater emphasis on performance than 'originality' or proprietary
authorship in that genre.
What I meant was that if you ask a musician directly, they are often
modest and ready to acknowledge influences, where as the marketing
people come up with all that 'best band in the world' or 'greatest
singer of all time' stuff.
Right, well, this is a salient point. Indeed the right of anyone to Play
any style of music is held by anyone who loves that music. However,
there are certain tunes and lyrics which are effectively GPL'd. Part of
the living folk tradition requires that the song's history is known and
told at each performance (not rigidly adhered to, I know) as is the case
with many Gift Transactions. It is not appropriate either to rewrite the
tune and call it your own, although that is what countless 'pop' artists
have always done, and continue to do. Neither is it especially cool to
perform someone's work and claim that it's 'traditional'.
I was lucky enough to see Tim Rose play just before he died and was
struck by how 'Hey Joe' actually meant something when he sang it. Most
people still ask 'Tim Who?'. So sure most musicians start by learning
'Standards' and many attempts at writing one's own tunes simply end up
as blatant plagiarism. It's hard to find anything new under the sun. But
it can be done.
There is also the issue of use and proper crediting of samples etc..
Sometimes the blatant pirates come up with the most original ideas. Uh,
where were we?
Despite his right to play the blues, I still have a right not to buy
Eric Clapton's music. And anyway, what right has Manu Dibango got to
play Reggae ?~]
>Passing it off as 'new' to people who
aren't
>familiar with the orginals is the fault of marketing and media
>types rather than musicians, in my experience.
>
>
actually its an age-old tradition that goes back to the mediaeval
period and probably further back into world and folk music...