What is the whitest song ever?

Jack-Flash-Jr · 2011-02-23T11:34:57+00:00

Watched an awful movie last night (too embarrassed to name it) in which Chris Rock calls Fleetwood Mac's Sentimental Lady the "whitest song ever". My persona...

What is the whitest song ever?

Renesongs

Since all contemporary music (including metal) have a genesis in blues which I have mentioned before is a cultural collision maybe the true judge of what makes music white would be is the music aimed at a white audience. Obviously Bok van Blerk Steve Hoffmeyer and heaps of American rendeck music would fit the bill. But what about Elvis Presley Buddy Holly The Beach Boys and all that dooh wha sh*t - totally aimed at the white market. Then you start asking what is the predominant colour of rock music (remember the British invasion) Even black artist such as Hendrix, Lenny Kravits, Michael Jackson and Prince could be seen as having a predominantly white audience. So when you ask "what is the whitest song ever" be ready to get some inconvenient truths about the language of music put into the clutches of demographics and marketing.

Warren

Renesongs wrote: ...Michael Jackson...

Michale Jackson was black??

Wizard

Renesongs wrote: When the West African slaves eventually had access to musical instruments ...

IMHO the pentatonic scale was derived from musical intervals that could be tuned easily in terms of perfect 5ths.
Most ancient cultures mastered the tuning by octaves ... then by 5ths by tuning by ear.
There are some rocks (believe it or not) found in the Sahara dating back thousands of years that were ground out to resonate to a perfect 5ths tuning ...

The anthropology (at least according to my Malian teacher) was that the West African slaves took their rhythms and tunes to the West Indies and Deep South which morphed itself into Reggae and Blues.

I surely misunderstand you Rene where you imply that the slaves had to go to America to get access to musical instruments?

Renesongs

I surely misunderstand you Rene where you imply that the slaves had to go to America to get access to musical instruments?

AFAIK In the Americas slaves were forbidden from playing any form of musical instrument indigenous or otherwise because the slave mastered feared that they might be inciting rebellion.For many generations until the abolition of slavery West African slaves kept there musical tradition through "work" songs, some slave masters even found singing to be seditious.

By the time slavery was abolished the freemen were able to take up musical instruments again it was the western instruments, Piano, Banjo, Guitar fife and drum they had to adjust to instruments that were not tuned in perfect fifths but to the imperfect equal temperament. This resulted in some indecision as to the relationship of third and the fifth to the tonic when compared to the the oral tradition and hence the use of the "blue" note(s)

Wizard

Renesongs wrote: AFAIK In the Americas slaves were forbidden from playing any form of musical instrument indigenous or otherwise because the slave mastered feared that they might be inciting rebellion.

And they were right.
Look what happened when Jimi picked up a guitar ?

Bob-Dubery

Renesongs wrote:
I surely misunderstand you Rene where you imply that the slaves had to go to America to get access to musical instruments?
AFAIK In the Americas slaves were forbidden from playing any form of musical instrument indigenous or otherwise because the slave mastered feared that they might be inciting rebellion.For many generations until the abolition of slavery West African slaves kept there musical tradition through "work" songs, some slave masters even found singing to be seditious.

It varied from state to state. In fact when slaves were first taken to North America there was no United States as we know it now. There were separate colonies, with separate governments and different policies in many regards. In particular Louisiana allowed slaves to celebrate their culture, and publicly, to a far greater degree than most other states/colonies.

Hammeron

Warren wrote:
Renesongs wrote: ...Michael Jackson...
Michale Jackson was black??

Jackson was born black and died white

arjunmenon

Anything by Chicago ?

singemonkey

One of the great hybrid instruments is the banjo. An African instrument made in the style of a European instrument.

This is a big part of why I do not dig classical metal. It circumvents the vast contribution to the expansion of our musical menu by leaving out the African influence. It's like all the foods of the new world. Imagine cutting out tomatoes, chillies, cucumber, pineapple, potatoes - all for some arbitrary reason. I love original European classical music which did unbelievable things, but it's less sophisticated than African influenced music (Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Django Reinhard, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, for example) because the menu they were working from was poorer.

The polyrhythms. The strange intervals. The central role of improvisation. All that stuff made music richer. Throwing that out to me seems like self-flagellation.

arjunmenon

singemonkey wrote: One of the great hybrid instruments is the banjo. An African instrument made in the style of a European instrument.

This is a big part of why I do not dig classical metal. It circumvents the vast contribution to the expansion of our musical menu by leaving out the African influence. It's like all the foods of the new world. Imagine cutting out tomatoes, chillies, cucumber, pineapple, potatoes - all for some arbitrary reason. I love original European classical music which did unbelievable things, but it's less sophisticated than African influenced music (Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Django Reinhard, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, for example) because the menu they were working from was poorer.

The polyrhythms. The strange intervals. The central role of improvisation. All that stuff made music richer. Throwing that out to me seems like self-flagellation.

The origins of Delhi Belly ?

Bob-Dubery

singemonkey wrote: I love original European classical music which did unbelievable things, but it's less sophisticated than African influenced music (Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Django Reinhard, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, for example) because the menu they were working from was poorer.

The polyrhythms.

Well they don't have many parrots in europe. Especially the species that can dance on a drum.

singemonkey

Arjun Menon wrote:
singemonkey wrote: One of the great hybrid instruments is the banjo. An African instrument made in the style of a European instrument.

This is a big part of why I do not dig classical metal. It circumvents the vast contribution to the expansion of our musical menu by leaving out the African influence. It's like all the foods of the new world. Imagine cutting out tomatoes, chillies, cucumber, pineapple, potatoes - all for some arbitrary reason. I love original European classical music which did unbelievable things, but it's less sophisticated than African influenced music (Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Django Reinhard, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, for example) because the menu they were working from was poorer.

The polyrhythms. The strange intervals. The central role of improvisation. All that stuff made music richer. Throwing that out to me seems like self-flagellation.
The origins of Delhi Belly ?

Hmm yes. The thought of living in a world without chillies gives me weird anxious feelings. Mmm... Gonna make myself a fried egg on toast smeared in habanero pulp.

Jack-Flash-Jr

singemonkey wrote:
Arjun Menon wrote:
singemonkey wrote: One of the great hybrid instruments is the banjo. An African instrument made in the style of a European instrument.

This is a big part of why I do not dig classical metal. It circumvents the vast contribution to the expansion of our musical menu by leaving out the African influence. It's like all the foods of the new world. Imagine cutting out tomatoes, chillies, cucumber, pineapple, potatoes - all for some arbitrary reason. I love original European classical music which did unbelievable things, but it's less sophisticated than African influenced music (Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Django Reinhard, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, for example) because the menu they were working from was poorer.

The polyrhythms. The strange intervals. The central role of improvisation. All that stuff made music richer. Throwing that out to me seems like self-flagellation.
The origins of Delhi Belly ?
Hmm yes. The thought of living in a world without chillies gives me weird anxious feelings. Mmm... Gonna make myself a fried egg on toast smeared in habanero pulp.

So? How was it?

Tonedef

Jack Flash Jr wrote: So? How was it?

He'll tell you in about 12 hours time.

singemonkey

I discovered left-over coq-au-vin instead. ?

But it's always awesome. The Fat Cactus gives me this habanero pulp they have, because the hot sauces in the super-market should be sued for false advertising.

[deleted]

Fat Cactus poppers and frozen margaritas FTW.

On topic, surely the whitest song ever was done by John Cage?

Jack-Flash-Jr

Stratisfear wrote: Fat Cactus poppers and frozen margaritas FTW.

On topic, surely the whitest song ever was done by John Cage?

Don't get all fancy on us now. The quietest song was definitely done by him...

singemonkey

Nope. It was Nick Cave's, Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow.