Kokopelli Times » music across cultures

Beyonce, Rated G

Erik Rostad — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Beyonce will be performing a concert in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on October 25th this year. This is noteworthy because just two years ago, she didn’t play a concert because of dress code requirements which went a little something like this:

Female performers are required to cover up in the country, which has various rules for performances, including no foul language, or kissing or hugging audience members of fellow performers.

Cultural norms and expectations are an important consideration for artists performing overseas. This is a high profile case, and somewhat humorous, but artists must be aware of language, hand signals, and dress styles that could all be considered extremely offensive in the wrong context.

In the same manner as doing business in a foreign country, it would be wise for artists to study up on a culture before a concert. It could also be a way to involve the local crowd. For instance, if the country of the concert has a unique musical instrument associated with their culture, it would be a neat option to have a local artists play that instrument on a song or two of yours.

Beyonce could be viewing these restrictions in a negative way, but she could also flip that around and look at the bright side of the culture and try to involve her audience in better ways.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com
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Spanish Live Music

Erik Rostad — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 05:24:00 +0000

There are a few live music initiatives about to take off in Spain. The first one is one in which 19 concerts will be held over 19 days (Dec. 2 – 21) at different small venues around Spain. The event is called “Alternativas en Concierto” and will feature emerging artists and better-known musicians playing at these venues to raise awareness for live music. And the Spanish government is providing some of the financial backing for this project.

The second initiative is to work closely with France to share cultural experiences. The Spanish national association of concert halls, Acces, will meet with the French group called La Fedurok to discuss ways to create awareness of different cultural facets of each country.

These are good initiatives on the part of Spain. One to develop their own music culture in country, and the other to connect with and promote other cultures.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com

Chinese Music Industry

Erik Rostad — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:00:00 +0000

I recently read an article about the lack of diversity in China’s Music Industry. It makes sense as China is a culture that has long valued conformity, through Confucianism and the Cultural Revolution. The article describes how record executives in China basically look at the numbers as to what is being listened to and downloaded, sign those artists, and market the heck out of them. Probably a lucrative way to do things, but the fear is that it is creating a fairly bland music scene in China.

The discussion revolves around the idea of the Long Tail. Chris Anderson of Wired coined the phrase back in 2004 and it refers to a downward sloping curve for most industries. For example, there are a few artists that sell ridiculous amounts of albums (high point of the long tail curve). In a retail setting with limited storage space, stores will pretty much only stock these popular items. However, in a situation where products can be stored in large warehouses or digitally, the cost of storing the not as popular products decreases exponentially, and it becomes very profitable for Amazon, iTunes, and Netflix to offer hard to find items (the long tail – see graph above).

So it does seem that the two influences of conformity and record label actions are affecting the market in China. Because when we compare China to other traditionally conformist cultures such as Japan & Korea, we don’t see the same homogenized music market. Take Japan for instance. They have a popular phrase “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” How’s that for individuality. Yet, a glimpse at their music scene shows a wide variety of music from traditional folk music, to jazz, to modern day Japanese hip hop. And Korea is known throughout the region for their vast cultural exports.

I think this is a very important topic to keep an eye on. As China gains economic might and defines their place in the world, we will really begin to see more cultural exports from their 1.3 billion population. Look at the countries with big money. They are the ones that not only export a number of products, but also export their culture. Yet, the music scene as it is right now in China doesn’t seem like it will produce the variety of music that others around the world will want to consume.

I’m convinced that Chinese musicians will soon find their place and will begin creating music that doesn’t necessarily fit the mold. But it will take courage for bands to go against the mainstream and it will take record label executives with a penchant to risk on the unknown. That will happen soon enough.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com

Communist Music

Erik Rostad — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:40:00 +0000

The U.S. blockade policy towards Cuba is about to be put to the test. And not from cuban cigars or good rum, but from music. Puerto Rico has been named a guest territory for the Cubadisco Music Fair in Havana. The music fair is to take place in May of 2009. The only problems is that Puerto Rico is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States, so technically, no Cuban musicians should be able to ‘export’ their music to U.S.A. territory.

The U.S. blockade against Castro’s Cuba was initiated on February 7, 1962. The blockade covers trade between the U.S. and Cuba as well as cultural exchanges. Therefore, U.S. officials make it difficult for Cuban’s to perform or visit U.S. territory by not offering a visa. So, I guess the big test will come when Cuban fair organizers and musicians apply for their visas in order to perform in Puerto Rico.

Would it be so bad for the U.S. to allow cultural exchanges? I have blogged before about the U.S. government’s role in sending U.S. jazz musicians to closed countries in the 60′s & 70′s as part of a cultural exchange. The NY Philharmonic recently performed in North Korea. Music has the power to transcend political & cultural differences. Perhaps some money goes back and forth, thus disrupting the precious blockade, but more important cultural impact would be occurring between the countries.

I will keep an eye on developments of this story.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com