One time when I was in college, I attended a music recital.
A white guy sung "Ol' Man River."
A black friend of mine was furious saying that song was his culture's music.
I thought, "Ummm, it's from Showboat. I think that was written by white people."
But I didn't want to start anything with someone who was already so annoyed.
And I sort of saw how it's a song about the struggles of African-Americans. So maybe it was functionally the African-American culture's property.
But at the same time, I knew how deeply the words "Tired of living and scared of dying" resonated with me, and the idea that no matter what, the river just kept rolling along. I might have been privileged, but I knew how that felt.
And I decided that I was never figuring that one out.
And I'm sure singing another culture's song to prove how liberal you are is wrong.
And I couldn't accept that singing another culture's song because it resonated with you and you understood it and you felt what it wanted you to feel was anything but right.
But I never got any farther with the issue.
Thoughts?
CC
CORRECTION: I initially wrote that the song was from "Porgy and Bess." I thank RLC for his quick email setting me straight.
10 comments:
Well you *could* have done an ever so U*U free and responsible search for the truth of just which musical 'Old Man River' came from before making that mistake CC. Had you done so you might have found some very interesting material about the cultural appropriation of 'Old Man River' that I expect you would have been quite pleased to have stumbled upon.
Sikh and ye shall find. . .
Shrug. I probably should have verified it, but I thought I knew. Porgy and Bess was a different melancholy musical about African Americans that was also set in the south and had somewhat similar music. (Which isn't a suprise given that the shows were written less than 10 years apart.)
I looked it up as soon as I was corrected and fixed it.
I'm not sure what you mean with your comment about "some very interesting material about the cultural appropriation of 'Old Man River". I don't even know which culture you're saying appropriated it given that it was written by white guys for a black guy to sing and it has been recorded by a variety of people both black and white and of both genders. The lyrics have changed to omit the N-word and eventually, to omit the word "darkies" that had replaced it, though several singers omitted that section all together. (Which strikes me as the more prudent approach.)
And I have no idea what to make of it being recorded in Hindi from a cultural appropriation perspective, other than that it speaks to people all over the world.
CC
I think "appropriation" is fine when it respects and relates to the original context. For example, I thought it was awesome that "Moulin Rouge!" included cuts from a Bollywood song, because the style of the movie was so utterly Bollywood and "Hindi Sad Diamonds" was like a wink acknowledging that.
In contrast, I was a little annoyed by the brief trend in wearing bindis. On the one hand, they have become partly a fashion thing in India, and you can get them as stickers in any color with rhinestones, etc. On the other hand, they retain a strong religious meaning for Hindus (you always put on a bindi using the traditional powder when at prayers), and I never got the sense from Gwen Stefani that she was actually engaged with that meaning; she just saw it at a party of Indian people, thought it was cool and decided to stick one on.
With regard to "Ol' Man River," I would consider the original Hammerstein lyrics/Kern music to be a bizarre claim for cultural appropriation. As you point out, they were white guys. However, I would consider Paul Robeson's alterations to the original to be an important aspect of African American culture, precisely because of the original's reference to "niggers" and its hackneyed attempt at reproducing black modes of speech. Robeson recreated the song for his stage performances with his normal way of saying words, though he had to sing it the way white folks wanted to hear it for the movie version.
However, I would consider the non-appropriating original lyrics (which contain the line CC likes) to be much more offensive for a white person to sing than Robeson's version (which changes that line to "But I keeps laughin', instead of cryin'; I must keep fightin', until I'm dyin'").
I intended to comment, but just kept droning on (big shock) so I posted it on my blog instead.
FWIW, the white guy who sung it did not sing it in a faux African-American accent and ommitted any racial references.
I had missed that Robeson changed "tired of living, and scared of dying" and I'm sorry he did that. While the rest of his changes make a lot of sense, the vulnerability of a powerful bass voice singing about how he was scared of dying was one of the reasons the song resonated with me.
Making it about fighting isn't nearly as powerful, IMHO.
And I do get what you're saying about the Bindi.
CC
I would also say that Gwen Stefani wore a Bindi because it was exotic and cool, which puts it roughly in the category of "And I'm sure singing another culture's song to prove how liberal you are is wrong."
I probably should have written that a little more broadly.
CC
Music has, at times, been considered the great leveler and one would hope it remains that way.
:I'm not sure what you mean with your comment about "some very interesting material about the cultural appropriation of 'Old Man River". I don't even know which culture you're saying appropriated it given that it was written by white guys for a black guy to sing and it has been recorded by a variety of people both black and white and of both genders.
I was obviously referring to the fact that the song 'Ol' Man River' had been appropriated by Hindus and the river changed from the Mississippi to the Ganges as my "Sikh and ye shall find" hint strongly, albeit somewhat inaccurately, suggested.
Ah, I went looking for what the Sikhs had done with it specifically and didn't find anything.
So it wasn't obvious to me.
But while I do see what PG is saying about Bindis on Gwen Stefani, I don't have a problem with the song being adapted into Hindi because it also speaks to people halfway around the world.
IMHO, that's a tribute to the song's power and beauty.
The problem is, it's not all that black and white. There are gray areas where the difference between a song speaking to someone and that person just wanting to be exotic is much more subtle.
I'm inclined to mostly trust people's motives and assume that they are using music because it is powerful and reverent rather than crying cultural imperialism. But that would take away the fun of finger-pointing and accusing people of things.
The appeal of that is also, regrettably, universal.
CC
The appeal of that is also, regrettably, Unitarian*Universalist. . . ;-)
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