Tupac Shakur
...u / 5:10 PM (0) comments Friday, May 28, 2004Someone to identify with... I came across someone who was doing something rather similar to me for the Second essay. In his blog, Leon Cameron says he is exploring the dance music subculture in New Zealand. In a rather similar fashion, i am also exploring a subculture in New Zealand, mine being Hip-Hop. I totally agree with Leon when he says that each music subculture in each different location adds it's own local flavour to it. It is this uniqueness that makes a Kiwi diaspora available in the New Zealand hip hop scene. Jean also advised me during tute to do a reading of an article by Tony Mitchell called 'Flat City Sound' (thanks Jean). Although i am not totally sure what path my essay will take,the option of identifying the nationalist issues in New Zealnd would be a consideration. By this i wish to find out if the 'local' in new Zealand is based on a Kiwi-centric notion or a Christchurch-based notion. Honestly, i have no idea what i am talking about. Maybe the reading will shed some light on this. Posted by: Guru / 2:38 AM (1) comments Wednesday, May 26, 2004The Cat Empire...awesome... Coming from Singapore, all that i knew about music by Australian artistes were Kylie Minogue, Holly Valance, Savage Garden and the odd Silverchair song. But truth be told, most of these artistes are not quintessentially Australian. They were commonly seen as international acts and not as Australians. However, my one and a half year stay here thus far, has exposed me to alot more Australian artistes. And i am beginning to like and enjoy music by Australian artistes more by the day. One particular band that has captured my attention of late is The Cat Empire. What is interesting about this band is it's brand of music. A mix of jazz, Latin, ska and reggae makes for a very pleasant and interesting musical experience. Another aspect of The Cat Empire that captivates me is the fact that they played to sell-out crowds in Melbourne way before they hit the big-time, based on word-of-mouth alone. And the use of The Cat Empire stickers by fans also helped spread their fame. This, to me is such a unique way of promoting one's band. Instead of the conventional way of signing for a big label and then recording an album or single, The Cat Empire's road to success has been really admirable. As i write this post, i am grooving to the tunes of Hello. An awesome song from what i reckon is going to become an awesome band from Australia, whose members say the attitude with which they play is Australian. Another victory for Local against Global. Posted by: Guru / 11:47 PM (0) comments Savage Garden should take a leaf out of this blokes' books During the tute this week, Jean was talking about authencity and drew up a rather comprehensive mind map. Using Australian duo Savage Garden as a reference point, the tute group discussed aspects of the local vs the global with regards to authencity. Now Savage Garden, despite their trashy and mushy mainstream pop music (just my personal opinion), have made it big in the international music arena. However, in that process, they never identified with themselves as Australians. Their background culture was never apparent in their lyrics, physical committment, nor did their video clips illustrate a visual iconic representation of 'place'. You won't be able to hold it against any superficial fan if he or she thought that Savage Garden was actually an American or British band. While doing my research on the hip-hop culture in New Zealand, i came across an article about a hip-hop influenced New Zealand band called Nesian Mystik. For a start, even their name reflects their 'local' identification as 'Nesian' is drawn from Polynesian. Other than that, as this article highlights, the band performed during the World Series wearing T-shirts that reflected each of their backgrounds. As one of their puts it, "we use hip-hop as a mainstream vehicle to push our culture, our identity and our messages". Such dedication to the local elements of one's culture is admirable. It can be argued that if Nesian Mystik makes it big on the global stage, then they may lose their cultural identification and succumb to an American influence. However, looking at their aesthetics i do not think this will be the case, unlike Savage Garden. And in any case, if Nesian Mystik does make it big, the means would have justified the ends. Posted by: Guru / 6:33 PM (0) comments Sunday, May 23, 2004MSTU Essay Two I was initially a little sceptical on the practical relevance of doing weblogs and wondered how such as assessment task would greatly contribute to the attributes expected of us in this course. However all such doubts were quashed as i slowly came to realize how the need to do these bolgs made me read articles on music subcultures and the media. And one such reading, as i had put up in an earlier post, is now going to be the basis of my 2nd essay. In my posting entitled 'Hip-Hop In New Zealand' i had indicated how the hip-hop scene in New Zealand is domesticated, in certain senses of the word. The fans there prefer local fare as opposed to international acts. This got me really thinking, as to why the hip-hop music churned out by local artistes, sells better than those churned out by the mega-stars from America who belong to major record labels and earn millions of dollars. Is is the inherent nature of New Zealand people to support local effort or is it simply a desire to be different and a refusal to succemb to what we have come to know as 'Californication'? (thanks to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers). As such, my argument for this essay will be framed by analysing what is really 'local' about the hip-hop scene in New Zealand which has been described as Kiwi-centric, and by exploring why local fare is preferred to international hip-hop acts, which have set global trends in the field of hip-hop. Posted by: Guru / 2:12 PM (0) comments Power of Lyrics Part II Well i had promised in my eariler blog to explore the importance of lyrics using the example of Rage Against The Machine (RATM). RATM is now defunct, and no matter what people say, they are not the same without Zach de la Rocha, their lead singer. As such, comparisons between RATM and Audioslave are unjustified. But i digress. RATM was a band with very strong political views. Their radical and left-wing ideals were best reflected in their lyrics. I have chosen the song "Bulls Parade" from their "Evil Empire" album to illustrate the role of lyrics in getting across the message a particular band is convey. Here are the lyrics as i know them: This microphone explode, shattering the molds Ya eighter drop the hits like de la o or get the FU** off the commode With the sure shot, sure to make the Bodies drop Drop and don't copy yo, don't call this A co-opt Terror rains drenching, quenching the thirst of The power dons That 5 sided fist-a-gon The rotten sore on the face of mother earth gets Bigger The triggers cold empty your purse They rally round the family With pockets full of shells Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes Not need, just feed the war cannibal animal I walk the corner to the rubble that used to be a Library Line up to the mind cemetery What we don't know keeps the contracts alive and Moving They don't got to burn the books they just remove them While arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells Rally round the family, pockets full of shells Rally around the family With pockets full of shells Bulls on parade As a Political Science student myself, i identified greatly with this song. The lyrics in this song, as in most other RATM songs, highlights the dislike they have for the nature of world politics. This song conveys a depp sense of skepticism to the way conflicts are resolved in the international system, i.e. Wars. Although the lyrics are not blatant, they are comprehensible after some analysis. With such lyrics, RATM will be able to exercise a certain degree of influence on its fans and audience, and help to shape their view on world poitics as well. As such, lyrics in music is not always about some meaningless blabbering like in The Ketchup Song or mushy lovey dovey stuff. It is made of far sterner stuff, and the political implications of RATM songs are great examples of that. Posted by: Guru / 11:50 AM (0) comments Saturday, May 22, 2004The power of lyrics part 1 Lyrics and their importance in issues such as subculture identity and political implications have been discussed in lectures and tutorials as well, during the course of the semester in MSTU2000. I came across an article in Scene Magazine #530 about students from Milpera, Yeronga and Ferny Grove High School releasing a new album titled 'Alafiah-Freedom'. The catch here is that the students who created the album are young asylum seekers and refugees. The songs in the CD carry a message of hope, and was released particularly a time when Australia's official treatment of refugees remain hostile and punitive. The CD carries some powerful lyrics speaking of the struggle for acceptance, for example, "Take our comradeship and courage, our thirst for peace, our hopes for all". With this example, we can see the potential of lyrics; the immense role they lay in getting a message across. Lyrics add a whole new dimension to songs which will otherwise be just musical compositions. Personally, admire bands not only for their musical ability but for the message in their songs as well. One particular example is Rage Against the Machine, whose songs carry very strong political messages. I will explore this in greater detail in another post. Posted by: Guru / 8:33 PM (2) comments The File-Sharing Fracas File-sharing seems to be on everyone's lips these days. The controversy surrounding peer to peer (P2P) file-sharing softwares such as Kazaa have been subject to media scrutiny as well. I have also decided to jump onto the File-sharing bandwagon and add my two-cents worth on it. One of the major focus of the media in Australia as far as file-sharing is concerned is the the raids conducted by the Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) on the Sydney headquarters of Sharman Networks, which is the parent company of Kazaa. Kazaa is widely recognised as the world's largest file sharing network. 3 to 4 million people worldwide use Kazaa to trade files containing music, software or motion pictures from computer to computer. This however takes place without the approval of the copyright holders and according to opponents of P2P this has led to massive losses for the copyright industry. Sharman Networks, on the other hand, insist that it cannot be held accountable for the actions of individuals who use the Kazaa Media Desktop to illegally share files. The battle between multinational record companies and Sharman Network...