I have an interview with Ulick O`Conner and a piece on Herbert Huncke in Joe Ambrose's forthcoming Chelsea Hotel Manhattan book and the book on Hassan I Sabbah, Hashishin that myself and Joe wrote will be out this year. I am also currently working on a detailed study of the Irish revolutionary movement the Irish Republican Brotherhood or Fenian Brotherhood and their involvement in the Irish Land War 1879-83.
And here endeth the interview. Many issues have been covered and opinions given. I hope this has enabled the context as well as the content of the Destroy All Rational Thought DVD to be examined and discussed, as the Here To Go Show has proved to be a unique and powerful event.
The controversy surrounding of The Master Musicians of Joujouka /Jajouka continues. Notable is the sporadic popularity of a “Jajouka” band, led by Bachir Attar, whose father was a Master Musician of Joujouka. Attar`s musicians have toured and enlisted the support of the likes of Talvin Singh, whose own music adorns the coffee tables of many around the world.
Of particular interest to me in this is the talismanic significance of the position of a 'celebrity in production and promotion' of Bachir Attar`s Jajouka band. This is of considerable value, indeed heavy with currency, suggesting to the consumer cultural and authentic worthiness. Adding a celebrity producer enhances an aura of authenticity, according to Philip Schuyler`s interesting essay on Moroccan Music and Euro-American Imagination, to the industry`product`, ie, in this case, to Attar and Singh`s Jajouka CD. It follows that one can be lead to believe without said 'celebrity', the product is therefore 'lacking' (in the consumer`s eyes) in the marketplace, i.e. the World Music Section in the supermarket, or, the full page advert in Mondomix, for example. Schulyer proposes that the addition of 'celebrity' is one of a group of signifier`s within the Music industry (1).
The term, World Music, being a Music industry created niche market. These signifiers are included, contrived, or attached to instill the attributes of authenticity, spirituality and originality in the product, making it an attractive purchase and legitimizing consumption of the product. The extent to which the village and the people of Joujouka fully feel the impact of sales, in the bettering of their lives and in preserving their cultural heritage, is difficult to establish. That is a fascinating piece of work I intend to research in the future.
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