What is the source you tap into when you create music? Or does Michelangelo's theory of sculpture apply? He believed that the statue is already in the stone, and it's up to the artist to see it and release it?
Harmer: I don't create music. I respond to it.
DJ Luna: I see a song as that stone. I mold it into a mix. Those songs become the sculpture that was already there, but the next gig I do, there’s a whole new beautiful statue in the same stone just waiting to be created. Like Play-Doh, you just keep remolding, breaking, twisting, shaping the sounds.
Sipho: My heart and soul.
LaBlanc: No one ‘creates’ music. It's just out there, part of the human experience. Some of us are like antennas; we can, from time to time tap into the muses, or the collective unconscious, or whatever. Kind of like a psychic. I don't sit down and say, ‘I'm going to write a song about runaway brides.’ That's a different talent. And you'll notice that almost all of these clever lyrical parodies use a real song's music to carry them.
Patty Boss: The first source is the emotion, being moved or triggered by something else. It could be a chord progression someone else is playing. And if it is, I will hear the melody in my head, just little notes at a time, and in a way, I play as I hear it in my head. Like channeling? Sometimes it is energy, where you might just have energy to express, in a kinetic sense. This might be playing a scale, and this is why I love a fast jazz solo, as a listener, an admirer. When I watch a soloist busting out something incredible and kinetic at a live show, my nostrils flare, and I get a burning in my belly. I get nauseous and angry. This is one of the impetuses to study music, to attempt to gain some technique, because when the storm comes and you need to feel the storm come through you, this is when having skills really can come in handy. When there is no actual technically learned skill, there can still be one note. One note played monotonously, over and over like a ticking clock, or a jackhammer, or like the waiting for the return of a loved one. A second is an hour, and one hour is a day. One day is an eon. And so, the note is plucked over and over, slow and steady, monotonously.
Article comments
1 - Lolo
Luna, your point-of-view on the question about proficiency vs. emotion gave me pause. But dj sets are all about emotion--stirring it up and gauging and directing it from the dj booth. Maybe I take back what I said about profiency being boring. It all depends on how you use it, right?
2 - Cerulean
Who are these people? Who are they to mpho?
3 - mpho
Cerulean, I'm not entirely sure why that's relevent. Basically, they are people who are accessible to me. If you want "credentials," their bios are included in part I. It's not really any more complicated than that they are people I know who have some connection to music who were willing to share their opinions on and experiences of what music is, what it takes to create it, and why it music touches (some) people so deeply even if most of us never get to be rock stars or concert pianists or reknowned virtuosos of one kind or another. They're my personal heros 'cause they're not in it for the money, though I'm sure none of them would be above it if it came their way, and not a few of them would deserve it if it did. Does that help? Thanks for reading.
4 - HW Saxton
Interesting post, great reading. I just
have to refute Lolo about westerners not
being able to name any Nigerian artists.
I LOVE African music especially that of
Ghana & Nigeria (the best Funk & Hip Hop
in West Africa).
Here's some of the Nigerian artists that
this westerner likes. HipHop:Plantashion
Boyz,Styl-Plus,Remedies,Zakky and Sunny
Nneji.
Other Asstd Highlife,AfroBeat,Juju & Pop
- I.K Dairo,Oliver de Coque,King Sunny
Ade,Majek Fashek,Celestine Ugwu,Mamman
Shata, E.T. Mensah,The Funkees,Stephen
Osadebe,Fela(+Tony Allen,Femi et.al),The
Oriental Bros, Ebeneezer Obey and Tony
Tertula to name a few.
5 - Mark Saleski
i printed both of these out and will be digesting them tonight.
some of the stuff expressed here is related to a 'what is music'-kinda thing that i've been working on.
6 - Zen Slinger
Mpho is qualified because she is the love child of Bitches' Brew-era Miles himself.
7 - Mike
You are a very thought provoking writer....
8 - youngster
Great and hilarious. and so true! do these people know eachother?
Is there still a place for rebellion in music?
Lolo: Authentic rebellion? god, I sure hope so otherwise there is no hope for anything at all.
Patty Boss: Fuck you!
9 - mpho
Saxton, I don't know if your comment refutes mine. If anything it shows that you're a pretty hip guy when it comes to the soundz of Ghana, Nigeria, etc. But I don't think I have to tell you that the artists you've named are hardly household names in most American households. Meanwhile, thanks for the list. Other than King Sunny Ade and Femi, I'm not familar with them. I'll look forward to checking 'em out.
Youngster, actually Lolo and Patty Boss do know each other but neither of them saw the other's response until they were posted together. I didn't do anything other than pose the questions and a little lite editing, including ordering the responses. I liked the Patty Boss "fuck you" too!
Zen Slinger - I shake my head at you. My connection to Miles is supposed to be our little secret, remember? ;)
Mike -- thank you for the compliment.
10 - HW Saxton
MPHO, Thamks for the reply. Refute might
not have been the right word that I was
looking for. I just wanted to let y'all
know that some westerners got some soul.
Nigeria is totally a musical hotbed and
Ghana too. African Hip Hop is the bomb.
When they talk about politics it isn't
just posturing or getting harassed by
racist cops. It's on the lines of your
friends/family etc. disappearing, being
killed in riots and so forth.Chilling is
what it is. Plus the beats are HEAVY as
all hell drawing on samples of Fela,Femi
and Manu Dibango (from Cameroon)amongst
others.Then throw in traditional tribal
drumming patterns,pumped up bass and old
808's (a lot of their gear is old giving
it that early/mid 80's sound)on top and
you got some FON-KAY ass music.JJC & The
419 Squad are Nigerian transplants to
the UK and are great also.They mix Soca,
Latin,Dancehall,Dub in with the funk and
really go off.Worth checking out. I can
tell by your posts you have a very deep
appreciation and understanding of music
and the big picture so you would dig all
that Nigerian stuff I listed (some is
pretty old from the early 60's right up
to the present and Hiphop guys like Tony
Tetuila (I misspelled his name earlier).
Nigerian music has sub genre after sub -
genre like how Juju,Apala and Fuji are
all similar but different. Juju & Apala
are Yoruban with Cuban influence.Fuji is
kind of a mix of Juju & Apala but it's
without the latin influence and they are
all related to Highlife music. Anyways
thanks for responding. Your articles are
some of the best things I've read around
here in a long long time.I hope to see
much more. Peace out.
11 - HW Saxton
Speaking of other Nigerian musicians::::
I forgot to mention Orlando Julius. He's
so muthaf***in' funky. Even funkier than
Fela at times and that's saying a lot.
If Fela is the the king of the Afro-Beat
sound (he did basically invent it)then
Orlando is the Crown Prince. Orlandos's
tune "James Brown Ride On" is as good as
it gets.
12 - Shark
mpho, nice series; thanks for the effort.
misc. Sharkian comments:
->Love to hear that [some] contemporary musicians still have an historical, eclectic perspective.
->In general, Patty Boss was my favorite: smarter that the other three put together -- and the one I wouldn't mind getting stranded with in an elevator. (my main criteria for judging the worth of bipeds, btw)
-> Some of the questions made me want to gouge out my eyes with a rusty melon baller, but you knew that -- right? And I understand writing questions about something as ethereal as music is a bitch.
Good work in general, tho!
xxoo
S
======
PS: I was thinking: one could put together quite a musical roundtable from our locals such as...
HW Saxton
Duke de Mondo
Mark Seleski
Eric Olsen
Marty Dodge
Lono
uao
...and a few others I can't remember at the moment.
Blogcritics has some pretty knowledgeable folks on board.
13 - Shark
re: "...Michelangelo's theory of sculpture apply? ...statue is already in the stone, and it's up to the artist to see it and release it?"
And you've heard the joke, right?
A visitor asks the sculptor how he makes a giant elephant out of marble.
"You just chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant."
== forgive me, kids! ==
14 - Cerulean
It was a prefectly reasonable question but I knew it would be an answer like that.
15 - mpho
cerulean, i should have just said "kindred spirits" and left it at that.