ABSURD!! By Amanda on October 20, 2008 5:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
I think all my problems with the term "world music" -- I use it as a category left because it is annoyingly convenient, but note the scare quotes -- can be summed up with the fact Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu won "Best World Music Album" at the ARIA's last night.
But he's ...? Um, but it's ... ! So, why ... ? Er, what? (Archie Roach was also nominated.) He was also nom'd for Best Album so it was a safe sop to give him something else which everyone thinks he deserves for it, but O RLY WTF.
I'm also annoyed because I bought a ticket to see Gurrumul at the Opera House and thought it was late October, but I stumbled over the ticket on the weekend and it was ... last Friday. I then proceeded to an anguished Mendoza! moment. Fug.
By Amanda
on October 20, 2008 10:57 AM
To clarify my meaning, Gurrumul is an Indigenous Australian artist singing in his native langauges. I agree his sublime sound fits in well with a lot of what we weakly call "world" music; it reminded me a lot of Andy Palacio's Watina. But that's just because I listen with western ears and its not in my language so privilege ahoy but at least try to realise you're doing it. If you're in Europe or the States, I'll live with the term as shorthand. Why is the peak industry body in Australia labelling him as such though?
The criticism is the label "world music" is that is marginalises non-English langauge, non-agressively mainstream Western recordings -- that stuff just gets to be music plain and simple. The "dance punk" of the Presents belongs just as much to the influences of "the world." Gurrumul was nominated in the Best Album overall category, which is good but if the Australian Recording Industry Awards can't see their way to put an Australian album of Australian music by Australians singing in Australian languages and playing western instruments in a category that makes some bloody sense, something is wrong. Perhaps the label submitted it there, but still doesn't it sound weird?
If you need a sub-category why not the "Roots" one? That's basically just a catch -all these days for any critically approved music for grown-ups.
By Francis Xavier Holden
on October 20, 2008 11:53 AM
I'd be inclined to file him on the shelf next to Antony & The Johnstones and Salif Keita - just because of their voices.
I hope you didn't get all swearingy when you saw the ticket.
Anyway I'd suggest as an excuse that Friday 17th is possibly technically late October as it is over the halfway mark.