Evolution of Western Dance Music (surely this has been posted already?)
rootlesscosmo
12,848 Posts
rootlesscosmo
12,848 Posts
Comments
Dub was invented for DJs to toast (or rap) over at sound system parties, this was a big influence on early hip hop due to the large number of Jamaicans who lived in the Bronx.
To list all of todays sub-genres like they are as important as any historic dance/music movement is ridicules.
Hard House is less important than the black bottom, Charleston, jitterbug, foxtrot, one step, tango, shag, big apple, not to mention the pony, jerk, swim, twist and the Freddie.
Also their graph showing African influences only existing in the new world. No Roma or Indian influences in Europe. In fact, no dance in Europe until 1970 when the first Euro man danced to Synth Pop.
Otherwise great.
Yeah I wast sure about the disco date either.
However, some pre-1975 disco DJs like Francis Grasso sourced a lot of tracks from that era. And those tracks no-doubtably influenced how disco evolved.
Maybe it is in reference to that?
Reciprocal relationship? I think your exaggerating the connection.
Was there some big American Funk response to Fela and Nigeria?
American Funk by the 70's wasnt symbiotic with Nigeria/Fela's music.
The story is, after James Brown heard Fela he added a second drummer and a conga player, or something like that. Anyway, James paid homage to Fela. And Fela was definitely influenced by James.
Bootsy:
"You were young???
Yeah! I was over in Africa when I was 17 years old???
???you???re 17, you???re touring Africa with the greatest band in the world, and you???re going to a club and seeing another one of the greatest bands in the world???
Well actually I thought THEY were the greatest, period. Even before I got into James Brown???s band, the James Brown band was number one to me. But once I got there and saw Fela and them, then I had second thoughts about it. I mean, seriously. The James Brown band reminded me of that same non-stop groove, you know: you gotta move. And then when I heard these cats, it was like another dimension of that. A dimension that I had never experienced before. And it had a deeper feel to me. I couldn???t explain it, you know, but it was something I had been involved with but not as deep. When I heard them, that was the deepest level you could get. That???s the only way I can explain that. Not that I???m doggin??? myself along with the rest of the guys, but that???s the way I felt. When I heard that, it was like, ???Man, this is IT. We gotta try to be like this!??? [laughs] And I knew we couldn???t! We had to be what we were, but at the same time, that was some helluva inspiration. When I got with Parliament and Funkadelic, if you listen to ???Stretchin??? Out,??? that was me playin??? drums. And that was my version of what I had picked up. [laughter]"
www.arthurmag.com/2009/11/02/bootsy-collins/
*Bootsy also says that James never went to the club to listen to Fela, which the rest of the band did every night they were in Lagos.
Is that James Brown & friends connection enough to say there is a reciprocal relationship between the entire American Funk Genre and Nigeria/Fela?
No. Certainly there is a diffuse, historical influence of African music on American R&B/soul/funk, and Fela picked up influence during his time in the US, but nothing like an "exchange" of ideas in any direct way.
It is an interesting question. I think we often overstate and understate influences. The African influence on early jazz sometimes overstated. Classical's influence on early jazz is often understated.
The modern African influence on funk and funk's influence on modern African music gets mentioned as, Fela and James met and influenced each other.
The reality of course is more complex. Musicians listen to wide range of music. In the 50s James and his band members were likely to have heard, calypso and rhumba, in the 60s Ghanian highlife, South African music, bossa nova, samba and Manu Dibango are all things they would have hard. Not to mention all kinds of classical, pop, film music, rock. All of it influenced who they became and how they played.
Same with modern African music. These people weren't running around naked in the woods, and then playing afro beat. They grew up listening to the radio and phonograph and many, like Fela, traveled abroad.
Anyway, James, Fela meeting of the minds and creating a new music is too good of a story to ignore, even if it is overstated.
I like the James/Fela story more than the Robert Johnson devil story.
Like the Shakespeare didn't write his plays theory, RJ/satan theory suggests that RJ was too lower class to have learned to play the guitar himself.
While we are on the subject, I never want to hear how Jimi Hendrix was about to make a great records with:
a) Miles Davis
b) Roland Kirk
c) Gil Evans
d) Jim Morrison
[/pet peeves]
Yes a very good story but dont bloat the story to match some delusional enthusiasm.
Reciprocal as I would interpret it as meaning - there would be an Afro-Beat sub-genre within American Funk or running con-currently alongside it.
My pet peeve is that it's Tommy Johnson's devil story, not Robert Johnson's.
True.