I am so sick of this little phenomenon. Art Fair is upon me again and once again this little roving band of musicians from–I don’t know where, Ecuador? Peru? is wandering around playing at various corners. I used to like this crap until one year they PARKED themselves underneath my office window and I had to listen to it for three days straight.
oooooh, they’re so cultural… oooh, look at the cool clothes they are wearing, do you think he wove that blanket himself?.. ooooo, that recorder sounds so great…oooo, what a marvelous rain stick… let’s all feel good about ourselves for supporting aboriginal folk art forms like music… ooo, I feel so GOOD about my liberal self! If my hands weren’t so full of these leaflets I picked up on ecology and oppressive authoritarianism, I’d reach right around and pat myself on my organic-fabric clad back!
Actually, this is the same band that plays in every subway stop in every major city in the world. You could see them in Budapest, Prague, Paris, Tokyo, Ulaan Bataar, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, London, Amsterdam - EVERYWHERE - keep naming cities, and they will be there!!! I’m convinced that they are some kind of supernatural phenomenon. When I get off the plane in Chicago in 2 weeks I’m sure I will spot them within 24 hours of residence in the city.
All of this does not alter the fact that they suck.
And no, I won’t buy the fucking cassette tape of Peruvian flute music that you pull from your picturesquely dirty serape. I’ll pay you all to shut the fuck up and play somewhere else!
When I was in Peru, I was with a group of people in a restaurant in Cuzco. Then a local band comes in and starts playing, the song that reminds you of that Simon and Garfunkle tune. Anyways, the band plays for a couple of minutes and then they start moving around the restaurant to collect tips. Only one or two people at out table tip them, and they crowd around our table and start playing again. The same fucking, llama felching song. We are done with our meal and pay and leave The band follow us out on to the street and keep playing the song. We start moving and the band is right on our heels. We start to run and the band is running behind us still playing, or trying to play the fucking song. That was one of my more unique memories of South America.
funny thing is, if you go to south american, you’ll find roving bands of strolling minstrels, wearing blue jeans and flannel shirts, jamming to classic rock…
Bruce Diickinson, foormer (and now current again) singer for Iron Maiden opened a European tour for Lynyrd Skynyrd. A fan posted in a metal newsgroup about how he wanted to see Bruce but didn’t know anything about the headliners.
Someone responded: “They are a south american band.”
Gotta love Europeans!
Yer pal,
Satan
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HA! I’m glad I wasn’t drinking a soda or anything or I would have had a mighty sticky monitor. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in days. Thanks Adam.
Ever see the King of the Hill episode where they go to Mexico? Hank and Kahn are in a bar, and this mariachi band gets right up in their face. Hank leaves, but Kahn responds by singing “She Blinded Me With Science” at them. (For those who aren’t familiar with KOTH, English isn’t Kahn’s first language, plus he has an annoying voice, both lugubrious and nasal. And he’s just plain obnoxious. “Hey hillbilly neighbor!”
Just thought I’d take this opportunity to plug one of my favorite bands, “Los Amigos Invisibles” from Venezuela. Their album, “The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera” absolutely rocks. It’s got tons of diverse influences, salsa, bossa nova, funk, disco, house… David Byrne was involved in the production and getting it some publicity here. I’ve had the album for at least a year and a half, maybe more, so I don’t know if they qualify for some current fad as called out in the OP, but this is a great album and worth checking out.
Music is like a dog. You keep breeding it and inter-breeding it until you’ve got this deformed inbred mutt named Backstreet Boys. So it’s about time we got some third person influences, cuz our musical culture is getting inbred as hell. Haven’t you ever noticed that they all look the same?
And while I am getting kind of sick of the South America craze, that’s mainly because of Enrique Martin and Ricky Iglesias. Or as I like them, the I Love Lucy twins.
I mean, I do often enjoy real genuine latin music or some of the stuff from Peru and Ecuador. Some of it is great shit, but like all music, most of it sucks.
But I do agree with you on one thing, the people who wear culture like clothes. It’s all in the pursuit of self righteousness. But different people pursue it in different ways. Some people find it in condemning others for polluting and being culture nazis. Others find it in criticizing the culture nazis on a message board. Still others, like myself, just say “fuck it” and criticize all of the above.
