Something that’s been bugging me for a while now, is the face of music globally. Let me explain. There’s a thread on the U.S. vs Britain in terms of musical influence, talent etc. Whenever I think of greatest musical acts ever, my mind goes straight to The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and the like, artists with global influence renowned throughout the decades.
But here’s the question; the only massive acts I can think of are western. I can’t think of one non-English artist to hold up to the titans I think of straight away. At first I thought this was cultural bias and western ignorance - if asked to think of the greatest authors I go straight to dead white men. Surely there are equivalents to the giants of western music elsewhere, artists with just as much talent and influence in their genres? So I decided to compare books with albums to see if my preconceptions were way off. As predicted, in books worldwide, although English is all over it like a rash there’s still an expected spread of languages; the Xinhua Dictionary, On the Three Representations, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Alchemist, Heidi and so on. But then look at albums worldwide - the closest we get is Abba and Santana! Best selling artists looks a little better, with Germany, France, Italy and Japan having some representation, but still a heavy bias to the west. Of course, sales don’t tell you everything but I figured it was a decent starting point.
So, what I’m asking is; are there foreign parallels to western rock n’ roll, equivalents to our musical titans elsewhere, who we’re just ignorance of (through a western-centric viewpoint, the way the music industry works - perhaps it’s mostly traditional stuff elsewhere that wouldn’t play well to us, cultural barriers etc)? Chinese Elvises, Indian Beatles? Hopefully I’ve expressed myself somewhat eloquently, this has been on my mind for a while.
Sure. We just don’t hear about them unless we go looking. I’m not a world music buff or anything so I don’t know much, but I do know a few.
Latin America, particularly Argentina and Chile, has a rich tradition of Rock and Roll going back to the sixties. The band Soda Stereo in particular were huge throughout the Spanish speaking world in the eighties and nineties.
A venerable old concert venue in my Chicago neighborhood has in recent years turned to booking mostly Spanish language rock acts, and judging by the lines outside does quite well with it.
Well, Germany has been in an interesting position to both influence rock and roll with the uralt polka, people have been playing polkas on guitars- rhythm, lead, and bass- for far longer than rock and roll. And with some of the Earliest Beatles songs. German culture language and POP was probably a huge influence on the Beatles. I kind of wonder who John or Paul might site as their favorite German Band from the time they started.
I mean, Germany was really the typical, after the crossroads, young, bluesin’ period for the Beatles. What songs did they write in Germany?
But they were in good company… ya know who else was big in Germany? Mozart, Ozzy, Bananarama, and David Hasselhoff.
Musical theatre is a huge worldwide venue, with English shows being translated into many, many languages.
Rock and roll is a western form of music and was developed in the UK and US and spread worldwide. Rock bands certainly exist in other countries and other languages, but they always developed from listening to American/British rock. Same for the Blues.
What happened was that a local type of music (rock) caught on internationally. Now there are many types of music all over the world, but they tend to remain where they were developed. Just as an example, there’s Mongolian throat singing, which just never caught on as a popular form. The giants of that genre don’t sell in the US, whereas the Beatles probably sell in Mongolia.
It’s the same with Latin music. It’s popular among hispanics and I assume in South and Central America, but it rarely makes the pop charts in the US; those that do usually use the Latin sounds as an overlay for a rock/pop song.
Some of this is due to the fact that the US media is big and exports all over the world. US and UK acts can get exposure much more easily. There’s also the fact that local forms of music often don’t get recorded, since the recording companies are US and UK based.
Probably no one. Their life in Hamburg didn’t allow them much time to listen to other live acts. They performed seven nights a week, all night. Lennon once said, “There was nobody to copy from.” Besides, all the clubs nearby were doing various versions of American rock and roll.
There are plenty of blogs out there that explore the music of different countries and even let you hear it. Check for them.