Critical Review 5

The point of his journey was to bring the banjo back to Africa since a huge misconception in America is that it is a white southern instrument. He visited Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, and Gambia. His engineer Dave played a major role in helping with the recording of the instruments. The documentary also spoke about how important music is to daily life in Africa in that it is everywhere, in death, daily chores, and marriages.
I really enjoyed the documentary and the humility Ben showed towards African musicians. An example of this is when his engineer suggested he sit in front of the other African musicians and he said he did not want to do that he wanted to sit on a stool in the back blend in as much as possible . This reminded me of the Paul Simon discussion we had in class about stage presence and positioning. I was wondering whether the music in the scene where Walusimbi Haruna and Ben were playing and Walusimbi started crying after they finished playing was an improvisational piece or whether they put it together? This scene really struck me because it showed how important the song was and how powerful music can be.

Critical Review 4

The goal of the article was to explain and expand upon world music. Instead of putting people into a box like ethnomusicology does, world music aims to seperate the connection on world music and Western tradition. It does through the hiring of non-Western musicians but as the Author describes, there is a separation within the academy. The author drives at a greater point, saying European ideals in music often end in 'ologies' whereas marginalized or non European groups begin with 'ethno'.

I enjoyed reading the article and especially enjoyed the mention of Hamm and Meintjes because it tied in well to what we had discussed in our previous class. I thought the authors example of Graceland as a perception of world music was interesting because it only linked two cultures granted it did later spread to a wider global audience. When I think of world music in this context I think of an incorporation of many different cultures into one piece of music, not two or three. When I think about it in my own personal way, I believe its fair to say any piece of music is world music and we should not judge it by how many cultures it molds together. Do think world music should be judged by global appeal? If so does the world not miss out on other important cultures of music who may not be able to afford promoting their music?