Music By The People For The People

MUSIC BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE
This CD is a compilation of different artists who boisterously expressed their political views and sexual identity through their music and made a difference in the social consciousness of present day society. The purpose of this CD is to show the powerful effect that music can have on people. Music can heal, cultivate, uplift, and can be used to overcome almost any obstacle. Whether it may be expressing your sexuality or trying to be treated with fairness and equality, music is a vehicle to achieving all these goals. When a specific culture is examined and studied its music is one of the first things that is considered and analyzed. Through music you can hear peoples ancestry and their influences. Take modern day “Reggeaton” which is sung in Spanish but the rhythmic elements are heavily influenced by African-American hip-hop and Jamaican reggae (I will talk more about these influences later when I describe “House” music). The socioeconomic status of different cultures has long been inseparable from their different musical styles. A person’s musical status can be determined by race, monetary class, gender or sexuality but, sadly these factors are used to judge anyone’s status not just a musical one. Even on a small scale within the same culture there are different levels of so called musical status, highbrow music versus lowbrow music. For example, in East India depending on what cast a person was born into they would only allowed to play certain instruments. Another example would be the so-called swing jazz players not wanting to play in the new Be-bop style of the 1940’s. While some artists were talking about their sexuality other artists embraced the musical status that was imposed upon them as a form of musical/political resistance.

JOSH WHITE AND ODETTA
Josh Daniel White (February 11, 1914 to September 5, 1969) better known as Josh White was a folk singer, guitarist, songwriter and civil rights activist. He grew up in the Jim Crow era and witnessed the brutal treatment of black Americans including the nearly fatal beating of his father. The racial boundaries were very defined and rigid in Greenville, South Carolina during Josh’s childhood and this upbringing had a profound affect on his outlook on life. Josh White was one of the first musicians to put African-American folk music on the professional stage. Folk songs are songs that the common people would sing but not necessarily perform. It takes a thoughtful mind to actively bring this cultural pride in the folk music of a downtrodden people to the forefront of cultural awareness. Through the medium of his music and with the help of the media, White was very productive in his music reaching the general public. White also was one of the first musicians to start singing and performing what would soon be called the “protest song”. These so-called protest songs directly challenged the image that was cast upon the African-American at the time and over the years had a large influence on the political and social attitude of American citizens.  An emotionally powerful song can raise a person’s consciousness and on a large scale can uplift a whole people’s consciousness and forge a new national identity. Some of his songs were very straightforward and the lyrics were critical of the racial policies in America. In the song “Freedom Road” he sang “ought to be plain as the nose on your face, there’s room in this land for every race”. Josh White was not afraid to talk about white and black and stated that nothing was going to get in the way of securing his own personal freedom and freedom for other African-Americans. He was open to unite in friendship with white Americans and fight against any form of hatred and discrimination. The fearlessness of his lyrics and the complete rejection of the racially constructed identity by white Americans were threatening to certain politicians in post World War II America. He was eventually accused of being a communist and banned from recording. White performed at many interracial venues and laid the groundwork for singers that followed him such as Odetta.
Odetta was a singer, guitarist, actress, and human rights activist. She was often referred to as the voice of the civil rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King called her the “Queen” of American folk music. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama on December 31, 1930 and recently passed away on December 2, 2008. Unlike Josh White’s songs and lyrics, Odetta’s lyrics for the most part where not as blunt in content. One way in which Odetta expressed her protest was in the way she dressed. She did not conform to the usual way that American women dressed or even American black women. Odetta wore an afro and dressed more along the lines of traditional African attire. This was a conscious effort to regain a connection with her African roots. Odetta was also casting aside the image of a women being subservient to a man. She was a powerful woman with a powerful voice. A noticeable difference between Odetta and Josh White was that the “afrocentricness” of her stage presence was very clear.

FELA KUTI
Fela Anikulapo Kuti (October 15, 1938 to August 2, 1997). Fela was a West African musician who introduced the style known as Afro-Beat. These Afro-Beat orchestras where made up of approximately thirty musicians consisting of woodwinds, brass, guitars and many percussion instruments. The songs were very long usually over ten minuets in length. Most of the songs were vamps (which means not much chordal movement in the harmonic structure of the song). Fela began his musical career when he went to London in 1958 to study medicine but ended up studying music at Trinity College Of Music in Greenwich, London. In 1969 Fela came to the United States and discovered the Black Power movement. When he returned to Nigeria he became very politically involved in the affairs of the Nigerian state. Fela was in favor of Pan-Africanism and socialism. Most of his music was critical of the military regime in Nigeria during the 1970’s. Fela eventually declared himself independent from the Nigerian state, by forming what he called the Kalakuta Republic. Once he formed the Kalakuta Republic it became a micronation. Micronations resemble states but are not recognized by world governments. In Fela’s case this can be looked at as musical nationalism in one of its purist forms because, it was his music that formed and defined his nation. Fela was using his music as a tool to deconstruct the infrastructure of Nigerian politics. Fela sang his songs in Pidgin English so all ethnic groups in Nigeria could come together and understand his music (more than two hundred and fifty). Through this action, a culture and its people became one with their music and therefore are identifiable through Fela’s music. The Kalakuta Republic took the meaning of musical nationalism to new heights. In “Water Get No Enemy”, Fela was saying that water is a necessity to life. Everybody needs the water and everybody loves the water. In this song he uses water to relate how he feels about the urgency to change the political views of the government in order to live peacefully. Of course, Fela’s music was very popular with the Nigerian people but, the government was well against him. He used his music to reflect the struggles of the Nigerian people and expose the ruling government. In 1977 he released an album called “Zombie”. “Zombie” was extremely critical of the behavior of the Nigerian soldiers. This album would become one of his most famous and it would mark the end of the Kalakuta Republic. With the government enraged by the album’s content many Nigerian soldiers were sent to raid Fela’s housing complex. They severely beat up Fela and threw his mother out of a window; she later died. Fela’s music has and still does continue to influence many generations all over the world. On many occasions his music has been sampled into modern popular dance music.

HOUSE MUSIC
The social makeup of “House” music is predominately made up of two factors. These key elements happen to be sexuality and the spreading and mixing of cultural Diasporas. The undercurrents and following of this music are reminiscent of the “German Cabaret” of the 1930’s where the topic of homosexuality was discussed and performed freely through song and dance. During the 1980’s venues and clubs that played “House” music served as an outlet where gays could get together and express themselves freely. “House” music started to gain popularity around the late 1970’s and really took off during the 1980’s. It is said to have originated in Chicago, Detroit and New York. I will focus on its origins in New York City and the political aspects that surrounded this new type of music. Originally “House” music was not intend to go mainstream but inevitably became a vessel for political messages, one of which circulated around gays who were black. The idea of gender identification examines how we sexually portray ourselves and to what gender class we want to belong to if any. One of the main influences in “House” music was disco. In particular, a lot of “House” music comes from Latin disco. A great contributor to Latin disco was the record label called Salsoul Records. Salsoul Records was started by three brothers Ken Cayre, Joe Cayre and Stanley Cayre. Salsoul Records was based in New York and was most popular from 1974 to 1985. The word Salsoul equals Salsa+Soul. During the late 1970’s there was a dual absorption of cultures happening through the music. It was that of the Latin Diaspora melding into the African- American culture and being influenced by it but also having a direct influence on the culture that it was merging into. This double influence allowed the key elements of disco and Latin music to merge. In this new music drum breaks appeared where the lead singer and band (except for the bass and percussion) would drop out. During this break there would usually be a percussion solo most likely by a conga player. The drumbeat that house music is so greatly associated with is derived from the live drummers in disco using the “four on the floor” pattern. Little did the creators of this new music know that this combination of salsa and disco planted some of the first seeds to what would soon be known as “House” music.  In New York City this influence could have originated in the Bronx where there was and still is a large Latin population. Eventually within the genre of “House” there spawned subsets such “Deep House”, “Electro House” and many more. More recently, in 2005 in Chicago August 10th was named “House” unity day. “House” music continues to thrive and its main purpose is to spread peaceful vibrations.

TRACK LISTINGS.

Artist JOSH WHITE
1.  Freedom Road.
2.  Free and Equal Blues.
3.  Jim Crow.

Artist ODETTA
4. No More Auction Block For Me.

Artist FELA KUTI
5. Water No Get Enemy.
6. Zombie.

Genre HOUSE MUSIC
7. Disco/House late 70’s early 80’s style still a lot of elements remain from Disco.
8. House. Late 80’s early 90’s style House music.
9. Michael Watford. Early 90’s House