A musician, sadly, who is of western origin, and who plays western music, who was and is inculcated from birth in western traditions and is a solo instrumentalist is a lost soul in another country. A migrant musician can only become successful in a foreign country because their own race has lost its own individuality and sports the flags of other countries while forgetting its own, i.e. in the music Industry in Sri lanka where the music of countries such as the USA or the British is featured more often than the music of the local, but Western Musician whose origins, though born in Sri Lanka, are from the west. The musical creations of the breed of Sri Lankan musician from the west in Sri Lanka is ignored if they are not Sinhalese songs. Our Jazz musicians go to India and to Tokyo to get featured internationally. The Sinhalese have several radio pages for their music, which is to be expected because since 1969, despite whatever anyone says, the community is given preference. The Indian singers are featured on our Tamil radio's and hopefully some of our artists who sing Tamil songs too! The movies are those of Sinhalese origin, and the Hindi films from India are very popular. There is no youtube feature which says "Sri Lankans make history in music", but then we have made history in Cricket. And by the blessings of the universe, I made the top 10, and broke the top 40 and I do not even know which song broke the top 40. Ignorance being bliss. If I played one kind of music, then I would know its one of the lot, here, since I play a mixed genre and ad lib on music, I would not know which one it is! And I am not a trained musician. I play because I love music and I am not a commercial musician. I get zilch of an income from music. What feeds my face is my English and a study of the subject to find out how it works, thus able to teach how it should be learned. That's the logical mind. Music for me is totally illogical, it is just "sound for the soul". An interesting web site on music which teaches you the discordant chords which are perfectly acceptable and of course I cannot find the link now. :( I must say, I did not know that I played those chords without knowing about them :) Jazz in other words! http://www.reverbnation.com/taba/song/17035544-notes--boston-lifelines-instr-1st
If the owners of radio stations and the cinema feature their choice as against the wants and needs of the public (however weighted in favour of the foreign as against local), there is no democracy in the music industry. It is a business. This is ridiculous! The words of Shakespeare who says "If music is the food of love play on!" now makes one realize that music is no longer the food of love, but food! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOKKpc6tKxg.
With music, our radios, night clubs, bars, theaters and cinemas, play the music of the 60's,70's and Retro or Sinhala music. Hip Hop and Rap, understandably is not permitted in the Radio channels in Sri Lanka because they use invective and foul language. A solo instrumentalist is therefore a lost soul in a world of the "oldies" as instructed by their Channel owners. A Western oriented Musician though a creator of "Original" music, though the genre may be that which already exists, and there are many, is dependent upon the west and the fans. God bless them! We do not know who they are, we do not know where they are. We do not know them individually, but we get their help and support, and backing and it is without any financial gain or payment. It is their loyalty and their dedication, their interest and support that brings us to a peak, or keeps us where we are in the lower rungs of the music "business". It is an odd exercise in character that the local radio stations, the pubs, bars and halls, to play the music of western artists who do not even know that we exist, while ignoring the artists who perform good music and they are only heard internationally, never in Sri Lanka, and this though the musicians play music which is of a caliber and genre which is played by them, but from a foreign artist.
A tribute to Lester James Peiris http://www.ljpspfoundation.org/movieswhose movies, though black and white were quality, featured a classic of the time, incorporated the ideology of the period, and were excellent in conveying a message. The new movies of Sri Lanka are without quality or truth, are based on the fictional writings of a director who merely wants to entertain, and is often trite, without quality, rotten actors and a sob story about love and deception, or a farce comedy,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN9dg1uPM-o. Money counts in Sri lanka and Money counts in the music industry. The richer you are the more likely you are to sell your music. There are generations of musicians from father to son, and no matter whether the music is quality or not, it is sold and caters to the hoi polloi, so you learn from the rabble, not from the statesman.
Definition of HOI POLLOI
: the general populace : masses
Examples of HOI POLLOI
- <“I pay no attention to the opinions of the hoi polloi,” the writer sniffed>
It is fortunate that my category of music is dance. If I was among the Hip Hop Artists, or any other, I would not even appear on the dance charts for Sri Lanka. I am a dual citizen of Australia. I could then classify myself as an Australian and compete with the million other artists in Australia who have the money to promote their music, but by being in Sri Lanka and posting music from here, my chances are better than in Australia, where the numbers are also greater. It goes against my grain to do so. I am a Sri Lankan by birth. I feel I should be able to gain popularity for my music which is original and is listenable in my own country. However, giving due credence to the need for "sung songs", as against an instrumental, if they can feature Burt Bacharach, then they can feature me, but the difference, and I do recognize the difference, the former was a band leader with a multitude of instruments at his "beck and call", and I am a synthesizer player with a multitude of instruments in sounds at the "touch of a finger" subtle difference, but noticeable! But then, back to money, if I could afford a band or inspire others to play with me, then I become a band, and not a "one man show!" My problem is that the music is in my head, I cannot write theory, would not have a clue about beats and its representation. So, I cannot get a band to play along with me, unless they play by ear! Then, everything becomes a "Jam" session!
I am a creative person! I like to create and envision and dream, and mull over something new and intriguing, and something innovative, something that other people would not dream about, and most often I find that there is material thrown in my face, so to speak and I am supposed to create with it. That's my quartz cottage in the hills of my country, where I was blessed with 17 perches of solid rock of the wrong variety. http://youtu.be/D0eLN51tecQ.That is how some people look at a material which does not bond with anything, and has never been used before for buildings. The Architects avert their eyes, and the workmen weep! And I meet astronomical bills in having to cut and haul the material to my first layer or the second layer, because it is all within the site that I bought unseen 10 years ago. A fiasco on getting things put together with an architect who is a cheat, and workmen who take advantage of my being in Colombo while the site is 3.5 hours away from Colombo, but all overcome with the blessings of God and the help of Saint Joseph, the dad of Jesus, who takes care of things in my absence! And Jesus of course who policies I practice and who brings me good luck. Phenomenal luck as some would say, but I say it is all prayer and belief that you can do anything, as long as you have the mindset to succeed. There are many who are critical, many who would denigrate, many who would say "you are mad!", but its all a matter of opinion. Those who do, are those who would go with the lame or the tame and would not accept a challenge if it is thrown in their path! I see every negative as an opportunity to rectify it.
My next creative venture, if it ever happens, is to create a magazine which tells all readers about the musician and in a foreign world. Chicago music magazines, feature the musicians in the Chicago area. The UK magazines feature those who are a particular area and specifically in the UK. Australia is ditto on that too. The musician who is in Africa may feature in the "African tribal magazine" if he plays Zulu music for example, but is lost if he plays a modified version of Beethoven. True a musician from woop cannot perform in wop, but then music is international, and there must be a voice to feature other artists who are not known on recognized in another country. Take our "entertainment pages" in the "local news", they feature foreign artists, not a local artist who is resident in Sri Lanka but making foreign songs. Unless such a bias is taken away from the Music industry, the musician will have to remain a "locale".
The
No comments:
Post a Comment