Adequacy front page
Stories Diaries Polls Users
Google

Web Adequacy.org
Home About Topics Rejects Abortions
This is an archive site only. It is no longer maintained. You can not post comments. You can not make an account. Your email will not be read. Please read this page if you have questions.
Poll
Favourite expoited ethnic muscians
Ladysmith Black Mambazo 0%
Rainforest pygmies 7%
Cajun 7%
Metallica 50%
Gypsy violinists 28%
Mongolian throat singers 7%

Votes: 14

 Road rage

 Author:  Topic:  Posted:
Mar 26, 2002
 Comments:
For the first in many weeks my journey into work did not involve an hour of parking in order to drive the last two miles. Naturally, it is not because the road works have finished but due to the fact that the roads aren't being clogged up with arseholes dropping their brats off at the childminders. However, I digress.
diaries

More diaries by walwyn
Geeks, kooks and the self righteous
Envisioning Canute
Libertarian corruption
We have another one
Schadenfreude, hermits, and Elvis
Where were the Americans?
Why we should make all fishing illegal
What would normally have been a pleasant last 10 minutes dozing to the radio was suddenly rudely interupted by a certain Damon Albarn, (apparently from some spaced out boy band called the Turds), who was droning on about how he had just 'discovered' Mali music.

Apparently Spiggy Topes has returned from holiday, and instead of boring his friends to see his holiday snaps, has turned up with a suitcase full of bootleg CD's which he is now attempting to foist on the unsuspecting public.

I know none of this is new, washed up musicians have expoited primative music for decades, and it wouldn't normally bother me: its just that the claim of discovery really galls.

Just who does Damon Albarn think he is?

       
Tweet

Why do... (none / 0) (#1)
by poltroon on Tue Mar 26th, 2002 at 08:51:41 PM PST
people who digress often point out that they've digressed? Do they think their readers can't tell? Or are they lazy editors, and typing those few extra words is quicker than holding down the backspace key for a while?


But I digress... (none / 0) (#2)
by SpaceGhoti on Wed Mar 27th, 2002 at 04:48:16 AM PST
What good is a cliche if you can't overuse it?


A troll's true colors.

 
But... (none / 0) (#3)
by because it isnt on Wed Mar 27th, 2002 at 05:46:09 AM PST
Spiggy Topes is dead, unless both you and Yoko Ohno believe in reincarnation.
adequacy.org -- because it isn't

Not so... (none / 0) (#4)
by walwyn on Wed Mar 27th, 2002 at 06:55:15 AM PST
The original Spiggy lives .

The original Turds are also going strong. And lets not forget another rip-off.


Ah yes. (none / 0) (#5)
by because it isnt on Wed Mar 27th, 2002 at 08:06:13 AM PST
I thought the Stones were all dead anyway, or at least touring America, which is the same thing.

As for culture-hopping musicians, Master Simon's Graceland album is mighty fine, yessiree!
adequacy.org -- because it isn't

Grace without favour (none / 0) (#6)
by walwyn on Wed Mar 27th, 2002 at 03:36:56 PM PST
I suppose that it would have been January 1987 when I was playing some old tapes Ezinkulu and Induku Zethu (for some reason not listed on the official site) in the lab at work, when someone turned up and asked hey is that Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It transpired out that Spiggy had been up to his old tricks and produced a work featuring these singers. We exchanged albums and I found that not only was LBM featured on Spiggy's album but a large amount of music was borrowed from other artists like Super Tens and Uthawolfu Amentkentshane.

Don't get me wrong. Unlike some, I don't critize Spiggy for working in South Africa during the boycott, as the boycott was intended to stop performers going to Sun City rather than stop musicians helping South Africans in the townships. What I critize is the unattributed sampling of local musicians.


 
Question (none / 0) (#7)
by hauntedattics on Wed Mar 27th, 2002 at 06:43:11 PM PST
You wouldn't happen to be a certain monobrowed, blonde-impregnating someone, would you? Would you?!?

Dude, that is so mid-nineties. Dude. Dude!

(But yes, Damon is scum for exploiting those poor Mali musicians. Either that or he's a maverick and a great guy for bringing their music to a wider audience. Or both.)




Quite frankly (none / 0) (#8)
by walwyn on Thu Mar 28th, 2002 at 05:09:21 AM PST
I have no idea which are which, nor what records either produced. The thing I'm converned about is the perennial need for pop-musicians, on returning from some foreign holiday, to announce 'their discovery' of a 'new' musical form. For fucksake, Mali has been promoted for the last twenty years. Yet here we have Damon Albarn waxing on about how he's discovered a musical utopia.


 
he's a good lad (none / 0) (#9)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Mar 28th, 2002 at 06:36:52 AM PST
ok so he didn't discover it, but through him maybe he's introducing new/different music to a broader spectrum of the public, who may not have come across it themselves.
Anyway, never heard the phrase 'pop will eat itself'?


I wish it would (none / 0) (#10)
by budlite on Thu Mar 28th, 2002 at 07:32:41 AM PST
What pop "artists" try to pass off as music these days is as wooden and boring as a 2 by 4


 
Just step off the path. (none / 0) (#11)
by walwyn on Thu Mar 28th, 2002 at 08:07:55 AM PST
You'll find most of this stuff about 3 paces from the rock/pop section, in the 'world music' section, of your local music outlet.

A broader spectrum of the public? Phoey! This stuff is regularly played on bbc radio.




 
all music is borrowed (none / 0) (#12)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Mar 28th, 2002 at 09:31:33 AM PST
if Elvis & his buddies had never appropriated 'somebody else's' music & exposed it to a broader audience, we'd all be stuck with our insular folky tunes! or worse, George Formby! 'Turned out nice again, a'nt it?'
Perhaps in the future, when the African continent dominates the world & whitey is the oppressed race, we'll have some decent soulfull tunes worth nicking.


 

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest ® 2001, 2002, 2003 Adequacy.org. The Adequacy.org name, logo, symbol, and taglines "News for Grown-Ups", "Most Controversial Site on the Internet", "Linux Zealot", and "He just loves Open Source Software", and the RGB color value: D7D7D7 are trademarks of Adequacy.org. No part of this site may be republished or reproduced in whatever form without prior written permission by Adequacy.org and, if and when applicable, prior written permission by the contributing author(s), artist(s), or user(s). Any inquiries are directed to legal@adequacy.org.