Ian Birrell? Who he? What point is he trying to make?
Mr Birrell: Aim at the broadcasters matey please - get them to play this music & don't worry about the category thing.
Stands back & waits for The Inevitables
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Ian Birrell? Who he? What point is he trying to make?
Mr Birrell: Aim at the broadcasters matey please - get them to play this music & don't worry about the category thing.
Stands back & waits for The Inevitables
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You've got to feel it to know it. There are obviously overlaps. Nneka and Baloji are examples. They just about make it in.Originally posted by Globaltruth View Posthttp://gu.com/p/36ccv
Ian Birrell? Who he? What point is he trying to make? Mr Birrell: Aim at the broadcasters matey please - get them to play this music & don't worry about the category thing. Stands back & waits for The Inevitables
It isn't a prison. No one says you have to be WM, nor do they say that you can't be WM and something else. And he is just factually wrong to say that it doesn't incorporate British and American artists. Albarn with the Malian Musicians is there. So were Osibisa. But not TuneYards. They are in the same category as Vampire Weekend. Basically, college radio.
It's obvious where he is coming from. He has Empire guilt. In anyone living, that is somewhat arch unless it broadens out to real concern about current conditions across the globe. He hints at the artists being patronised when in truth there is generally real love for them and a willingness to promote them. It is purely his own stance that sees us as being outside their world.
If he had his way, we would lose our WM programmes. We'd also have a lot more of Nneka and Baloji and less of others.
I get quite tired of these British media geezer types frankly. Nusrat was happy with the term. So too is Youssou. He thinks he knows better than them. That says all we need to know.Last edited by Guest; 23-03-12, 20:32. -
......Mind you, this article puts him in a very different light. While he may to some extent be right about financial priorities, I'd say that he has a big problem with non-European and non-American culture. He sounded like he was concerned about the dignity of artists with reference to the World Music label. He might even think he is concerned. Actually deep down I think he wants them to be westernised. Wall to wall hip-hop and R and B here we go etc. Filed under clot for future reference:
Last edited by Guest; 23-03-12, 19:26.Comment
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perhaps we all might start looking for unusual, non mainstream music from abroad in 'the birrell music' section, in the imaginary music shops where we live? it'll only take about ten years to promote online...!
as far as his points - there are so many, that i suspect if you contemplated them for long they'd eventually contradict. but birrell is apparently hoping readers skim read...which they undoubtedly will.
the comments below the article were interesting though .... some of them are really good at conversing correctly.
life's too short perhaps, especially as birrell is obviously a bit of a 'jack of all trades' as a journo - will have a stab at anything.... iceland, the eu, charlie gillett, and, of course, he never ever expresses any bias himself.
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Ian Birrell was a speech writer for David Cameron. This man wasn't:Originally posted by handsomefortune View Postperhaps we all might start looking for unusual, non mainstream music from abroad in 'the birrell music' section, in the imaginary music shops where we live? it'll only take about ten years to promote online...!
as far as his points - there are so many, that i suspect if you contemplated them for long they'd eventually contradict. but birrell is apparently hoping readers skim read...which they undoubtedly will.
the comments below the article were interesting though .... some of them are really good at conversing correctly.
life's too short perhaps, especially as birrell is obviously a bit of a 'jack of all trades' as a journo - will have a stab at anything.... iceland, the eu, charlie gillett, and, of course, he never ever expresses any bias himself.
Quote: As I emailed privately to Ian Birrell earlier on, and will doubtless be forced to say in public again at Sunday's discussion, reading this feels like emerging from the Tardis since I apparently wrote a long-winded answer to it in fRoots twelve years ago......Ian's piece is based on a several false premises: there never was any such thing as world music, and in answer to his question "should this be filed under world music?", the answer is obviously not - who's saying it should be anyway? A bit of tilting at windmills going on here, I think.
If you're going to get self-righteously offended about something and invoke the term "racist" as somebody did....I'd be more inclined to reserve it for people who use terms like "African music", implying there's just one kind of music which comes from a country called Africa where they all speak African. But then there are far more constructive things to do for music than than get self-righteously offended....The 1987 campaign was a classic example of the old saying "unity is power" - Ian Anderson, fRoots magazine.
Quite. Any newspaper journalist who assigns a post-colonial subtext to people who stood for precisely the opposite is just looking for a bun fight. That he devotes his time to pulling apart a two word label rather than writing daily against the BNP suggests that the fight for which he has an appetite is easy and lazy. That world music is mainly enjoyed by whites is debatable but (only) for now that might be the case. The biggest colonialism currently - a serious cause for concern - is the roots-torn Americanisation of black and global music by largely white companies and all of the accompanying propaganda, sameness, stasis and exploitation.Last edited by Guest; 24-03-12, 23:40.Comment
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Originally posted by Lateralthinking1 View PostIan Birrell was a speech writer for David Cameron. This man wasn't:
Quote: As I emailed privately to Ian Birrell earlier on, and will doubtless be forced to say in public again at Sunday's discussion, reading this feels like emerging from the Tardis since I apparently wrote a long-winded answer to it in fRoots twelve years ago......Ian's piece is based on a several false premises: there never was any such thing as world music, and in answer to his question "should this be filed under world music?", the answer is obviously not - who's saying it should be anyway? A bit of tilting at windmills going on here, I think.
If you're going to get self-righteously offended about something and invoke the term "racist" as somebody did....I'd be more inclined to reserve it for people who use terms like "African music", implying there's just one kind of music which comes from a country called Africa where they all speak African. But then there are far more constructive things to do for music than than get self-righteously offended....The 1987 campaign was a classic example of the old saying "unity is power" - Ian Anderson, fRoots magazine.
Quite. Any newspaper journalist who assigns a post-colonial subtext to people who stood for precisely the opposite is just looking for a bun fight. That he devotes his time to pulling apart a two word label rather than writing daily against the BNP suggests that the fight for which he has an appetite is easy and lazy. That world music is mainly enjoyed by whites is debatable but (only) for now that might be the case. The biggest colonialism currently - a serious cause for concern - is the roots-torn Americanisation of black and global music by largely white companies and all of the accompanying propaganda, sameness, stasis and exploitation.
The problem is though that Mr Birrell will consider this article a succes;
I can almost imagine him saying 'I rattled the cages of those WM types'
that's the problem with this type of journo - they're just after a reaction; any reaction, rather than a debate and/or a conclusion.
At least it's not a wilful deceit. Unlike this ad....but what harm did it do?
[PS for those of you thinking of sending off, this offer no longer applies.]Comment
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they'd make great jazz/world djs of course.
lovely pic..... but disappointed i can't own one,(as are beeb dgs, and at such a great price too)!
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A Bowlful of happiness, indeed!
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Slightly happy that I've managed to derail my own thread...those sea monkeys never let you down.
Although I never managed to teach mine those tricks...they sure did taste mighty fine though.Comment
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Don't tell me...Roger McGuinn ATE the horse at the end? (never managed to listen to it all the way thru...)Originally posted by Lateralthinking1 View PostComment
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Which simply & brilliantly brings us full circle back to the clot Birrell. That really is a classic Mornington Crescent Lat.Originally posted by Lateralthinking1 View PostI assumed he was in character.
Round of applause.Comment
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love the pic lat!
yes, suspicious song lyrics, as per branding the horse/etc, and conjoured birrell's 'brand bs' (neatly presented as 'concern') also detectable to my extended digi antenna, which has a particularly good reception on a clear day such as this.
though those in foggier regions might not receive the unavoidable parallels as clearly. i wonder what region dave's in? i have a recurring image of him being violently sick in the big soc loos, after too much sport at the wkend. .............yet, he's alone, there's no one to help him.
also picked up: steak and ..........horse sex. ................but neither 'don't do no harm' comparitively speaking ...........and imo make a very welcome change from govt horse sh*t and cloudy weather?
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Bit early for roast chestnuts?
Originally posted by Globaltruth View Post
Stands back & waits for The Inevitables
But this time over on the jazz forum it seems....
haven't replied over there because I think Lat's post sums it up.
I'd rather have less Womad & Lassitude 'highlighted' on r3 & that budget spent on sending Dr Lucy & MAK on their travels. or supporting more WM apprenticeships.Comment
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