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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Cyndi Lauper & Musselwhite @ Whitehouse.gov
Cyndi Lauper & Musselwhite @ Whitehouse.gov
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tmf714
1730 posts
May 03, 2013
6:43 AM
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"It´s certainly no wonder that musicians tend to look down on harmonica players: we´ve earned it."
Speak for yourself,but don't put me in that box.
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TheoBurke
384 posts
May 03, 2013
7:06 AM
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The issue isn't the aesthetic of notes played outside what the ear is accustomed to,but whether Charlie Musselwhite was prepared for his performance. The dissonance and atonality that modern masters like Stravinski, Cage,Xenakis, Ornette Coleman,Cecil Taylor Monk or Derek Bailey used are entirely different matters--behind the variety of methods they used are very real theories of notation and composition and improvisation that are as intellectually engaging as they are bracing. In the case of those artists and many other 20th century artists, this move toward dissonance and harsher, less rigidly melodic music creation was a Modernist hallmark; their choices were deliberate and coherent within the confines of their theory. This was a project aimed, over all, to renew music and art making in general from what was thought of as tired and conservative ideas of the past. One either appreciated and embraced the movement or rejected it. These musicians,though, have nothing in common with Musselwhite's sub-par performance at the White House. Listening to the track over again , it seems very obvious to me that Musselwhite wasn't prepared for the performance--he indeed does miss the changes of the song and he has the wrong key of harmonica. What he does is hunt and peck , looking for a way he can add a fill or a short run , create a blusey counterpoint to Lauper's vocal,and not sound strident. Strident he does sound, though, and that is unfortunate, since Musselwhite is a distinct and innovative master of blues harmonica.
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Ted Burke
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheoBurke?feature=mhee
http://ted-burke.com
tburke4@san.rr.co,
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Jaybird
292 posts
May 03, 2013
10:19 AM
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I thought the performance stunk.
Her singing was horrible, and Charle might have well not even been there.
This is the kind of crap Obama deserves.
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Martin
318 posts
May 03, 2013
4:49 PM
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Thank you Ted for the input and taking the time and effort, but to no avail, I fear. Regardless on the value one gives to various forms of musical modernism it was never a question of incompetence.
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TheoBurke
386 posts
May 03, 2013
5:28 PM
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"It was never a question of incompetence." Sure, and I think that is what I wrote about above. The music by Stranvinsky, Coleman, Cage et al require a high amount of technical competence. Charlie's sour notes, though, are the result of him being ill prepared for the gig. But every musician has a bum night now and then.
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Ted Burke
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheoBurke?feature=mhee
http://ted-burke.com
tburke4@san.rr.co,
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Mojokane
697 posts
May 04, 2013
2:04 PM
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..funny one, goldbrick, "Lauper danced like an elephant on hot coals".
Had to laugh out loud!
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Why is it that we all just can't get along?<
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