The process of co-opting black music and selling it back to the adoring public in whiteface is as American as apple pie. Ragtime, blues, country, jazz, soul, and rock and roll were all pioneered or inspired by black artists. The twang we hear as emblematic of white country music is actually the direct descendant of black folk music banjo. Artists like Mick Jagger and Van Morrison obsessively revered and imitated African-American blues and rock musicians. This type of musical inspiration isn’t inherently bad—it’s practically unavoidable. What’s disturbing is the fact that the names, faces, and recordings of those early black influencers have been all but erased. Sometimes this phenomenon has a one to one ratio, like when Chuck Berry’s rock and roll star was totally eclipsed by Elvis Presley, a white man who could “sound, feel, and perform black.” In this way, inspiration becomes appropriation, which leads directly to theft and erasure. White musicians are rewarded for their ability to imitate their black counterparts, and decades of black achievement and musical genius are swept under the rug, forgotten and ignored.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 16:27:59 +0000
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