Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Music Elitism
God, am I guilty of that. I, and my petty-bourgeoisie music taste deserve to be taken for a grand reeducation in the hills of what-have-you. I am fond of Dave Matthews Band, Keane, chill-out music, EBTG, Jazz, John Mayer and Stephen Speaks (before they sold out here) and the acoustic balladeers like Paolo Santos, before he went singing on TV, and the songs of Cynthia Alexander. It is incredibly true that the elite does build its own culture of distinction and accumulates its own flimsy cultural capital to separate themselves from the ravages of popular culture hell-bent on turning the masa into drones of consumerism. I am witness to it all. When i was studying in the school by the hill overlooking Marikina, we created our own subculture to combat the mainstream culture that was parading itself on television and other forms of media. I listened to DMB because it sounded great with its jazz fusion songs, among others but also to demarcate my musical taste from the usual Incubus and Limp Bizkit lifestyle of the common dudes. I listen to Jazz and EBTG because the sounds are eclectic and pleasing to the ear but it does make you look more mature and affluent than you really are if you listen to such music, veering away from the mainstream hits of Britney and Brit boy bands which had head exposure on the airwaves. I turned to Paolo Santos and the other acoustic acts because they sand songs which were simple, beautiful and more importantly, rarely played on the radio. Rarity cuts you above the rest, especially at a time when the people are saturated with Outkast and Coldplay. Stephen Speaks was a former favorite. It was the best kept secret of the young elite circles before Magic 89.9 played it outright one Sunday afternoon. I still love Cynthia Alexander because of the uniqueness of her music and also to have a favorite artist which is neither mainstream nor a one-hit-wonder. Songs of those bands I mentioned above were massively played on the car stereos, mp3 players and boom boxes of my friends. But when, by sheer capacity of discovering profitable material, the radio stations overplay it due to mass clamor and requests, they say bye-bye to the songs and artists they once deified. The likes of Stephen Speaks and John Mayer all vanished from the players of the elite, when the masa discovered them. But DMB, EBTG and all the others, especially the chill out record by Anton Ramos remains in their iPods. These are music styles which would not be easily understood by the masa used to hearing ballads of Pinoy crooners and teeny-bopper sensations.
I bet the elite continue to create their alternate culture as I write this down, which I have no knowledge of anymore. I’d rather listen to Buklod or Tambisan, If at all Bukaspalad now. No more cool music for me. Haha only sometimes. There is much suffering in this world to be that artsy-fartsy a musical person.
I bet the elite continue to create their alternate culture as I write this down, which I have no knowledge of anymore. I’d rather listen to Buklod or Tambisan, If at all Bukaspalad now. No more cool music for me. Haha only sometimes. There is much suffering in this world to be that artsy-fartsy a musical person.
# posted by Terry Ridon : 12:29 AM
Comments:
ANTON RAMOS did a compilation CD for us...you might want to check out our blog....www.rbphils.blogspot.com..You'll see more about the compilation there!
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