Reflections From a Murky Pond

The Northampton, MA based band Shokazoba has been playing Afrobeat – a blend of Jazz and Funk with a West African undertone – music for the last seven years. They’ve won the Valley Advocate’s award for Best World Music in 2007, 2010, 2011, and 2012, their Best Funk award in 2008, and Best Jazz in the My411 Source poll in 2009. They’ve even were recognized as “Artists of the Year” for the Big Bands category by the African Jazz review in 2011. In other words, they’re a very competent set of musicians who’ve earned the accolades within their genre of music.

It’s no real surprise that that Amherst, MA’s Hampshire College hired them to perform during the college’s Hampshire Halloween event on Friday, October 25, 2013. The surprise came later…

Shokazoba – Too White To Play Afrobeat

Apparently Shokazoba is just too White to be allowed to play Afrobeat music at Hampshire College. The college’s HYPE Committee, responsible for coordinating these school events, cancelled Shokazoba’s performance because nominally White musicians playing “Black Music” offended some members of the student body of the elite, liberal arts college.

Due to concerned students voicing their opinions about the band Shokazoba, we held community dialogue to hear what individuals had to say. As a result of the dialogue, and discomfort expressed by members of the community in person as well as by email, Facebook, and other means, we have removed Shokazoba from the lineup for Hampshire Halloween.

— HYPE Committee, October 24, 2013

One can blame Hampshire College’s HYPE Committee only for cowardice in caving into the small-mindedness, racism, and oikophobia of the young Liberals and Progressives who so vociferously vented their outrage at a White band playing music that they think should be totally reserved for Blacks. In within that limitation one to consider whether or not the battle should be waged, given that it could easy, and probably would, corrupt and suborn the whole intent of the festival, which was to have fun.

One should also keep in mind that, while Shokazoba was forbidden from performing, they were paid in full. They had, ironically as it turned out, a performance contract with the Hype Committee that stated it would not discriminate on the basis of: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, physical ability, or sexual orientation.

The racists within Hampshire College’s student body, on the other hand can be blamed for their pro-segregation ideology and, at a bare minimum, should be castigated and pilloried for it since they effectively violated the civil rights of the band members of Shokazoba. And let’s remember that these ethno-guiltism-ridden, oikophobic bigots are, for the most part, White, and have less business appropriating Black racial angst than any White does playing “Black Music.”

I bet this piece from 1976 would cause their heads to explodes:

No matter how these Leftist neo-hippies couch their opinions in politically correct rhetoric and hand-wringing “worry” about the fears and feelings of “marginalized peoples,” what they’re yelling loud and clear is, “Blacks Only, Crackers!”

If anyone has any doubts that rock, including heavy metal, has its roots in bles, jazz, country, and other distinctly American forms of “classical” music, this will, or should, end those doubts.

This is from Iron Horse’s Fade to Bluegrass: Tribute to Metallica album. Like most of their albums that I’ve found it’s a compilation of old-school metal hits that have been converted to full-on bluegrass.

Every track I’ve heard has been awesome. I highly recommend this album and Iron Horse in general.

Honestly, when I first saw this clip I was expecting it to seriously hurt my brain but, as it turns out, the way that it did hurt my brain was in the fact that converting Metallica to bluegrass didn’t do so.

Miley Cyrus has recently been trying very, very hard to prove that she’s come a long way from Disney’s Hannah Montana. Frankly, she’s seems to be going all out to shock and offend the American people.

And now she’s found what is possibly the best way of doing this. She’s obviously converted to Islam.

Miley Cyrus Is Giving Thanks and Praise to Allah

Like much of Miley’s recent behavior, this was an odd choice. She’s far older than Islam prefers its women, which was, I thought, the purpose of her various escapades…

Madison Rising gives The Star Spangled Banner an update with their remixed version of America’s national anthem.
 
http://youtu.be/c8C7i9kdEf8

 
If you want to support Madison Rising or, if you just love their version of the Star Spangled Banner, you can purchase it from either iTunes or Amazon for a mere $0.99.

In music, much as in all parts of life, the fundamentals are important. Without a proper grounding in those fundamentals there’s little hope of a good outcome.

In music, the most fundamental part of any score is the underlying rhythm or beat and that is set and guided by the percussion section.

The Bottom Line – Percussion Is Everything

Thankfully, PATĀX shows us how to get to the bottom of percussion and keeping the beat in a manner in which we can all take joy. 😉

Remember the bottom line. Keep the beat. Keep the faith.