Monday, October 07, 2013

Music: It is universal, not just the property of white "indy" artists.

Sometimes I toy with the idea of turning this into a music blog. Simply because I enjoy the tunes regardless if anybody else reads this blog or not. For instance today I discovered a great album of Vietnamese rock and soul songs from 1968-1974. Of course Vietnam is not the only country that produced stuff every bit as good as the best stuff to come out of the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. Korea also had some great music in the 1970s. As did Turkey. Then of course there is all the great music of Africa. From Zamrock bands like WITCH, The Peace, and Ngozi Family to the great Fela Kuti from Nigeria. This of course doesn't even include the more modern stuff from South Africa, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Syria and other places around the world including Ghana. I still like some Obrunistani music, but lets face it the reason I like everybody else listened to it was because it was accessible and well marketed not because it was better than what people in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America were or are currently producing. If your radio only plays songs by hipster indy musicians from the US and white commonwealth you are missing out on an awful lot of good stuff. Fortunately, the internet brings hope to even the culturally poorest people on the planet. We here in Africa are happy to share our wealth with you.

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