Why is Anglo-American prog so white?

Black? White? Any other colour in between?

Hercules wrote: Black? White? Any other colour in between?   What does it matter?   My ancestors went for a walk about 70000 years ago and turned left when they left Africa. My friend Vijay's ancestors turned right instead. Some people's ancestors didn't feel the need to go for a walk because they liked it in Africa.   I really don't see the need to get hung up on race when we all came from the same ancestors and we're all really the same except for varying amounts of skin pigment. Maybe where we ended up affected us more from a cultural standpoint; perhaps African Americans got exposed to Country music which is possibly why they invented the blues to express their dissatisfaction and I totally understand!   I'd ask a different question - why are so few women involved in prog except as singers???

We're not the same. Our histories and our cultures have been very, very different. Whites did not invent blues - they could not have invented it. Robert Johnson was black; no white person could have sounded or played like him. (The best a white person could do is imitate it, years later.) Ella Fitzgerald's voice, Sarah Vaughan's voice, carries within it their experience and culture as African-Americans living in a racist environment, emerging from slavery and fighting against an  Apartheid-like segregation. The style and playing of Satchmo and Coltrane, and polyrhythmic swing of bebop, wow, man, whites didn't invent that. So, no, not the same.

Even today, whites have made great contributions to hip-hop - but they didn't invent it, rap didn't emerge out of white culture, it came directly out of black culture.



Edited by jude111 - January 10 2013 at 07:45

jude111 wrote: Why is Anglo-American prog so white? Other than jazz fusion, prog tended/tends to be lily-white. I think this is a shame, since I really love the sounds of funk and soul, and can only imagine how great black prog could've been. And maybe we should think about adding some black bands to PA? I mean, P-Funk could be pretty proggy and/or spacey at times (e.g. MAGGOT BRAIN).

 

Edited by moshkito - January 08 2013 at 14:32

Sumdeus wrote: i've never understood why people ever get concerned with race when it comes to music.

 

You forgot to mention country music which really grew up side by side with blues music and even sometimes overlapped.

timothy leary wrote: You forgot to mention country music which really grew up side by side with blues music and even sometimes overlapped.

timothy leary wrote: You forgot to mention country music which really grew up side by side with blues music and even sometimes overlapped.

timothy leary wrote: As long as you don't forget rock owes as much to country music as it does to the blues.

I generally have an allergic reaction to country music. It's the only genre of music I can think of that I cannot stand to listen to. Having said that, I've met people the world over who love American country music, even Middle Eastern friends and Chinese friends. (It's surprising how far country music has traveled.) Also, country music is not as white as is often presumed to be - there are many black country music musicians and fans. (Ray Charles recorded country music, as has Lionel Richie.)


Edited by jude111 - January 08 2013 at 15:37

Hercules wrote: Black? White? Any other colour in between?   What does it matter?   My ancestors went for a walk about 70000 years ago and turned left when they left Africa. My friend Vijay's ancestors turned right instead. Some people's ancestors didn't feel the need to go for a walk because they liked it in Africa.   I really don't see the need to get hung up on race when we all came from the same ancestors and we're all really the same except for varying amounts of skin pigment. Maybe where we ended up affected us more from a cultural standpoint; perhaps African Americans got exposed to Country music which is possibly why they invented the blues to express their dissatisfaction and I totally understand!   I'd ask a different question - why are so few women involved in prog except as singers???

Eldridge says he's superior. I guess Eldridge can sing better than Marvin Gaye, can play the sax better than Charlie Parker, write better piano compositions than Thelonious Monk, play better guitar than Wes Montgomery, compose better jazz standards than Duke Ellington. LOL. On a *music* site, Eldridge is going to try to convince us that whites are superior!!! Hahahaha.

Eldridge also says he invented blues and instruments that Africans play. Did you invent the kora, Eldridge?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DEKQjj6Ga0


Edited by jude111 - January 08 2013 at 16:20