Comment by paganel | Hacker News Reader

Comment by paganel | Hacker News Reader

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That list seems a little middle-classy, you have bands like Pet Shop Boys (which I admit I do love) but you have a great and unique artist like Fela Kuti missing, which invalidates it all. From his wiki page [1]:

> Fela Anikulapo Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also professionally known as Fela Kuti, or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre and human rights activist. He has been called "superstar, singer, musician, Panafricanist, polygamist, mystic, legend. and

> Fela Kuti was a political giant in Africa from the 70s until his death. Kuti criticized the corruption of Nigerian government officials and the mistreatment of Nigerian citizens. He spoke of colonialism as the root of the socio-economic and political problems that plagued the African people. Corruption was one of the worst, if not the worst, political problem facing Africa in the 70s and Nigeria was among the most corrupt countries of the time. The Nigerian government was responsible for election rigging and coups that ultimately worsened poverty, economic inequality, unemployment, and political instability, which further promoted corruption and thuggery. Fela's protest songs covered themes inspired by the realities of corruption and socio-economic inequality in Africa. Fela Kuti's political statements could be heard throughout Africa.

Later edit: Just found a 1999 David Byrne interview [2], with him talking about Fela Kuti and appreciating his work, he even mentions a Talking Heads song based on Fela Kuti's style, so all things considered this must have been just a slip (from David Byrne's part, I mean) or something similar:

> But it’s obviously informed by, he’s bringing a lot of what was happening on this continent back to Africa. Just amazing! The lyrics and everything, having something to say that wasn’t just party music, that made it pretty incredible too.

and

> So…in Talking Heads there’s a song we did called “The Great Curve” [on the Remain in Light album], where we tried to do a Fela-type groove and then kind of take it in another direction. There are some sections that are straight Afrobeat riffs and stuff.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti

[2] https://arthurmag.com/2009/11/03/david-byrne-on-fela-kuti-19...

In addition to the connection to Fela Kuti in particular, Byrne founded Luaka Bop, still a premier world music label. They have released hundreds of world music albums.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luaka_Bop

And this historical interview— https://luakabop.com/history/

Yeah, saw that after I had last edited my comment. It kind of feels like cultural appropriation, I've also seen some interviews with Byrne where the interviewers mention this aspect just to immediately refute it afterwards.

I have also found some people on the internets mentioning it but admitting that they like Byrne's music nonetheless (the "culturally appropriated" one, I mean) so that I gave it a quick try but it just doesn't tick. It kind of never ticks when you take music out of its social and cultural environment and try to "transport" it somewhere else. Otherwise it seems like Byrne is a more than ok guy, so all the power to him.

Well, to put some of my cards on the table - I have followed Byrne since Remain in Light was issued, and I greatly admire his music and indeed his larger persona and work. I attended a small lecture he gave on his photography, many years ago, and he visited my wife's studio -- he is really quite unassuming in such a 1:1 context (she tells me).

I'm not 100% sure what you're saying in your second paragraph. One does get the feeling that part of his promotion of the music of Brazil, Cuba, and elsewhere in his post-Heads career might be Byrne paying the debt forward, and attempting to bring other flavors of music to people's attention.

Luaka Bop gives musicians a platform/wider audience, and in the case of someone like Brazilian musician Tom Ze, he toured on the basis of that wider exposure. He didn't need to take that money.

One thing that's admirable about David Byrne is how frank he is about racism. In 1997 he said "I am slowly overcoming the racism that was instilled in me by society."

Maybe he even tries too hard to redress these things in his work.

To be entirely honest, I feel sorry for anybody who can't leave the socio-politics out of music. I mean, for me personally, music transcends all those things. Yes, context is important if you want to understand why a song/piece was written the way it was written. But beyond that, it is a little naive to try to bring cultural appropriation into music.

Especially as someone from a country whose traditional music isn't exactly known at all, I would be more than happy to have anybody "culturally appropriate" it.

In fact the whole "Remain in Light" album was heavily influenced by Fela Kuti and its reissue even includes a bonus song named "Fela's Riff", so it's hard to believe Byrne could somehow forgot one his biggest inspirations. I think he simply confined to US/UK artists only.

There's also an Irish band, a Jamaican guy and a Spanish lady in that list, but I agree, the title was a little misleading, should have probably included the mention that this list is centered on the Anglosphere world.

I'm reading into this a bit, but I think David Byrne is focusing on American protest songs which could explain why Fela Kuti wasn't included.

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