Issue Six : No Limit Soldier by John Book

A lady named Lisa Stansfield put it best when she said "been around the world and I yai yai". When it comes to music, you cannot and should not limit yourself. If you love hip hop but only claim the East Coast as your favorite, what happens if for some reason you hear some hip hop from the South, and it moves you just as much as someone from Brooklyn? If you love hip hop, why limit yourself to just rap music? You often hear about hip hop being one of the only forms of music that takes in everything. So why not examine and explore "everything", or at least as much as you can?
On a mailing list I'm on, there was a thread of "world music recommendations". As someone who lived in Hawai'i, I was exposed to a lot of different people, and through that different sounds. I don't know any other way of living or listening. By enjoying Hawaiian music, I could also appreciate Indian music through my father's love of the Beatles. I was always within Asian cultures (myself being part Chinese) so I would hear various types of music during festivals or on television shows. With a lot of reading you always come across the phrase "music is the universal language". Music had already moved me as a kid, so I wanted to know how it was in other lands. What moved a Japanese teenager? Is he or she curious about music in other lands?

I can't say I went through a "world music" phase, since I always listened to it within everything else I bought. I approach world music in different ways. There are times when I want to hear music from a foreign land, in a language I do not understand. I will listen to it and try to get a feel for it. There are times when I like to listen to how another culture interprets music that I am used to. There are other times when I like to listen to it for its strangeness. Why are those ladies yodeling like frogs? It's bizarre to me, but I'm attracted to the sound. Or maybe it's a combination of everything.

I can name a number of artists whose lyrics I may not understand, but whose music I have enjoyed quite a bit. Ofra Haza, Bulgarian Female Vocal Choir, The New Minstrels (Phillipines), Gopal Shankar Misra, Aiko Shimada, as well as people like Fela Kuti and Osibisa.

There's a new issue of "Down Beat" which specifically covers world music, and the importance of this in jazz. The recent "Ken Burns' Jazz" documentary has sparked discussion on what jazz should be, and how limited its scope really was. While Ken Burns established that jazz is truly an American creation, it neglected to show how jazz is interpreted in other countries, especially throughout Europe and Japan, where jazz has taken its own identity. In the same issue of "Down Beat" there was an interview with an Indian drummer who said that much of today's music, be it jazz, soul, or R&B, lacks inspiration. The musician suggested that the inspiration should be coming from Africa, as well as places like India. While it referred to jazz and the common improvisational skills found within, it also applies to everything else.

But it also suggests, once again, that you should not limit yourself to what you're exposed to. Before he died, John Coltrane met with Ravi Shankar to talk about how he (Coltrane) could expand on his playing. Indian music does have structure, but its heart is based on how much you can work in and out of the structure. Stewart Copeland, known for years as the drummer for The Police, went on a trip to Africa in the 1980's to explore African percussion.

While Africa and India can lay claim to creating some beautiful music, one shouldn't limit themselves to these two countries either. Latin explosion? Recorded Latin music has been around for years, there are loads of new releases everyday and you're sure to find a lot of older material in the bins at your regular record hideouts. Hawai'i has been part of the U.S. for 42 years yet people view the place as a tourist resort, and not as a growing, active place with its own surviving culture and way of living. There is over 100 years of great music to explore, from slide and slack key guitar to contemporary sounds. Jazz is a worldwide phenomenon, but I heard there is a small but growing jazz scene in Hong Kong, with people like the Saturday Night Jazz Orchestra, and Elaine Liu making a name for themselves.

There is a young generation of music fans who are being exposed to world music through the samples used in "Big Pimpin'" and "Oopsie Wally". Unfortunately, Jay-Z and Nas aren't going out to the people to say "this is where I got it from", all they want is something that sounds exotic enough for the women to dance in their videos. Yes, some of these worldly sounds are sexy, but why? Go and find out. Find out why a certain raga should be listened to as "an elegant midnight melody", or find out what a Hawaiian song is saying when the singer says she wants to "part the flowers in the morning mist". Listen to Jorge Ben's "Umbabarauma" and realize that his ball going into the goal is a clever football/soccer metaphor.

I hate songs that are immediately upfront and blunt, or tell stories that go nowhere. I still enjoy a little creativity within the music and lyrics, and I will go out of my way to find it. It would be a perfect world if there were no boundaries or hatred between countries. Since that will never happen in my or anyone's lifetime, exploring the music of the world on vinyl, CD, or through MP3 files is the next best thing. It's a small world, after all.