TheLoop21.com

By: Cindy Barnes-Thomas (Add to your loop)
Tue, 06/08/2010 - 07:44

Ben Harper is an accomplished musician who should have more fame than he does.

June is Black Music Month and it begs the question, just what is “Black music”? Is it the style of music or is it the race of the artist? I can see arguments for both sides, so I won’t dwell on that point of contention. What I will say is that Black music isn’t just Soul, R&B, Gospel or Rap.

We gave birth to jazz, blues, folk music and rock but for some reason we aren’t claiming much of it in the 21st century. Blues and jazz are distinctly American innovations and Black in its origins. Why is it that we don’t claim the same presence in rock and roll or folk music—the direct descendants of these genres?

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By and large, Black fans in the U.S. have abandoned the blues and jazz genres. I have been to too many blues and jazz performances where more often than not we are, as performers and listeners, few and far between. How sad is it that Blacks don’t truly appreciate or support this art form we started? It seems like more and more, anything resembling live instrumentation doesn’t get much love these days since autotune and drum machines are now a way of life.

Beyond that, artists who are creative enough to blur the lines between genres get the dreaded “not Black enough label” which is simply ludicrous. An artist who has the audacity to not fit neatly into a category may be faced with a life of obscurity. Personally, I’d rather see the authenticity and originality of artists like Fefe Dobson, Corrine Bailey Rae or Janelle Monáe instead of the second coming of Beyonce. Call me crazy, but isn’t variety supposed to be the spice of life?

Stretch a little bit. Check out rockers like TV On The Radio or Ben Harper and Relentless 7, who have picked up the torch from the likes of Living Colour and Fishbone. Give Darius Rucker a listen, whose latest incarnation as a country star is pretty remarkable following his staggering success as lead singer of  Hootie & the Blowfish (and a not-so-successful stint as an R&B solo act).

My point is that Black folks are present in all types of music and we should embrace them all or at least give them a good listening before dismissing it at face value.