My Quest for Music without Soul or African Influence
I have been searching for some time for a way to get in touch with my roots as a white person by finding a musical form that is purely white and not influenced by African music and especially soul. Now, this is not racist. In fact, African-American influence has done so much for music that it’s very difficult to find a musical art form that remains exclusively white and not influenced by other African culture. Now, it isn’t true that white people do not have soul. Somebody like say, Van Morrison has a lot of soul. Here is Jon Cleary, a piano player giving an example of a white guy with soul:
He’s not making fun of black musicians or trying to sound black. He simply is somebody with a lot of soul. Unfortunately, the African-American influence is very clear in his piano playing and his singing. My quest to find a whiter more Caucasian musical style brought me far away from the Creole influence of Jon Cleary’s New Orleans to America’s heartland. It is here that Celebration Iowa takes incredibly talented high school students and shows them how to sing and perform while removing all remnants of distracting soul from their music. I believe I have found my cultural heritage with Celebration Iowa 2007′s performance of We Built this City:
Wow! Celebration Iowa IS completely without soul. I can’t detect any whatsoever. The original version by the Starship is pretty “souless” too, but this version is clearly superior. Jimmy Buffett also is a prime example of white music. I think the roots of white music is in early shape note singing by white southern church goers.
wrecksracer
August 30, 2009 at 8:09 am
Yes, I not only think this is a better version of the song, the original had no choreography whatsoever.
thatsrightnate
August 30, 2009 at 9:44 am
I’m left without speech after watching this. 2007! Wow. It looks so authentically like a 1985 production.
beccy joe
September 7, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Hey good to see you Beccy Joe. It’s a shame the Lawrence Welk show went off the air because some of these kids have real talent.
thatsrightnate
September 7, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Thanks Nate. I’ve been on the road (still am). I had to google Lawrence Welk show but by this description it sounds like a lot of fun – “The show would open often by showing bubbles floating around and was accompanied by a sound effect of a bottle of champagne opening. Each week, Welk would introduce the theme of the show, which usually inspired joyous singing and/or patriotic fervor.”
beccy joe
September 8, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Oh you definitely want to check out the videos on Youtube. You’ll be hooked.
thatsrightnate
September 8, 2009 at 12:11 pm