RE: musical genres

[Alex Lubet <lubet001...>]

It's not generally known but Sun Ra's real name was John Ra, from which the 
term 'genre' is derived, this despite the fact than so many people objected 
to calling his music by the familiar terminology 'jazz'.



At 09:42 AM 5/6/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Excellent point. If everyone here didn't at some level accept the idea
>of musical genres, they wouldn't be on this list, "World Music from a
>Jewish slant." If that's not a genre, what is? And if we didn't have
>genres, we wouldn't exist.
>
> > Given that even those registering the anti-genre argument
> > (and citing as
> > problematic a handful of obvious crossovers and fusions) use
> > terms most of
> > us would associate with genres in their threads.  If the
> > Klezmatics don't
> > play klezmer why do they use a group name that clearly
> > indicates that that
> > is precisely what they do?  If we never speak of genres, what is the
> > alternative?  Without taxonomy conversations about music or
> > anything else
> > would be vastly more complicated and difficult, in addition to which
> > hunters would have no one to stuff their kills.
>
>

Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
University of Minnesota
100 Ferguson Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 (o)
612 699-1097 (h)
612 624-8001  ATTN:  Alex Lubet (FAX)

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