Before last night, the last time I attended a big public event was Ashura in Iran. Ashura commemorates the death of Mohammad's grandson in battle. The commemoration of this holiday is the at the heart of the differences between the Shia and the Sunni Muslims.Last night I went to hear Parliament/Funkadelic (without George Clinton, unfortunately)at the Sweet Corn festival. (For people unfamiliar with Parliament/Funkadelic... well I just do not know what to say...) Here I was, with people lifting their fists in the air and chanting in unison: "We Got da funk..." I could not help thinking that there are many similarities between rock concert and Ashura in Iran: humans need group celebration; the experience of chanting and moving in unison. We want to mingle with our friends among strangers doing the same. It's the way we remember that we are not alone in the world.
I feel best about my fellow Americans when I see them celebrate something trivial like funk or an outdoor movie or big hair... Otherwise we are such strangers to each other. Just strangers...
4 comments:
I guess you have to be born outside the U.S. to trivialize a style of music that is the essence of blues, jazz, rock-n-roll, soul, country and many other genres of music. Firstly, black music instigated the demise of segregation in the '50's. Below the Mason-Dixon Line (the south), white kids risked everything to go see a "race music" group like James Brown or The Motown Revue. Without the funk of Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Lil' Richard and Ike and Tina Turner, there WOULD BE NO Elvis, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix etc., etc.
Freedom requires that people of all nationalities, sexes, religions, and economic means gather TOGETHER to "give up the funk!" Wake da funk up dogette! Funk and trivial don't belong in the same sentence.
Don't worry Tori, I've seen P-Funk w/o Clinton and I've seen Clinton solo...P-Funk was much more fun. Clinton has lost it.
Ahhh funk, it's great stuff :)
Funkaholic, I bow to your superior argument.
You are bow wow wow right.
It would have been so much better had I written this:
Funkaholic, I bow wow to your superior argument.
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