When Lau was visiting China and
conducting his fieldwork there, he was captivated by a type of local ensemble
music, jiangnam sizhu. This type of music he found so very
interesting he called teahouse music. It
is a regional music in which local musicians gather in a teahouse and play
various types of instruments. Everyone
present has a chance to play an instrument and play the repertory along with
embellishing and/or altering the melody.
He characterized the music by “its lyricism and moderato tempo” as well
as having a heterophonic texture (Lau, 11). He became intrigued with this music
and wanted to experience other regional musics.
He informed his host of this desire and was taken to another region,
Chaozhou, and was surprised as to what he had found. He was presented with an ensemble that was
led by a conductor and the music was composed and arranged. The way they played, in fact, resembled “Western
symphonic music.” (Nothing like he had
encountered previously in the teahouse!)
He had hoped to find something more intimate and to uncover another gem
of the music of China he had previously experienced but instead did not. The explanation of this arranged music was
that it was “an improvement on the music performed by the minjian music groups, voluntary amateur folk music groups that are
not financially supported and musically scrutinized by the government” (Lau,
17).
I think
that a sort of “improvement” happens to regional music in the United
States. The music that regional
musicians and people experience on a daily basis in coffee houses and around
town in other public venues can sometimes be vastly different than what is heard
and reproduced on the radio. Take the music of Raisin'Kane, for example. This music can be thought of as regional
music because it is the music that local musicians of Southeast Texas,
particularly in rural areas, play, hear, and experience. It can be compared to jiangnam sizhu in China. The
music of Raisin’ Kane is produced by amateur musicians that play acoustic
guitars. In this case, the two
brothers/musicians gather and start to collaborate. The music is not pre-composed and arranged,
but instead, it is a collaboration that involves listening to the musicians who
are present until they are in sync and in agreement to the music. This music is intimate and comes from the musicians
themselves; it can be improvised like that of teahouse music. The music played is not read from a music
stand like that of the orchestral hall music in Chaozhou.
In the
United States, people have the most immediate access through music on the radio
and what you find on the radio is music that is made popular; it is enhanced
with auto-tune and digitized instrumentation.
This music on the radio that is the most accessible is most often what
you do not hear in the regional areas in local venues around town. Like Lau, a person has to delve into the
local area to discover what really goes on musically around towns, instead of
what is readily presented to him like in the Chaozhou region. If he came to the area of South Bexar County
in Texas, he might find Raisin’ Kane playing in Whitehouse Café, playing with
acoustic guitar in hand and singing lyrics that were written by the musicians
themselves.
The Country Music Sensei
In Japan, teaching groups, ryū, formed through syakuhati players who were disciples in the teaching line of Kinko
Kurosawa and also players in the Kyoto style.
To learn an instrument like the syakuhati,
one must get involved into the iemoto
seito which is “the traditional system for transmission of knowledge
between master and disciple” (Wade, 51).
A sensei, or teacher,
transmits the knowledge to the student, seito. The lessons are described as demanding
and structured, with a certain order for the exercises, practice songs, and
repertoire in Music in Japan.
Similar
to the relationship between sensei
and seito, David Kemp functioned as a
sort of sensei to Peter and Tim Kane
of Raisin’ Kane. In the Japanese system,
the sensei transmits knowledge of the
actual instrument and notation; however in this case, Kemp transmitted
knowledge and experience to aspects of stage performance. When asked about the influence Kemp had to
the group, Peter Kane responded that before they met David, they were just
learning their instruments and “once
we started playing with him [Kemp], we started learning more about the BIG
picture of playing music.” The “big
picture” included how to read and interact with a crowd, what songs to play,
stage presence, and transitioning between songs.
At the very final level of the
Japanese iemoto seito system, when
all the pieces are learned, “the student is granted a performing license,
called shihan, and performing
name. Similarly, Kemp coined the name
“David Kemp & Raisin’ Kane,” and it became permanent even after Kemp left
to pursue a more active music career.
The iemoto seito system is described by Wade as very structured,
strict, and demanding. She talks about
how she felt overwhelmed because she had to keep up with her teacher’s pace
even through difficult passages. The
pieces she had to play were mandatory pieces in which she had to master to move
on to the next level. On the other
side of the spectrum, Kemp encouraged Raisin’ Kane to play songs they could
relate to and to add their own sound into the music. Their “repertoire” not only consists of their
nine originals, but of approximately 40+ covers in which they add their own
flavor to. Peter Kane explains that he
does not consider the band to be a ‘cover band’ in the true sense of the word because unlike other cover bands, they do not
play their songs exactly like the original, nor try to manipulate the voice in
order to sound like the original artist.
For example, there is a track on their CD called “Wagon Wheel”
originally written by Bob Dylan and Jay Ketcham Secor. One can hear Raisin’
Kane “flavor” through the bass line, improvisations on the harmonica, and
harmony in the vocals, which is normally a major third above the melody. The texture, like in the majority of their
songs, is homophonic, with the melody dominating and the chords supporting. The chords provide rhythmic support and harmony,
but the melody is superior. They added a
harmonica on the CD version which provides additional harmony to support the
acoustic and bass guitars.
Listen to Raisin' Kane play "Wagon Wheel"
Raisin’ Kane-ness
This Raisin’ Kane “flavor”
mentioned above can relate to the concept of “Japaneseness.”
Bonnie Wade describes how Japanese
musicians wanted to get away from “the hegemony of American standards of
aesthetic innovation and expressive authenticity by asserting in their music
the sound of a Japanese cultural identity,” in which they label “Japaneseness”
(Wade, 156). Musicians insert
“Japaneseness” into their music in a number of ways which can include mixing
Western and Japanese instruments together in a work, jazzifying Japanese folk
material, or keeping Japanese aesthetics in mind while writing original works;
aesthetics such as ma or the
importance of the seasons.
At this time, composers were
concerned with keeping the music connected to their country of origin (Japan)
and at the same time keeping authenticity and originality.
Raisin’ Kane tries to keep their
sound authentic by mixing genres. They
cover Country, Americana, Classic Rock, and Blues. Yet they always keep the same fundamentals
which includes instrumentation, acoustic and bass guitar, and the style to
which they play the music. By listening
to their CD, Big Time Life, one can
hear the relatively simple chord progressions and strumming patterns. The melody stays within the octave in the
middle register. The vocal quality isn't necessarily a clear tone, but instead more raspy. The vocal line occasionally slides which is typically characteristic of this music. The harmony is mostly a
major third above the melody, and at the end of the song “Big Time Life” it
offers a sort of call-and-response to add something different to the song. Raisin’ Kane keeps to their roots of origin,
country music, through the lyrics as well.
They are simply trying to communicate a story through the music and
lyrics. They play because of the
enjoyment they get from it.
Big Time Life
As musicians, they are no virtuosos like
Mozart or Liszt. Occasionally, after the
predominant strum patterns, you can here classical style finger work on the
guitar. However, their original works
all keep the same “Raisin’ Kane flavor” because of the style they exhibit
throughout their songs because they keep to their origin which was previously
stated as country music. Country music
in general, specifically classic country, is teemed with emotion expressed
through lyric content and the sound generated in the voice, kind of like cry
singing in Tan Dun’s “The Map.” The themes
of their songs include lost love, family, and finding yourself.
While Japanese composers want to
keep to their roots and play music without sounding like a tradition that is
not their own such as that of the Western tradition, so too does Raisin’ Kane
keep to their roots.
Don’t “Go Away”
In one of Jeff Todd Titon’s blog
entries, Classical Music’s Radio Future, Titon talks about the “going away” of
classical music on radio because it is no longer popular with the majority of
radio listeners. He talks how radio was
first meant to be educational; therefore, classical music was added to the
program because it was regarded as music of the highest quality. But now, because of the increasing number of
radio stations, classical music on the radio has had to rely on local and
regional fundraising in order to sustain this music from getting booted from
the program.
Titon believes that this “going
away” of classical music is from a cultural shift of the middle class. “It is
that economic reality, a decline in the patron class, coupled with the media
availability of so much "other music" to interest people with
eclectic taste that accounts in large part for the cultural shift,” comments
Titon.
Think how this could translate to
other music, not necessarily on the radio but maybe in public venues. Take the music of Raisin’ Kane for example.
Their music is played at local cafes and bars.
Easily it could be the case one day that the manager of the café or bar
tells them that they’re not bringing in enough customers or favor with the
public; therefore they will be replaced with another genre or even with a radio, in
other words, something that is more mainstream and can relate to more people.
Without this sort of ‘patronage’
from the café and bar owners of Raisin’ Kane music, their music gets cut off
and left to exist on iTunes and streaming music on the internet unless they
find somewhere else to play, on the slight chance of having that happen. Just like the sensei in the Japanese iemoto
seito system, the owners help foster the growth of this music so it can be
sustainable.
Perhaps this is why Japanese
composers want to embody “Japaneseness.” For the sake of sustainability, they
find it necessary to maintain a tie between their music and the origin of where
it came from. At the same time, in order
to prevent from “going away,” they still need to enhance or flavor their music
just enough so it will not lose interest with the general public.
A person who writes and plays
music is considered a musician. But how
is their music sustainable if they do nothing with it, keeping it forever shut
off from the world? Playing in local
venues, writing music to incorporate elements of the past and also of original
content, playing music on the radio, and even writing this blog all relate to
the sustainability of music.
We cannot let it get pushed out
just because it is not a certain kind of genre.
All have merits, yet what we listen to shouldn’t be comprised of just
one general thing because that in particular makes more money.
Bibliography
Books
Lau, Frederick. Music in
China. New York: Oxford, 2008.
Wade, Bonnie C. Music in
Japan. New York: Oxford, 2005.
Web
Peter and Tim Kane. “Raisin’ Kane.” Accessed 11 October
2012. <www.raisinkane.com>.
Sonicbids. “Raisin’ Kane.” Accessed 30 October 2012.
<http://www.sonicbids.com/2/EPK/? epk_id=148331#bio>.
Titon,
Jeff Todd. Sustainable Music: A Research
Blog on the Subject of Sustainability and Music. Accessed November 25, 2012. http://sustainablemusic.blogspot.com.
Video/Sound Recordings
Big Time Life,
YouTube video, 6:34, posted by apanchul, 2008,
http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/JzTn1vG04Kw.
Peter and Tim Kane.
Big Time Life. Raisin’ Kane,
2008, compact disc.
Rock me mama, YouTube
video, 3:12, posted by apanchul June 6, 2008,
http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/HJJkg9ee_WY.
Interview
Kane,
Peter. Interview by Amanda Pawelek. San Antonio, TX, November 20, 2012.
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