Daniel James wrote: >>>>Passing it off as 'new' to people who aren't >>>>familiar with the orginals is the fault of marketing and media >>>>types rather than musicians, in my experience. >>>> >>>> >>actually its an age-old tradition that goes back to the mediaeval >>period and probably further back into world and folk music... >> >> > >Surely in a folk tradition there's an assumption that music is passed >on from generation to generation? Musicians' egos aside, I've seen a >greater emphasis on performance than 'originality' or proprietary >authorship in that genre. > >What I meant was that if you ask a musician directly, they are often >modest and ready to acknowledge influences, where as the marketing >people come up with all that 'best band in the world' or 'greatest >singer of all time' stuff. > > Right, well, this is a salient point. Indeed the right of anyone to Play any style of music is held by anyone who loves that music. However, there are certain tunes and lyrics which are effectively GPL'd. Part of the living folk tradition requires that the song's history is known and told at each performance (not rigidly adhered to, I know) as is the case with many Gift Transactions. It is not appropriate either to rewrite the tune and call it your own, although that is what countless 'pop' artists have always done, and continue to do. Neither is it especially cool to perform someone's work and claim that it's 'traditional'. I was lucky enough to see Tim Rose play just before he died and was struck by how 'Hey Joe' actually meant something when he sang it. Most people still ask 'Tim Who?'. So sure most musicians start by learning 'Standards' and many attempts at writing one's own tunes simply end up as blatant plagiarism. It's hard to find anything new under the sun. But it can be done. There is also the issue of use and proper crediting of samples etc.. Sometimes the blatant pirates come up with the most original ideas. Uh, where were we? Despite his right to play the blues, I still have a right not to buy Eric Clapton's music. And anyway, what right has Manu Dibango got to play Reggae ?~]
