TENTH CRITICAL REVIEW

"Notes on 'World Beat'" by Steven Feld

Feld begins his article by noting the complexities of musical appropriation. On the one hand, it can be born from a sincere love and respect for the original music and musicians, but on the other, it often turns into "a countermelody of power, even of control and domination." Feld then examines this issue more specifically through the lens of Paul Simon's Graceland. He explains why the South African musical styles heard on the album sounded so non-foreign to Simon--there have been serious African-American/American influences on South African music. Feld continues with what I regard as the most important part of his article: examining the issue of ownership. Feld notes that although Simon acknowledges his collaborations, Simon nonetheless owns the copyrights of many of the songs on the album. I find his point that Simon gives greater credit to his South African collaborators than his American collaborators extremely interesting, and Feld's explanation fot the reason this was so: "Simon felt that these songs were in fact more his own, or at least less anyone else's" is thought-provoking even if it is largely unsubstantiated. Feld ends up blaming the structure of the recording industry for perpetuating problems of "power and control," but the purpose of this article is more to point out the problem than propose a solution.

Discussion Question

If you were an elite recording artist making a Graceland-like album, how would this article influence the way you carried out your project?