The Grammy nominations came out yesterday and the inclusion of the British songstress, Adele - mega hit "Rolling In The Deep" - got me thinking about how much today's musical landscape thrives on blurring racial lines.
When Adele came out with her first album, "19" back in 2008, the first single off of it had most people thinking she was a black women. Like Amy Winehouse before her, this actually allowed her to cross over into black households that embraced her soulful, and "soul-filled", voice (black folks love a white woman who sings like a black woman).
I doubt that was her goal but it couldn't have hurt record sales.
Today, we see all kinds of artist of various racial backgrounds mixing, cross pollinating, and merging all the different genres (What's a Bruno Mars?). The thought of their being a certain type of music for Blacks, and another for Whites is almost complexly non-existent
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| Bruno Mars (Puerto Rican and Filipino) |
Back in the day however - I'm talking 1930's back in the day - Getting a cross over hit was a hard thing to do, especially if you were a Black artist who wanted White people to listen to your tunes. (Call it "sonic segregation").
When Jazz came on the scene, the culture started to change. In the '30's, the leftist ideology felt that jazz music was more inclusive. The music was even used as a political tool to attract younger black people to the communist party (talk about a crossover, am I right?).
Politics is like a volatile chemical substance, If you mix it with something else, the result can be explosive (like Mentos and Soda).
The mixture of Jazz into politics set off a movement that advanced black music into new territories. American born Jews started hanging out with their black brothers and sisters and gained each others support.
In a way, the movement forced the rest of the country to accept Jazz as true American music. That help Blacks folks gain a foothold by a White audience. By many measures, the movement was a success; bringing White intellectuals, Jewish impresarios, and Black and White music artist together.
And music continues to bring us all together still to this day.
The Gammy nominations - and the awards show itself - is the best snapshot of how far crossed-over we are. When the show is broadcast Feb 12, next year, the audience at home will be having a good time mixing things up, with a little pop from Katy Perry, dancing her but off to by David Guetta and rolling in the deep with Adele.
And like Micheal Jackson once sang "It doesn't matter if you're Black or White just buy my record (Okay he didn't say the last part but he was thinking it)
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Reference: "Swingin' the Dream" by Lewis A. Erenberg
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