The broadly-labeled
“world music” or “world beat” musical genre was enormously popular from the
late ‘80s through the late ‘90s and, for me as a musician, exciting and
inspirational. Musicians from Mali to Croatia to Brazil found themselves
collaborating with the biggest First World pop stars of the day to produce
uniquely multicultural sounds. Peter Gabriel powered whole albums with African
drumming and duets with singer Youssou N’Dour, a superstar in Africa and
Europe. Paul Simon recorded a South African-influenced album with musicians
from that country, and he and Michael Jackson also recorded separately with the
Brazilian samba-reggae group Olodum (which I drummed with myself in Carnaval in
the mid-90s). Sting, having soared to fame with a group that fused rock and
reggae, toured with percussionists of African and Caribbean roots and scored a
hit with Algerian singer Cheb Mami in “Desert Rose.” Audiences ate it up.
None of that would
be possible today, or at least popular, because an ugly current of racial
totalitarianism has taken hold among many young people who would condemn the
Western artists for cultural appropriation. The opportunities for such musical
blends to knit disparate audiences together are disappearing, replaced by a militant
tribal defensiveness.
When musical
artists mix genres and collaborate in a way that promotes unity rather than
division, there is no faster way to break down barriers of race, nationality,
and gender and move people beyond the barricades of politics. The exciting
energy such a creative partnership can generate brings people together more
quickly, harmoniously, and organically than any other artistic or activist endeavor.
Conversely, nothing
is more certain to wedge people further apart than using a musical performance
to sow division and perpetuate resentment in an audience that otherwise is
primed to seek common ground.
Rightfully, some
whites in the audience found this blatant discrimination offensive. One white
volunteer at the festival wasn’t having it at all, and resisted until Pimienta
finally had the volunteer removed from
the show.
In a subsequent
interview with Billboard,
Pimienta clarified that she never asks white people or men to leave her show (how
generous of her) and explained why she asks women of color to move to the front
of the stage:
As an immigrant,
as an Afro-Indigenous person, as an intersectional feminist, as a mother and
all of the other signifiers that qualify me as “other,” I understand what it is
like to not see yourself in the media, to not see yourself in institutions and
to not see yourself represented or reflected at a music show....
This simply reeks
of the self-pitying victimization of identity politics. Non-white girls don’t
see themselves reflected in the media or at music shows? They’re so culturally
repressed they stand in the back of the concert hall while all the whites and
men move up front? What absolute nonsense.
Instead of
condemning her divisive demand and stressing that all are welcome, the Halifax
music festival sided with the artist and actually issued an apology to her and a warning of sorts to other whites who might
be inclined to resist being treated like second-class citizens: “We will not
accept this behaviour,” declared the festival, referring to the white volunteer
who refused to move to the back, “and neither should you. Be responsible for
your friends - talk to them and support them as they move towards unpacking
their racism. People of Colour deserve safe spaces and it is your responsibility
to help. It is also ours.”
It’s unclear why
“People of Colour” is capitalized, but now is as good a time as any to point
out that the phrase is ridiculous regardless, since there is absolutely no
linguistic difference between that socially acceptable term and the taboo
“colored people.” Anyway, instead of privileging “People of Colour” with a safe
space and forcing whites, who presumably paid as much as everyone else to
attend (or who volunteered to work the show), to move to the back, the festival
should have condemned Pimienta’s blatant discrimination and declared its
commitment to provide a safe space for all.
It’s disheartening
to think that this point isn’t starkly obvious to everyone, but it is impossible to fight racism with
racism. One simply cannot resolve
racial tensions by deepening racial divisions and stoking racial resentment and
guilt.
To tell white
people that they are inherently, unconsciously, and irredeemably racist, and
that they need help “unpacking their racism,” is an ugly lie that is
condescending at best and flat-out racist at worst. It is a strategy guaranteed
to push people deeper into their racial camps.
Nonetheless, Pimienta
was grateful for the festival’s support and promises to keep racially
reconfiguring her audiences. “We’re on a necessary path, unlearning patriarchal
western ‘civilization’ ways,” she says. “If we don’t speak up, we will never evolve.”
The scare quotes around “civilization” are very revealing. Apparently she’s
unaware that it is Western civilization that has elevated the individual beyond
tribalism, and that has made such musical styles as her own indigenous,
Afro-Caribbean synthpop possible.
Allow me to stress
this point again: there is only one way toward a more just society that is not
bogged down in racial tension – drop the baggage and start fresh. Obsessing
over the injustices of distant generations, demanding reparations, claiming that
people of color in America are oppressed by white supremacy, condemning all
American history as racist, seeking racial payback through “reverse racism”
(another meaningless phrase – there is no such thing as “reverse” racism) –
none of this can possibly bring reconciliation. We must begin where we are and move
forward by simply treating everyone as equals defined by the content of their
character – not as identity groups defined by color, sex, and class, and
arranged on a hierarchy of victimhood.
Here’s an
experiment for Lido Pimienta to try at her next concert: drop the racial
arrogance and invite everyone – everyone
– to squeeze closer to the stage. Perform for everyone equally. Thank the
volunteers, regardless of skin color or sex, who helped make your show
possible. Say goodnight to all who came and wish them a safe, joyful trip home.
I think she’ll be surprised how much better this serves her music and the
people who listen to it, no matter what color they are.
From Acculturated, 11/6/17
