Singing in a dialect and "Authentic pronunciation" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 2:59 PM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> What bothers me about the above opinion is it seems like the
>
> reviewer happily found a white singer who could outdo black singers at being
> black. Why? Most (certainly not all) musicians I know are primarily into the
> music, and don't care about the race of the person doing it. It must be a
> music reviewer thing to make race an issue.

Exactly! What is the point of that? I'd bet money that Laura Nyro
would have much more appreciated a review that said, "Laura Nyro's
unique talent and style, WRT to both singing and song-writing, is
*great*!" to one saying, "Laura Nyro sings better than random black
women."

FWIW, a sample of my own taste, WRT "black" music:

Janis Joplin's (= Big Brother & The Holding Company's) version of
Piece of My Heart is the best!
Jerry Lee Lewis's version of Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On is the best!
Elvis's version of Hound Dog is the worst!
The Young Rascals' version of Good Lovin' is the worst!

And, of course, this mirror can be looked at from the other side, too,
there being good and bad versions of "white" music by black people. If
you have nothing better to do at some future date, you may find it
interesting to listen to what's found under "doo wop - somewhere over
the rainbow" in (on? at?) YouTube. But, in either case, it's a matter
of *my taste* and not a matter of fact.  Needless to say, though, as
is the case with anyone else, when someone disagrees with my opinion,
I'm always rather surprised. *My* opinion is so clearly the "correct"
one! ;-)

-Wilson

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