Can White Man Play or sing the Blues?
It’s a human tendency to think the interpretation of another culture by an outsider is less authentic. This can be applied to a wide range of ideas. Are gender issues owned by that gender? Can a man teach women studies? Are artistic movements the propriety of a particular generation or culture? Is modern impressionism as genuine as Monet or Van Gogh? Can a white man play or sing the blues?
The less complex answers to those questions would have been to say, yes or no. But what argument would one use to support her or his opinion? Rudinow’s uses ownership and experience to demonstrate that a white man can sing the blues, if the proper conditions are met. Meaning, if one masters the medium and recognizes its origins, it is possible to be authentic to the genre. I also agree with this opinion to a certain extent because the diversity of the elements in music or any other form of art are difficult to measure without considering other variables that can be applied to an individual.
For example the traditional Portuguese music, fado, is derived from an era and lower social class where one’s destiny belonged to someone else, the rich. It came from a specific time and place and was later woven into the general cultural fabric. The blues came from a specific time and place as well, the early twentieth century on the Mississippi Delta, where racism and segregation limited the opportunity of blacks and the institution of slavery was in the recent past. Does simply membership in a specific group imply ownership? I can not claim ownership of fado, I can’t sing, write or perform it. Symbolically, fado is implanted in the Portuguese culture but an outsider who has mastered its form can authentically interpret it. One can not rationally justify ownership simply by ethnic association.
I have little in common with the society from which fado was born. Their experiences and way of life would be quite foreign to me. Does that limit my ability to empathize with the message, such as longing and fate, central themes in fado? Of course not, these human emotions can be experienced by all of us. But can I understand the idiom, the instruments, form and rhythm? Perhaps if I am interested in practicing fado, I could become legitimate but that does not imply I can only do that because I am Portuguese.
A person’s origins should not solely determine or deter the acceptance of her or his form of expression when playing a variety types of music such as fado or the blues. The predetermination of a certain group of people to play a specific music is irrelevant to the reality of individual wants and needs. What matters is the development of the performer and the music itself over time. A man can teach women studies. An artistic movement is not the property of a particular generation or culture, nor can its legitimacy be questioned based only on exterior factors that have nothing to do how one becomes an artist.
Susana Pestana