I recall a video on Youtube with Camille Paglia despairing the fading of the Western Tradition — as a champion of worthless skanks like madonna and other deracinating actors, she sure is one to talk! She spoke of how younger generations of students, for all their intelligence, are woefully ignorant of the Bible and pagan mythologies of Greece that informed and inspired so much of Western Art & Culture, indeed well into the 20th century. How is one to recognize the allusions in Western literature without a firm grounding in cultural canon?
She also lamented the fading of interest in Classical Music among young ones, going so far as to speculate it may survive as a living tradition only in East Asia. (Paglia wanted to have it both ways. She relished irreverence and fanned rebellion against tradition & order but also defended the latter for its richness in heritage and meaning. Besides, rebels can keep at rebellion only against existing authority. Paglia enjoyed the Sixties too much to relinquish the role of the eternal teenager, one who drives his/her parents crazy without ever wishing to murder them. Once authority fades, rebels find themselves as the new authority, and things can be much worse with the combination of the radical will and iron grip. Indeed, it was precisely why Bolsheviks as the New Boss were far more repressive and ruthless than the Old Order. Traditional Authority could be brutal and oppressive, but it was about maintaining the same old same old. Lacking the fiery spirit of revolution, it was like cold iron. In contrast, precisely because rebels and/or revolutionaries lacked institutional power, they relied on inspiration and passion, the stuff of fire. But what happens when the Old Order collapses and the rebels/revolutionaries take over as the New Boss? Result is the hot furnace of fire and iron. Paglia cheered on the anarchists against Church authority but also respected and even secretly revered that authority as a storage of a rich tradition, as well as a worthy foe. Indeed, the worth of any rebellion depends on the quality of the nemesis. It’s like climbing the highest mountain. The pride of conquest rests on the seemingly insurmountable task. Paglia’s attitude was to climb the mountain but keep it intact than blow it up. This is where she found herself at odds with many of her radical generation who were less interested in conquering the mountain than blowing it all up. They weren’t merely rebellious teenagers but had patricide in mind, along with the rape of mother. Jim Morrison and the Doors: “Father, I want to kill you, mother I want to f——–.” Paglia cheers on the Satanists to lay siege to the church but also wants the church to defend its hallowed ground. She’s rocks to “Sympathy for the Devil” from outside the walls but joins in the chorus of “Ave Maria” from within the walls. She’s all messed up like the Kundry character in Richard Wagner’s PARSIFAL. In contrast, Jewish Supremacists and ‘woke’ radicals call for total destruction. They root for Pussy Riot gangs and globo-homo subversives to vandalize and desecrate the inner sanctums of the church. Globo-Homo has been far more insidious because, unlike the blatant blasphemy of Pussy Riot, it feigns a pseudo-pietism that would have us believe Christian Love smiles down on ‘angelic’ tooters getting all fruity with each other’s bungholes.)
At any rate, perhaps there is something to what Paglia said. Classical Music in the future may be better preserved in places like Japan and China than in the US, even Europe. Given the decline of interest in Classical Music among Westerners in general, the obvious solution would be to get more young whites interested in Classical Music as not merely great music but a rich cultural heritage. Instead, the top priority isn’t too-many-yellows and not-enough-whites but where-are-the-Negroes? As if whites losing their musical heritage to yellows isn’t bad enough, the call is for them to lose it to blacks as well. But then, as blacks have been sacralized, many whites surely feel everything is ennobled or consecrated by its association with blacks.
But blackity-black or yellowy-mellow, the truth is the Classical Tradition arose in the West among the whitity-whites. It is essentially European, with some contributions by American composers(but then, what is America but an extension of European Civilization)? Besides, why a need for more blacks in Classical Music when they have their own musical forms, some of them remarkable and inspired in their own right? Whatever blacks are deficient in, musical expression(along with sports) isn’t one of them. But given that the new cult/quasi-religion among whites is the Tri-Idolatry(or Tridolatry) of Jews, homos, and blacks, whites do fret about the Black-Lack wherever blacks fail to excel and/or show much interest. (Yes, it’s ‘racist’ white folks’ fault that not enough blacks are into Haydn and Brahms.) If blackness is sacred, or ‘blacred’, then black holiness must shine its radiance(or cast its cool shadow) over everything. If something is absent of or insufficient in blackness, it is deemed unblessed, unhallowed, or unredeemed. So, it doesn’t matter how great it is for what it is. It is excoriated for its Black-Lack, or B-Lack. It’s like everything has to have blactose, the sugar of vibrancy.
Classical Music is one of the greatest achievements of mankind, and one of the unique contributions of Western Civilization, all the more remarkable because, despite its particular origins, it is perhaps the most universal form of music in its reach and breadth, i.e. its emotions/passions can be felt directly and personally across cultures; the emotions come across as those of Man than of Hindu, Muslim, Turk, Chinese, or Irishman(who’d rather be singing ‘Danny Boy’ instead anyway). Perhaps, this owes to the combination of Christian universalism and Hellenic tradition where the notion of Man became independent of cultural markers.
One thing for sure, even as all the world can appreciate and gain inspiration from it, Classical Music Tradition hardly requires the input of non-Europeans for validation or legitimacy. If there’s an all-white blues band, perhaps one may wonder why there isn’t a Negro in it. B-Lack can be an issue. But what need is there for blacks in Classical Music? If blacks show interest and want to play the music, okay, but what does the form gain simply by having Negroes?
Classical Music has no Negro origins and reached its apotheosis purely as European music. Arguably, the only notable non-European contribution to Classical tradition came from Jews, but these were Europeanized Jews who themselves were steeped in the heritage through semi-assimilation genetically and culturally.
But even as whites wish for more blacks in Classical Music, the reality is it has attracted countless Asians, especially the yellows. Some may argue that even if whites were to abandon the tradition, there will be Asians to keep it alive. But is this a good idea? I think not.
Now, what happens in Asia is immaterial. If Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China want to have their classical music schools and orchestras, that’s their business. But what happens in the West should be the business of whites, the core of Western folks. Classical Music is Western Tradition. For the most part, the Classical idiom has failed to produce great new works. In terms of originality, it is irrelevant and survives mainly as movie scores.
One may argue that the form has been exhausted by past greats who explored virtually all the possibilities of structure and expression(which is also true of Jazz and possibly Rock as well). All art-forms eventually run dry. Then, Classical Music is museum music, something to be cherished and preserved as part of the Western canon and heritage. Modernism’s emphasis on novelty and shock has made people forget the other purpose of art and culture. Ultimately, a civilization is more about inheritance than inspiration. After all, even if Western arts and culture had stopped progressing after 1600, there would have been an immense treasure trove of accumulated masterpieces. Similar claim could have been made 1600 yrs earlier as the pagan Greeks and Romans had already achieved so much.
So, if Classical Music is one of the great treasures of Western Civilization that needs preserving, then it does matter WHO preserves it. It should be up to Western folks to do it. It should be their duty, obligation, and responsibility as well as joy, blessing, and honor(as how many peoples have been bequeathed with such greatness?). It shouldn’t be up to Asians, just like it isn’t the role of non-Jews to keep alive the Jewish tradition. You can’t expect another family to bring flowers to the graves of your forebears.
Now, a distinction must be made between preservation and inspiration. It’s fair game for any people to take inspiration from the Classical Tradition and forge their own music. It’s like white folks took from black Blues and created their own styles of Rock. But when it comes to the preservation of core Blues, it should be up to blacks. White folks can learn to play it, gain inspiration from it, and fashion their own stuff out of it, like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. But core Blues is black, and it’s only right that the carriers of the torch should be men like Otis Rush. No matter how well a white guy may sing and play the blues, it seems almost like a parody for him to do it straight, as if he really is a Negro than merely drawing water from the Negro well. Unless he makes it his own through inspiration, he should just give it up. Leave it up to the Negroes to preserve the core idiom.
Sadly, too many Negroes now only care about rappity-rap, leaving it up to non-blacks to care for their musical heritage. But then, whites are doing the same to Classical Music, too often leaving it up to Asians. Just like core Blues expresses something unique deeply embedded in the Negro soul, Western Classical Music flowed from the deep wells of the European soul. Just like anyone can learn to play the blues, anyone can learn to play Classical music. But outward mimicry doesn’t get to the deeper well from which the expression sprang. When a white man plays the blues, he shares in the outward buzz of being Negro-like but remains a stranger to the dark recesses of the black soul, the inner-racial zone of ‘Sheeeeeeiiiiit’ from which the bluesy energy sprung.
Likewise, Europeans, especially Germanics, have a collective soul unlike any other from which greatest expressions of the Classical Tradition swelled and erupted. This isn’t to suggest one kind of soul is better than others but to acknowledge the uniqueness of racial personalities and souls. Consider the link between Jewish Soul and Jewish Humor.
Of course, there would have been no Blues music without white influence as black Blues arose in the American South through contact with white music, but white music had to be sucked into the black hole of the black soul to re-emerge as the big bang of ‘sheeeeeiiiit’. No blacks, no blues. When white American style mixes with Mexicans, it produces something quite else. Whatever it is, it isn’t the Blues.
Just like blacks took from white music to make the Blues, Germanics took from Italians to make their form of Classical Music and Opera that were darker and more powerful. But again, the Italian forms of music had to enter the German soul to re-emerge in the form of Beethoven, Brahms, and Wagner. Of course, most Germans, like most blacks, had little in the way of originality as geniuses are few and far between among all groups. Still, Germanics were fortunate that those among them with the greatest natural gift for music got to express the soul and spirit of their people(like what Andrei Tarkovsky did for the Russian Soul through film art). If the Germanics didn’t have a Homer to do justice to their mythology in words, they certainly had Wagner to compensate in music. It goes to show that it’s not enough for a people to have a unique collective tribal soul. Fullness is realized only when geniuses among them arise to give the expression it deserves with inspiration drawn from elements within and outside the culture.
Personally, the sight of all those Asians serving as preservers(or ‘preservitors’) of Western Classical Music seems all wrong. It’s not only wrong for the West but for Asians themselves. It’s one thing for Asians to take inspiration from Western Music and create their own interesting variations(like Toru Takemitsu) but quite another to do it so straight and faithfully with a cultural form which isn’t their own. They seem like a bunch of lame, imitative, and uninspired robots. I don’t care how well some Chinese guy plays Classical Piano. I don’t care how well Yo MaMa plays the cello. Or how well some Korean woman is a wizard with a violin or some Japanese guy is so adept with an oboe. They are lamely preserving the tradition of another people. Surely, they have their own traditions to preserve, like Noh Theater. Let Japanese preserve Noh Theater, and let whites preserve Classical Music. Again, it’s primarily a matter of preservation. When it comes to inspiration and creativity, anyone may borrow from anyone or anything as long as he makes it his own.
It seems most East Asians in Classical Music aren’t drawn to it out of passion and love. Rather, as illustrated in Amy Chua’s BATTLE HYMN OF THE PUSSY MOTHER, it seems the product of shallow status-obsessed Asian parents who want to show off their kids as entrants into respectable society by playing high-brow music for rich, privileged, and educated snobs. So, it’s not like most Asian instrumentalists pursued classical music out of personal passion. Rather, they were raised like trained monkeys to pursue whatever’s deemed proper and respectable.
True creativity is suppressed in favor of programmatic repetition to play the notes perfectly(even though maybe the Asian personality, being naturally obedient and conformist, is amenable to this). So, even as Asians master the outward expression of Classical Music, they fail to access the inner well of creativity that made the music possible in the first place. It’d be like some Asian memorizing Greek plays by rote and reciting them perfectly without genuine understanding of the personalities and individualities that created them to begin with.
Granted, most people of all races are not original or creative, and the purpose of cultural preservation is to learn, master, and keep than to be creative. It’s about keeping the flame than igniting new fires. But again, if the purpose is preservation, it should be performed by the descendants/inheritors of those who created the culture. Is it wrong for Greeks to maintain the Parthenon or for the Chinese to upkeep the architectural features of the Forbidden City? Is it wrong for black Africans to keep with the bongo drum tradition? Or for American Indians to carry on with the Rain Dance? (Did it ever work?) True, the West became vast and expansive in ways that no other civilization did, but Classical Music is steeped in European history, culture, arts, and spirituality. Non-Europeans should draw inspiration from it, not merely imitate it or take on the burden(and blessing) of preserving it.
Now, what about Classical Music in East Asia itself? Japan and China have major orchestras. And Japan even produced world-class conductors. In one way, it’s their business, and it shouldn’t matter to the West. Still, I find something ridiculous about the whole idea. Long ago, some Japanese conductor toured the West — no, it wasn’t Seiji Ozawa — as a specialist in the music of Gustav Mahler. He conducted an American orchestra and was well-received. Okay, I understand he really loved the music and became a master in the field. But why? It’s one thing for Japanese to admire Western Classical Music, but why adopt it as something so intrinsic to Japanese cultural life? Not only does it carry the odor of cultural theft but cultural self-denial, as if Japanese are so deficient in a culture of their own that they must borrow a foreign culture wholesale, unaltered and to be imitated note for note.
Besides, given the sheer imitativeness of the East, it is fast adopting ‘wokeness’ and lose interest in Classical Music as the expression of White Maledom. Asians imitate whiteness, and Japan imported Jungle Fever big time from the West, and Taiwan has ‘gay marriage’. Whites now worship Negroes, and so goes Japan, which even hosts countless African men to live with Japanese families, leading to you-know-what. Just look at their national teams in the Summer Olympics. So, as the West falls, so will the East(at least the part within the Western sphere of control and influence), which, as such, cannot be relied upon as the last bastion of the Western Heritage.
But, that isn’t how Japanese culture developed through history. Japanese drew from Chinese and Indian sources in architecture, music, spirituality, philosophy, sculpture, and craft, but they always made the borrowings their own with unique tastes and touches. And even though Japanese cinema drew heavily from Hollywood, Soviet montage, and German cinema, it produced giants like Kenji Mizoguchi, Akira Kurosawa, and Shohei Imamura who did their own thing. Japanese also took Western pop music and did interesting things, like the pop hit “Sukiyaki”, which actually isn’t about beef boiled in soy sauce.
But when it comes to classical music, Japanese, like other East Asians, have taken the Western Classical Tradition wholesale, learning and playing the music note by note. They’ve adopted the music not as a point of inspiration but a matter of preservation. But it isn’t theirs to preserve.
It is duty and honor of Western Folks to preserve… but then, whites today are so colonized by Jewish Power that the running theme of the Current Year is the Black-Lack. Never mind the tragedy of not enough white kids showing interest in this great tradition. The big question among the elites is WHERE ARE THE MAGIC NEGROES to play the violins, cellos, clarinets, tubas, trombones, and etc.? It’s as if everything whites ever created was ultimately to be served to blacks, surrendered to blacks, or to be redeemed by blacks. It went from “Hey Hey Ho Ho Western Culture Gots to Go” to “Hey Hey Ho Ho Western Culture Gots to Go Negro”. Of course, the Negroes have a simple reason for their lack of interest in classical music or nuclear physics: We be too busy rappin’, stealin’, cheatin’, shootin’, sniffin’, and actin’ crazy while you dumbass white folks wash our feet and suck our d—s.
What a dumbass world.
Btw, would it be a good idea to have something like a video series on Classical Music? Ken Burns did one on Jazz, and it reignited interest in the musical genre among many young ones who never paid attention to anything outside the latest pop music. Of course, there are documentaries(available on youtube) on various great composers of Classical Music, but most of them are inferior and disconnected from one another in theme and narrative. Such a project would be worth funding by cultural conservatives with deep pockets who profess to care about the Western Heritage. A unified video series on the whole arc of Western Classical Musical tradition, from within Church walls to the great halls of the modern era.
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