'High Hopes,' Frank Sinatra, and a Bunch of Singing Kids

"Frank Sinatra - High Hopes"

Filmfanatiker081, YouTube (March 17, 2010)
video, 2:41

"Frank Sinatra - High Hopes"

There's a pretty good Wikipedia article on the 1959 "High Hopes" song. A half-century later, the Lemming remembers: and could sing along with this video.

Kenyan Music: There's More to It Than You May Think

"On the Beat - Tapping the Potential of Kenya's Music Industry"
WIPO Magazine (July 2007)

"The modern musical landscape of Kenya is one of the most diverse and vibrant of all African countries. But under-investment, ineffective management of intellectual property rights, and rampant piracy have prevented the industry from realizing its economic potential and left its artists struggling to earn a living. Following a recent visit to Nairobi by a team of WIPO's copyright and outreach experts, this article takes a look at what makes Kenya's music great, and at some of the elements which have hitherto stunted its growth.

"With more than forty different regional languages, the country's musical panorama is rich and remarkably complex. Driving through Nairobi's streets in your matatu, you will hear songs in Luhya, Luo, Kamba, and Kikuyu on every street corner. Music has traditionally been a distinctive feature of Kenyan ethnic groups, such as the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest ethnic community, and the Luo people of the Lake Victoria region, who have always been particularly well known for their musical culture.

"In addition to its entertainment value, Kenyan music has always been, and is still today, a major vehicle for sharing information and educating local populations. Opondo Owenga, a traditional Benga musician, was well known during the colonial era for his use of music to convey the history of the Luo people. Such musical riches are under threat, however, since traditional music rooted in oral tradition is disappearing at an alarming rate...."

"...Despite its vibrant creativity and boom in production, the Kenyan music industry is nowhere near realizing its potential. 'Nobody knows about Kenyan music,' says Suzanna Owiyo, 'and that is because we lack proper networking in terms of distribution.'

"Paradoxically, the very diversity of Kenya's musical scene represents a key challenge to developing a sustainable industry. In particular, its linguistic diversity has fragmented the market and made it more difficult for artists to develop unique and recognizable sounds that can serve as currency for access to mainstream global markets...."

If you hadn't heard about Kenyan music before, you have now. That "diversity" is a bit of an understatement. I didn't find anything worth posting here, but it's pretty clear that, besides a still-awesome array of traditional music, there's everything from reggae and hip hop to pop being performed in Kenya.

From other sources, including my second-oldest daughter, I've learned that music being "performed" isn't all there is to music in many parts of the world - including Kenya.

Euro-Americans tend to think of music as something a musician performs, that an audience listens to. Or as something you do in the shower. That's music, but it's not all there is to music.

Music can be functional - a part of the processes of life. Europeans had sea shanties (or chantey, chanty, or sea chantey) that helped sailors coordinate their efforts. Folks at the other end of the Eurasian continent did the same sort of thing, I understand.

Anyway: the article's a pretty good introduction to Kenyan music as it is in the 21st century.

Background:

• "American Work Songs | Mapping the Beat" (pdf)
  Fifth grade lesson plan, University of California, San Diego
  • "To explain how humans have used music to organize work efforts"
  • With URL links

And Now, for Something Completely Different: a South Korean Girl Group Music Video

This is, by my standards, fun, cheerful, with pretty good music and choreography. As someone said, 'it brings a smile.' Or something like that.

"GIRL'S GENERATION-Into The New World(HQ)WITH MP3/MV DL"

jazzin09, YouTube (April 27, 2008)
video 4:51

I'd never heard of Girls' Generation before - possibly because my command of Korean is extremely sketchy at best - and consists of terms used in Soo Bahk Do. One of my kids was watching this video, I started asking questions, and found this (higher-quality) copy on YouTube.

I gather that Girls' Generation has fans and unfans: the latter regarding the group as a girl-group copy of some specific boy-group. That may be true, but I don't see the problem.

My guess is that it's not all that hard to tell the difference between the two groups: After a certain age, it's hard to not notice the difference between boys and girls.

And, although I'm a bit more interesting in people who develop styles, I'm also interested in people who take what others have developed and put their own spin on it.

For newbies like me, who are clueless about Girls Generation, or SNSD, or So Nyeo Shi Dae, or 少女时代 - there's nine of them: Taeyeon~태연; Tiffany 티파니; Sooyoung 수영; Yuri~유리; Hyoyeon 효연; Seohyun~서현; Jessica 제시카; Sunny 써니; and YoonA 윤아.

Girls' Generation website: girlsgeneration.smtown.com

About the apostrophe (') - They call themselves Girls' Generation on their website, the YouTube account with the video spelled it "GIRL'S" in the title. As is my custom, I quoted the title exactly as written, using what appears to be the correct usage elsewhere.

Miley Cyrus Photo in Vanity Fair: A Small Town Dad's Opinion

The Miley Cyrus photo in Vanity Fair, the article that goes with it, and reactions to the picture, seem to like a Rorschach test - Different people see it as something different.

I've seen the photo, on Vanity Fair's website ("Miley Knows Best" page 2 Vanity Fair (June, 2008)) . It is beautiful. No surprise, since Annie Leibovitz had a very attractive model: one who, if my memories of anthropology classes are correct, is at a prime age for marriage in some cultures: 15.

After seeing the photo, and reading part of the article, my wife observed that Miley Cyrus is "hot," and that "her daddy needs a reality check." She's right. On both counts.

I appreciate the fact that Miley Cyrus is a very hot, sexy, young woman. I also understand that women in their early teens can be quite attractive to men. And, that this can lead to consequences, when good sense isn't followed. Examples of what can happen are in the news today: "Under guard, polygamist teen has a baby boy" (CNN (April 29, 2008))

Miley Cyrus isn't experiencing the sort of misuse that was "allegedly" inflicted on girls from around age 13 up by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a renegade Mormon sect) down in Texas.

However, I think that displaying her sexuality, no matter how 'tastefully' it was done, this way is inappropriate.

I also think that the photographer may have no clue as to what's going on. A 'Eureka moment' came when I learned that the photographer is a woman.

Although I acknowledge that the idea is not universally accepted, women are not men.

Men, in general, are very visually oriented when it comes to the other half of humanity. We can get very excited, very fast, looking at patterns of ink on wood pulp. I've been told that, again in general, women don't work quite the same way.

To the best of my knowledge, the gifted professional photographer who took this photo has not experienced what a man feels, when he sees a semi-naked woman - or a picture of one. For that reason, I think it's likely that she really doesn't understand why so many people have taken exception to her 'classic' photo.

Miley Cyrus' father, however, almost certainly has. And so have I.

My wife and I have three surviving daughters. One of them is around Miley Cyrus' age, the others are older. None of us are celebrities, and don't have to deal with the sort of decisions that the Cyrus family have to. However, I doubt that I would authorize a photo shoot like this, or having done so, leave one of my children in the hands of a proxy.

I'm not sophisticated enough to ignore human sexuality, or its power for wonder or terror.

---

Miley Cirus photo flap in the news:

• "Photographer defends Miley Cyrus photo"
  CNN (April 28, 2008)
  " 'I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted,' the celebrity photographer said in a written statement. 'Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.' "
• "Leibovitz apologizes for Cyrus' 'Vanity Fair' spread"
  USA Today (April 28, 2008)
  " 'I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted,' the celebrity photographer said in a statement Monday. 'Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.' "
• "THE NUDIE BLUES / DAD 'MORTIFIED' BY MILEY PHOTO" New York Post (April 29, 2008)
  "Billy Ray Cyrus suffered an achy breaky heart when he saw the seminude shots of his superstar daughter, Miley - a k a "Hannah Montana" - that were taken after he left the Vanity Fair shoot."
  "Cyrus had been present for most of famed photographer Annie Leibovitz's session, but ducked out before the final, racier pictures of his 15-year-old daughter, partially naked and covered by a sheet, were taken.
  " 'Miley's parents did leave the shoot and were not present for the final shot, nor did they see any digital images of the shot in question,' a Miley spokeswoman told The Post yesterday.
  "Her grandmother and her teacher were left to supervise, according to People magazine. "

Finally, a sort of slide show of the photo shoot: probably a better indication of what was going on than most commentary.

• "Behind the Scenes / Tween Angel"
  Vanity Fair (June, 2008)

A Blog for All Those Stealth Songs

"Songs Under The Radar," aka "Best-Unknown.com," This blog "is on a quest to find some of the best unknown songs and bring them to you, twice daily."

Quest on, good knight, quest on!