Creating Without Caring—or Karen-ing
Everyday Music Every Day # 2
I saw someone screaming about the new Teenage Engineering EP sampler and how its Jamaican-based sounds is appropriation.
When I sit down to make music, I know I’m going to mess it up bad. If I tried to make a Bob Marley track, it would end up sounding completely different—and that’s the point.
I was in a reggae band with actual Jamaicans, and it was always a bit of thing. Friends/ people would still ask me if I was going to wear a dread wig on stage, which was pretty strange. It’s like dressing up like Nagel for an 80's band's concert. Really missing the point.
In the end, the whole musical cultural appropriation debate is off. I didn’t invent the D minor chord, and we didn’t invent the guitar. Back when I was in the restaurant business, we’d say we didn’t invent pepperoni pizza. It’s the same idea: you don’t have to reinvent everything to appreciate it.
As Dave Van Ronk said, the purists become dentists, and I believe that. There’s no such thing as musical appropriation. My skill is based on embracing (celebrating) that imperfect mirror of creativity. Even if I try to play a Bob Dylan song, it won’t sound like Dylan—and that’s perfectly fine.
So, I just don’t worry about it.