brain-droppings: What the hell is "roots" music anyway?

 

brain-droppings: What the hell is "roots" music anyway?

The term "root" as in roots music is problematic for a description of music/culture. If you keep in mind that root is a metaphor and that metaphors work by resemblance, you'll see that root conjures up a single source, like a tree root, as the source of the entire tree (forget the seed at this point). But if metaphors work to open up new ways of thinking about what was previously unthinkable, they can also obscure: remember we are trying to talk about "roots" music, not trees. Others have suggested  rhizome* as a better metaphor for music/culture because it traces back to multiple sources rather than to a single source, yet retains other organic associations such as growth and development. Perhaps the rhizomic metaphor may illuminate new aspects for us, but what will it obscure? We'll see.

The search for origins in music is complicated, and people who devote their lives to the study of historical and cultural aspects of music know that the specific origin of a particular style or instrument or practice always disappears in a hazy mist of rumor, tradition, politics, and self-interest. Notice that anytime you see someone argue for a specific origin, they have a specific agenda (usually self or group interest) to sell. Of course, generalizations can be made. I mean, who is going to argue about the centrality of African-Americans in the birth and development of most American popular music including jazz and the blues? You have to be a wing nut to believe otherwise. You can also point to movements and specific persons who contributed to, lets say jazz, in distinctive and influential ways. What you cannot locate is the first utterance of "jazz, " the inventor of it. The old work around was the term "folk music" meaning that it came from the folk (group) rather than from an individual. But that is an outdated and ultimately irrational term: let's face it, people (single and multiple) make music, not cultures.

Still, "roots" has current utility as a musical category, even in the much beloved Grammys. We have to deal with it. But lets remember that the original need for a metaphor comes from being unable to express the complexity that the metaphor points toward.

I guess for now, I'll just continue being a avant-blues and roots guitarist, whatever the hell that means or points to. Time to shut up and play my guitar.

* In botany, a rhizome (from Greek: ῥίζωμα, rhizoma, "root-stalk") is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes.