Rene

Many of you have you heard by now about jazz-vocalist Rene Marie and her performance for a civic ceremony in the city of Denver where she extrapolated the lyrics of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" otherwise known as the Black National anthem and placed them firmly in the melody of the "Star Spangled Banner." There was a whole bunch of WOO-HAA about it. It turned into a BIG deal. People on the political right thought she desecrated a national institution. She was called all sorts of things. Selfish. Dishonest. Unethical. That's where my opinion stands. I believe what she did was unethical.

Let me preface by saying that I have NO PROBLEM at all with her melding the 2 pieces. It's a hip idea and why not explore the politics and the "exclusivity", as Rene herself put it, inherently involved in their respective texts. It's a fair and just question and worthy of exploration. I'm personally thrilled that she is probing these 'heavy' tunes, making folks uncomfortable. I love that!

Yet I didn't think her choice of venue was appropriate for such a statement. In this case her performance was purely a function that any qualified singer could have executed. This is a case when the job is not about her or her political viewpoint but simply to perform a function at a civic event. After the organizers phoned to offer the performance, Rene took a day to think about it and called back accepting their terms with no mention of her intention to join the songs.

I went to Rene's website - renemarie.com and I admire her candor and her well-thought out explanation about what she did and her right as an artist to make these sorts of statements.

To me her statement is NOT an artistic one, it is a political one. If it were an artistic statement, why not pick the type of forum where the message would be better received. As a working musician, my word is the best thing I've got. If I accept work, I believe it just right to do what was agreed upon. There's no shame in honoring an agreement and art has nothing to do with that. The irony is this is a potentially great message that most didn't hear because of the presentation Rene chose.I wonder why she didn't tell the organizers what she was going to do and does she think it's right to deceive anyone who offers her a gig? She too is a band leader in her own right. How would she feel if someone she hires decided to make their own "artistic statment" in the middle of a performance. Would she be open to that?

Just my 2 cents...

More stuff to read, hear and view:

To access one report:
http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com/2008/07/embarrassing-race.html

an NPR interview with René:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92280877

And here's the clip:

Questions for your Artistic Self - #1

This is the start of a series of questions I've posed to myself and some of my students. I believe these questions inquires us ask ourselves about our why and what we express creatively. Today is the first one and every week, a new question will be posted for you to ponder. Since this is a forum focused on the voice, some questions will have that as a starting point yet most of the questions could used by anyone involved in producing art of whatever sort. Feedback is welcome.

Why do you sing and/or play a musical instrument?

This is a simple question on the surface and look at it from as many angles as you can and feel your reaction to what comes up. The question is asking you to look at what drives you to create and your intentions as a creative person. It may help better inform artistic decisions down the road you. The answer can be what ever comes up and feel “right” to you. As you develop your craft/art/voice more, you surely will be tested on your beliefs and convictions…I believe it is a strong force in creative people to confront issues such as these and transform what they discover back in their art to show again, one more perspective on any given theme. It broadens and deepens the human experience.