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Welcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Last week, we delved into the issue of appropriation as it related to culture and music. The example given was of the featured artist being called out by this week's featured artist for not giving proper respect to the culture from which they'd covered a song. This week we'll examine if the artist throwing that stone might perhaps be equally guilty of a form of appropriation herself and illustrate again how misusing the accusation of "appropriation" stands in the way of artistic expression in a manner possibly more criminal:
Azar Swan - Broken English (Marianne Faithfull)
In November 1979, after a long struggle with addiction, anorexia, and vagrancy, London-born singer Marianne Faithfull released her seventh studio album, Broken English. This critically acclaimed album was her first after nearly 12 years, marking her transformation in style from folk rock to new wave. The title track of the album was inspired by a documentary and literature she'd seen about the terrorist activities of Red Army Faction/Baader-Meinhof Group, their most notorious moment in history (known now as German Autumn) having occurred just two years prior this record. The title itself comes from the subtitle of the documentary: "broken English... spoken English." In interviews, Faithfull has said that surviving her own self-destructive period allowed her to recognize the state of mind "that could express itself in terrorism." She wasn't "sympathetic" but she found certain parallels interesting. So the song is in ways both politically charged and also a metaphor for her own personal demons.
Azar Swan, the experimental industrial-pop project led by Afghan-American artist Zohra Atash, released a cover of Broken English online in February 2014. It was expected that it would be included on their And Blow Us A Kiss album they put out later in the year, but that doesn't seem to have happened. In an interview Atash intimated that she was attracted to the song because of her heritage and claims its intended meaning is that one should maintain their cultural roots when removed from such culture. She holds that the repetitive line "Say it in Broken English" inherently means "don't speak English" to reinforce that cultural priority. In addition, she curiously changes a lyric in the song. Where the Faithfull sings, "Don't say it in Russian, don't say it in German," Atash replaces "German" once with "Arabic" and later with "Mandarin."
What's intended by those specific changes isn't entirely clear, but it is clear that no matter what the original meaning and intent of the song, Atash has appropriated it for an entirely different artistic message.
Is that wrong? Was Atash's judgement of Sexwitch (see last week) fair?
I'm going to say no. Art and music express ideas, convey information, and inspire discovery. Without Azar Swan's and Sexwitch's covers, there are many ideas I have shared here that I otherwise may not have known, considered, or been inspired to write about. Might you have learned something as well? I couldn't say, (though I hope so,) but I do think that people should be careful how quick they are to accuse "appropriation" against well-meant art that is simply celebratory and constructive.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
I'll be off my soapbox for Second Sunday Slowly when up that hill we'll run with a familiar down-tempo cover.
Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
I'm spinning an 80s/90s night tonight in Cambridge. Head over to my schedule for details if you're in the area and care to join. ^_^
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Aug 28 - Sexwitch - Ghoroobaa Ghashangan (Originally Gönül Dağı by Neşet Ertaş)
Aug 21 - Echo and the Bunnymen - People Are Strange (The Doors)
Aug 14 - Noblesse Oblige - Hotel California (Eagles)
Aug 07 - Combichrist - Gonna Make You Sweat (C+C Music Factory)
July 31 - Bella Morte - Never Let Me Down Again (Depeche Mode)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
Last week, we delved into the issue of appropriation as it related to culture and music. The example given was of the featured artist being called out by this week's featured artist for not giving proper respect to the culture from which they'd covered a song. This week we'll examine if the artist throwing that stone might perhaps be equally guilty of a form of appropriation herself and illustrate again how misusing the accusation of "appropriation" stands in the way of artistic expression in a manner possibly more criminal:
Azar Swan - Broken English (Marianne Faithfull)
In November 1979, after a long struggle with addiction, anorexia, and vagrancy, London-born singer Marianne Faithfull released her seventh studio album, Broken English. This critically acclaimed album was her first after nearly 12 years, marking her transformation in style from folk rock to new wave. The title track of the album was inspired by a documentary and literature she'd seen about the terrorist activities of Red Army Faction/Baader-Meinhof Group, their most notorious moment in history (known now as German Autumn) having occurred just two years prior this record. The title itself comes from the subtitle of the documentary: "broken English... spoken English." In interviews, Faithfull has said that surviving her own self-destructive period allowed her to recognize the state of mind "that could express itself in terrorism." She wasn't "sympathetic" but she found certain parallels interesting. So the song is in ways both politically charged and also a metaphor for her own personal demons.
Azar Swan, the experimental industrial-pop project led by Afghan-American artist Zohra Atash, released a cover of Broken English online in February 2014. It was expected that it would be included on their And Blow Us A Kiss album they put out later in the year, but that doesn't seem to have happened. In an interview Atash intimated that she was attracted to the song because of her heritage and claims its intended meaning is that one should maintain their cultural roots when removed from such culture. She holds that the repetitive line "Say it in Broken English" inherently means "don't speak English" to reinforce that cultural priority. In addition, she curiously changes a lyric in the song. Where the Faithfull sings, "Don't say it in Russian, don't say it in German," Atash replaces "German" once with "Arabic" and later with "Mandarin."
What's intended by those specific changes isn't entirely clear, but it is clear that no matter what the original meaning and intent of the song, Atash has appropriated it for an entirely different artistic message.
Is that wrong? Was Atash's judgement of Sexwitch (see last week) fair?
I'm going to say no. Art and music express ideas, convey information, and inspire discovery. Without Azar Swan's and Sexwitch's covers, there are many ideas I have shared here that I otherwise may not have known, considered, or been inspired to write about. Might you have learned something as well? I couldn't say, (though I hope so,) but I do think that people should be careful how quick they are to accuse "appropriation" against well-meant art that is simply celebratory and constructive.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
I'll be off my soapbox for Second Sunday Slowly when up that hill we'll run with a familiar down-tempo cover.
Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
I'm spinning an 80s/90s night tonight in Cambridge. Head over to my schedule for details if you're in the area and care to join. ^_^
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Aug 28 - Sexwitch - Ghoroobaa Ghashangan (Originally Gönül Dağı by Neşet Ertaş)
Aug 21 - Echo and the Bunnymen - People Are Strange (The Doors)
Aug 14 - Noblesse Oblige - Hotel California (Eagles)
Aug 07 - Combichrist - Gonna Make You Sweat (C+C Music Factory)
July 31 - Bella Morte - Never Let Me Down Again (Depeche Mode)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies