Dub, Reggae, HipHop and Funk – four styles of music that have always claimed to be from the street for the street. This evening’s artists draw on these respective styles, cutting them with alien elements from Detroit-Techno to Arabian percussion. Turnin’ up the base is top of the list, in particular when it comes to Deadbeat plumbing the depths or to the Mad Professor, patron saint of the British Dub and Reggae scene. You can fly to the skies and have your feet firmly on the ground: for tonight is not about glamour but about communication; what’s important is the message. For DJ/Rupture, this means throwing off geographical labels, both in politics and in music. World Music is not his thing. He does make connections between music from across the diaspora and big city sounds, but his postcolonial awareness ensures that differences are never denied. “I’m interested in Funk. In the funky beat that makes you want to move. Whatever it is that shakes the butt. It pops up all over the place, in all kinds of genres.” It’s this Funk aspect that’s important also to DJ Marlboro. Everyone knows the quote from the American HipHop artist, Chuck D, who called Rap the Black CNN. Rio or Baile Funk could be referred to as favela CNN. It's used as a medium to convey how the people who live in the Brazilian favelas really feel – using their own language, idioms and slang. Baile Funk is the original Brazilian electronic dance music and stems from the incredibly popular Rio sound-systems of the 70's.
To quote DJ Marlboro: “Funk is a way of expression that was born from the common people, it's a working class expression, nothing reflects as much what the people are thinking as the Funk movement.”
|
 |
