tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post6612094398604087221..comments2024-03-29T08:48:14.872-04:00Comments on pancocojams: Maitre Gazonga - Jaloux Saboteurs (North Central Africa)Azizi Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-45246437906788750322015-01-19T06:30:17.357-05:002015-01-19T06:30:17.357-05:00For the record, no pun intended, I want to note th...For the record, no pun intended, I want to note that it was only as a result of surfing YouYube's pages on Chadian music that I came across Maitre Gazonda's "Jaloux Saboteurs" record. I hadn't heard of him or that record before then. And I don't think that many African Americans have heard of this artist or his records, although commenters indicate that it is a wellknown classic in Africa. <br /><br />I believe that it's a shame that we (African Americans) know so little about past and contemporary African music culture and music cultures from other Black nations worldwide such as French speaking Caribbean, <br /><br />I think we (African Americans) are partly to blame for this.<br /><br />When I was a foster care caseworker about ten years ago, I played a mixed tape of African music while driving a young Black birth mother to pick up her boyfriend and take them to a supervised visit with their toddler son. After we picked up her boyfriend, the young woman told her boyfriend that I was playing some "weird music" and I asked her what was weird about it. She said that they were speaking some kind of language she couldn't understand and she didn't like it because "they might be talking about me". I told them that even though they couldn't understand the words, relax and listen to the rhythm and beat , and they might grow to like it. <br /><br />I'm not saying that most African Americans who are unfamiliar with songs sung in another language don't like it because they think the singers are talking about them. But I do think that African Americans usually have few opportunities to hear songs sung in a language other than English, with the possible exceptions of Caribbean Reggae (in Patois which is non-standard English) and some Dancehall music such as those sung in Spanish.<br /><br />We African Americans are missing a lot of good music by limiting our song choices to English speaking vocalists. Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.com