Thursday, March 05, 2009

Celtic women vs Thre Mo' Tenors

Look I love all kinds of music. Bring on the Celtic Women, Chris O'Riley Plays Radiohead, and Nickleback. Bring on the good music. But, what the heck is going on at PBS?

My local station WLIW is in it's Spring drive like all PBS stations and is effecting a OCD like obsession with Celtic Women. I am struck by the sense of musical colonialism over at PBS: anything European gets replayed like Christian evangelists in the coveted 10/40 window during the last days. Where are the African, South American, and Asian arts?

Three Mo' Tenors was the last effort PBS put forth to increase their musical 'diversity' and boy was it a fantastic effort. Those guys were so versitle, elegent, and exciting. I was reminded of the muscial talent I grew up with: Black people who mastered various song styles. But goodness PBS what now; what next? Is there no more of the world beyond the colonial shores of Britain, Ireland and Austia that holds promise for PBS fans? (Yanni does not count, in so many ways.) This entertainment colonialism is even present in PBS tv programming. I usually can learn about Africa only when there an endangred species of charismatic megafauna is the lead. But of all the English speaking country I can not, and in fact I do not believe England produces the funniest programming around. When I was in South African within one week I was engrossed in a nationally distributed soap opera. And they spoke English, for I do not speak Afrikaans.

PBS give the Celtic women a break and give the rest of the world a break in the process.

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