By Alex Kurtagic | 8 Comments | 
Print
White Noise
From Taki’s Magazine, October 19, 2009
I was once asked to imagine what the world would look like today had North American settlers snubbed the African slave traders in the 18th and 19th centuries. We can let our imaginations run wild with speculation, but one thing is certain: had the slave markets in Africa been starved of custom, our Pop music charts would look nothing like they do today.
Most of mainstream Pop nowadays is African-American in either origin or derivation, even if the musicians playing it are not. Indeed, one is hard pressed to find even a nanosecond of music in the charts that is quintessentially European in its sensibility. The fact that music derived from African-American creativity has come to enjoy maximum visibility in contemporary mainstream culture, however, says more about the policies of corporate record labels and the mass media of news and entertainment than it does about the quality of music originating in the European soul on either side of the Atlantic. This music is alive and well, I am happy to report, thriving purer and truer than ever, aloof from—and completely ignored by—the brainless and banal MTV sausage factory.
What does this music sound like? . . . Read the whole article
Alex Kurtagic
Alex Kurtagic was born in 1970. He is the author of Mister (Iron Sky Publishing, 2009) and the founder and director of Supernal Music.
I’m happy to see this piece appear in Takimag.
Slightly out of touch here, but it is my understanding that the claim that rock n’ roll (sp?) has African-America origins, that Negroes invented rock music, is false. Rock music actually has its roots in English and Irish folk music.
Interestingly enough, black rap music, likewise, was sparked by the electronic music of the German group Kraftwerk in the late 1970s, in particular their single ‘Trans Europe Express’ (1977).
Perhaps electronic music is a better expression of European creativity.
For European electronic music, check out Laibach.
The earlierst R&R artists were racially heterogeneous. Some were White (Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis) others were Black or mixed. Rock and Roll music is a blend of Blues, Folk, and Country music, the latter of which has, indeed, its origins in Anglo-Celtic and North American Folk music. As Heavy Metal grew out of Rock music, and Black Metal out of Heavy Metal music, each new form became progressively more European in character. I am sure there would be Afro-centric loonies out there who would like to credit the Black man with the invention of Black Metal, but if there are they are certainly delusional: it would be like saying that the jet engine is the product of Black genius because it was the ancestors of modern Black populations who first made use of fire 1.9 million years ago.
The music in the video clips on the takimag site doesn’t move me.
This is not a criticism in any way of the author’s theme. I would never apply my tastes in such matters to anyone else. One has to be flexible. One of the most brilliant moves William Pierce ever made was to purchase Resistance Records.
I’m familiar with pop music (a little), but not metal music. Approached in a highly selective manner, pop occasionally offers some mildly interesting things.
For example, everyone’s familiar with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s controversial “Sweet Home Alabama.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHsDa9_HSlA
Among those who have covered the song are attractive pop singer Jewel (American Jewel Kilcher–half-Swiss-German/half-Irish) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6KtOfZKtbo&feature=related I don’t mind her version, though you have to acclimate yourself to her unique style of singing.
Jewel, who was raised in Alaska, is married to rodeo champ Ty Murray. They reside on a 2,200-acre ranch in Texas. Her autobiographical take on her present life can be heard in “Stephenville, Texas.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TDR5-GzbKM
One thing’s for sure: she can really belt out a song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-067Zn4Y1Q
Another pop beauty that surprises in one of her videos is Sheryl Crow, in her cover of the Carter Family’s “No Depression in Heaven”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cFjyHGXhU0
The songs of New Age Irish singer Enya (Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin), Ireland’s best-selling solo artist, best known for the hit “Orinoco Flow” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVJ11GXzXQ have always seemed to me quintessentially white.
Listen, for example, to the traditionalist-themed “Marble Halls” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnvKPQ26U_g (an aria from an 1843 opera)or the beautiful “How Can I Keep From Singing?” (an old Christian hymn). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEVyvzkHK7c
Said to have performed in 10 different languages, Enya regularly sings in English, Irish Gaelic, and Latin.
One could go on. Even Tom Petty has “I Won’t Back Down.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P93cI_u1mng
None of the songs or singers mentioned is intentionally pro-white, of course. But some of their music unquestionably expresses white themes.
The obvious danger to the integrity of the music favored by author Kurtagic is that those we’ve embraced as our “elder brothers”–a.k.a God’s chosen children or the Light Unto the Nations–will get hold of it and do to it what they’ve already done to country (“PCing Country Music,” Instauration, April 1995, p. 5 http://www.jrbooksonline.com/Instauration/Instauration9504.pdf ), baseball, basketball, football, golf, and soon, no doubt, NASCAR.
I had no input in the selection of the video clips, as they were chosen by the editor. But on the whole they are apposite, given my references in the article to extreme Metal drawing from Classical music, which both Epica and Nightwish have done. My personal tastes are a little more obscure.
With regards to the possibility of Jewish scholarship putting Metal under the microscope, I am afraid I have depressing news for you: http://tinyurl.com/yhy8n7v/. The process started years ago.
Not to worry, though. They have their way of looking at things, we have ours. We just need to make sure our academic voice is louder and more credible.
What is your opinion of Donovan, the Scottish Folk-Rock singer of the 1960s era? There’s Tanya Tucker, “I Believe the South will Rise Again.” Joan Baez has done many renditions of the ballads collected by Francis James Child, as well as poetry by Lord Byron.
I am glad this stuff is still out there in the under-ground! Better then not existing at all!
Some of this type of music though does make it into the main-stream, alot of the Goth type stuff (Evanescence and Lacuna Coil) are pretty popular amongst the youth of today so there is an interest in this type of music out there!
“Perhaps the best example of this is Nightwish, a symphonic Power/Gothic Metal quintet (with origins in the Black Metal scene and noticeable Classical influences), which is Finland’s most successful band, with four million albums sold, with one silver, 11 gold, and 12 platinum awards.”
Hmm, that is interesting I would have thought that HIM would be more popular then Nightwish, maybe they are just more popular here in the States.
Let us not neglect the small amount of contributions that Death Metal-types have made though to creation of Vokish type music. Unleashed has alot of tracks dedicated to Paganism and are one of my favorite bands (totally HEAVY) and have also proven to be too controversial for the main-stream due to rumors about their Right Wing type views: ( http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/dave_grohl_nirvana_ripped_off_unleasheds_song.html )
So overgrown Goth kids are going to rally us? God help us.