The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycomWednesday, January 20, 2010 - 5A
An exploration of
South African music
The bad taste offood TV
'U' jazz student
discusses the shift
in musical themes at
apartheid's end
ByJAMIE BLOCK
ManagingArts Editor
In times of political and social
turmoil, the arts have the power
to express dissent, unite people
under a com-
mon goal and Nate My
sometimes ~Instrument
even bring
about change. of Change:
One student
well versed
in this spe- Music in
cial quality par Me
of the arts is
Nathaniel POSt-Aparthed
May, a Music, out bAftja"
Theatre &
Dance senior Thursday, Jan.
who spent a 21 at 7 p.m.
year in South Michigan Union,
Africa explor- Anderson Room
ing the role Free
of jazz and
improvisational music during
" apartheid and the political recov-
ery thereafter. May will be giving
a lecture Thursday night in the
Anderson room of the Michigan
Union as part of the Examining
Ubuntu conference taking place
this week.
May explained how the tone
behind much of local South African
music shifted drastically with the
end of apartheid.
"Often, it was an attitude of
aggression and anger during apart-
heid, during the struggle, because
you have a specific goal in mind,
which is freedom," May said.
"After that it's a process of heal-
ing," he added, "and that word
'healing' was brought up a lot as a
way of coming to terms with one's
past and one's identity, and how it
has changed."
But May emphasized that this
healing process has come 'with
several questions, not the least of
which is the extent to which free-
dom has actually been attained.
"Basically, people had this long
history of oppression, and then all
of a sudden it was said that they
now have freedom," May said. "But
to a lot of people, it was little more
than words. It was some political
changes, but then a lot of promises
that were never kept. People are
still coming to terms with 'This is
what freedom looks like."'
"They're re-investigating their
past, which had been sort of cre-
ated or dictated for them by the
government."
Part of this government-cre-.
ated history, May said, was an
emphasis on tribalism. And using
this idea, government rhetoric
was widespread, declaring which
kinds of art were appropriate for
the black South African popula-
tion to experience.
"One of the primary tenets of
apartheid was this tribalism where
all black people are tribal," May
said. "So even city-dwellers, they
should be listening to tribal music,
traditional music, because you
know, that's their nature."
While this view of black South
Africans is obviously degrading,
the appropriate artistic response
was not so clear. May explained
that there was some disagreement
among black musicians at the time
regarding what sorts of music they
ought to be making.
"(There was an) interesting
dialogue and struggle at the
time between black South Afri-
cans wanting to make Western
music to prove their worth, ver-
sus people who want to include
their traditional music, but at
the risk of seeming that they're
pandering to the apartheid's
perspective of what they should
be doing," May said.
And now that the rhetoric of
apartheid is dissipated, musicians
are facing the artistic choices they
made and seeing the identities
they've established.
"Now that the government
doesn't say 'This is what you
should be listening to,' they've got
to come to terms with 'OK, this
is the music that we've made, for
these reasons, and who are we
because of it?"' May said.
Nowadays South African iden-
tity in music is much harder to
come by, May said. American and
European music has taken over
the airwaves, and local music is
struggling for survival.
don't really like Food Net-
work. In fact, I pretty much
hate it. This seems to be a
very unpopular opinion as food-
centered shows
like "Top Chef,"
"Iron Chef" and
"Hell's Kitchen"
are incredibly
fashionable,
with similar
new ones pop-
ping up all the CAROLYN
time.
I've given I.ECK
Food Network
plenty of chances
to win me over, but through it all
I've maintained my general indig-
nation toward the channel. And I'm
not just grumpy; Ihave my reasons.
I love interactive television. I
enjoy bidding along with the con-
testants on "The Price is Right,"
answering the questions on "Cash
Cab" and most of all, formulating
my own opinions about the contes-
tants on shows like "Project Run-
way" and "Dancing with the Stars."
When I see crazy outfits on
"Project Runway," I can comment
on the movement of the fabric or
color choice and decide whether
it's wearable, artistic or just plain
bad. I can admire the routines
contestants perform on dancing
shows, knowing I could never be
so graceful. And before "American
Idol" became tiresome, I enjoyed
debating who had the best voice.
The best part of these shows is
watching and enjoying the result
of the contestants' hard work.
And that's where food shows
fail. I can admire the appearance
of the final product, but I can't
taste it. Food is meant to be eaten,
and without savoring the taste of
the dish, I can't fully appreciate
all the pain and suffering the con-
testants go through. Hell, I can't'
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ke an expert. Maybe I could easy fix to that problem, but they
lity competition judge aren't forgiving to those who lack
y. But even when I dis- talent. I can't cook - at all - so I
can back up my opinion. I can't follow along with Rachael
nk Daniel Vosovic should Ray or Emeril Lagasse unless
on season two of "Project they're making Ramen, and even
y." He didn't make a single then the finished product would be
tfit the entire season and disgusting.
ire challenges than any Still, there's one Food Network
ontestant to date. program that makes my heart
ng the judges' word as fact melt like butter. I really enjoy "Ace
me uncomfortable, espe- of Cakes," and that's probably
'hen there are dissenting because it has everything most
Ls. To root for a competitor food shows don't.
Chef Duff Goldman is less of a
prick than most other hosts, no
3obby Flay- "oneis making qualitative state-
J ments about the outcome and
Vhat a dick. his cakes are so extravagant and
pretty that I don't really care
what they taste like. No one is
trying to instruct me. No one is
d show, you have to base it trying to out-cook someone else.
onality. And in my experi- And most importantly, no one is
se most tolerable people making me feel like I'm missing
worst at cooking, which something because I can't taste
me to another grievance through the TV.
od programming: Chefs My friends and family can't
holes. get enough of Food Network and
y Flay, Gordon Ramsey, similar programs on Bravo. They
y Bourdain and other huddle around the television in
are simply dicks. Now, excitement while Ipout and try
ecret that most people on to explain my scorn. However, my
these days, but that can infallible logic cannot penetrate
looked if they're talented. the happy-go-lucky shield Food
mes the most abrasive per- Network creates. Whatever, I just
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"In the places where really
ancient music still exists, it's either
because it's specifically trying to be
preserved, or it's in a place that's
remote enough that western music
hasn't entirely taken over," May
said. "I think those places are very
rare these days."
While he found traditional music
to be rare, May found an opportu-
nity to work closely with it for the
duration of his time in South Afri-
ca. He spent the year with a group
called Khoi Khonnexion, helping
the band record its first album.
The Khoisan people are the
true indigenous South African
population, who were in South
Africa before the Bantu-speaking
majority.
"They come from that per-
spective specifically of 'We're
the first nation indigenous peo-
ple, and we're left with the least
history because ... the colonizers
have most imposed their culture
onus,'"May said.
Khoi Khonnexion's goal is to
apply the idea of healing in post-
apartheid South African music to
the Khoisan identity.
"It's all about their healing not
only for themselves, but for other
Khoisan people," May said.
And Garth, a memher- of the
group with whom May is still in
correspondence, doesn't think the
healing should stop there.
"Garth says that everyone in
South Africa is equally impover-
ishedbecause of Apartheid, which
I think is a pretty bold statement
coming from someone who was
definitely on the more oppressed
end of that," May explained. "But
he says that their music is about
healing for everyone."
While working with Khoi
Khonnexion was culturally and
historically enlightening, May
said much of what he learned
from working with the group per-
tained more to a day-to-day, laid-
back perspective on life.
May described the concept of
"African Time," which he said is a
common term across much of the
continent. It stresses the impor-
tance of taking the time to enjoy
life, punctuality be damned.
"Your life is not ruled by your
clock," May said, "and there's
something really refreshing about
that."
But this concept was not an
easy one to grasp right off the bat
for May, as evidenced by a record-
ing trip he went on with Khoi
Khonnexion.
"Very early on, we went to this
Khoi farm that was out in this
rural area. We went for the whole
weekend and, as I understood it,
the goal for the weekend was to
record in ... an ancient (Khoisan)
cave with actual rock paint-
ings that were anything from
hundreds to thousands to tens
of thousands of years old," May
said. "I was really excited about
recording in this cave."
But it seemed that Khoi Khon-
nexion did not share May's feeling
of eager urgency.
"We get there and I'm like
'Let's go record in the cave' and
they're like 'Yeah, no, we're just
gonna smoke and drink coffee and
talk for a while.'"
This lasted nearly the entire
weekend, and the waiting was not
without its costs.
"Just before we were about to
leave, we went and recorded in
the cave," May said, "and then
as a result they had to miss their
gig that they had planned for that
evening."
May explained how, while he
was initially discouraged by the
attitude and some of its conse-
quences, he gradually came to
accept it and even assimilate to it.
And stopping to shoot the breeze
with these South African musi-
cians was anything but a waste of
time.
"Just being around them, I
also picked up on other aspects
of their personal philosophies,
which have a lot to do with artis-
tic authenticity," he said.
May said Khoi Khonnexion put
an emphasis on "trueness to your-
self over originality of the product."
In a sense, this redefines what
originality means in art.
"With Khoi Khonnexion ... it's
more important to them that what
they produce has origin in them-
selves, in that sense of 'original-
ity,' " May said.
May looks forward to sharing
his insights into the cultural and
societal effects of South African
music with an American audi-
ence, and these pursuits don't end
with Thursday's lecture. Work-
ing with another American musi-
cian he met in South Africa, May
is now part of a group seeking
to educate the United States on
South African jazz and improvi-
sational music.
"We're going to try to arrange a
series of concerts in Detroit, and
maybe at the Kerrytown Concert
House," May said. "And it was
also brought up to maybe talk
about South African jazz at the
Detroit Jazz Festival."
May hopes to one day bring the
members of Khoi Khonnexion
to the United States so they can
tell their story firsthand and play
their music live for an American
audience.
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It jerks in a kitchen, throw-
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Klarecki is making ramen. To
remind her the number for 911,
e-mail cklareck@umich.edu.
FX does sophisticated satire, with boob jobs
By CHRISTINA ANGER
Daily Arts Writer
There's a reason FX's "Archer"
has a10 p.m. time slot. The little chil-
dren of the world
are asleep, and its
target audience,
teens to imma- Archer
ture adults, are
ready for another Wednesdays
dose of cartoon at10 p.m.
absurdity. Unex- FX
pectedly, "Archer"
suppresses the toilet humor and
homes in on truly adult material.
The plot of "Archer" centers on a
spy agency. While the show may look
like just another derivative animated
series, it's actually a semi-sophisti-
cated satire. Its spies are neurotic,
clumsy and oedipal. Archer (H. Jon
Benjamin, "Family Guy") is your
main spy, the James Bond of the
agency (although he doesn't "like to
use that comparison - but yes").
His mother is his boss, voiced by
Jessica Walter ("Arrested Develop-
ment"). Nobody could say "These
antihistamines are insane" with
more couth. In almost every scene,
the new FX show makes some kind
of taboo sex joke, starting with
Archer in bed with his girlfriend
and on the phone with his mother,
whisperingnthat he "can do both."
Everything about- "Archer"
seems like a slightly tweaked ver-
sion of "South Park" or "Futurama."
"South Park" makes most girls
cringe (check) and "Futurama"
is heavy on plot with a side of sit-
com humor (check). But "Archer"
embraces another common form
of humor as well - the kind of nar-
cissism that asks "Why don't they
make a reality show out of my life?"
"Archer" is for everyone who
laughs at a fat joke, boob-job joke or
racist joke, yet is able to catch some
subtle cultural references - like
when Archer finds himself in an
ironic situation and huffs: "This is
like 0. Henry and Alanis Morissette
had a baby and named it this exact
situation!"
That quote goes far beyond the
spy humor, people. Sure, Archer's
special pen with the faulty cap
that kills a prostitute during a mole
training session is amusing, but it
doesn't top the warm, fuzzy feeling
you get when you catch a line that
flies over the heads of much of the
general public.
A gorgeous spy is nothing with-
out a nerdy sidekick, and a comedy
show is nothing without relation-
ship drama. Luckily, the writers of
"Archer" are well aware of these
necessities and drew up an all-in-
one character: accountant-turned-
sidekick Cyril (Chris Parnell,
"Saturday 'Night Live"), Archer's
ex's new boyfriend. Oh, the drama.
"Archer" is brimming with lit-
eral LOL moments and its fair share
of farce. What company hasn't had
a secretary that hacked into the
insurance to cover her boob job?
Needless to say, there are no stale
moments in the episode. Archer
begins to fill the void left by "Arrest-
ed Development," a show that cre-
James Bond
goes oedipal.
ated a cult-like, quote-heavy bond
between friends and fans.
Pencil in "Archer," and relish
the fact that it's not necessary to
stifle the intelligent part of your
sense of humor for an entire half
hour. Is it possible to laugh guilt-
free at a cartoon after the age of 6?
"Archer" doesn't like to use com-
parisons - but yes.
READ ANOTHER TV REVIEW ONLINE!
Check out our 'Project Runway'
review at michigandaily.com.
- H, 0U
Winter Career Expo
Wednesday, January 20th
2:00-6:00pm / The Michigan Union
Discuss full-time job and internship opportunities
with organizations from across the country
Connect with organizations interviewing at
The Career Center
Dress professionally and bring your resume
Visit our website for a list of participating
organizations (www.careercenter.umich.edu)
Cosponsoredby
TheCareerfeter
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