Stranger Editor Rips Vampire Weekend a New One
Charles Mudede, associate editor of The Stranger and an African-born American, gives his indignant take on Vampire Weekend’s dated Afro-pop fetish. I won’t profess to have a solid opinion on the subject matter, but Mudede does make a compelling argument against the NYC group’s misuse (”appropriation”) of Africa’s indigenous sound.
Here’s a particulary seething excerpt, the context being VW bandleader Ezra Koenig’s recognition and subsequent confusion at Ivy League jackets in a Harlem hiphop store:
If Koenig’s mind had made even the slightest effort to penetrate this mystery in the Harlem store, he would have seen the reflection of his own ideas turned upside down. The Ivy League jackets were simply the inverse of the sound and catchy aesthetic of his band. Here in the Harlem store, low culture is appropriating the codes of high culture; with Vampire Weekend, high culture (rich kids in the richest country on earth, America) appropriates low culture (music made by the poor people in the poorest continent on earth, Africa). And when appropriation is going both ways—streets kids wearing the symbols of university prestige; Manhattan’s upper crust playing Soweto jive—appropriation is not bad. Indeed, it’s strange that Koenig, who celebrates postcolonial interclass/cultural exchanges as the new norm, can only recognize such exchanges when those at the top are taking from those at the bottom and not when those at the bottom are taking from those at the top.
I have to agree with him. It certainly should be a two way street, as Mudede points out, and the fact that the band’s leader wasn’t quite sensitive to that is a bit perplexing. He goes on to point out:
And it’s not just African music they are appropriating; it’s impoverished African music from the ’70s, ’60s, and ’50s. Since the 1980s, Afro pop has less and less sounded poor. The biggest names in the business—Papa Wemba, King Sunny Ade, Thomas Mapfumo, Stimela, Youssou N’Dour—have aspired to and maintained the production values of the rich and famous. Vampire Weekend are not faithful to this trend. They instead simulate the sounds of preindependence, pre-postmodern Africa.
It’s difficult to know exactly what the band’s intent is—or whether Koenig truly believed what Mudede indicts him for—but if it’s to pay homage to Africa’s musical past or emulate the current trend of African music (i.e. the band’s reference to the kwaito movement in Soweto, urban Johannesburg), they fail on both fronts. It’s particularly interesting to hear the author’s take on the ubiquitous Paul Simon comparison, as well (Graceland, woo-hoo!).
Anyway, it’s an interesting read regardless of your opinion. To digest the whole nine yards, click here.
Popularity: 97%
Mudede can bite Vampire Weekend’s lily white asses. Who gives a fuck where their influences come from? Some of us would just rather listen to and enjoy the music without so much overwrought analysis. Those of us who, for example, have never listened to all that ‘poor’ African music in the first place, and aren’t going to do so now, either.
Who gives a Fuck about an Oxford……URGH I’m so tired of hearing their jingles already. I wonder if these guys are already sick of playing their own songs? They did strike a chord across the airwaves though, and everyone’s clinging on. VW - next best thing blah blah blah. And I am no exception hee hee. I do appreciate VW, and was all too anxious for their album release. I listened to their album several times over, and got over it, almost way too quickly. Pure ear candy. Easy, fun listening, but nothing more. Sure, their sound is brilliant, new, fresh. But stripped down to the core…?? I am sick of it already! These upper-class snobs concocted a clever, simple formula, neatly packaged for radio overplay….
Informative post and I enjoyed reading The Stranger’s article as well..
On another note, anyone seen Seattle band Throw Me the Statue live yet? Similar standing drumming within many song and fun sound to them.
Who gives a fuck where their influences come from? How about the people whose culture and society has been raped and pillaged innumerous times by “lily white asses” who “would just rather listen to and enjoy the music” than worry about the well-being of the most maligned race in human history? Sorry, but white people don’t get to decide if something is overwrought analysis when subjugation is involved.
I understand that music is entertainment, and not everyone thinks about it otherwise, but it also affects many of us on an intellectual level; it’s too bad viewpoints such as Mudede’s aren’t more common.
Guess we’re going to have to subject Led Zeppelin and the Black Keys to the same commentary for using the impoverished south’s sound. Especially since someone like the Black Keys perpetuate the gritty unrefined sound of the blues and do not lift it to the polished production standards of the rich. Granted it’s hard to compare the South and South Africa, but that’s where we’re headed with this, aren’t we? Frig, we get to disembowel all of Rock and Roll next, right?
You’re missing the point—yes, the influences of Jimmy Page and Dan Auerbach are both well-known and well-documented, not to mention fully recognized by each. You can probably throw Ezra Koenig into the same boat.
But if you’re saying that the discussion—and possible illumination—in regards to the exploitation of ethnic influences, particulary by a man from the same culture, is insignificant, then I have to whole-heartedly disagree with you.
It’s not about whether or they should or shouldn’t use African music as an inspiration, it’s about being cognizant of what they use and how it affects the people that created it.
I think with too much analysis we run the risk of scaring artists away from making music.
At the end of the day, would you rather have a piece of music made by artists that don’t know their music history, or not have that music at all?
Did Mudede hold the B-Boys up to the same standard when Licensed to Ill came out? Or the Strokes during Is This It? Both are silver-spooner bands making derivative music.
I understand the point of the commentary, I was just taking it to it’s inevitable bloated end if swallowed whole, without a grain of salt.
Do you know how old the kids in VW are? Tell me if you were as globally aware when you were in your early 20’s as you are now. Even if you were, what percentage of people that age are? It’s the age of self-indulgence, and binge drinking.
It can also be argued that the song-writer’s apparent ignorance (meaning exactly, that certain aspects of his influences are being ignored) could be a gift to the people who’s music is being “exploited” as it has sparked strings like this. Bringing their situations and sufferings back into the conversation.
Ear candy with unintentional message.
I’m not saying that there aren’t loads of (enjoyable) bands who’ve been ignorant of their influences; nor do I think Mudede is responsible for calling all of them out. As Kevin seemed to imply, rock music as a whole is basically a derivative art form.
I guess I’m just overly sensitive to the cultural tension between minorities and majorities. And I appreciate when said minorities feel slighted enough to speak out against something they find erroneous.
Let’s just agree to disagree. Maybe hug it out.
I’m in for a hug.
I agree with Kevin in the, you know, ‘where does this end?’ cause every single band could be cited. Elvis didn’t really invent anything, right?
I’m not sure it’s as much about the actual music (even though it annoys me to no end when bands blatantly rip off another band’s sound - no matter what country their from), I think the real issue is that rock n roll, specifically the industry of rock n roll, still lies in the hands of privelaged white dudes.(Now, saying that, I am not discrediting so, so, so many amazing black, hispanic, asian, native american, and women rockers and industry big-ups out there) but on any given night in just Seattle, what is the breakdown in the “indie” rock scene? Who’s playing the shows, booking the shows, owning the venues, on the radio, running the labels, managing the bands, editors at the magazines, and who is making the money? The politics surrounding VW just push all of this into the limelight. I like to just ‘rawk’ and have a good time like everyone else, and a good band is a good band no matter what their socio-demographic make-up is, but it is good to have a writer like Mudede remind us that there is sometimes more at work here than just the music.
I posted my last comment before I saw that all the white privelaged dudes were hugging it out - HA HA.
I guess this white privelaged lady will get in on the group hug as well.
Never thought Vampire Weekend would be so polarizing.
I think that different people key into different aspects of the music that might actually effect them-or that they can relate to. As for me, I immediately keyed into the verses about the showy bears in P-town and all the damn tourists in Hyannis Port. I just like to nod my head back and forth like snoopy while listening to it and yell, “Yeah, F the Tourists!” … Never really listened to the lyrics much closer than that I guess. Can’t sy I’m disappointed to have this all brought to my direct attention.
Yeah, I pretty much just wanted to drive up the comments on one of my posts. WOOOOOO! LUCKY 13!
Oh, and also bring in some cultural awareness.
I saw the nuemos show right after I read that article.. I have to say they are REALLY good live. I didnt see how they could pull it off but. . they did and even tighter then the album! About the Graceland slam, who gives a shit?? I loved that album and Paul Simon isn’t making a graceland 2 any time soon so.. suck it you hate-full stranger writer.