I recall watching the “Long Way Round” movie about Ewan McGregor and his pal motorcycling around the world. They were riding through a Russian sort of country at one point and lodged with folks who showed them local hospitality. They had a boisterous evening. Their hosts cooked for them then played music and did some singing and dancing. Shot off some Kalishnikov rounds, too, as I recall — or maybe just danced with their machine gun. A bit rowdy. But it struck me.
The locals were saying Here we will show you who we are. This is what we do. Here is how we dance. This is one of our songs that we like to sing. Here is how we play the guitar and have a fun evening. In this way you will remember what we are like, what it’s like here.
Then they gave the guitar to Ewan and said Share with us something from your country, who are you? Ewan was a bit taken aback. Then he played a pop ballad of some sort, as I recall. Maybe even something close to “Little ditty, about Jack and Dianne.” Maybe something by Sting or U2, I forget. I’m not sure if it had a tune. I don’t think it could have been danced to. And there’s no way the Brits could have showed the Russians “Here is how we dance.”
It struck me that this is a loss. It has been replaced by commercial exploitation, correct? Our civilization is now homogenized in addition to emptied: no English speaking nation or state or region could show anyone the way “they” sing or dance in a way that would reveal a proud trait to the others. …A kind of pride that could be shared. The pride of a song is the kind that can be given in a gift. It’s not hogged, not a possession of ones own that would need to be… bought.
I recall when I did a weeklong solo backpacking trip into the Gallatin Mountains of Montana after a week of hitch-hiking. I hiked to a peak and then felt uplifted. I was in a bit of an extreme situation. I felt like singing. …And I only knew a commercial TV jingle. I was immediately ashamed of that. So I calmed down. Of course I knew a lot of songs. Hymns, too — but they were sung with hymnbooks. When my thinking for suitable songs worthy of singing in such a situation finally settled down I was left with … John Denver. Not bad, really. And I knew a bunch of them. They did the trick. I had a nice time singing them as I hiked and climbed. Saved by the bell. Probably they’re even close to ethnic tunes that would be representative. Some might even be boisterous and could be danced to, even up on a table top.
But could I do even better?
In our world we tend to think of singing as a talent that people get paid to do, rather than as something all humans do. And that singing should fit a certain mold rather than fulfill a human need.
Folk singing is well known as a kind of music: and it tends to not follow the usual commercial requirements though sometimes it can be very pretty.
Singing does need to “fit.” Just like dancing does. But what does that mean? There’s probably a much wider latitude for song and dance and instrument playing to do what it has evolved to do than we think. It became about money only recently. It became about passive consumption only recently.
Really, it’s what people do. And it tells a lot about people. For us, right now, most of the time, it says that we’re kinda lame.
So let’s try to sort this out.
What about dancing? Most of it today stems from blatant attempts to find someone to impregnate, though not necessarily to mate.
Real dancing might not be gendered so much. It might be about more than impregnating. Sure, it might be about mating: meaning a longterm development of relations — so a dance might have a beginning, middle and end. It might show carefully harmonious interaction that would reveal thoughtfulness of one person for another. It seems like many of the formal dances would fit in there. Contra, line, swing.
Or dancing might just be about work and play and rest. Or how about bravery in adversity — Lord knows, we’ll all see enough of adversity. So we’ll need to have good team spirit to stand up then stand together.
Singing and instrumentation would do similar things.
So, let’s see, for Michigan our songs might be about the 4 seasons and about water and living on an island peninsula, a crossroads for ships, states, nations and peoples. We might show ourselves as a hardy people more than a clever one. Altho we are kind of famous for innovation. But we don’t get to lounge in all weather as the climate provides for us. (In the Deep South they plant their melons uphill so they roll down closer to the kitchen when they’re ripe.) Yet we’re not rangy like the Mountaineers of the short steep Smokies.
Anyway, I’m sure we could come up with some kinds of singing, dancing and playing that would suit us to a tee that we could share with others so they get a better feeling for who we are and to even help them along their way with a fresh lift. Some catchy, memorable stuff.
