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Friday, July 25, 2003
posted by gbarto at 6:07 AM:
Dr. Weevil is a wise and witty fellow with much learning to expound. However, he totally misses the boat in this piece mocking the banjo. Says Dr. Weevil,Lynn Sislo (Reflections in d minor) asks: "Why don't serious classical composers write music for the banjo or steel guitar?" I think I know the answer. Because the banjo and steel guitar are totally uncool instruments, and no one interested in classical music can confess an interest in them without losing well over half his or her reputation for sophistication.He then cites an episode of Frasier as proof that the sophisticated eschew the banjo. But he should know that the Crane brothers are not sophisticated, per se; they're sophisticates who live too much in fear of being thought "common" to truly open their minds to the unconventional, which good banjo surely is.
Though good banjo is not, as I say, a thing we have in abundance, nor is it non-existent. There is a serious composer - contrary to the good Doctor's belief - who has mixed it up with the banjo playing sort, namely Edgar Meyer, whose album Uncommon Ritual featuring banjoist Bela Fleck is a wonder to listen to. Meyer has since released an honest-to-God Violin Concerto that the TurkeyBlog quite enjoys and, it would seem, another CD, with Fleck, Perpetual Motion. I have not heard the second CD yet but will be looking, having come across it while double-checking my spellings on Amazon.
To wrap up, the TurkeyBlog is not going to go on a crusade for the banjo. But he cannot simply stand by while good music goes ignored, or worse, outright avoided, because of ill-conceived prejudice.
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