Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Bambino - Tuareg guitarist - Dionisiac Commodity?



This artist Bambino's homeland, Agadez, has been cut off from the rest of the world for the past three years due to flood and rebellion (read more: http://shenews.projo.com/2010/04/new-music-tuareg-guitarist-bam.html). He was featured on NPR today. Bambino's live performance creates an ecstatic atmosphere, and his connection to the dancer at 2:11 is reminiscent of a Dionisiac moment, where he and the dancer are exchanging energy, playing off of each other. Now that Bambino's music is known world-wide (thanks to NPR), would it be considered "fetishized," or does this apply (for Adorno) to Western music only? Is the fact that Bambino plays a traditional style of guitar passed down from previous generations a form of "kitsch" and "commodity"? Perhaps stepping outside of the popular music category challenges some of Adorno's more general statements about reproduction and repetition.

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