Sunday, April 12, 2015

[mmcqiash] Using jazz to oppress

"Weaponizing Mozart" described how classical music is being used to make the "wrong" kind of people, the lower classes, feel unwelcome from some place.  I have noticed jazz being used in a similar way at a restaurant seeking a "classy" clientele.

The tremendous irony is that jazz was invented by the very lower social class now being targeted to feel unwelcome, namely African-Americans.  Given that jazz is a contemporary music form, a recording might even find its way to be used against the very performers in that recording, a weapon, a signal to indicate "keep out -- whites only".

(But is this new?  The upper classes have always employed the lower classes to be entertainment.)

Does this help explain the dearth of African-Americans at swing dances? DJs at dances are certainly instructed to play only "classy" swing tunes.

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