The language of art
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)
I just watched the new video by a Portuguese rapper called Sam the Kid (the lyrics are here), a video in which he criticizes all Portuguese musical artists that use English as a way of expressing themselves.
It was clear to me that freedom of speech, in a democratic western country, particularly in art, would justify the choice of any language, content or rhetorical color, but now, well, it is still clear to me.
In the last elections that defined the Portuguese government, the winning party (PS) used a strong idea in the electoral campaign “English for everyone since a very early age”.
The importance of knowing other languages is well known. It opens our mind to the world and helps us to understand human nature better. What this video implicitly says is that one should learn another language but shouldn’t use it as a way of expression in a productive activity, because that would be a betrayal to his own country. In this case a foreign language should only be used to communicate with foreign people, if not, there would be no point in learning it, which, from a balanced point of view, makes no sense. Still, isn’t art a way of communicating with people, foreigners or not? Some people say that music needs no language to communicate with everyone, but when someone chooses the option of using the word in it, language becomes automatically a hook of communication, impossible to ignore.
Sam (the kid) also says that Portuguese artists using the English language can never be original and that they are doomed to be eternal copies of foreign artists. My question is, does language itself define the power to be original? Not even I, a defender of the Word, would go that far. Language defines the lexicon, grammar and even a bit of that culture’s mentality, but I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t define talent. About originality, one just needs to look at art history a little bit to know that many great artists not only plagiarized others but they literally stole from those that are now considered minor artists when compared to the thieves. Originality is not coming up with an idea first, but working an idea in a special way, considering that it is possible to define originality.
Making money out of art is also an issue in this video. It is pointed out that those who use English are only attempting to gain more money by doing it. In fact, not only it is easier to sing in Portuguese (when within the world music business) and make money out of it (because there is no tough competition and the business paths are already open) but it is also necessary to realize that art needs to make money or it will not exist, especially when we are talking about an art that needs much more than just a paper and a pen. If art ceased to make money, only the sons of very rich people, rich enough to dismiss a paying work during an entire life, would be able to create art. Art, in order to be democratic, just like everything, needs to generate money. It is not even a new phenomenon. Great art has always been supported by kings, queens and nobles of every country and that has never stopped the power of artists to create divine pieces. Some people say “my art is more real than yours, I feel it more than you”, it is an interesting statement but, is there a machine that measures feelings in art? And if there is, do the results just by itself separate good art from bad art? Isn’t all art partially intellectualized? Was Picasso feeling it for real when he painted the Guernica? Does that matter? And now it is time for the cliché of humanity. What is “real”?
This subject always brings up the question of what is the identity of the Portuguese product when it comes to music. It is common sense that Fado and some traditional Portuguese music are genuinely Portuguese. If we go back in history we realize that those styles had influences from other cultures that came to the Iberian Peninsula, cultures that didn’t even speak Portuguese as we know it now. In Portugal, artists from Rock and Hip Hop sing in Portuguese over Anglo-sax based music genders. Are they to blame? No, just as it is not to blame when someone reads a book written in a foreign language but translated into the Portuguese language. Still, those who prefer to read the original version are not to blame as well, it’s a matter of preference, and, why not, knowledge. Samuel Beckett wrote books in English, French and German (if I’m not mistaken), sometimes he did it so that his plays could be performed in other countries. Music is not different. All this to say that a society is constantly in motion and will not stop just because we want it to remain as it always was. I like tradition but tradition also tells us that things are almost always about to change, except maybe for the core of human nature.
Everybody is quoting Voltaire lately, using his famous sentence “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it” .Let’s add something important to that sentence “even if you say it in another language”.
Please, play it again Sam…
I just watched the new video by a Portuguese rapper called Sam the Kid (the lyrics are here), a video in which he criticizes all Portuguese musical artists that use English as a way of expressing themselves.
It was clear to me that freedom of speech, in a democratic western country, particularly in art, would justify the choice of any language, content or rhetorical color, but now, well, it is still clear to me.
In the last elections that defined the Portuguese government, the winning party (PS) used a strong idea in the electoral campaign “English for everyone since a very early age”.
The importance of knowing other languages is well known. It opens our mind to the world and helps us to understand human nature better. What this video implicitly says is that one should learn another language but shouldn’t use it as a way of expression in a productive activity, because that would be a betrayal to his own country. In this case a foreign language should only be used to communicate with foreign people, if not, there would be no point in learning it, which, from a balanced point of view, makes no sense. Still, isn’t art a way of communicating with people, foreigners or not? Some people say that music needs no language to communicate with everyone, but when someone chooses the option of using the word in it, language becomes automatically a hook of communication, impossible to ignore.
Sam (the kid) also says that Portuguese artists using the English language can never be original and that they are doomed to be eternal copies of foreign artists. My question is, does language itself define the power to be original? Not even I, a defender of the Word, would go that far. Language defines the lexicon, grammar and even a bit of that culture’s mentality, but I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t define talent. About originality, one just needs to look at art history a little bit to know that many great artists not only plagiarized others but they literally stole from those that are now considered minor artists when compared to the thieves. Originality is not coming up with an idea first, but working an idea in a special way, considering that it is possible to define originality.
Making money out of art is also an issue in this video. It is pointed out that those who use English are only attempting to gain more money by doing it. In fact, not only it is easier to sing in Portuguese (when within the world music business) and make money out of it (because there is no tough competition and the business paths are already open) but it is also necessary to realize that art needs to make money or it will not exist, especially when we are talking about an art that needs much more than just a paper and a pen. If art ceased to make money, only the sons of very rich people, rich enough to dismiss a paying work during an entire life, would be able to create art. Art, in order to be democratic, just like everything, needs to generate money. It is not even a new phenomenon. Great art has always been supported by kings, queens and nobles of every country and that has never stopped the power of artists to create divine pieces. Some people say “my art is more real than yours, I feel it more than you”, it is an interesting statement but, is there a machine that measures feelings in art? And if there is, do the results just by itself separate good art from bad art? Isn’t all art partially intellectualized? Was Picasso feeling it for real when he painted the Guernica? Does that matter? And now it is time for the cliché of humanity. What is “real”?
This subject always brings up the question of what is the identity of the Portuguese product when it comes to music. It is common sense that Fado and some traditional Portuguese music are genuinely Portuguese. If we go back in history we realize that those styles had influences from other cultures that came to the Iberian Peninsula, cultures that didn’t even speak Portuguese as we know it now. In Portugal, artists from Rock and Hip Hop sing in Portuguese over Anglo-sax based music genders. Are they to blame? No, just as it is not to blame when someone reads a book written in a foreign language but translated into the Portuguese language. Still, those who prefer to read the original version are not to blame as well, it’s a matter of preference, and, why not, knowledge. Samuel Beckett wrote books in English, French and German (if I’m not mistaken), sometimes he did it so that his plays could be performed in other countries. Music is not different. All this to say that a society is constantly in motion and will not stop just because we want it to remain as it always was. I like tradition but tradition also tells us that things are almost always about to change, except maybe for the core of human nature.
Everybody is quoting Voltaire lately, using his famous sentence “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it” .Let’s add something important to that sentence “even if you say it in another language”.
Please, play it again Sam…
posted by the visitor at 10:08 PM
3 Comments:
O Samuel o cachopo (como dizem no vídeo) à boa moda do hip hop comercial resolveu criar uma música a criticar os outros artistas. Nada melhor do que marcar uma posição, definir uma causa, para filiar o orfão público (veja-se o que fez Pinto da Costa com as críticas à capital)
De qualquer modo, dentro desta temática aprecio mais a "Hooker with a penis" dos Tool.
Se ele pretende criticar os artistas que escolhem expressar-se numa língua estrangeira, isso faz tanto sentido como criticar a maneira como usa o boné e diz "bacano". Se está a visar os imitadores que se vendem está no seu direito mas também quero ver como se safa quando tiver que pagar a escola a dois filhos e a casa de campo. Cada um faz as suas opções, competetindo ao ouvinte, espectador, apreciador, público, decidir o que para si é arte ou não. E, por factores diversos, não haverá na pátria lusa mais lixo cantado em português do que em inglês?
ora nem mais :)
Quando alguem toca com o dedo na ferida não se espera nem mais nem menos que uns quantos doridos a gritar "aiai" dum lado para o outro...
O sam the kid colocou a opinião dele e não tardaram a vir doridos dizer mal e dar exemplos em como cantar em inglês é maravilhoso!
Não defendo nenhuma das partes, acredito na palavra tal como o amigo inglês, que tão bem fundamentou uma iluminada opinão sobre o assunto, mas julgo que a maioria das pessoas que hoje critica o sam não se deu ao trabalho de perceber o cerne da critica dele...
À primeia "vista" pode pareçer que ele simplemente critica os portugueses que cantam em ingles para ter um mercado ou para conseguirem sucesso mas julgo que a visão dele não é assim tão básica sobre este assunto. Quando ele diz que nunca precisou de cantar em inglês, será que não está a incentivar o cantar em portugues? ou estará mesmo a condenar os que cantam em ingles?
Quando ele dá o exmplo dos moonspell, será um ataque pessoal? ou será apenas um exemplo de uma formula de produção que resultou, com a qual ele não se identifica pois é o oposto total musicalmente?
O hiphop por vezes apresenta as suas criticas duma forma bruta, crua e até injusta mas tal como um livro mais ou menos chocante, a verdade está nas entrelinhas e acredito que o Sam tentou com este som, incentivar o cantar em português e não condenar os portugueses que cantam em inglês, embora os critique claramente...
Cantem em chinês se quiserem mas sejam vocês mesmos, não queiram ser um produto numa prateleira!
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