Socially conscious music
 

Hello everybody,

I've come on this forum to introduce you all to the concept of socially conscious music. Wikipedia suggests that social consciousness can "be defined as social awareness; to be aware of the problems that different societies and communities face on a day-to-day basis; to be conscious of the difficulties and hardships of society."

Most music is already socially conscious provided it wasn't created with the sole purpose of promoting oneself or for commercial gain. What is unusual is making social consciousness the primary focus.

I'm launching a project in the spring under the name Fold that aims to raise awareness towards positive change and will invest all profits from album sales into charitable causes. The project consists of a 10 track album due to be completed by the end of the year.

The music itself explores the natural, unintentional rhythms of human speech by carefully weaving the voices of people like Kurt Vonnegut, Martin Luther King Jr, Robert Kennedy, Nina Simone, Jimmy Carter and John Lennon into down-tempo beds. The intention is to speak loudly, clearly and directly about many issues that we often hide from ourselves using these familiar and often moving voices.

I am funding, writing, performing, producing, acquiring sample clearances, promoting, designing web & print materials, etc all through my own efforts with a bit of help from close friends.

I believe that achieving real change in the world is only possible if people can be encouraged to take responsibility for their actions as well as their emotions. That's all I'm trying to do myself. This is my way of giving something back to the community.

What do you think? Is this an idea that any of you would support? Please let me know.

Thanks for listening,
Seth Mowshowitz

That's a really interesting project, and if it's for a good cause I have to say - way to be creative about solving problems! I do enjoy music that is socially conscious, not necessarily political, but true to the human struggle.

I'm going to paraphrase a quote from a great socially conscious man,

"Ask not what your music forum can do for you, but what you can do for your music forum,"

-John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Basically what I'm saying is are you here because you genuinely want to expand your music palette and form friendships with like-minded music fans, or are you here to post about this project?

It seems obvious that it's the latter. But if he has a genuine interest in seeing what we think about it as opposed to just hit-and-run spam, it's not the worse thing in the world. Just my 2 cents.

I've been kinda' on the fence on this one too. It definitely does seem like a worthwhile and benevolent cause, but rules are rules.

I think we can just kindly let it fade away into obscurity and disregard, just as long as it doesn't pop up all over the forums.

I say delete it if he doesn't come back again within 4 days.

Thanks folks. That's exactly the kind of debate I was hoping for. Look, I am here to bring what I'm doing to an open forum to see what people make of it. I don't know yet what anybody but my own friends think.

I'm not a promoter. Part of the reason I'm doing this is to send a message to the music industry that I'm not interested in making money, I'm interested in making music and giving something back to the community. I KNOW that other musicians feel the same way. Everybody I've ever worked with is resentful of the fact that music has become an industry. That's why forums like this exist –*precisely because music has a life of its own and will continue to progress despite the confines imposed by industry.

Conan: I agree with what you said –*I dig music that is socially conscious and not necessarily pushing a political agenda. I do believe that everything social is also political but as soon as you get into alignments with parties and specific policies it becomes sinister. That is not what I'm about. I'm just trying find expression for how we all feel as any artist would. I mean every word I said in the original post.

LoathsomePete: (I have to say your avatar makes me feel at home) in one of the JFK samples I'm using the man says that "the artist – however faithful to his personal vision of reality – becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state." I strongly believe that this is the role that we as artists must take seriously in order to contribute something sane and useful to the increasingly desperate situation that society finds itself in. I'm committed to doing just that.

I'm hoping to find other like-minded music heads here who can tell me whether they think this is a good idea, whether anybody else has already done it better or anything else that could contribute to enriching my understanding of music and its role in society.

how is this not just making 'being preachy as hell' a new genre?

if you really aren't interested in making money and playing the music business game why are you proposing to follow in the EXACT footsteps of a money making music business act that's just starting out? ie: funding, writing, performing, producing, acquiring sample clearances, promoting, designing web & print materials, etc all through your own efforts

so you're doing it for egocentric err 'altruistic' purposes rather than economic ones, whoop-tie-do. your still playing the game the exact same way. you even make sure we know your full name and band name from the get go.

do YOU like being preached to and being told how to behave on a large scale level? why would anyone else? there's a reason hippies are considered annoying as hell to anyone who isn't a hippie.

also -

http://www.celebrity-sunglasses-find...rmani_9285.jpg

does anyone else find the older he gets the more he looks like Robin Williams?

mr dave:

I'm putting forward my own emotional response to and interpretation of what's going on in the world – as honestly and directly as I can. I'm not prescribing what others should do but I am trying to live by example. You can go ahead and call me a hippy but I'm concerned about the state of the world that my son will have to live in. I've been around long enough to have something to say about it and I don't hear anybody else saying it. That's my motivation. It is neither entirely altruistic nor entirely selfish – its a bit of both.

Again, just because I'm calling it like I see it doesn't mean I'm telling you what to do. I completely agree, I don't like being preached to.

As I work full time for a charity already and have a 2 year old son I don't have a lot of time to be a musician and a volunteer. This was the best way I could think of combining the two. I'm not profiting financially myself from all this – I'm making sure the money gets used to help people who need it more than I do. In the first year all of the profits (if any) will be invested in Kiva loans until I know how much there is. Then it will go directly to any number of charitable causes. Using many of the same channels of communication and distribution that the music industry does to achieve this is common sense. Getting samples cleared is a legal requirement if I want to reach a larger audience. It is easy to say that I'm just playing the game but forsaking the existing model altogether is only a good idea when you can conceive of a better way to do it. Can you suggest anything?

I did think about peer-to-peer, guerilla style file sharing but I figure if the music is worth listening to this will always happen anyway, which is fine by me – always has been.

Lastly, yes – I have put my own name out there straight away and the name of the project. I am being as transparent and down to earth as I can about everything involved with this. I have no interest or desire to create a celebrity persona or a band. The project needs a name but I'm not calling myself Bono or The Edge. I'm a plain old human being just like you.

p.s. You're right, Bono and Robin Williams are becoming one and the same person. Scary.

I want to promote modern day Libertine philosophies instead, where morality and empathy are wholly devoured.

Okay, fine. Go ahead. You'll be way more popular.

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation is probably one of the most famous (and best, imo), socially conscious albums.

Thank you, I had completely forgotten about that album. I admire her for standing up to the pressures of the music industry and going ahead with that record as it was. I will check it out again more closely in a new light..

I'd also put forward Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet as two very important and successful socially conscious albums from that same period.

Any others?

Welcome, Seth! Your project sounds interesting. I like "music with a message" very much and am curious to learn more about your work.

I think I am probably one of the "like-minded music heads" you will find at the site, so I thought I'd introduce myself to you here quickly in your intro thread so you know there are some more of us out there.

Heh heh...I don't hesitate to prescribe for people what I want them to do. :D But I agree, most people don't like being giving unsolicited advice! I think positive activist songs that raise awareness without blaming people are probably best for encouraging people to feel free to reconsider their feelings and perceptions.

Microloans are great. I'm glad you are planning to contribute to Kiva.

Seth, if you'd like to, please visit the activist song thread I started so that people can share some of their favorite socially conscious music.

http://www.musicbanter.com/general-m...tml#post907260

Again, welcome!

- Erica

Hi Erica (VEGANGELICA), thank you so much for your positive and encouraging post. I was beginning to wonder if the majority of people on this forum are as amoral as they sound.

It has been good to receive such mixed responses to my idea –*that is what I came here for really, to find out what people think. The whole project has been locked away in my comfort zone for too long. If it ever goes anywhere I will have to be able to defend it.

I will definitely visit the activist song thread.

Explain?

It was not meant seriously, sorry if it came across that way. It was meant to be an exaggerated and humorous reference to the earlier reply:

"I want to promote modern day Libertine philosophies instead, where morality and empathy are wholly devoured."

Nobody else has even mentioned morality, and most have rightly been questioning whether my motivation comes from a moral place or if its just self promotion.

Guess I should have been more specific, apologies.

Hmm...I think the people here, rather than being amoral, are simply very vigilant about newcomers just using the site to benefit themselves, and so moderators try hard to make sure the rule about self-promotion is followed. Also, most people here don't stroke egos, so the good news is you get honest opinions!

Very true about the importance of being able to defend what you do or, perhaps more important, recognize the fact that sometimes others will feel what you do is crap and indefensible! So, whatever else you gain from MB, I hope this will be part of it: staying true to your artistic vision regardless what others say, even as you take their feedback and decide if and how to use it in your work.

I hear you, too, about the importance of being able to get out of your comfort zone, Seth. I had an art instructor in college who said to me essentially, "Your art tends to be so pretty and controlled. When are you going to let yourself really express how you feel? If you aren't safe to do that in college, when do you think you'll be able to?" At the time I answered inside, "I don't know." His question always stuck with me, though. I think getting your project out of your comfort zone by sharing it is a great idea for personal and social reasons.

You wondered earlier in the thread about music similar to what you have planned (where you take famous people's socially conscious, spoken words and accentuate the rhythm of natural human speech). I don't know of whole songs that are like that...I've just heard songs that use excerpts of famous speeches. Maybe someone here who knows more about music than I will be able to answer your question.

Hi Erica,

You're absolutely right about people being vigilant - not amoral - and rightly so. I think I was a little disheartened that so few people were actually engaging with the ideas I've put forward so much as figuring out whether this thread belongs here. That just shows how much I've been languishing in my comfort zone! I really appreciate your story on that subject. How have you dealt with that issue since college?

In my idealistic and optimistic fantasy I have been assuming that most people are also fed up with self-serving musicians not actually saying much of anything other than issues to do entirely with themselves. Not only do I not actually know if this is true but I may have ironically missed how much it could actually apply to me. Ouch.

In the past I have done what most musicians do which is to reside comfortably in anonymity behind aliases and personas. The reason people do this is avoid being confronted with themselves. Therein lies the difficulty.

Thanks everybody so far for your reactions and sorry for implying that any of you may be amoral (except for KMS, who has made this clear already).

I completely understand why you might feel disheartened...it probably felt as if people here care less about discussing music issues than protecting the online community!

Well, after college I only continued painting actively for several years, and then my time for that dwindled. I never really pressed out of my comfort zone with my studio arts except for one 3D sculpture/painted installation piece I did near the end of college. It looked like a welcoming, beautiful home scene with painted stained glass doors behind a table set with a painted table cloth, painted dinner, and real flowers in a vase, but with one chair pushed back. Scrawled on a painted napkin by that empty chair and place setting were the words, "I hate you all, you ****ers!" The canvas stretched from the top of the "stained glass doors" on the wall down over the floor as a painted carpet, up over that chair as its upholstery, then up and over a box to make the table...so all the beauty and the vile feelings were encompassed as one.

Interestingly, that installation was the painting of mine that the students and teachers liked the best, probably because I was showing some of my true, unedited feelings. And I was always a very good painter of realism.

But then during graduate school I got out of my comfort zone more regularly by volunteering and then later working at a domestic violence/sexual assault center for 4-5 years nights. I'd always wanted to be the person who felt brave enough to help others during traumatic times in their lives. So, even though I was worried I wouldn't feel comfortable as an advocate, I tried to become the person I wanted to be.

I discovered I was much more comfortable outside what I had thought of as my comfort zone than I realized I would be. So, that's one reason I encourage others to get out of their comfort zones and do the very things they fear but dream of doing.

Oh, I think many people are fed up, just like you say, Seth! Go visit the Lady Gaga thread, for example, where debates occasionally rage about whether she is self-centered and vapid or a helpful activist.

Yes, it is an irony that in trying to reach out and change the world rather than just savor the world as some musicians appear to do, we may actually be self-serving. It feels nice to try to make a difference.

Of course anything we do has to do with ourselves to some degree. But you definitely seem more outward-focused than many people may be, and I feel that's wonderful. You know that saying, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Now, I'm not saying there is any actual "evil" (I don't believe so), but I do feel when people aren't engaged in their communities, governments, societies, etc., then those who *are* may be making decisions that aren't going to reflect the wishes of the silent. So, piping up and adding our opinions and viewpoints is important.

I have never regretted getting involved in some cause or trying to fulfill some dream I've imagined...but I've regretted times when I *haven't.*