Re: playing w/ dj's

[Pohon-Kelapa@t-online.de (Martin Tauchen)]

 The actual discussion about the DJ stuff amuses me a little bit.
At least I have no problems or an invisible border in my brain,to work
together
with a DJ.Maybe in a band,maybe a saideman or maybe the DJ as sideman.

I trace myself as a musican who plays mainly guitar.But some would say,this
guy is
not a real guitarist,because he uses so many FX/devices and his sound is 
not
the
standard E-guitarsound we used to know from a Strat/Paula directly to the
Marshall
Amp.Oh yeah,if this should be the relation I am really not a guitarist.
In the guitar world we had and have enough debates about Tube or 
Transistor,
Paula or Strat,now Vitual Pod front against analog Stompboxes and so and
on....
At least it is not a debate about music,it is only a debate about 
technology
to 
realize an audio artwork.

I have listened to a lot of DJ´s who were really only the Master of a
programme list.
But I have also listened to a lot of guitarists who played down only the
score.
Another question is,if a member of a symphony orchestra(a Basson player for
examole)
could be called a musican.He plays also only fixed material from a fixed
score.
At least a programme list.Would you call him a Non-Musican ? I guess not.

Let us take a view to the composer side.I like Maurice Ravel a lot,because
of his
wonderful and colourful instrumentation.He was original a Pianoplayer.So he
was
a piano musican.As composer he was able to expand this ideas from piano to 
a
big
Symphony Orchestra.Maurice was not a trained musican for each single
instrument of
an orchestra.Nevertheless he was able to tease out all this wonderful
colourings 
from a piano part. From the piano part alone,you can not hear the version
for 
symphony orchestra.It needs the imagination and artistic spirit to tranform
a piano
part to an extrordianry Orchestra part.Listen to Daphins and Cloe or the
"Pictures of
an exhibition".Pictures was composed by Modest Mussorgsky for Piano,Maurice
Ravel
did the instrumentation for it.
In a non correct way I could easy claim,that Maurice was an early
pre-electronic DJ.
Like evry other piano player who composed for orchestra.

The DJ question is a little worse.Most people think of DJ,that he is 
someone
who 
spools down a playlist,with some funny comments.Well,a Radio DJ for 
example.
This is a basic form.
The next step is the DJ,who uses his sound sources for some easy
soundmanipulating.
Like scratching.The mass of +30 people will think immidiately of 
breakdance.
A prejudice.....
But for a generation before,all guitar heroes were in their mind,Hippies on
speed.
Also a prejudice.....

Around 1955 we had to schools in Europe.The electronic Studio in
Cologne,with its
additive synthesis sound(Stockhuasen,Koenig...) and the Musique Concrete in
Paris
(Pierre Schaeffer....),the Paris-studio worked a lot with real sounds and
the pre
aera of Vinyl.So it could be traced as the pre-sampling and DJ phase.
They used sonic material to manipulate already existing sounds,so they 
would
get in 
another musical context.

Later on such manipulation was determined as "Life-electronic",with
bandloops and 
early synth.-gear.
It was never a question,that the "Life Electronic" guy,was mentioned as
musican.

The nowadays DJ is a musican.Life electronic made an evolution.Hardware 
made
big steps
in development.Like once and still on for the E-guitar.
A DJ has totally different possibilities to a "Old school" musican.A DJ 
will
seldom
reach the musicality vision of an E-guitartit.Otherwise an E-guitarist will
never
seldom reach the optimum of a DJ.
An E-guitarist will also seldom reach the acoustic guitar heaven.Like
otherwise.

A good DJ has discovered with his experience and individual insights a 
world
of new
musical textures,like an E-guitarist who has been busy for years,or a
Basoonist.

A bad DJ will be a bad DJ,a bad guitarist will be a bad guitarist,a bad
basoonist
will be a bad basoonist.

If we would be really strict musicans,then we should leave our fingers from
all
artifical instruments.The only natural instrument we all own is our voice.
So we have to open a big barber shop.Well,the voice is very flexible.
Each other instrument is artifical.Or have you ever seen a Violintree ?

A massive problem is the question of the copyright.Most DJs use a real 
short
frag
form existing material,so that it will not be recognized,where it really 
was
from.
A lot of guitar players use little licks and riffs,wich were played so many
times
before.But they sat it into a different context,so that the origin context
is not
listenable anymore.
Ripping off is not a new way,a lot of musican before us ripped of the 
little
licks
form preexisting material,to a new context.

If we were really strict,each musican has to pay royalities to the one,who
invented
the musical system of twelve tones per octave.Or stranger,Harry partch who
would 
have been this year 100 years old,had invented a 43 steps scale through an
octave.
Each time you reach his frequency,you must pay royality. :_)

Such discussion makes no sense,like the discussion if a DJ is a musican or
not.

Of course there are plenty of so called DJs out,where we only can 
fart......
But there enough other instrumentalists out,where we can fart...a lot.

There is no good or bad music outside.There is only music we like or
dislike.
This is and will be always an individual decison.

At the end,it is not interesting for me,how the music was produced,wich 
came
so close
to my heart,that I will call an acoustic sound MUSIC.
It is only important,that this music had touched me,for whatever reasons.


Marty