acousticspace

There is an article by David Toop in the November issue of The Wire magazine in which he tells about his passion for Korean traditional music and discusses the conservatism of music and concludes with the question of ‘why in general music has become quite boring.’ I have been pondering about this article since I read it a month ago. My thoughts are far from being complete but I wanted to write them down anyhow. Why indeed or did music really become quite boring? If it did, since when actually and for whom?
David Toop begins the article mentioning his lecture at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and how he was challenged by one of the institute’s lecturers when he expresses his passion for traditional Korean music. He places himself -having been listening to this music for more than 35 years- higher than any sonophagic (not sure what that stands for) tourist - which is acceptable in itself, knowing his vast knowledge and meticulous ways of handling music. However, two paragraphs later, after speaking of the repression of this certain tradition of music by the Japanese colonial occupation (followed by civil war and military dictatorship), he continues to say that he has been listening to this music (he means ‘luckily’ as I understand it) without ‘the unpleasant weight of history, aura of old people and defunct institutions, unwelcome associations with an imposed exoticism.’ The questions arise immediately: is it really possible to be completely separated, distant from historical associations of a people but yet not consider oneself a tourist to the culture? Is it only our personal judgment, individual taste that guides us through our journey in music? Are our musical adventures all personal adventures now? Does Korean music merely consist of ‘Korean time - a mixture of precise, concussive simultaneous hits, or shingled, fractionally delayed accents spread across ensembles of wind, percussion and string?’ What does ‘articulation of silence’ even mean if it is not a reflection of silences uttered by the people in times of adoration, distress or perhaps joy? Is music now just an idea without any living, breathing extensions? In this age now, when history itself is dissolved, where history is now the history of the individual achievements, isn’t it only natural to find institutions (may be stricter than ever), mere islands, whose sole concern is to conserve things of the past? Yet, who’s to say David Toop’s personal journey, his isolated ideas, knowledge and taste in music may not be as boring as any conservativist institution?
Just incomplete thoughts really, no conclusions, like Toop’s article but obviously with the fraction of his authority. I, too, desire to maintain an open way of listening but of history as well.