Somtimes Some Frisson
February 15, 2014 9:50 PM Subscribe
Alex Boyé is a British-born singer of Nigerian descent who does some pretty sweet covers: Let It Go (featuring 11 year old Lexi Walker), Royals, Ho Hey (with Brigham Larson), Paradise (with ThePianoGuys).
K8t, that's about my reaction as well. I like his voice and sometimes like his arrangements, but watching the videos leaves me uncomfortable, and the more I watch the more uncomfortable I become. It feels like a very stereotypical presentation of Africa, which isn't a cultural monolith in the first place, and then has some other weirdness--a Christmas wreath worn as a headpiece? What? Not knowing how to react is exactly it, and I think that least some the dissonance that if a white person were doing any of this, I'd smack them upside the head and telling them stop being racist asses.
And on the other hand, I'm aware that I'm a culturally illiterate white person from the Midwest of the US, and I'm not sure that this is a thing about which I should be expressing an opinion.
posted by MeghanC at 4:40 AM on February 16, 2014
And on the other hand, I'm aware that I'm a culturally illiterate white person from the Midwest of the US, and I'm not sure that this is a thing about which I should be expressing an opinion.
posted by MeghanC at 4:40 AM on February 16, 2014
My first reaction is that the guy's got some amazing pipes, and my second reaction is that I found him to be a very charismatic performer--I really enjoyed watching him.
On the question about how to interpret the cultural side of it: I think the discomfort that some people might feel in response to his work points to a double standard that exists for white artists versus artists of color: "authenticity" is just not one of the criteria that we use to judge white artists.
If a white artist makes a cover of "Royals" in a 1940s cabaret style wearing a clown suit, we might judge that as beautiful, or clever or ironic or simply stupid depending how we feel about such things, but we likely wouldn't formulate a critique about how it was inauthentic, or a misappropriation, and certainly wouldn't interpret within the framework of race. It can just be a weird thing in a music video.
I mean, think about how you responded to the musical style and costuming of the children in the Let It Go video. Do you feel uncomfortable because it's an inauthentic representation of a generic Nordic culture, and what is up with that antler headdress anyhow?
I don't mean this as an attack on anyone's reaction to these works. I'm just digging into some of the underlying assumptions.
posted by drlith at 6:19 AM on February 16, 2014 [3 favorites]
On the question about how to interpret the cultural side of it: I think the discomfort that some people might feel in response to his work points to a double standard that exists for white artists versus artists of color: "authenticity" is just not one of the criteria that we use to judge white artists.
If a white artist makes a cover of "Royals" in a 1940s cabaret style wearing a clown suit, we might judge that as beautiful, or clever or ironic or simply stupid depending how we feel about such things, but we likely wouldn't formulate a critique about how it was inauthentic, or a misappropriation, and certainly wouldn't interpret within the framework of race. It can just be a weird thing in a music video.
I mean, think about how you responded to the musical style and costuming of the children in the Let It Go video. Do you feel uncomfortable because it's an inauthentic representation of a generic Nordic culture, and what is up with that antler headdress anyhow?
I don't mean this as an attack on anyone's reaction to these works. I'm just digging into some of the underlying assumptions.
posted by drlith at 6:19 AM on February 16, 2014 [3 favorites]
I became aware of Alex Boye via the Piano Guys many yrs ago.That is one of the things that I like about that groups and their music (ie, introducing new musicians from different parts of the world).
I absolutely fell in love with that version and song Paradise,so over the years I have looked for more Alex Boye on youtube.
So for anyone else that finds and enjoys his music, I also found and enjoyed his version of Merci Bon Dieu.
posted by Wolfster at 7:10 AM on February 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
I absolutely fell in love with that version and song Paradise,so over the years I have looked for more Alex Boye on youtube.
So for anyone else that finds and enjoys his music, I also found and enjoyed his version of Merci Bon Dieu.
posted by Wolfster at 7:10 AM on February 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
I was mostly just squicked out by the 11-year-old girl's hair. It had a creepy child beauty pageant vibe to it.
posted by Doleful Creature at 7:25 AM on February 16, 2014
posted by Doleful Creature at 7:25 AM on February 16, 2014
Man, I was all interested in how an African-ish cover of a John Prine song would work, and then I click the link and it's just Coldplay. Oh well. Nice, but I didn't end up watching the whole thing.
posted by jferg at 8:01 AM on February 16, 2014
posted by jferg at 8:01 AM on February 16, 2014
Wow, those are sure some YouTube comments on the Let It Go cover.
posted by maryr at 8:08 AM on February 16, 2014
posted by maryr at 8:08 AM on February 16, 2014
His voice is particularly good fit for the Lumineers cover.
posted by maryr at 8:14 AM on February 16, 2014
posted by maryr at 8:14 AM on February 16, 2014
I had just come back from seeing Frozen yesterday - and if you haven't seen it, you should, it's wonderful!- when this cover of Let It Go showed up in my G+ feed. I was delighted! (I really hope Lexi's parents take steps to help her protect her voice, so she doesn't hurt herself. Because, WOW!)
So for anyone else that finds and enjoys his music, I also found and enjoyed his version of Merci Bon Dieu.
Oh, wow. This is fantastic, and I appreciate you posting it! I really need to go nab some more of his music, I had no idea who he was until yesterday.
posted by MissySedai at 8:39 AM on February 16, 2014
So for anyone else that finds and enjoys his music, I also found and enjoyed his version of Merci Bon Dieu.
Oh, wow. This is fantastic, and I appreciate you posting it! I really need to go nab some more of his music, I had no idea who he was until yesterday.
posted by MissySedai at 8:39 AM on February 16, 2014
I loved this version of Let It Go. So what if it IS a bit Africanized? It is still musically wonderful. Anyway, isn't most American rock descended from African American blues? I don't see anyone complaining about the fact that whites "Americanized" the blues.
Why do we have to bring race or culture into music at all? Shouldn't music be a celebration of humanity as a whole?
As far as misrepresenting African culture, this is a music video, not a Discovery Channel special...are we so politically correct that any representation of any culture has to be pure and true? I mean, it's not as if they were all performing in blackface!
Keep calm and enjoy the music...
posted by Quasimike at 4:33 PM on February 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
Why do we have to bring race or culture into music at all? Shouldn't music be a celebration of humanity as a whole?
As far as misrepresenting African culture, this is a music video, not a Discovery Channel special...are we so politically correct that any representation of any culture has to be pure and true? I mean, it's not as if they were all performing in blackface!
Keep calm and enjoy the music...
posted by Quasimike at 4:33 PM on February 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
So after gorging myself like a fat tick on his youtube channel, I found this. It's both horrifying and hilarious.
posted by MexicanYenta at 7:54 AM on February 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by MexicanYenta at 7:54 AM on February 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
And I also found this, which inexplicably made the room very dusty and some got in my eyes (and I'm about as unpatriotic as you can get without them deporting you on general principles.)
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:03 AM on February 17, 2014
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:03 AM on February 17, 2014
What a voice. I generally prefer music that's a bit heavier but loved Royals and Merci Bon Dieu particularly.
So much going on with this imagery. A Christmas Wreath worn with facepaints recalling the Woadaabe Gerewol festival, best known in the west from Herzog's documentary, which was set to western classical music; facepaint of the Nigerian flag, with the word 'dog' (aja) written across the singer's forehead. Perhaps reflect on the degree of courage and self-actualisation it takes to be this African (Nigerian) while being this camp and this culturally promiscuous.
All this imagery is global currency and there is no need for Africans to feel more proscribed about using it than anybody else. Though I must say in my experience in performance if an African or black person deviates from a rather narrow scrupulously unambiguous script it tends to cause disapproval and discomfort as though a nun had stared swearing.
posted by glasseyes at 5:35 PM on February 17, 2014
So much going on with this imagery. A Christmas Wreath worn with facepaints recalling the Woadaabe Gerewol festival, best known in the west from Herzog's documentary, which was set to western classical music; facepaint of the Nigerian flag, with the word 'dog' (aja) written across the singer's forehead. Perhaps reflect on the degree of courage and self-actualisation it takes to be this African (Nigerian) while being this camp and this culturally promiscuous.
All this imagery is global currency and there is no need for Africans to feel more proscribed about using it than anybody else. Though I must say in my experience in performance if an African or black person deviates from a rather narrow scrupulously unambiguous script it tends to cause disapproval and discomfort as though a nun had stared swearing.
posted by glasseyes at 5:35 PM on February 17, 2014
Being British-born and I presume an American citizen is all part of the real, lived, complex, authentic identity this Nigerian guy experiences.
posted by glasseyes at 5:37 PM on February 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by glasseyes at 5:37 PM on February 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
One of the things I find most interesting about Boyé is that he's LDS (a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, even!), and his singing career sprang from, and is informed by, his membership in the church. I'm really curious what his thoughts are on the historical treatment of black people by the LDS church; I imagine he'd have an interesting perspective.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:33 AM on February 22, 2014
posted by ocherdraco at 10:33 AM on February 22, 2014
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posted by k8t at 12:13 AM on February 16, 2014