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Right for the not
all the right reasons?
03
march 2007
Last week Alan
McGee (founder of Creation Records, the label that signed Oasis) published
an entry in The Guardian Music Blog, part of a highly respected English
newspaper. The article was titled “Why it is all going off in Mexico” and
continues “Thanks to some great bands and wildly enthusiastic audiences, the
place has the most exciting music scene on the planet.”
The bands
mentioned in the piece (Sub-Division, Red McQueen?, Zoe and Los Dynamite)
all hail from Noiselab thus in general the well informed may be tempted to
write it off as merely “corporate back-scratching” on behalf of Poptones his
UK based label. However Noiselab does provide Mexico’s best chance of
penetrating the UK market in the short term because of good connections such
as McGee, who although not exactly “cutting edge” is still well respected
within the industry.
The article also
mentions the Spanish vs English issue which of course is more relevant in
the UK market than say in the US where the “Latinization” of the population
has been an identifiable process in the latter part of the 20th
century. With around 40 million people of Latin American origin presently
resident in the US (60% of those of Mexican origin) there is a core market
for “rock en Espanol”.
The UK has a natural
aversion to music with “foreign” lyrics. The last hit sung in another
language in the UK might have been “Joe le Taxi” by Vanessa Paradis in March
1988 or perhaps La Macarena by Los del Rio in 1995 – anyway you get the
idea.
Any major shift in the
somewhat blinkered perspectives of mainstream English music fans in the near
future is somewhat unlikely as Mc Gee implies. However there are many
examples of bands in Mexico that express themselves in both languages (even
Zoë and Los Dynamite to a certain extent) and these
could be of crucial strategic importance in creating “stepping stones” for
the inexperienced in to the world of music sung purely in Spanish.
The main issue about
Alan’s statement is in the use of the word “scene” backed up by examples
purely from one label. A scene suggests some form of diversity and depth to
activities, which Mexico clearly has. A consideration of Mexican music
should
have taken a range of examples.
If Mexican music is
hoping to take the UK on at its “own game” then bands such as The
Cosmetics direct aggressive style and sardonic lyrics would be far more
appealing to your average Brit. Bulletdodgers create quirky
compositions that offer an interesting alternative lying somewhere between
urban rock and country twang. Simplifires play the Irish/Anglo angle
to make uplifting tunes to change your day. Even The Stupids rocknroll
boyish frames and uncomfortably bitter sweet melodies display something
fresh and engaging rather than being simple replicas of Brit Rock. The
list is endless, if you allow yourself to lift your gaze above the obvious.
Although any news is
good news when it comes to creating international interest in Mexican music
perhaps Alan fails to appreciate why Mexico has so much to offer at the
moment. A simple investigation into the scope of music on offer would
have provided a more compelling argument. Noiselab's selection is a
suggestion but a wider selection of talent must be presented as an irresistible
"New Mexican Wave" if it is to overwhelm a knowledgeable British public.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/02/why_its_all_going_off_in_mexic_1.html
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