Djelloul Marbrook has posted a video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit." a song about lynching written almost two decades before the modern civil rights movement. As Vox Populi notes, "Billie Holiday first performed the song at Cafe Society in 1939. Because of the power of the song, the manager of the cafe drew up some rules: Holiday would close with it; the waiters would stop all service in advance; the room would be in darkness except for a spotlight on Holiday’s face; and there would be no encore. During the musical introduction, Holiday stood with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer."
Sam Smith, 2002 - What does punk have to do with this weekend's protests? Among other things, this weekend's protests - like those in Seattle and the ones that followed - began in part in the garages and basements of America.
Once again music ran ahead of politics - just as it did when Billie Holiday sang 'Strange Fruit' almost two decades before the civil rights movement. Just as it did when we gathered at the Mount Auburn 47 Club to hear a young singer named Joan Baez well before something called the Sixties. Just as we listened to Thelonius and Miles when there were hardly any verbal protests at all.
In 1993, in a protest against censorship. Rage Against the Machine stood naked on stage for 15 minutes without singing or playing a note. In 1997, well before most college students were paying any attention to the issue, Tom Morello was arrested during a protest against sweatshop labor.
Rage Against the Machine sold more than seven million records before much of the rest of the country even got around to one little protest against the machine.
As a musician with more than 40 years of gigs behind me I know that among the many services of music is to say things we can't find the words for - perhaps not yet or perhaps ever. As a writer with over 40 years of gigs behind me I am still often humbled by what a better job music sometimes does of it.
Once again music ran ahead of politics - just as it did when Billie Holiday sang 'Strange Fruit' almost two decades before the civil rights movement. Just as it did when we gathered at the Mount Auburn 47 Club to hear a young singer named Joan Baez well before something called the Sixties. Just as we listened to Thelonius and Miles when there were hardly any verbal protests at all.
In 1993, in a protest against censorship. Rage Against the Machine stood naked on stage for 15 minutes without singing or playing a note. In 1997, well before most college students were paying any attention to the issue, Tom Morello was arrested during a protest against sweatshop labor.
Rage Against the Machine sold more than seven million records before much of the rest of the country even got around to one little protest against the machine.
As a musician with more than 40 years of gigs behind me I know that among the many services of music is to say things we can't find the words for - perhaps not yet or perhaps ever. As a writer with over 40 years of gigs behind me I am still often humbled by what a better job music sometimes does of it.
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