“Make It Funky”: Funk, Live Performance, and the Concept “Genre Works”

IF 0.2 3区 艺术学 0 MUSIC
Matthew Valnes
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

In the summer of 1971, James Brown and his band went into Rodel Studios in Washington, D.C., and recorded a jam session that resulted in a track entitled “Make It Funky.” The track opens with an exchange between Bobby Byrd, who asks Brown what he plans to play, to which Brown replies that he does not know, but whatever he plays, “it’s got to be funky!” After counting off three beats, Brown and members of the band enter on beat 4 chanting the phrase “make it funky” before the entire band enters on the following downbeat with short horns stabs, a “scratch” guitar line, and what had by this time become Brown’s signature rhythmically dense funk. As the song progresses in a way that feels almost like a live performance, multiple musicians are featured in brief solo sections, and Brown himself interjects lyrics that mention what is considered “traditional” Black southern fare, including grits and gravy, cornbread, and buttermilk. This brief description of Brown’s track highlights many salient aspects of Black popular music in the late 1960s and 1970s, a time period commonly referred to as the post–civil rights era. The evocation of Black southern fare suggests Brown’s roots in South Carolina and Georgia and serves as a reminder of the musical and cultural traditions from which he emerged. At the same time, however, by the 1970s his image and status as a bandleader—as a domineering and athletic performer— helped popularize funk, a form of Black popular music that emphasizes bodily movement, sexuality, and the physicality that both engender.
“Make It Funky”:放克、现场表演和“流派作品”概念
1971年夏天,詹姆斯·布朗(James Brown)和他的乐队来到华盛顿特区的罗德尔录音室(Rodel Studios),录制了一段即兴演奏,并制作了一首名为《Make It Funky》的歌曲。这首歌的开头是鲍比·伯德(Bobby Byrd)问布朗打算演奏什么,布朗回答说他不知道,但不管他演奏什么,“一定要很时髦!”在数完三拍后,布朗和乐队的成员们唱着“make it funky”进入第4拍,然后整个乐队用短喇叭戳了一下,“划痕”吉他线进入了下面的重拍,这已经成为布朗标志性的节奏密集的放克。随着这首歌以一种几乎像是现场表演的方式进行,多位音乐家在简短的独奏部分出现,布朗自己也插入了一些歌词,提到了被认为是“传统的”南方黑人食物,包括玉米粒和肉汁、玉米面包和酪乳。布朗的这首歌的简短描述突出了20世纪60年代末和70年代黑人流行音乐的许多突出方面,这段时间通常被称为后民权时代。对南方黑人饮食的唤起表明了布朗在南卡罗来纳州和佐治亚州的根源,并提醒人们他从音乐和文化传统中脱颖而出。然而,与此同时,到20世纪70年代,他作为乐队指挥的形象和地位——作为一个霸道而健壮的表演者——帮助普及了放克音乐,这是一种黑人流行音乐,强调身体运动、性和肉体性。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.30
自引率
50.00%
发文量
0
期刊介绍: Now in its 28th year, American Music publishes articles on American composers, performers, publishers, institutions, events, and the music industry, as well as book and recording reviews, bibliographies, and discographies.
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