Music Video: Chefket - Der Blinde Gärtner

Earlier this morning I read an interesting article on the Daily Kos website called "America's Soft Power Secret: Hip Hop" about how Hip Hop is a worldwide phenomenon, and how the United States could improve its image around the world by using Hip Hop as a diplomatic tool.  I wholeheartedly agree with the general concept of music being a unifying and eye opening tool, and in response I wanted to look around to find some examples of how Hip Hop is being utilized around the world to change societal perceptions.  After all, from its very genesis Hip Hop has been as much about politics - on either the micro or the macro level - as about entertainment.  What I found was an example of Hip Hop being used for more than just a "soft power" tool.  I found a prime example of Hip Hop being used as a positive force for change.

I have recently begun to follow German-Turkish Hip Hop artist Chefket.  His work is often soulful and his rhymes are intricate and engaging both lyrically and rhythmically.  On Der Blinde Gärtner, his contribution to the "Deutschlands vergessene Kinder" compilation album, Chefket digs deeply into Hip Hop as the music of story telling to tell harrowing stories of child neglect and child abuse, in other words - as the title of the album indicates - Germany's forgotten children.  This, to me, is the essence of what Hip Hop can accomplish anywhere in the world: it is the music of the powerless telling the world about personal experiences that have universal meaning.  At its worst, Hip Hop is often about braggadocio, violence, and misogyny.  But at its best, it can be a window into deeper truths, and can hopefully be an inspiration to positive action.

Bundesvision 2012: Bavaria

Despite my oppressively busy schedule these days, in the interest of preserving my sanity, I though I should finally kick off my preview of the 2012 Bundesvision Song Contest.

Today, we start out in Bavaria with a refreshing change of pace: Fiva & Das Phantom Orchester with Die Stadt gehört wieder mir.

Now let me preface this preview by saying that - overall - I like rap and hip-hop.  Put together some good, clever lyrics and a fresh beat, and it is tough not to like the genre.  Heck, I'll even go so far to say that the stereotypical "gangsta" attitude has its place in the genre, as long as it is an organic outgrowth of the social milieu from which the artist comes.  But I quickly run out of patience, and more importantly interest, when the music becomes all about trying to mimic this "gangsta" stereotype, and not about being honest and taking the music to a new level.  I think this problem becomes particularly egregious when you have non-American hip-hop artists trying to pretend that they come straight out of Compton, when they actually come straight out of Heidelberg (or Osaka, or Montreal, or you name it).

Climbing off of my rickety soapbox, I come back to Fiva & Das Phantom Orchester.  Fiva is a rapper who is comfortable in her European skin.  She doesn't try to pose as some tough inner city thug.  Instead, with her backing band made up of DJ, percussion, and a string section, Fiva lays down an infectious jazzy groove and some engaging vocals, while never forgetting who she is or where she comes from.  I would rather listen to this than to European "gangsta" rap any day of the week.

Prediction:  As evidenced by the past two years' experience, just because I like something doesn't mean that the voting German public will agree with me.  I think Fiva & Das Phantom Orchester will find it's niche audience, but it will not be much more than a niche.  I predict Die Stadt gehört wieder mir will land somewhere in the bottom half of the field.

Music Video: Holger Burner - Aufwachen

For a while, Open World Music had turned inward, relying on my own resources rather than tapping into the work already done by others.  I don't know why that is.  But today, after a long interval, I finally returned to one of my favorite music streaming services - last.fm - to try to find some new artists I had never heard before.

And, boy oh boy, did I ever!

In today's hyper-consumerist society, it is nice to occasionally hear from somebody who sings about how we can aspire to greater things than the mere accumulation of stuff.  Holger Burner is not going to win any prizes from the American Enterprise Institute.  And his heavily techno influenced rap Aufwachen isn't going to make him too many friends in the leadership of his austerity obsessed homeland of Germany.  But I will give Holger Burner kudos for reminding us that often, in our single minded focus on the current definition of "living the dream", we end up with even less than that with which we started.

Music Video: Timbuktu - N.A.P.

When you think of places to find interesting music, it is probably safe to say that Sweden does not quickly come to mind.  Yet, whether it is because Sweden's relatively liberal immigration policies are creating an interesting melting pot of different musical influences, or whether it is just because Swedes enjoy producing great music, Sweden is a big place to listen to if you want to hear cool new music.  To the ranks of Movits! (whom I've profiled here before), Jaquee, Swingfly, and many others, today I add Swedish superstar Timbuktu and his song N.A.P..  Yeah, I'll admit that the video for this rap single kind of freaks me out, but the groove is unstoppable.

Music Video: Blumio - Meine Lieblingsrapper

As I have probably mentioned already once or twice, the German rap scene is pretty hot these days.  You've got artists like Toni L., Xzibit, Samy Deluxe, Eko Freh, Massive Töne, Jan Delay (back before Disko No. 1), Harris, Curse, Massiv, Sido, Azad, D-Flame, and many others.  Then you have artists like Japanese-German rapper Blumio, who can mimic all of them in a single video.  If you want a primer on modern German rap, you can't do any better than to check out Mein Lieblingsrapper.  Of course, Blumio turns out to be a pretty good rapper in his own right.