I hesitated to post this (the vanity factor), but it is relevant to the recent fan/border-crossing of global music. I got quoted in the New York Times on January 20, in an article about the band Dengue Fever (not a rock paper scissors, inc. client, by the way, but a cool band that did play at globalFEST previously, which rps publicizes):
"Dmitri Vietze, a publicist and marketer for many global music acts, sees the band as 'part of a larger developmental pattern' in world music. 'Can you stick them in the world-music bin at brick and mortar retail stores?' Mr. Vietze asked. 'I don’t know. But as far as how they fit into world music in a larger philosophical context, they are a part of a huge and promising future.' He noted that the American market had been introduced to world sounds most often by American artists who love and emulate them, like Paul Simon. Now, he said, he sees a movement toward music made and influenced by émigrés: 'We’re seeing more and more bands like Dengue Fever.'" Full article here.
I said some other things that didn't make it into the article. I mentioned David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, and Ry Cooder in addition to Paul Simon. I mentioned bands like Chicha Libre (pictured left), Antibalas, and Bole 2 Harlem which also fit into this diverse category of hip, edgy, USA-based globally minded bands that would not have been found in a world music bin back in the day when there was brick and mortar retail. I mentioned the shifting demographics of America which will continue to feed the fire of global music in America, where immigrant-made music will not be viewed in the mainstream as just be a nostalgic, quaint thing, but it will BE the mainstream. And as a result it will be very modern and have the much-desired "youth demographic."
DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., global music publicity firm.
