(courtesy of Virginia Blum)
A new Appalshop documentary named Holler to the Hood explores human rights violations, abuse and the placing of rural prisons in America. See a video trailer here.
This is powerful work... the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guatanamo are not an anomaly in our democracy, the spirit of destructive humiliation and torture is present in our own prisons and it is designed with the purpose of intimidating/destroying resistant cultures.
Check out some of the tracks from the movie and a Mountain Talk audio feature:
Traditional Bluegrass Meets Hip Hop
For more on Appalachian Culture:
Appalachian Studies Association
Rural-Urban Aesthetics
To my colleagues on the left, pull your heads out of your asses and re-cognize your alliances with rural people instead of blaming them for your losses. I live in a rabid red state and I find more alliances with rural people than I do with the urban professionals.
6 comments:
Harry,
Check this out Vermont to Cede From Bush's America?
Brett,
The music was great... who would have thought that bluegrass and hip-hop would flow together so smoothly, but then that is the idea, we nevet tried and would have never known? When you have the time you should listen to the Mountain Talk radio interview that is on the same page.
The documentary has already been shown once on our campus. The director has been working here all this semester as part of the social theory program and Appalachian Studies program. I'll keep an eye out for other showings and let you know.
If you send me your address I'll send you emails about events/opportunities on campus--right now i have you buried in the course lists. How did you like the CDs I burned?
The leftist student union on campus is very involved with prison issues in the region. Go to the link "UK Campus Progressive Coalition" on the right hand side...
If you are interested in more info about prisons you might keep an eye out for Eric Schlosser's forthcoming book on the privatization of prisons (in the meantime I highly recommend is earlier two books: "Fast Food Nation" and "Reefer Madness"). Here are some links:
Doing Company Time: The Privatization of PrisonsFast Food Nation and McDonaldizationEric Schlosser: A Writer's LifeEric Schlosser: The Fine Art of MuckrakingUS Prison BoomThanks for your comments Brett
Brett, for some reason it put all five of those links together--if you move around on that it link it will take you to different places (just so you know)
This is great--both the music, and the reminder that the left needs to reconnect with rural communities.
During our journey from Philadelphia to San Francisco this summer, Maria and I passed through Kentucky (we took a very indirect route!) and stopped at Berea College, which stands as a great example of a progressive institution in and of Appalachia. It's funny how traditional rural music is so popular among progressive city dwellers, yet they are so out of touch with the communities that gave rise to--and continue to nurture--that great music.
As for the music, I can't say I would have thought of it on my own, but if someone had suggested it, I would indeed have agreed that Bluegrass/Old-Time music would be good material for hip-hop remixing.
Dobry, for another reminder of the need for a rapprochement of the right and left check out the recent post on Ruth Ozeki...
Dobry,
Same thing for the blues... when I lived in Soulard in St Louis I was dissappointed by a lot of the blues enthusiasts that loved the music yet had little understanding (or desire to know) of the root material conditions of the development of the blues.
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