A few months ago, we had the opportunity to see the Soweto Gospel Choir in concert here. I'm not a person who trafficks much in superlatives, so I will just say that the Soweto Gospel Choir is very very very good in concert. The melodies are still stuck in my head, the harmonies were almost other-worldly, and the beat – well, let's just say that these are just about the most rump-rattlin' rhythms around, anywhere. Sitting still through this concert ought to be legal grounds for your next of kin to start divvying up your estate.
So, anyway, the SGC did a concert here. There were some youngsters, college students, I assume, some of whom were actual South Africans; but the majority of the audience was the pale, frail set that dominates much of Iowa demographics – elderly white people, probably Lutherans. The Choir poured out the music and rhythms, and what did the audience do in return? The vast majority sat politely and clapped. The South African contingent of the audience cut loose, dancing like crazy in the aisles, and I could tell the Ranting Spawn wanted to cut loose too; and I must confess that I, pasty white guy that I am, almost overcame millenia of tuneless, beatless inhibition and cut loose myself – but the Rythym Suppression Field laid down by the rest of the audience kept me in my seat. But barely!
We wondered how the performers took this apparently cool-ish reception. Did they realize the audience was being as enthusiastic as its culture permitted it to be? Perhaps what they really needed was some younger white people in the audience; then they probably could have gotten people up and dancing, however dorkily.
UPDATE. Perhaps if "doctors implant some sort of funk-enabling servomotors in [our] joints"? Yeah, that might do it.
Sad. Just sad. Just 'cause us white folk can't dance so great doesn't mean we should enjoy ourselves once in a while.
Posted by: RantingKid on February 27, 2008 08:46 PM
Shouldn't. "...[S]houldn't enjoy ourselves once in a while."
Posted by: Your mother on February 29, 2008 08:02 AM
I find myself on the side of the non-dancers. Maybe it's because I grew up in Miami, home of the in-your-face-party-fun culture. Constantly being told to "loosen up! smile! have fun!" until you want to bash the Fun Person's skull in will really do something to your cerebellum. Or it did to mine... also I can't help thinking (because of my Uptight White Northern European heritage, natch) that people who dance in their seats at concerts are just trying to draw attention to themselves -- "Look how much fun *I* am having!" Obviously this sort of thing varies from culture to culture, but on the whole, as a short, non-rhythmical person, I'd like the dancing fun people to sit down, as I paid to see the people on the stage, not my seat neighbors.
Posted by: Andrea Harris on March 1, 2008 10:39 AM
non-rhythmical person
I have been told that my dancing looks like an impersonation of somebody encountering a live electrical cable. So perhaps it is better that the populace is spared exposure to it.
Posted by: David Fleck on March 1, 2008 03:25 PM