Neo Soul

[risingson]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1075626' date='Jan 2 2011, 07:24 PM']Great post.[/quote]

Cheers Steve! I'll be in touch this week about that cracking set up you offered me!

[Kiwi]

[quote name='MattCvijan' post='1075261' date='Jan 2 2011, 02:18 PM']Thank you for this post.

In my dissertation im looking at the link between musical identity and racial/cultural identity, using Neo Soul as a case study.
Neo Soul music appeals to people from all walks of life, racial groups, and cultures, yet it seems that the leading artists in this genre are almost exclusively African Americans... art, you wont fit in to the market?[/quote]
Not at all. The point of my original post was that I think you're focusing on the racial dimension at the expense of a deeper understanding about the genre.

[MattCvijan]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='1076040' date='Jan 3 2011, 07:29 AM']Not at all. The point of my original post was that I think you're focusing on the racial dimension at the expense of a deeper understanding about the genre.[/quote]


I totally agree with you that Neo Soul is about so much more than racial exclusivity etc. But for the purposes of my dissertation i am Using Neo Soul as a case study to explore the links between musical identity and racial/cultural identity in music. I could've chosen Glam Rock as an example of a genre which appears to be dominated by white artists... but i chose Neo Soul because it is an excuse for me to listen to and research music which i love, in the process of passing a university formality.

Thank you all for helping me through

: )

[karlclews]

It just occurred to me that you might want to take Lewis Taylor - in my (and many others') opinion, one of the finest exponents of 'neo Soul' - as a kind of case study.

His whole career (or second career, if you count his adventures as Sheriff Jack) seems to have foundered on exactly this issue, and the subsequent difficulty of marketing his music (he's a little white guy from North London, with the voice of Marvin Gaye, the guitar skills of Jimi Hendrix and the compositional abilities of Brian Wilson). His original label, Island, reportedly found it difficult, given that his music was 'too white' (i.e. rock guitars, elements of psychedelia etc) to appeal fully to a 'black' audience, and 'too black' (the soulful vocal delivery, swung beats, bass-heavy production etc) to appeal to a 'white' audience. They had no idea what to do with him and dropped him after two (brilliant, IMHO) albums. He went on to release a handful more albums on his own label, equally brilliant in their own way, before it seems even he started to wonder who his market actually was and retired from recording, at least under the name 'Lewis Taylor'.

There's lots of info about him all over the net (although he was very diligent about getting all footage removed from Youtube, which is a terrible shame for the hardcore fans!). His is a fascinating story, and who knows, you might find some great music along the way!