Wazzup with music in paradise

This visit to music in paradise isn’t a criticism, but more so an observation that merits the collective review of all local talents. If we can’t even write about the essence of these isles, then we’d perpetuate parroting and pirating others’ compositions in what we conveniently call adaptations.

It was 21 years ago that I left playing actively as a musician in the original Tropicsette. I came back with the Pacific Waves toward year’s end (2000), stunned at the level of musicianship–basically zero–in other local groups. In other words, most have decided to “coast along” without the benefit of learning their basics.

This level of musicianship is perfectly fine for as long as we are content strumming our ukelele under coconut and breadfruit trees singing “ke sera, sera…” with beer and burned meat. Or perhaps I’ve always felt that securing a full-time job at the hotel level is itself an accomplishment for any musician of stripe.

I’ve listened to songs by local recording artists where there’s a lot of parroting and pirating involved and the obvious lack of respect for the work of others. There’s hardly any creativity or originality in the songs they’ve decided to translate and record. Their music is a tale of mañana, riddled with the same old predictable beats, lyrics, and music. It’s embarrassing! It turns creativity and originality on their heads. I quiz if the folks ever secured US Congressional Library permission (with requisite fees) to use these materials?

In fact, some of the adaptations are either riddled with the same repetitive lyrics or their local syntax just doesn’t go together in terms of organization or use of the Chamorro lingo. The point is: once a piece is recorded with the wrong lingo, it’s a permanent error that is repeated each time it is played.

What’s my point? Learn the basics of music, including rudimentary materials of the instrument you’ve picked to play. If you don’t, then you will be struggling all your life trying to figure out apples from oranges.

Battle of the Band Events

It’s good to stage this sort of event but with definition and fully defined parameters. You can’t set it up where every Tom, Dick and Harry is thrown into the same arena to slug it out. In short, it’ll be awfully unfair to put up say, island serenaders (parroting Hui O`Hana) versus a versatile professional group fully honed in terms of musicianship.

Categories should be set up: Junior Musicians (young kids learning their basics who have formed a group), Seniors (a combo of older students), serenaders (those with of ukelele playing mostly island music–ukelele is a beginner’s instrument) and professionals (seasoned or accomplished musicians).

In each category, there should be a set of criteria that focuses primarily on originality and whether the group knows its basics in music. The primary goal of this competition isn’t the money as much as to encourage young island talents to get their acts together. I simply mean: learning their basics–music scales, writing music and lyrics, fine tuning accents–whole group in unison as it hits specific emphasis and music theory.

There’s a reason why I’m advocating getting down to basics: I find it awfully embarrassing that local guitarists call barre cords flat cords or don’t even know transposition when one of seven major keys moves elsewhere. You have to be able to figure out why a certain instruments plays out of E-flat and B-flat or what’s the triad in string instruments. Start with the basics. The way to the top is often a long arduous journey which could only be reached by walking the valleys up the hill. If you do it today, you’d appreciate why learning the basics pays off handsomely over the long haul. Do it today!

Strictly a personal view. John S. DelRosario Jr. is publisher of Saipan Tribune.