Paper Mache
I have long been a fan of crossover albums by singers of all stripes. I especially like the real genre benders like opera singers doing show tunes. I remember back in the ‘80s when one of my favorite sopranos, Kiri Te Kanawa collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, conducting his score for the first time, to reimagine “West Side Story.” Classically trained singers can add an extra dimension to already great music. Speaking of which, my favorite bass/baritone, Welsh singer, Bryn Terfel, made a second career out of recording full albums of show tunes. His versions of “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’,” “If I Were a Rich Man” and “June is Bustin’ Out all Over” are extra special, and this from a guy who’s sung everything from Mozart to Wagner.
Or what about going the other way from popular music to the classical realm? Have you listened to Barbra Streisand’s classical album? Titled simply “Classical Barbra,” the album includes songs like “In Trutina” from Carl Orff ’s Carmina Burana, and “Pavane” from Gabriel Faure’s “Vocalise.” Much higher authorities than me really liked the album including the great classical pianist Glenn Gould who wrote, “For me, the Streisand voice is one of the natural wonders of the age, an instrument of infinite diversity and timbral resource.” If you’re a Barbra fan, check it out.
Marty Robbins, perhaps best known for “El Paso,” went back and forth between the pop world and country western. His early pop hits included “Singing the Blues,” “She Was Only Seventeen,” and “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation” which won him a gold record. “El Paso” from his Grammy winning album Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs was his first song to hit No. 1 on the pop charts in the ‘60s.
You know where I’m going with this. There has been a lot in the news these past few weeks about pop diva Beyoncé’s new “country” album, “Cowboy Carter.” She rattled a few cages when she performed with the Dixie Chicks at the Country Music Awards in 2016. She is the latest in a long line of Black country performers, but the first Black female to reach the heights. After Beyoncé released two singles post-super Bowl, “Texas Hold’ Em” and “16 Carriages” in advance of the full album release, the stage was set so that when it was released, the album immediately shot to the top of the pop and country music charts. Although labeled a country album, “Cowboy Carter” blends together diverse musical styles including pop, hip hop, rap, funk, blues, soul, rock, rock and roll, opera, and folk music. Talk about the ultimate cross over album. And Beyoncé is not the first black artist to perpetuate and extend the country music genre. A case could be made that country music itself was invented by
Blacks in this country. Some have said country music was born from popular music of the South. The genre reflected racially integrated expressions of the time, like jazz and blues, as well as hillbilly and folk idioms. Suffice it to say that country music is Black music because its creation was extracted from Black creators. Its melodies were lifted from hymnals performed in the Black church.
Its stylings were borrowed from Black musicians. The banjo, a country music staple, was created by slaves. The notion of excluding Black musicians from the genre is not merely preposterous; it’s an act of cultural appropriation. In the meantime, “Cowboy Carter” is a great album deserving of all the accolades. Give it a listen.