Celebration of Real Musicians: "Explosive" by Bond

After enduring two decades of African-Americans (and others) lifting up "music artists" who can't play instruments, read music, or sing, it's refreshing to discover artists who are actually trained musicians. What a concept. I'm always excited to see people who are disciplined enough to hone their own craft instead of cannibalizing . . . err, "sampling" other people's work from 20-25 years ago.

A few years ago, I was listening to a local R&B radio station, and heard a supposedly new song that was vaguely familiar. After listening for a while, I realized that the "artist" had sampled the tail end of a DeBarge song from about 25 years ago. We've truly hit rock bottom. We've also backed ourselves into a corner with the "acting Black" madness. Other people have the common sense to adapt things from other cultures to serve their own purposes. For just one example, check out this video from Evia's blog that shows Korean church members happily "borrowing" from African-American styles of praise and worship music. http://www.blackfemaleinterracialmarriage.com/2009/05/living-well-not-around-the-dbrn-abc-terrorists.html

Anyway, Bond is a string quartet of classically trained musicians. After I heard this song, I felt like playing my flute after all these years! Those of you who have had some training might consider reaching for your musical instruments as well. Those of you who haven't had any training might consider taking lessons.

We desperately need a new arts movement!