The 500 - #430 - Vampire Weekend - Debut

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 430

Album Title: Debut
Artist: Vampire Weekend
Genre: Indie Pop, Chamber Pop, Afro-Beat, World Beat
Recorded: 2007
Released: January, 2008
My age at release: 42
How familiar was I with it before this week: One song
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: Oxford Comma 
(Selected by my good friend, James Spangenberg)

I'll admit, I pre-judged the band Vampire Weekend based on their name. Can you blame me? Doesn't their moniker evoke thoughts of gothic horror rock or early aughts emo? I was expecting something like Siouxsie & the Banshees or My Chemical Romance when I first heard the name. I was wrong on all fronts. 

Vampire Weekend Debut Album Cover

My good friend James Spangenberg shared the band's music with me about a year ago and it took me by surprise. Vampire Weekend's sound might best be described as bouyant and cheery pop melodies infused with African and West Indian rhythms.  However, they also dabble in a genre dubbed "chamber pop", a style of music which incorporates elements (such as contrapuntal melody) and instrumentation (violins, harpsichords, oboes and french horns) typically found in classical music. Two well-known examples are In My Life from The Beatles and The Beach Boys' classic, God Only Knows.

Vampire Weekend was formed in 2006 when four white, New York students met at Columbia University. They have sometimes characterized their music as "Upper West Side Soweto". This is a cheeky nod to their New York roots (Upper West Side) and the South Western Township (SoWeTo) of Johannesberg, South African -- which was the birthplace of the Mbaqanga sound of the 1960s. A sound that influences several of the this album's tracks.

The Indestructable Beat of Soweto (1985) an album that would influence both
Paul Simon & Peter Gabriel, both of whom have records on The 500 List.

As one might expect, the appearance of well-off, Ivy League graduates "borrowing" their sound from an historically marginalized and racially segregated people did not sit well with some.  A few leveled criticisms of "cultural appropriation" with one critic calling them "the whitest band in the world". A song named Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa doesn't look great from a public relations perspective -- even if the song "namechecks" respected world music visionary Peter Gabriel.

This is an interesting debate. What is the difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation?

A few years ago, while teaching Grade a 5/6 class, we looked at the legends and art of the Pacific Northwest indigenous people called the Haida. Their art style is distinct and immediately recognizable.

Examples of Haida Art

I had made the choice to share the stories because it was in the Ontario Curriculum. However, I opted against doing an art activity because I didn't feel it was appropriate, notwithstanding that I didn't know enough about it. The optics of a fifty-ish, white educator of British heritage teaching an indigenous art form also seemed like a potential P.C. minefield. 

However, one of my students (a Syrian girl who had recently arrived in Canada and was learning English) was an exceptional artist. A few days after the lesson she showed me some of her drawings and I was awestruck. She had mimicked the style wonderfully. Certainly her innocent decision to celebrate an art form she had seen in class is not cultural appropriation. So, what is?

This online article from an organization known as The Greenheart Club defines the difference as follows:

Appreciation is when someone seeks to understand and learn about another culture in an effort to broaden their perspective and connect with others cross-culturally.  Appropriation on the other hand, is simply taking one aspect of a culture that is not your own and using it for your own personal interest.

Unfortunately, that definition is vague and ignores a myriad of nuanced situations. In the case of my student and Vampire Weekend, I sincerely feel that their artistic efforts are a celebration of another culture. 

Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend

Ezra Koenig, the singer/guitarist/songwriter for Vampire Weekend, bristles at any perceived image of the band as "as privileged, upper-class Ivy League graduates stealing from foreign musicians". In an interview he said:

"Nobody in our band is a WASP..." (given their Ukrainian, Persian, Italian, and Hungarian heritages). Furthermore, "we got into Columbia on scholarships and used student loans." Koeng was still paying off student loans during this 2009 interview.

As I listen to the album again, while writing this post, I am struck by the simple, jaunty levity of the music which resonates with me despite some of the unusual lyric choices. Mansard Roof, for example, closes with a rumination on the Falkland Island War of 1982, while Oxford Comma ponders the relevance of a seldom-used punctuation mark.

I can't help but feel that this is a band of young, intelligent and talented musicians who are celebrating their influences. Much like my young Syrian artist, there is no sinister agenda at work here. It's just fun music. 

However, I am open to alternate perspectives. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.