In This Life

this photo came up when i did a google image search for a neomelodica singer. he may or may not be one, but he has the look.

I enjoyed reading a bit of Jason’s ethnographic work on the neomelodica scene in Naples, Italy. It immediately made me think of subgenres of music in several regions of the world that are often kept secretive, or have a negative stigma. One that comes to mind is the narcocorrido in Mexico. Narcocorridos are similar to the corridor genre (its a folky, polka music with accordions at the fore with lyrics that usually speak about immigrant struggles, love, heartbreak, etc) in style, but the content is more violent, glorifying and celebrating crime life, drug trafficking, etc. And its just as hardcore than gangsta rap itself.

Going back to neomelodica…I was fascinated, and not surprised, by the popularity of such a low budget, pirated, underground network of performance. It’s amazing how people don’t mind that the songs are lip synched ‘live,’ and that the production values are so raw. But its the immediacy and the ‘hey-we’re on TV-and everyone can see us’ mentality of the scene that makes it so popular in Italy.

There is also something to say about the presence of the camera in this context, and how it affected Jason’s interactions with neomelodica artists, producers, and members of the camorra in his research. As he mentioned, those interactions went in flux. Sometimes, his subjects were happy to ‘ham it up’ for the camera, candidly speaking about the joy of the musical genre and what it meant for the Italian subject. Other times, he was discouraged by some of his subjects to like such a subgenre, and persuaded to sample other musical styles that were more widely accepted in Italy. And I must say its pretty gutsy to shoot at a camorra‘s son’s birthday party, only to have your work rejected for not being flashy enough.

As crude as the neomelodica music videos are, there is an unwritten rule to how to do it right. When Jason made a video for one of his subjects, opting for a more documentary style, the subject’s father criticized it for not framing enough on his face. The video is not only a propaganda tool for neomelodica music, but also a way to affirm the singer’s status as subject, to give them a ‘face,’ to make them a *star.*

I loved the work. It would be interesting to see if other ethnographic work has been done on other genres of music that like neomelodica, navigate in more underground, guerrilla forms, and to how these forms inter pollinate.

Small comment on Dourish
Paul Dourish’s article “Accounting for System Behavior” was pretty dry compared to other readings for this class, but it is helpful in understanding how SL, as an interface, complicates traditional perspectives on our actions with computer mediated systems. To an extent, SL is process based, in that any new user has to undergo some orientation, some guidance on navigating sims, getting apps, talking to people, etc, etc. But for the most part, SL users are engaging in constant improvisation, morphing, moving, shifting through these virtual spaces (or more appropriately, ‘contact zones’), and changing them at their will.