UK Music Scene Insularity and Xenophobia

One aspect of the UK music scene that amuses me is the frequent British accusation that other countries' music scenes are insular, when in fact the UK music scene is about the most non-inclusive of all of Europe's. This article on the new French Radio London highlights the wanton ignorance the British have of a music scene that lies just 22 miles south of the English coast. While the British chuckle at the fact that France mandates that a certain percentage of the songs played on French radio be in the French language (oh that silly French pride!), for years (forever?) one has always been able to hear plenty of English on French radio, whereas the UK seldom returns such linguistical favors with its own radio programming.

French Radio London is addressing a French-speaking audience, which would seem to invite some obvious questions about the changing demographics of London, though the article fails to raise any. Why is a French-language station being offered now? I am left to guess, and mine is that it is in response to the recent influx of immigration not so much from "traditional" French people as the mighty wave of French-speaking African immigrants. The French Afro-pop sound, championed by such bands as the classic Magic System and the more recent Congolese artist Les Jumo, has long been a staple on the French pop charts. While the news media rightly reports on the ethnic tensions in France, one has to admire the French pop charts for their inclusiveness (something I can relate to as an American, since in the U.S., despite our oft-discussed Mexican immigration issues, we cheerily consume Spanish-language pop music). This interesting angle is left entirely out of the written article (it is barely touched upon in the included video); the focus instead being how funny French pop music has been over the years, with the most egregiously goofy examples rolled out to "prove" the point. But as Sturgeon's Law crystalized several decades ago, by cherry-picking the worst examples of music from any genre, one can always create the impression that the genre as a whole is a failure; 90% of any genre is crap, after all, with no exceptions.

The haughtiness of certain vociferous segments of the UK music scene was on display again recently when DJ Mag published its annual Top 100 DJs poll, leading to much hand-wringing over the fact that dubstep (90% of which is crap) was almost or entirely absent from the list, alongside much moaning that nobody listens to trance anymore despite many of the top DJs being champions of this form of music. Regarding dubstep, perhaps it is unreasonable to expect that joyless, dance-unfriendly music with English-language lyrics will play well in Romania*. And regarding trance, clearly the Dutch (who, it should be added, live in a country only a couple hundred miles away from the UK) are rightly pleased with their own DJ countrymen and the trance music that those guys play.

To the BBC article's credit, the quotes from Stuart Maconie, presenter of BBC 6 Music's Freak Zone, get everything right. But no sooner does Mr. Maconie finish speaking than the author pours on the snark again.

For the UK music scene the thought of anybody singing a pop song in a language other than English seems to be a terrifying prospect (thank goodness Daft Punk offer their lyrics in English). Fortunately, the demographics of the UK are changing and an ever more vibrant, multi-cultural society is emerging. The music will get even more colorful, and dreck like this BBC piece will come to be seen for what it was: a xenophobic curio from another age.

* Actually, I like some dubstep stuff, and some, like Chase & Status, can exhibit some joy, but let me have my moment of argumentation here. ;-)

Banning the Veil in 1950

Everything old is new again. The French government has adopted a bill to ban Muslims from wearing veils; the bill could become law this fall. Belgium introduced its own such bill for consideration only a few weeks ago.

Sixty years ago, Yugoslavia banned the veil. The communist regime at the time pursued the ban "with the goal of ending the centuries old symbol of inferiority and cultural backwardness of Muslim women" (historian Robert Donia, as quoted on page 15 of this European Stability Initiative Power Point). Those words are not a far cry from French President Nicolas Sarkozy's defense of the ban as quoted in Reuters: "Sarkozy said France was 'an old nation united around a certain idea of personal dignity, particularly women's dignity, and of life together. It's the fruit of centuries of efforts.'"

In another quote that resonates today, Donia also said of the 1950 ban: "the campaign encountered staunch resistance, especially among women outside of Sarajevo and among Muslim men."

In the fall of 1950 the ban was enacted. Around the same time, other curbs were imposed on various segments of Muslim society.

...the suppression of the shariat courts in 1946, the ban on the wearing of the veil in 1950, closure of the mektebs (elementary schools where children learned about the Koran), the closure of all the tekkes (dervish lodges) in 1952, and the ban on the dervish orders...the Muslim cultural and educational societies were shut down by the communists, as was the Islamic printing house in Sarajevo.
--Thinking About Yugoslavia, by Sabrina P. Ramet, describing observations made by historian Noel Malcolm

In light of this, one could understand why historically-astute members of today's European Muslim community might live in fear that a ban on veils and burqas may hint at further restrictions down the line. It's a "slippery slope" argument, but it does have recent historical precedent.

Was Yugoslavia's veil ban a success? I don't know; I suppose that depends on who you ask. But my entertaining Culture Smart Guide to Bosnia & Herzegovina suggests that a more progressive and better-integrated Muslim society emerged afterward in Yugoslavia.

The great question, I suppose, is whether or not such change qualifies as real societal improvement if that change is dependent upon the forced suppression of certain cultural values.