by jorge » Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:51 am
I don't think it is appropriate to completely shun "politics" in this forum. Historically, the drum has played a major role in the politics of liberation and the struggles against slavery, racism, and political repression in Cuba, and in other places. For centuries in Cuba, much of the drumming (and "folkloric" music as well as African based religious institutions) have been ABOUT politics. For reasons of survival, much of the politics have been disguised as religion, especially Christian sincretizations of African religions and secret religious institutions like Abakua and Ifa. Fundamentally, much of our musical heritage has been about the politics of survival. For example, the Abakua have been a dominant force in Cuban politics for over a century, similar to the Masons in other countries like the US. Without the drum, this would never have happened. Without the political forces driving the perpetuation and expansion of Abakua, much of our drumming heritage would never have happened. There would have been no Mongo, no Muñequitos, no Afrocuba, no Papines, no Julito Collazo, no Aguabella, no Tata Guines, etc... The drums we play are closely intertwined with politics and history, mainly about the politics of liberation.
For those reasons, I urge you all to accept political discussions when they are related to both the drum as well as past or current day liberation struggles against slavery, racism, and political repression. If people also want to have other political or religious/metaphysical discussions that are not directly related to the drum and its history, those could be included under the Miscellanea heading. When discussions in other forums digress into unrelated politics, the threads could be moved to Miscellanea without hard feelings.
What do people think?