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Music Review
Concert for Trump Misses an Opportunity
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In an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, Thomas Banter Jr., who heads the Presidential Countdown Committee, was asked whether Kanye W, who vocally supported Donald J. Trump'due south candidacy last year, and who visited him in Trump Belfry in December post-obit his victory, would be performing at any of the inaugural events.
"We haven't asked him," Mr. Barrack replied. Rather than cease at that place, he continued: "Information technology'due south not the venue. The venue we have for entertainment is filled out. It's perfect. Information technology's going to be typically and traditionally American."
Post-obit a political season in which quarrels over inclusion and exclusion in the The states — in senses literal, metaphorical and philosophical — were primal and heated, the "Make America Bang-up Again! Welcome Celebration" was an opportunity to make a loud case. The phase was a potent one: the National Mall in Washington, merely beneath the Lincoln Memorial. The concert was broadcast live on CNN and online.
What was presented as "typically and traditionally American," however, veered betwixt jingoism and vaudevillian fluff and largely ignored the contribution of African-Americans to pop music (which is to say, almost all of popular music).
Instead it focused heavily on country and rock by white Southerners, including the country superstar Toby Keith, who has been the nation's loudest musical cheerleader for a decade and a one-half; the Mississippi hard-rock band three Doors Downwardly, which was a favorite in the early-to-mid 2000s; and the Frontmen of Country, an amalgam of low-cal-country singers made famous in other bands.
Information technology was a spotty lineup, though not a wholly ineffective one. three Doors Downwards's songs remain sturdy, and the frontman Brad Arnold's vox was strong, though denuded of its sleazy edges. And Mr. Keith, the headliner, in a heavy overcoat and a scruffy beard, delivered potent patriotism via strong narratives.
Mr. Keith isn't equally uncomplicated a choice as he might appear from a distance. In the past, he'due south been a registered Democrat, and here, he thanked President Obama for his service before offer a salute to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Keith's career soared after 9/11, when his music took an aggressive turn. At this show, he played the pugnacious and proud "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," and also "American Soldier," a meditative embrace of patriotic dedication. He also played "Beer for My Horses," with its not-very-ambivalent endorsement of old-time vigilante justice: "Have all the rope in Texas, find a tall oak tree/Round up all them bad boys, hang them high in the street/For all the people to run into."
Mr. Keith'south songs about America are very conscious of place, and at this testify, that proved an constructive strategy. The Frontmen of Country leaned heavily on songs that mentioned bucolic Southern settings: "God Blessed Texas," "Amy's Back in Austin," "Walking in Memphis." And Lee Greenwood joined them for "God Bless the U.s.A.," a bleak march of national pride.
In full, the concert's message was that America is a defined geographical and ideological space, with borders worth defending, even at the toll of excluding those who could make the place immeasurably more fun.
This concert ended up being equally notable for who did non show up as for who did. The only featured nonwhite performers were Sam Moore (of the 1960s soul duo Sam & Dave), who sang a restrained "America the Beautiful" backed by an all-black choir, and DJ Ravidrums, who delivered his dim, caffeinated percussive interstitials from inside a spherical theme-park drum kit. But both of those acts got only a couple of minutes. The United States Ground forces Old Guard Fife and Pulsate Corps got much more time for their two-centuries-old songs.
When Mr. Trump commencement appeared onstage at the show, accompanied by his married woman, Melania, it was to the Rolling Stones's "Middle of Stone," a vocal virtually a man who can't be swayed. At the terminate of the concert, Mr. Trump addressed the oversupply briefly, thanked the performers, and suggested that hosting this outcome in front end of the Lincoln Memorial might have been an unprecedented pick.
That was not truthful. In 2009, Mr. Obama held a pre-inauguration concert here, "Nosotros Are Ane: The Obama Countdown Commemoration at the Lincoln Memorial." It included athletes, actors and musicians from across genres — Mary J. Blige singing Bill Withers'south "Lean on Me," Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing "This Country Is Your Land," a song of credence and respect for the nation. It was a show of cosmopolitanism and inclusion that portrayed America non every bit a fixed idea, but every bit an ever-irresolute sum.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/arts/music/trump-make-america-great-again-concert-review.html
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