An Open Letter To First Lady Obama And The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities -

I wanted to start by thanking you for you generous support of music and the arts during the early days of your tenure as First Lady. As Honorary Chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, you hold an important and influential position. We’ve been living in a cultural void over the past eight years, so it’s nice to see our leaders validating the importance of music and arts in our country. You’ve honored Stevie Wonder for his contributions to soul and hosted a night of country music, both important pieces of our cultural landscape. I also appreciate the fact that you’ve used your influence as a role model in our society to show openness to multiple musical genres. You’ve supported marginalized musics with important cultural ties to our country with a day devoted to jazz and upcoming nights dedicated to Latin and classical music. In a time when our country is struggling with an economic crisis, wars overseas, and more, it takes bravery and insight to recognize the importance of music and the arts in our society; I thank you for displaying those admirable qualities – it’s a service to our country.

At the same time, I do have some concerns based upon the artist line-up at the White House’s upcoming Latin Music Night. The artists chosen to represent our country’s inherent diversity of South American and the Caribbean influenced music stem from a group of musicians that have achieved wide commercial success. They have all made significant contributions to the world of “Latin” music, yet, in many cases, those contributions sit long in the past. For some of the musicians performing that evening, their contributions were not necessarily artistic at all – they simply achieved financial gain and widespread popularity. Since their initial success, they have all been the victims of overexposure and a blatant attempt to market “Latin” music to a Caucasian audience. These are the same artists that appear regularly at The Latin Grammys and every other high profile event that keeps their faces in the eyes of the public. In this regard, the White House’s Latin Music Night seems like another commercially driven and generic public relations event. After being exposed to endless similar events, we all develop a cultural blindness to the genres that these artists represent and their cultural connections become blurred. Instead of associating their music with Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, or any other country from South America, Central America, or the Caribbean, we throw them into a generic “Latin” category. This action underscores the music’s significant representations of society and race and fall back upon our cultural ignorance, defeating the event’s purpose.

I find this unfortunate; I would hope that The White House Music Series would represent an opportunity to both entertain and educate the public. It’s important to present some of these artists that reside in the popular consciousness – they are part of the public’s comfort zone and they draw people into the event. They can’t dominate the event though, it’s important to open the spotlight to musicians that might represent a more authentic connection to tradition. You wouldn’t have to travel too far outside the realm of popular acclaim either. It would be easy to invite Eddie Palmieri, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Poncho Sanchez, The Latin Giants Orchestra, or Bobby Sanabria. All of these artists have made significant artistic contributions to Latin music, changing the course of salsa and Latin Jazz forever. At the same time, they’ve all found recognition through Grammy nominations or awards. I would hope that our presidential leadership would recognize the importance of artistic risk taking as well and include artists that utilize unusual composition or performance approaches. The choices of artists on the current line-up are simply too easy; they are going to reinforce cultural stereotypes and allow a large chunk of the population to write-off the cultural and artistic relevance of Latin artists. The event needs some artists that will challenge the general public to think outside the box. The inclusion of a modern Latin Jazz artist like Dafnis Prieto, some funky timba from Isaac Delgado, Nuevo Tango from Pablo Ziegler, Colombian harp from Edmar Castaneda, or traditional Afro-Peruvian festejo and lando from Eva Ayllon would strengthen the event’s integrity. These are the types of diverse musical experiences that an event like this needs to include in order to make a cultural impact.

It’s important not to underscore the major impact of an event like this upon our cultural consciousness. We live in a time of uncertainty and confusion and we are looking to our leaders for guidance. Your selection of artists sends a wealth of messages to the public about your perception of music from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, as well as its place in United States culture. You’ve chosen a good number of musicians that represent the commercial interests of the music industry, telling the public that they should support the status quo. Even worse, that message has been imbedded in a high profile event that stands to reach millions of people. Press releases about the event have appeared in every major newspaper across the country and have spread across the internet like wildfire. I’ve read about the Latin Music Night on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and countless blogs. The event itself will most likely cause a major buzz across the internet, and we can expect to find a blitz of pictures, video clips, and more. Then the event will air on PBS, reaching a huge audience; a few days later it will appear on Telemundo, touching many more television viewers. Your support of these artists will reach around the country, around the world, and send a major message about the state of Latin music.

The Chairmen’s Letter from the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities opens with the bold statement, “We see the Obama presidency as a time of opportunity to energize the cultural life of our country and enhance the role of the arts in American society.” This is an exciting prospect full of potential, but without true artistic leadership, it’s simply a collection of empty words. For years now, the commercial interests of the music industry have driven the artistic leadership in the United States music world. Popular music like rock, soul, country, rap, and pop have spread throughout the country’s consciousness and set the barre for artistic excellence in the general public’s mind. Genres like classical music, jazz, and Latin Jazz that require advanced technical study, authentic cultural dedication, deep personal reflection, and broad creative thought have become irrelevant cultural relics to the general public. The musicians that follow these challenging paths work twice as hard, find little respect outside their artistic communities, and constantly battle the public’s stereotypical expectations. Our country is starved for real artistic leadership – the kind of leadership that will respect the current cultural norms but regularly step outside them and challenge the mainstream expectations. We need leaders that will strive to educate the public and encourage them to broaden their horizons, showing them the benefits, pride, and joy that occur when you support these marginalized musics. Our country deserves leaders that will set their own artistic barre higher and demand that the country follows their lead.

I hope that you can hear this message and make some changes in future government supported arts events. You’ve got several more years ahead of you in the White House, and I believe that you can be that artistic leader we need. In all honesty though, you’ve got to make up for some lost time. I don’t see the White House’s Latin Music Night as even a step in the right direction; I see it as a step backwards. I believe that you will need to grab this cause passionately, take risks, educate the public, enjoy a wide variety of music, and grow into the leader we need. We need a new and bold leader on the country’s artistic landscape, and we need it now. In the words of the President, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” As a musician, an artist, and an American, I am looking to you to represent that change, please consider this when planning future events.

Sincerely,

Chip Boaz
The Latin Jazz Corner

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The White House’s Latin Music Night will be held next Tuesday, October 13, 2009. Musicians performing include Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Jose Feliciano, Thalia, Los Lobos, Tito “El Bambino,” and Aventura. The event will be recorded and broadcast on PBS Thursday October 15th, Telemundo October 18th, and V-me on December 25th.

What are your thoughts on this event? Leave a comment and speak your mind!

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Check Out These Related Posts:
An Open Letter To JazzTimes Regarding Latin Jazz
Issues Effecting The Latin Jazz World That We Want Obama to Address
On Latin Jazz Album That Obama & MacCain Have To Hear Before Election Day
Setting The Record Straight: George Russell, Cubano Be, Cubano Bop, And The Origin Of Latin Jazz

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