In Finland, there's a fairly well-known Elvis impersonator who sings
solely in Latin.

Is that a sign of an existentialist vacuum, or is it perhaps the
inevitable final stage in the syncretisation of Western Civilisation (if
there is such a thing)?

Alasdair Brooks


On Tue, 5 Jun 2001, geoff carver wrote:

> somewhat non-archaeological, but...
>         on the weekend some guy was singing at a local beer-fest; old rolling
> stones, beatles, simon and garfunkel tunes, etc. - all classics that everyone
> over the age of maybe 20 has heard 1000 times or more (if not willingly, then at
> least in the background, etc.) - the only thing remarkable about the whole thing
> was that the songs were written and sung in english by a german speaker (you
> could tell by his accent) in a city which used to be in east germany -
>         i don't know if everyone else hanging out knew almost all the words to
> these things or not, and i don't know if there is a term for this kind of
> cultural transmission, but i keep wondering: what's it going to be like for the
> generation(s) which currently consume(s) techno or rap (or any variations
> thereof) about 20 years down the line? will they still be able to remember
> whatever dance track was all the rage at the raves during the summer of 1999?
>         i don't want to start a debate about the relative merits of different
> musical genres here, i'm just wondering about something i'm only sort of getting
> around to defining - anyone with a guitar and enough beer can sing just about
> any bob dylan tune around the campfire, for example, but how can you whistle a
> disco remix?
>         a culture needs to be self-replicating - there are stories you tell your
> kids because you remember your parents telling them to you once upon a time -
> there are songs you sing and remember because that was the song you heard when
> you first met so-and-so or... for whatever reason -
>         but what happens when these relics or artifacts are replaced by such
> ephemeral and short-lived phenomena as computer games and dance trax? will there
> be some sort of existentialist vacuum (vaguely thinking of blade runner here) or
> will something else to fill it? or has modern western culture somehow changed
> itself in some drastic way, as a result of which that sort of memory -
> whether shared or personal - will be a thing of the past?
>
>
> geoff carver
> http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/
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>