musick!

One of the things that any good Middle Eastern dance teacher will instill in her students is the importance of understanding the lyrics and cultural context of a song before performing to it.  There are many Middle Eastern songs that with or without their lyrics carry very heavy spiritual or political meaning and significance.

Shira has some wonderful writing on the subject.

 If you haven't yet,  you should go read it now.

I don't generally run into this problem, because I don't generally dance to actual Middle Eastern music - but every once in a while it's something worth considering. One of my favorite songs in the world is Gloomy Sunday, which has been recorded and covered and remixed too many times (here's one list, it's really long!) to think about. I first heard it off the original Blair Witch soundtrack, as sung by Lydia Lunch.
Gloomy Sunday has a long sordid history, and is also known as the Hungarian Suicide Song because of it's rumored connection to so many suicides when it was first released, including the suicide of the composer. Fortunately this is mostly unfounded. What is even a little more interesting is the recording done by Billie Holiday in 1941, for which the lyrics were rewritten by Sam Lewis - mostly added to - in which the singer recants and reveals that they were only dreaming.
Without that addition it was deemed too depressing to be released during wartime. (This is the version used the the Venetian Snares remix).

This weekend, at the Urban Cabaret, I'm dancing to a remix of the Doctor Who theme (safe) and a remix of the Tetris theme. The song for Tetris is also funny - it's based on a old Russian folksong, which in turn is based on a poem: "Korobeiniki"
Fortunately - not only does everyone associate the song with the video game - the song/poem itself is about a pair of lovers.

Know your music. Know it's history. Even the "safe" American tunes.



And as an afterthought - if you do happen to accidentally offend someone (it happens) and they actually speak up and tell you (most people won't, assuming you're either stupid or an asshole), just acknowledge it. Be classy. You don't even have to apologize. But acknowledge their upset as a valid reaction, and let them know it wasn't your intention.