And said CL will be up late tomorrow (or possibly early Saturday) due to my having just spent an entire day in New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicle hell. How bad was it? Let's just say that when I finally got to a bus stop to head into the city, I waited forty-five minutes in the freezing cold while standing next to a weird obese guy who apparently had Tourette's Syndrome, and it actually felt like an improvement.
I am not making this up.
Anyway, on a happier note and while I've got your attention, you really should check out our pal Sal Nunziato's take on the whole Cristina Aguilera National Anthem flap over at Burning Wood today.
Let's just say he finds more to worry about than her flubbing the lyrics.
And the secret word is..."oversouling."
7 comments:
Small item in today's NYT. Christina to perform Aretha tribute during Grammys.
I hate everyone.
I agree with that commenter over at Sal Nuziato's blog who traced the the beginnings of today's melismatics to Ed McMahon's "Star Search". Stevie Wonder and Patti LaBelle had done a little tasteful rodomontade earlier than that. But the singers on "Star Search" had about 40 seconds to go from a standing start and build to a swelling emotional climax, and most of them tried to stuff every vocal trick they new into that brief window. Melisma was really the best way to show off the most in the little amount of time that the show gave them.
Melisma has long been a characteristic of Jewish liturgical singing, and on its first trip through African American music, it fell from the lips of no less than Cab Calloway, first in "Minnie the Moocher" and later in his many echoes and reiterations of "Minnie"'s many-noted warblings.
How about the overuse of vibrato? I am no expert, but they say it covers up not being able to hold a note.
Oversouling. Brilliant!
I do not think Aretha over souled it iback in the day.
Most of the people who oversoul did not learn to sing in church.
It reminds me of the scene in Amadeus where the king says "there are too many notes."
Trey
Small item in today's NYT. Christina to perform Aretha tribute during Grammys.
OMG. Shoot me now.
But I suppose we should be grateful it isn't Celine Dion (who basically got her ass handed to her by the Queen of Soul herself during one of those "diva" TV specials a few years ago).
Somebody over at Sal's place refers to oversouling as "urban yodeling."
Heh.
:-)
Whoa, urban yodeling is going to make me laugh at inopportune times all day today!
Trey
Post a Comment