Tiki Taane grew up in the drum ‘n bass scene here in NZ, moving into the burgeoning dub reggae scene with Salmonella Dub, and now is hoisting his sail in the hip hop/dub/reggae scene with his solo project.

Check out http://www.tikidub.com

His solo album is in te reo Maori, the spoken language of the Maori people. The album features traditional Maori instruments, taonga puoro (literally, singing treasures)raps and lyrics in spoken Maori, and the typical hip hop beat and rhythm that is common around the world.

So not only is Manhattan inspiring the urban soundscapes of the world but it is also helping a disparate group of indigenous people, both rural and urban down here in NZ, find their own voice.

So what this opens up is the whole discussion of how music opens up the dialogue of identity, protest, and change. Is the self-affirming identity of Maori musicians comparable to the self-affirming identity of the urban Manhattanites that strut their stuff around the music videos and dancehalls of the world?

Eric in Aotearoa

Immediately after reading your post Coyote, I started to imagine other aspects of world culture changing in tune with the urban landscape – French Impressionism painting, 20th century stream of consciousness literature. Now for some reason, these art forms have not had the same lasting impact on global mass culture. Rather, they retained an element of the elite that didn’t bow down to popular sentiment. (Are Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell the heirs of Groucho Marx and the vaudeville tradition?)

So, Kwende, I wonder if this is your main thrust: that the current global culture has grown up in the shadow of American capitalism more than Manhattan’s unique urban landscape?

Thanks for your comment! When I said modern New York, I was referring to New York as redeveloped by Title’s I, II and III of 1949’s National Housing Act and the example of city building that it represented. As Bruce Kuwabara’s post points out, New York was considered the capital of the 20th century. It became that by changing it’s built environment in many ways subsequent to that 1949 Housing Act – by that time Zeppo and Gummo had already left for Hollywood.

We’ll get further into what exactly I mean by “modern” in future posts, but that was a great pitch to bat back. You also make a great point in your second post about the city being a incubator for innovation and performance through the scenes it creates and the outlets that those scenes provide. That’s exactly what we’re here to talk about!