Book discussion: Taking Funny Music Seriously Recently updated !
An earlier version of this review is posted on my LibraryThing account.
I came across Taking Funny Music Seriously on Hoopla while doing research on P.D.Q. Bach. Half of a chapter is about P.D.Q., and it told me some things I hadn’t known, so it was worth it right there. It also has a lot to say about other people whose musical work I like: Dr. Demento, Weird Al, Tom Lehrer, Victor Borge, and more. I liked it enough that I’ve ordered a paperback copy.
Lily Hirsch writes, “I am a musicologist gone rogue.” She knows that humor is important. She rejects its dismissal as “just a joke”; that expression can trivialize an important insight, or it can excuse unnecessary nastiness. She complains, “We do not always take comedic music seriously because we aren’t supposed to consider and discuss it seriously. And we cannot consider and discuss it seriously because it’s funny music — unless, of course, the comedy crosses a certain line.” But she forges ahead regardless.
The book covers many areas, though it’s bound to the English-speaking world for the past hundred years or so. It deals with areas of music I’m familiar with, such as novelty music and classical music comedy, as well as ones I don’t have strong experience with. It’s fascinating to see how different musical cultures approach humor.
Filk music is briefly mentioned. The author defines it as “music based in fandom,” which is at least close, and mentions the filk group Omicron Ceti III. There are a couple of mentions of FUMP, the Funny Music Project; the book mentions one member of the filk community in this connection. Dr. Demento (Barry Hansen) is discussed at length, and he’s often helped to make filkers better known.
I have to note a typographical point which is rather important. It’s become faddish lately to capitalize some skin colors and not others. That isn’t right; it smacks of racism. Capitalize them all or none, I don’t care which.
If you like humorous music, I strongly recommend this book.
What if the Reconquista hadn’t happened and the Iberian peninsula remained primarily in Muslim hands? What if Al-Andalus, rather than Christian Spain, had sent explorers and colonists into the New World? What if its people had colonized what we call Manhattan, mixing heavily with people from other cultures? This alternate history forms the basis of a series of mystery novels by Roberta Rogow. I’ve read the six that have come out so far and enjoyed them. The island is called “Manatas” in this version of history. Each book is presents one or more murders whose investigation falls to Halvar, a North European employed by the Sultan. The books so far are: