Oh dear.

[wombat1138]

Evidently last year (and in some quarters, dating back rather a aways before that), there was a flurry of accusations within fandom that Yoko Kanno substantially plagiarizes much of her music. There was even some escalation to the point of direct professional confrontation, at least in terms of contacting other musicians; I don't know whether Kanno has made any statements of her own on the subject.

I suppose I should be outraged, but instead I'm just bemused. Not really sure why, considering my disgust at CC's "Draco" plagiarism. Dunno whether it's enough to attribute my personal difference in reaction to the difference in medium-- I don't have a trained ear or particularly good aural memory, so I'm just not very good at judging the overall impact in most cases-- or whether this sort of "borrowing" is generally more acceptable in music than in literature (though in both cases, more respectable as "allusion" if the original work is already well-known rather than relatively obscure).

(And what's with the comparison in the third YouTube video to Sting's song "Russians", which iirc is heavily based on Prokofiev? Sting did credit Prokofiev in his album notes so it's not as if he was hiding it, but I have no idea what Kanno may've written in the notes to her albums.)

But also, I'd already noticed some of her borrowed bits on my own, though mostly from classical sources rather than current (obscure indie?) ones. (I barely ever listen to recent music anymore and don't recognize most of the names of the alleged sources. My out-of-touchness has gotten to the point that these days, when I glance at magazine covers in the grocery checkout lane, the only extent to which I recognize celebrities' names is usually from having seen them written on previous magazine covers; chances are that I have no idea what they look like or what they're supposed to be famous for.)

The "Bolero" arrangement of one of the Escaflowne tracks? Check. The entire adoption of part of a Bach "Passion" (albeit substantially slowed down, and with the Latin lyrics replaced with vaguely Latinate gibberish)? Check (though I matched it to St. John's rather than St. Matthew's, as I'm more familiar with the former; iirc both Passions are very similar to each other but not identical). The long orchestral crescendo/glissando (yes, I had to look up the right terminology for that) somewhere in Ghost in the Shell that sounds just like the end of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" (though imho Kanno's version sounds incomplete without the final BONGGGGG chord)? Check.

And so while I feel some vague interest in hearing more of the original(?) musicians cited, that's really about the extent of my reaction. OTOH I'm still under the shadow of annoying holiday germs, so my brain cell may be even less functional than usual.

Later addendum: evidently someone has written a book on the prevalence of such "borrowing" in popular music by/from just about everyone. I have no idea what is the minimum threshold of similarity to consider a suit worthwhile-- okay, sure, I'd consider outright blatant sampling of someone else's voice to be worthy of rights negotiation, but I've had the impression that the holders of song copyrights may *not* block other performers from doing their own cover versions as long as the proper credit/royalties are given.

Comments

[scriva.livejournal.com]

Wolf's Rain also had a lot of classic elements. I always thought it was meant as a homage, and it was done on purpose. ^_^ I guess it's the same as literature, the difference between cultural property and copyright is a question of age. IMO, Bach, Mozart and other classical composers are fair game, as long as you admit that you music is a homage or an adaptation of the other piece of music.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

That reminds me: Did the creators of the RK soundtrack ever credit their use of - I think it's from Cavalleria Rusticana - during the firefly scene in the TV show?

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

I don't know; I remember a number of people trying to identify that passage, but I'm pretty sure that this was before any of the RK soundtracks were licensed in the US. Though come to think of it, I'm not sure whether even the licensed versions have their liner notes translated into English... though on the other other hand, surely if the original Japanese credits *did* mention Cavalliera Rusticana, its title and the composer's name would've been listed in obvious romaji?

But also, surely Cavalliera Rusticana is in the public domain by now. Dunno whether it's considered sufficiently significant to be included in a theoretical canon of classical works (and boy, does the word "canon" mess things up even more in this context), but at this point I don't think there *is* a substantial classical-music canon which everyone in the US would automatically recognize. Maybe there was during the mid-20th century, but not anymore; most of what's left in the collective memory is small dramatic riffs used in movies and adverts-- Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", Orff's "O Fortuna", the "Dies Irae" portions of Mozart's and Verdi's Requiems, some of Beethoven's 5th and 9th symphonies, maybe Holst's "Mars" and Bizet's "Habanera"-- and some light easy-listening non-threatening background music-- Pachelbel's Canon in C-major, Vivaldi's "Spring".

There are some classical bits which I think used to be automatically known from similar media, but which may have drifted out of public awareness with the disappearance of those shows-- it's been ages since the Lone Ranger has galloped around to the William Tell Overture, or since the widespread public broadcasts of Disney's Fantasia and various Looney Tunes such as "What's Opera, Doc?"

[(Anonymous)]

OTOH, "canon" =/= "most people recognize it." Over in literary studies, even in arguments that there is no canon, I'd say there's still a sort of rough agreement over what that canon-that-doesn't-exist consists of; but it's reasonable to assume that most non-lit-major people haven't read, or even heard of, most of the works in question.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm just not very good at judging the overall impact in most cases-- or whether this sort of "borrowing" is generally more acceptable in music than in literature (though in both cases, more respectable as "allusion" if the original work is already well-known rather than relatively obscure).

Don't know that it's acceptable, but it may just be that fewer people notice/care when it crops up in film scores. Just look at James Horner's career; he's always been pretty highly thought of, but he borrows all over the damn place--often from Jerry Goldsmith in his early scores (example: Star Trek: The Motion Picture bits being ka-chunked into the Battle Beyond the Stars soundtrack), or from classical sources in his later ones (as when a huge note-for-note chunk of "Death of Mercutio" (http://www.naxosdirect.com/title/8.553184-85) is laid over the Enterprise getting stolen in Star Trek III). (Horner also quotes himself in film after film, a pecadillo to which even Miklos (http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=1685) Rozsa (http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=916) was not immune. Maybe most of the audience just doesn't care?

My out-of-touchness has gotten to the point that these days, when I glance at magazine covers in the grocery checkout lane, the only extent to which I recognize celebrities' names is usually from having seen them written on previous magazine covers; chances are that I have no idea what they look like or what they're supposed to be famous for.

And why should you? I'm snobbish enough not to see why anyone over a certain age would care who Hannah Montana/Gwen Stefani/Linkin Park/flavor du jour is.

The "Bolero" arrangement of one of the Escaflowne tracks? Check.

Although, since both that and "The Sunken Cathedral" (http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/a/item.html?item=3665715&id=79590) also show up in Demon Pond (http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/yashagaike.htm), and not without thematic relevance, one is tempted to give that a pass.

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

Horner also quotes himself in film after film, a pecadillo to which even Miklos Rozsa was not immune

Mmmmwell, I think there's a long and honored tradition of composers recycling their *own* works; cf. JS Bach's "St. John" and "St. Matthew" Passions as mentioned above, and on one PDQ Bach album there's a hilarious "name that tune" bit from the works of a (fictional) Baroque composer whose works *all* have the same melody-- different tempi, different instrumentation, different keys, but nevertheless exactly the same melody every time.

And then there's Mozart's variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle" the alphabet song "Ah je vous dirai Maman".

I'm snobbish enough not to see why anyone over a certain age would care who Hannah Montana/Gwen Stefani/Linkin Park/flavor du jour is.

Oh, it's not that I feel left out by not knowing; in fact, it makes me vaguely relieved to observe that some part of my brain cell has spared being cluttered up by such useless information. Which doesn't mean that it's nec'ly doing anything more useful instead... and also, Britney Spears blather is so ubiquitous that I *still* know more about her than I really want to anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

And then there's Mozart's variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle" the alphabet song "Ah je vous dirai Maman".

Which also scans to Haydn's--uh, "Papa Haydn's dead and gone / but his mem'ry lingers on" etc. Bet nobody ever saw them together.

Which doesn't mean that it's nec'ly doing anything more useful instead...

I'm sure it's quite busy.

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking of apparently popular things of which one had been unaware... (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/fashion/03skin.html?no_interstitial)

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

Oh, that. Yeah, those've been around for a while, though I don't see the point of the special little ceramic thingie; a small plastic squeeze bottle works just as well or better, since it can apply extra pressure.

The process isn't nearly as nasty as it sounds, as long as the water is properly isotonic and slightly warm. OTOH, it's not something I'd really want to do on a regular basis; occasionally I resort to it for washing out fossilized boogers toward the end of a bad cold, but that's about it,

[(Anonymous)]

*shudder* I can intellectually process how the... process works, and is clearly a good idea; but based on the occasional unfortunate incident with swimming-pool incident back in the day, the tactile image of liquid going through my nostril the wrong way is-- eurgh. (Especially since it also felt/feels like it's reaching far too deeply into one's head and throat, and up towards the nearest eye. What with all the connections in there, I imagine it probably was.)

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

The anti-drowning reflex is pretty hardwired... but it does help quite a bit to have the water as close to body temperature as possible, which to some extent keeps it from registering as "wet" instead of just "pressure". The part I really hate is getting all the water back *out*, though at least large cloth handkerchiefs/bandannas have both the necessary capacity and tensile strength, and boy do I have a lot of handkerchiefs/bandannas available.

[(Anonymous)]

The anti-drowning reflex is pretty hardwired...

True. Which begs the question of why people do, in fact, drown. Even if one loses consciousness, shouldn't the body float? *dimly recalls Goofy cartoon in which the narrator camly assures us that the body floats, while Goofy worriedly holds his nose and sinks under*

OTOH, my upstairs neighbors keep not drowning in the bathroom, despite my fervent wishes for them to do so, so you obviously have a point.

The part I really hate is getting all the water back *out*

With the resultant half-sense, half-taste of stinging ohmyGodwhatsthatundermygills, I assume.

though at least large cloth handkerchiefs/bandannas have both the necessary capacity and tensile strength, and boy do I have a lot of handkerchiefs/bandannas available.

Oh, good; at least keeping them has proven useful, then.