Post #521481 by aquarj on Thu, Apr 1, 2010 5:03 PM

Hibiscus said it much more simply than I did - "when I have my gatherings, I call the music 'tiki and beyond'".

In other words, if something doesn't fit into a narrow definition of tiki music, that doesn't mean it's out of place at a tiki event (or some other tiki context).

But to whatever extent definitions are useful for anything at all, my own take is that they're more useful the more specific they are. For example, some of the absolute greatest surf bands ever in the 60s also played other kinds of music too. In fact I'd venture that MOST "surf" bands had at least some vocals in their live shows. Doesn't mean we're stuck with questions about what is surf music, it just means they played "surf and beyond."

And there's probably few, if any, current bands that bill themselves as JUST tiki music, even if they use a broader definition than I do.

-Randy