Post #610125 by emspace on Thu, Oct 13, 2011 5:33 PM

Ah, yesss...Sabu the voice of reason, good to hear from you. I've been pondering it all day - because that's how long it takes to get to and from my doc's for my annual probing session. Plenty of time to watch the world go by on public transit and ponder. And I have had a request to stay from a longtime member as well.

I have no trouble seeing threads of continuity along the lines of "South Seas, headhunting, shrunken heads, The Cramps, creepy rockabilly...Tiki!" I get it. And no culture, so they tell me, can live in a vacuum. That's why Hawaiians play reggae (gag!).

What bothers me here is that, though this looks cool on the surface, it is about homogeneity, the blending of things that, no matter how jarringly disparate, are forced into marriage simply because people don't care about preserving what's worth preserving. That's why Hawaiian music has had to die and be revived by people who care about it, again and again. It's why most Jamaicans have dumped reggae and listen to dancehall - four-on-the-floor global electronic HOMOGENEITY.

Catch that idea: WORTH PRESERVING. Or was it also cool that all those restaurants - the Kahiki, folks - got homogenized straight into America's landfills? Because let's face it - very few people thought they were worth preserving. Are you seriously telling me that if you put a "Tiki" buzzword in a song title that's enough to make it Tiki music? Maybe you are, and you're certainly entitled to your opinion.

Tiki is part of the past, and I cherish what it was because I respect that past. No, I don't call the Tiki Tones Tiki music, and I couldn't care less if God Almighty was in the band. They're a surf band, and surf is part of an adolescent culture specific to 1960s California. Tiki is something actual adults were into; and folks, when it becomes all about roping in the kiddies to make a buck, it is sure as hell going to become unrecognizably homogenized before you can catch your breath. Tiki is NOT rebellion and freakiness - you're getting it confused with rock culture again, you're mixing your rum with Olde English 800. Honky-tonk: nope, though yes, some country guys played Hawaiian songs though that isn't what I'd call Tiki - they were either letting their steel players pay tribute to their roots, as I've mentioned earlier, or just plain cashing in like Hank Snow did when he recorded an entire album of Hawaiian songs.

That said, bigtikidude, thanks for the link to the lovely fez. But no, didgeridoos are the anti-Tiki, mainly because hippies play them. :)

Now I really do need a drink. It's always scary seeing the noobs and the wannabes piling onto something you really love and callously reshaping it to meet their own tastes, but I guess that's our culture in a nutshell. And I am not referring to the people here who've responded so decently and thoughtfully - but SOMEONE is behind this, and I'm gonna find out who, and I'm gonna pull a Clockwork Orange on their asses: strapped into a chair with the headphones on and my entire collection of vintage Hawaiian pumped into their skulls. Again: you are all entitled to listen to and love to pieces anything you like - I remember a post here from years ago where a guy was all verklmept because I dissed "A Horse With No Name" - but I still say it ain't Tiki.