DJ Spooky

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            When Delia first told us we could receive extra credit for watching DJ Spooky perform and blogging about it, I thought this was perfect. Watching a DJ perform? Sounds like my Saturday night! However, upon watching DJ Spooky take the stage, I realized I was in for something quite different than what I was used to. What makes DJ Spooky so unique is his ability to combine different types of music; different genres, different generations, different instruments, you name it. He even went as far as to bring a string quartet on stage. As the string quartet played classical music, DJ Spooky began to remix the instruments with modern techno pre-recorded music.

            Something that DJ Spooky said really stood out in my mind. “The stone age didn’t end for lack of stone.” In terms of music, the evolution doesn’t come from lack of what is current, it comes from the need that people feel to progress and go further than anyone has before. He went on to say that “ideas are our most scarce resource.” He really got me thinking about the evolution of music in a more academic manner. Yes, I realized that rap was not always prevalent; but how and why did these evolutions occur?

            Being a DJ in today’s society, one would assume that DJ Spooky would have a great appreciation for the internet and technology. All of these new technologies that are available to us today just help to further evolve music and the music industry. With pre-recorded music and the ability to combine various sounds, tones and tunes there is no limit to what kind of music can be produced.

            Furthermore, DJ Spooky spoke a lot about civil rights and how music has affected politics and civil rights. The last remix that DJ Spooky played was a remix to the civil rights movement. He went on to explain how a remix like this has led to the first African American president. I don’t think it was really until this point in the lecture that I understood what exactly an academic DJ, as DJ Spooky described himself, was. There is much to be learned about the power of combining music and technology with societal issues. In fact, DJ Spooky got his name from the fact that he would walk off stage while music was still playing, which at the time when this technology was not as widely known seemed ghostly. It's amazing to see how far music has come since then, and I'm sure it will continue to evolve from here on.