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Jazzkantine is is a musical collective founded in 1993 in Braunschweig, Germany. Their first album, Jazzkantine , released in October 1994 won the “Echo Award” in 1996, the most important award for German music.I first heard them during dinner at the home of a member of another German band, TreSimul, quite sucessfull during the late 1990´s. It was love at first heard.

Just like Nouvelle Cuisine, Jazzkantine also uses gastronomic analogies to describe the sound proposal of Matthias Lanzer, owner of the Rap Nation label. The team includes rappers Aleksey, Cappuccino and Tachiles, and producers Ole Sander (DJ) and Christian Eitner (bassist). The result can be defined as a mix of fusion, jazz, funk and German rap. Their albums also featured partnerships with international jazz musicians.

In addition to their first album, I also have their follow-up work, Heiss und Fettig (1995). Awesome music, the kind that you have to check out, trust me.

It is noteworthy that as of 2016, the titles of the Jazzkantine albums no longer contain references to gastronomy, and their latest release, Discotheque (2022), moves even further towards a change of direction. The group embodied one of the strongest trends of the time in the world of music: collective projects, but as many similar projects, they needed to readapt with the arrival of the self-centered 2000s.

I am not talking here about the transition from physical music to digital format, but rather about something that has become a kind of collective mentality, consolidated through the expansion of the tools provided by the internet to produce and consume music.

Dazzled by the idea that we were now all living in a new era of equal conditions of production and dissemination, the musical community moved away from the modus operandi that characterized the collectives and embarked on projects that, although musically increasingly similar to each other, are now sold as “unique experiences”.

Well, it is (past) time to admit that the golden days of no gatekeepers (if they ever existed) are gone. Even if a few names raised and nourished their audiences on the early days of social networks by keeping a rather quantitative than qualitative production, these same names had to turn to some kind of “paid content” strategy in order to have their material visible.

After all, the gatekeepers have not disappeared! They just outsourced the service, and since then, they are stronger than ever. Our entire focus now is trying to understand and to please this new entity: the “almighty” algorithm.

Maybe that is why we no longer have time to collectively appreciate the fine products servend on the jazz canteens.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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Last week I read in the headline of a major newspaper that Brazilians are also working on weekends, reaching an average of up to six hours of work when they should be resting or dedicating themselves to leisure activities.

While the subject of ‘significant loss of time devoted to leisure’ is by no means funny, my immediate reaction was to think, “Oh, dears, tell me something I do not know.”

Maybe my sarcasm is due to the fact that I cannot even remember when I last took a vacation, let alone a whole weekend off work. I was thinking about this sad fact, while looking for a short humor video to watch while having a very quick lunch, in order to relieve the tremendous pressure of having to meet a deadline to… edit a video (the 21st century paradox). And behold, in the sponsored videos, one appears that I am interested in watching not only for more than five seconds, butf right through to the end.

It was a masterclass, by the famous Brazilian philosopher Marilena Chauí, on the rebranding of the concept of work. From “the worst punishment that can afflict a person”, an idea disseminated during classical Greco-Roman societies and which persisted during the medieval period, it was gradually transformed by the bourgeois mentality in a right, a gift. On the other hand, idleness (or any kind of meditative activity) becomes vice and laziness gains the status of sin.

Wow, there is nothing like knowledge that comes from research and reflection, right? But what does this have to do with your reality? I can bet that you have already fallen into at least one of the many frequent traps that cross our paths disguised as catchphrases.

Feeling guilty for not “producing enough”, constant fear of “falling behind” and the frequent comparison with the supposed success-of-social-networks shared by so many people are potent tools in maintaining the ideology of work in times of algorithms and artificial intelligence. After all, what separates you from that apparently millionaire influencer (who maybe owes millions in unpaid taxes) is good planning of your posts and an efficient self-promotion strategy, isn’t it? Well, it is not.

I have been reflecting a lot about the so-called changing of the guard after the popularization of the internet, that is, the fact that the monopoly of a few labels would have been replaced by the theoretical possibility of each and every individual to spread their own music. I cannot say that I have a formed opinion on the subject yet, but my suspicion is that the supposed democratization of access to the network, if it actually happened, does not at all configure an equivalence in use.

Even if we make an effort to think that virtually anyone can upload a video with a song on a large platform, go viral and become a success, how long does this success last? Until the next viral video, probably. Now just think of the amount of work to produce viral videos, one after another, and there is not exactly a ready-made formula, despite the many tips and tutorials available, on how to viralize a music video, much less a sequence of videos.

But then there is no way out? Of course there are many, but all of them will, at some point, go through a totally old school ingredient: money. What about organic engagement? Well, I’m sorry to inform you that this, past the novelty (remember the viral video?) or even for you to become novelty in the first place, the hard truth is that someone (probably you) will have to invest a good amount of money.

The examples are the most diverse, but I will stick to just one, which I consider to be very representative: the streaming platforms. Seen as a true revolution in the way music is consumed and responsible for retiring once and for all the beloved promotional bait of “download your exclusive audio”, streaming platforms, however, use an old model for their releases.

First of all, they can only be done through a distributor, which obviously has costs and considerably reduces the number of people who will actually be able to release a song. There is always the possibility that you will be included in an editorial list, as well as the possibility that you, for example, theoretically win the Lottery. In both cases it is necessary to bet. The simple fact that the list of information to be provided for the submission of a release includes the question “How much do you intend to invest?” it already seems quite significant to me

As I said, I am still forming my opinion about the alleged changing of the guard in the music world, and I would love to hear your opinion about it. After all, because the possibility of reaching out to people is a real and possible revolution that the web offers us.

Be seeing you!

G.F.