Jes Grew today
Jes Grew is never defined by Reed in Mumbo Jumbo, but its meaning is conveyed through the descriptions of symptoms -- the fervor and frenzy it possesses people with, the irresistible music and rhythms. In Mumbo Jumbo's era, Jes Grew manifests physically in many cultural arts, and notably, jazz. Jazz was a boundary-pushing new era of music and defied all the expectations set by the classics with its wild cadences and colorful improvisation. It also represented a controversial new culture for the younger generation, of swinging in jazz clubs and wild, positively scandalous dancing. Its roots in the unique blend of African-American culture in Harlem, where a wave of young and carefreely creative migrants concentrated from all over the country in an intense explosion of culture, gave jazz a history and a meaning. Jazz was cemented as a formation of cultural identity against the forces of disapproving Atonists, much like Harlem was an oasis for POC inside an unfriendly white city. Jazz is more than just funky dance music and entertainment.
However, PaPa LaBas himself asserted that Jes Grew had somewhat of a dying-out with jazz, temporary as it may be. What does this mean? After all, the jazz era was long, and its influence only grew and evolved into the respected music form it is today. Perhaps it is in the way Jes Grew requires controversy, a spark of rebellion and unconventionality. Jazz, like all other new and initially controversial art forms, eventually assimilated comfortably into the cultural landscape and was no longer as much Jes Grew as it was just entertainment. When art become too popular, too mainstream and too accepted, it loses its authenticity. There's that fear of jazz being cheapened and watered down by spreading it too far to those who don't understand its roots and meaning beyond entertainment that actually manifests. Today, we can study jazz in school and listen to tuxedoed performers in atonist-like performances, listen to jazz remixes of even Disney songs on YouTube and find jazz influences around us from Grammy-winning tracks to elevator music. However, gone are the angry, outraged reactions and editorials on why jazz is immoral, and instead jazz is the new 'classical' music; it's the tracks my parents and grandparents put on while they scoff at the few-chord harmonies in radio music. Jazz doesn't carry Jes Grew in the same way anymore because it's no longer something new, different and inherently African that inspires dancing and frenzies, but became assimilated into mainstream culture and in doing so, became closer to the European Atonist musical traditions of sit-down performances and quiet appreciation. Perhaps we can find Jes Grew today in hip-hop and rap culture, which carries a similar meaning and identity for African Americans and inspires similar controversy for traditionalists, but even that has become so mainstream and accepted it perhaps is losing its 'Jes Grew" as well. We can wait and see what new wave of vibrant culture takes the younger generations by storm and becomes the next manifestations of Jes Grew.
I agree that Jes Grew is only Jes Grew when it is not part of mainstream culture. By making it commonplace and normal, it becomes acceptable and Atonist. Only by having opposition can Jes Grew continue to exist. Jes Grew and Atonism are inseparable, so Papa LaBas is right – Jes Grew will come again, and has never really ended.
ReplyDeleteGood job on your blog post! I enjoyed reading it!
This is a really interesting concept, and I wish we got a bit more time to discuss it in class. From what I remember, as you said in your blog post, our class was mostly of the opinion that Jes Grew loses its hold or fades away when its manifestation becomes mainstream or acceptable to the Atonists, and it must find a new way of expressing itself. I definitely agree with this analysis, however, doesn't this also mean that Jes Grew moves on once it has won? Like, if the Atonists accept Jazz or any other form of Jes Grew, doesn't that mean that the fight for that form to be accepted and appreciated has ended with a victory? Or maybe the whole purpose of Jes Grew is for it to never be accepted or understood by the Atonists, so there is no "win or lose." I'm just spitballing here, but this is definitely a thought-provoking topic. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThinking back to the idea that "Jes Grew" sounds like "Just Grew", when Jazz became accepted into the mainstream, it had no longer "just grew". It was no longer a new radical idea that generated opposition and excitement at the same time. It was now an older idea that everyone had become used to.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. The fact that rap and hip hop are already so mainstream often means that it might decline in novelty very soon. At the end of the day, I think Jes Grew is more about what each generation makes out of it instead of the content itself. In that way, jes Grew does exactly what it wants to by being unorthodox: Jes Grew will live on forever, but not the specific trends of it
ReplyDeleteNice post! Jazz is absolutely no longer Jes Grew in our present time, but rather hiphop and rap are. As seen with jazz, critics of rap typically highlight the promiscuous dancing as immoral and therefore ostracize rappers and even listeners. They also say the vulgarity in some songs ruins the entirety of the genre. These parallels to the critics of jazz, the example of Jes Grew in Mumbo Jumbo, are extreme. I like your thinking as to how assimilation into mainstream media eliminates that form of Jes Grew, which I think also applies to the art in the museums since they are exhausted forms of Jes Grew that later became more socially acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI also agree, while I think that Jes Grew being mainstream in general means it looses its jes grewness, I also think there's and element of "whitewashing" of black and latinx culture that devalues it in a way so it can be more "acceptable" to mainstream culture. This whitewashing, either intentional or not, removes any trace of jes grew in music.
ReplyDeleteI really agree! Hip hop and jazz both exemplify the spirit of Jes' Grew, and I find your analysis of how it's evolving today both interesting and eye-opening. I also like how you describe how Jes' Grew and jazz "died" and I definitely agree. Jazz is no longer the huge, controversial phenomenon it used to be. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHello Tracy. I completely agree with your take on Jes Grew. The movements, like jazz, are the most "authentic" when they are just beginning to flourish. Jazz today is completely different from jazz when it first begun, because it no longer has the same cultural significance as it once did, and therefore why it does not carry Jes Grew anymore. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy, I agree that the defining feature of Jes Grew or something like jazz or hip hop is that they are not institutionalized or accepted by mainstream culture - once they are, they sort of lose their authenticity. It's almost like being challenged and facing those cultural forces really help them brew well and become the art that they are. Nice job!
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