Strange Fruit, Inappropriate for Skating?

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I am all for doing things differently and standing out, and I usually give every program a chance. But there is absolutely no way Iwano or anyone should be doing Strange Fruit as a skating program. Usually the JSF is known for interesting unique program choices but I can't imagine how anyone could have endorsed this, nor could I imagine any way Iwano could pull this off. Hard no from me too.

 

[TontoK]

But it is a song only an African American could choose. This song is inextricable from its history, which does not apply to everyone.

That's an opinion I do not share.

Pride in one's musical heritage? Absolutely... I can celebrate that. A proprietary stranglehold? No.

Music and art are for everyone.

 

[frida80]

Personally I don’t think anyone should be skating to this song. Not even Starr or Emmanuel. The context, context, history, everything... this isn’t a song meant to dance or perform to in a figure skating competition. It’s meant to horrify, anger, and mourn victims of lynching. I know that there’s a language barrier, but I can’t understand why anyone would chose this song. This is a hard no from me. There are many other songs that they should’ve chosen before this. I hope this isn’t true.

 

[yude]

If Moa doesn't know what the songs are about, someone should tell her. I am so scared, what if she smiles during the performance. (and I also want to know what her team's strategy is)

I am so shocked and honestly feel sick reading the lyrics of "Strange Fruit" (this is my first time to know these two songs). I have nothing against Moa as a skater, but I don't think I can enjoy her performance in this season if she really skates to this song.

 

[TallyT]

If Moa doesn't know what the songs are about, someone should tell her. I am so scared, what if she smiles during the performance. (and I also want to know what her team's strategy is)

I am so shocked and honestly feel sick reading the lyrics of "Strange Fruit" (this is my first time to know these two songs). I have nothing against Moa as a skater, but I don't think I can enjoy her performance in this season if she really skates to this song.

I'm just shaking a little at the mere idea of it being seen or televised in the US...

 

[theharleyquinn]

That's an opinion I do not share.

Pride in one's musical heritage? Absolutely... I can celebrate that. A proprietary stranglehold? No.

Music and art are for everyone.

There's a difference between everyone having access to enjoy a piece of art and everyone having access to use that piece of art for their own purposes. There should be some consideration given to the person who made it and the historical context in which it was made. Calling it a "proprietary stranglehold" is unfair.

Personally I don’t think anyone should be skating to this song. Not even Starr or Emmanuel. The context, context, history, everything... this isn’t a song meant to dance or perform to in a figure skating competition. It’s meant to horrify, anger, and mourn victims of lynching. I know that there’s a language barrier, but I can’t understand why anyone would chose this song. This is a hard no from me. There are many other songs that they should’ve chosen before this. I hope this isn’t true.

I agree with this.

 

[lizardlass]

Wow, that is a catastrophically bad music choice. I hope that someone intervenes ASAP.

(On the plus side, I've never heard those songs until now, and they are amazing. Just not for skating.)

 

[4everchan]

On the other side of the debate, art as protest has a long and noble history.

protest in figure skating is done the way surya bonaly does it... i don't think a choreographer should express their views through teenagers who have no idea about what is happening...

if a mature skater said, I want to skate to such and such piece, because i want to let people know of the massacre that took place in those years in that place of the world, that's fine.. but again, i do believe that it's not the place nor the time to do this with younger skaters.

but then, lipnitskaya skated to schindler's list as a kid... and the music is so gorgeous and she was so good that her performance transcended the thematic... did it not?

 

[Sai Bon]

I am relieved that I'm not the only one who considers this music choice a no-no.
I sincerely hope it's a miscommunication and Moa is not using the track.
And to be purely shallow and superficial for a moment, what has she to gain by grossing out the judges?

 

[4everchan]

I agree with you on many aspects of your post. I will tell you though that there are some choreographers and skaters that do their homework and research or know about what they are choreographing or not choreographing before they do it, or not.

Then you have others that don't and just say ooh this music sounds like a good program and throw it out there and then we have a touchy situation like the one at play in this thread.

i am sure of that too. there some choreographers, coaches, even young skates who research passionately their programs...

 

[Harriet]

Personally I don’t think anyone should be skating to this song. Not even Starr or Emmanuel. The context, context, history, everything... this isn’t a song meant to dance or perform to in a figure skating competition.

I agree that it's completely inappropriate for a competition program for anyone, but I could support Emmanual or Starr performing an exhibition program to it in a suitable context. Which would not be your average gala. It's an inherently political song - even today, sadly - and performing to it would be an inherently political statement, and that would have to be taken into account.

 

[Interspectator]

Best case scenario for Moa-chan is that Strange Fruit only makes up a small part of her program and can be substituted for a different piece of music.
Such a heavy, sensitive and specific theme deserves careful and dedicated expression. Not as a prop to a sporting endeavor, imo.

I hope Moa's team can change the music selection in time. I really enjoyed her skating last season.

Maybe the music can be skated to in an Exhibition for the express purpose of raising awareness against racism, but for me such music should never be skated to as a competitive program.

EDIT: This specific song should never be skated to as a competitive program. I'm not one for sweeping generalizations for how others should express themselves. There are a lot of shades of grey in the discussion of cultural appropriation and the representation of tragic occurrences and atrocities in art. In this one instance, however, the line is clearly crossed.

 

[TontoK]

There's a difference between everyone having access to enjoy a piece of art and everyone having access to use that piece of art for their own purposes. There should be some consideration given to the person who made it and the historical context in which it was made. Calling it a "proprietary stranglehold" is unfair.

To be clear, I don't think this is an appropriate musical choice for this skater, maybe not ANY skater. But that has nothing to do with her national/ethnic/racial heritage.

But, to address your comment... my question is this: Where does it end? Don't ALL skaters incorporate someone else's art for their own purposes? Excepting, of course, those who perform to their own original music that they themselves composed and performed. So, where does that leave us? Can skaters never select music from anything other than the relatively narrow range of their own ethnic musical library?

 

[theharleyquinn]

To be clear, I don't think this is an appropriate musical choice for this skater, maybe not ANY skater. But that has nothing to do with her national/ethnic/racial heritage.

But, to address your comment... my question is this: Where does it end? Don't ALL skaters incorporate someone else's art for their own purposes? Excepting, of course, those who perform to their own original music that they themselves composed and performed. So, where does that leave us? Can skaters never select music from anything other than the relatively narrow range of their own ethnic musical library?

Do you genuinely, in good faith, believe that's the takeaway from this case or the dilemma being set up for the future?

Skaters skate to music by artists of other "ethnicities" or nationalities all of the time without backlash. It is also a presumption to call any such musical library narrow. There are still boundaries informed by propriety, history, and cultural respect. Painting a broad brush to say all music can be skated to is incorrect. Drawing some arbitrary line preemptively is not useful either. Yes, this puts some burden on choreographers and skaters to be thoughtful and research the source material. I would say this is a burden worth expensing, and it isn't a ridiculous ask since a lot of choreographers are doing this anyway to develop the concept of the program. This complexity reflects the reality that history and cultural tradition are complex, and using the excuse that art is universal to allow for situations such as these ignores that reality. And also, while most figure skating fans can appreciate the artistic expression that makes this sport enjoyable - it is still in the grand scheme, a competitive sport. The context just can't accommodate every type of artistic message in a respectful way and that's okay.

If Benoit had enough consciousness to choose the two songs as part of an obvious theme for this program, he could have easily taken the extra step to consider why this song may not be appropriate for competition. But as I said when this was in the prior thread, it appears the song was chosen in hopes that its subject matter would elevate the sophistication and maturity of the skater skating to it.

 

[TontoK]

Do you genuinely, in good faith, believe that's the takeaway from this case or the dilemma being set up for the future?

Skaters skate to music by artists of other "ethnicities" or nationalities all of the time without backlash. It is also a presumption to call any such musical library narrow. There are still boundaries informed by propriety, history, and cultural respect. Painting a broad brush to say all music can be skated to is incorrect. Drawing some arbitrary line preemptively is not useful either. Yes, this puts some burden on choreographers and skaters to be thoughtful and research the source material. I would say this is a burden worth expensing. If Benoit had enough consciousness to choose the two songs as part of an obvious theme for this program, he could have easily taken the extra step to consider why this song may not be appropriate for competition.

I've already said I didn't think this was a good choice. She's too young, and thus will lack the maturity and sensitivity a piece like this would require to have a remote chance of being successful. Your argument seems to be that my reason wasn't the correct reason.

And, for the record, I called an ethnic musical library RELATIVELY narrow, which it must be, when compared to ALL music.

You may choose to abide by any code you devise for yourself regarding the correctness of musical selection as sorted by ethnicity/nationality. I wish you well, and no hard feelings.

I'll stand by original statement: Music and art are for everyone.

 

[theharleyquinn]

I've already said I didn't think this was a good choice. She's too young, and thus will lack the maturity and sensitivity a piece like this would require to have a remote chance of being successful. Your argument seems to be that my reason wasn't the correct reason.

And, for the record, I called an ethnic musical library RELATIVELY narrow, which it must be, when compared to ALL music.

You may choose to abide by any code you devise for yourself regarding the correctness of musical selection as sorted by ethnicity/nationality. I wish you well, and no hard feelings.

I'll stand by original statement: Music and art are for everyone.

I don't have a problem with your reasoning for why she shouldn't skate to it. I disagree with your taking to extremes the suggestion that some themes based on their historical context and the proposed medium of the new context may not be appropriate for someone not of that ethnicity/nationality to skate to in order to disagree with it.

And with all due respect, you weren't familiar with this song before this piece of news arose. The proportion of African American skaters in this sport is notably low. It's hard to have this conversation without preconceptions because the context brings with it all of these sensitivities of the music, its history, and the medium of competitive figure skating. Music and art are for everyone to give and receive. Taking is a different thing. But agree to disagree.

 

[Ophelia]

I'll stand by original statement: Music and art are for everyone.

Access, yes. Representation, no. Those are two different things and distinguishing between the two is important.

Moa doesn't just lack the maturity and sensitivity to portray this piece, she lacks the personal context and right to interpret this piece. It is insultingly presumptuous for her team to think she can represent the horror of African American lynching, and ignorant of you to stubbornly insist she can, especially given your lack of awareness around the history of Strange Fruit.

 

[Ophelia]

I don't have a problem with your reasoning for why she shouldn't skate to it. I disagree with your taking to extremes the suggestion that some themes based on their historical context and the proposed medium of the new context may not be appropriate for someone not of that ethnicity/nationality to skate to in order to disagree with it.

This is a classic case of a logical fallacy. In law it is termed appeal to extremes / reductio ad absurdum.

 

[TallyT]

I was put in mind of another song that tackles race issues - Fats Wallers' Black and Blue (sung to aching perfection in the 80s musical Ain't Misbehavin')

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvR1254Tlog

...which I think could be a choice for an African American, or an African, performer with the emotional intelligence and maturity to handle the shoals, to share the emotions, to be able to act them out with empathy. It's a cry for understanding and empathy; Strange Fruit is a cry of pure agony.

If you choose a piece with lyrics, you need to deal with what those lyrics say, some understanding (doesn't have to be deep or complex, 90% of skating cuts are pretty simple and uncontroversial) of what the piece is about, both lyrically and musically. I don't believe for one minute that Moa or the people around her have so much as read a translation of the lyrics, or they would not have chosen it. Given that, the chances that it won't be a travesty (what does she intend to wear? how does she intend to act?) are slim to none.

 

[Daba]

I think her team don’t understand the song, literally. Perhaps for them it’s just beautiful sad melody. And it seems to me no one explained them the meaning. It’s like T/M’s Candymen. They still have no idea what they were skating to, for them it’s just energetic upbeat music. Trusova’s Big Spender is the same thing. All think that’s awful and and still no one told them out of courtesy.