`That`s All Right` reminds listeners of rock `n` roll roots

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Friday, July 2, 2004
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Página 6D
Viernes 2 de julio de 2004
Entertainment
Música
‘That’s All Right’ reminds listeners of rock ‘n’ roll roots
Jennifer Peña regresa con su nuevo album titulado ‘Seducción’
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — As far
as Elvis Presley songs go,
“That’s All Right,” his very first
record, wasn’t among his
biggest hits. In fact, the 1954
song wasn’t even a hit at all.
Yet on July 5, 50 years to the
day after it was recorded, media
and fans will converge on
Memphis
for
a
blowout
celebration to commemorate the
song, which has been labeled by
the city as the tune that started
the musical and cultural
phenomenon known as rock ‘n’
roll.
But while Elvis may be
universally known as the King of
Rock ‘n’ Roll, some consider it a
stretch to anoint him the creator
of a genre that mixed blues,
R&B, country and even a bit of
swing — musical styles that
were around long before Elvis.
“There was a birth way before
— where did Elvis get it from?”
asked rocker Lenny Kravitz.
“The thing we think of as rock
‘n’ roll is Elvis,” said rock
historian Marc Kirkeby. “But
there were records that would be
thought of as rock ‘n’ roll before
that and they were done by black
artists.”
And not just blacks — or even
artists — are credited with
starting rock ‘n’ roll. Just two
years
ago,
there
were
commemorations of the 50th
anniversary of rock ‘n’ roll
pegged to disc jockey Alan
Freed’s Moondog Coronation
Ball in Cleveland. Some rock
historians have claimed the
March 21, 1952, show as the
first rock concert — the main
reason the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame was located there.
Other historians point to
“Rocket ‘88,” the 1951 hit written
by Ike Turner, as the first rock
record because of its distorted
electric guitar sound. Still others
claim Bill Haley’s 1954 hits
“(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the
Clock” and “Shake, Rattle and
Roll” (the latter a remake of a Big
Joe Turner version) helped birth
the rock explosion.
And of course, there are those
who say that the blues and
swing recordings of black artists
from years earlier were rock
tunes.
“That’s like one of those things
that’s so contested. I always
thought it was when Big Joe
Turner did ‘Shake, Rattle and
Roll,”’ said guitarist Vernon Reid,
formerly of the rock group Living
Colour. “Everyone makes a
claim and it’s contentious.”
Probably only die-hard Elvis
fans or music historians are
familiar with “That’s All Right,” a
cover of a blues number by
Arthur Crudup. Released in
1954 by the famed Sun Records,
then a local blues label in
Memphis owned by a relatively
unknown Sam Phillips, it was not
a national success, but caused a
sensation when played on local
radio.
Presley’s upbeat version,
mixing in a bit of country twang,
gave the song a different sound.
It created a buzz for Presley that
eventually caught the attention
of RCA Records, which bought
out Elvis’ contract a year later.
Presley wouldn’t get his first pop
No. 1 single until 1956 with
“Heartbreak Hotel.”
When pressed, even folks in
Memphis won’t go as far as to
say “That’s All Right” was the
definitive date rock was created.
“I think if you look at the annals
of history, people look at that
date as something that had a
dramatic effect on rock ‘n’ roll,”
said Kevin Kane, president and
CEO of the Memphis convention
and visitors bureau.
Even during a tour of Sun
Studio, still the tiny structure it
was in 1954, the tour guide
points to “Rocket 88” — also
recorded there before Phillips
started Sun Records — as the
first rock record.
Sitting in the small gift shop
and cafe that serves as a
greeting point for visitors —
many of them Elvis faithful on
their way to Graceland — John
Schorr, Sun Studio’s owner,
acknowledges that.
“I don’t think anyone is calling
this the very first rock ‘n’ roll
song ever made, but it is the first
time rock ‘n’ roll went global and
exploded on the world scene,”
says Schorr, who purchased
Sun more than a decade ago (it
remains a recording studio).
“Everyone refers to it as kind of
the opening shot of the big bang
of rock ‘n’ roll that occurred in
rock ‘n’ roll, which the other ones
hadn’t done yet.”
Others also suggest that more
so than the music, “That’s All
Right” was perhaps the first time
that American teens — more
specifically, white teens —
started embracing a new style of
edgy, sexy black music as their
own.
“The rock ‘n’ roll explosion
really starts when white kids
were becoming immersed in
black music,” said Kirkeby. “Elvis
was the catalyst for that, you
have to give him that credit.”
Soul legend Isaac Hayes puts it
more bluntly.
“You’ve got to think about it at a
time when black music was
looked down upon by whites.
People like Elvis got lambasted
for singing that kind of music,” he
said. “It took a white guy to break
it. Blacks couldn’t break it.”
More than 1,000 stations
around the globe are scheduled
to play “That’s All Right” at the
same time on that date, and
Memphis talent such as Justin
Timberlake and Hayes are
expected to perform during a
concert. Throughout the year,
there have been dozens of
promotional tie-ins celebrating
“That’s All Right” as the start of
rock ‘n’ roll, from Rolling Stone
magazine covers to DVD and
CD releases.
Kane was the brainchild of the
“50 Years of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” at
least in the city of Memphis. In
addition to its blues heritage, the
city’s rich musical history
includes the Stax soul music
label (home to Otis Redding,
Hayes, The Staples Singers and
others) as well as Sun (which
started the careers of Presley,
Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis,
Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison,
just to name a few), among other
contributions.
Though it’s been touting itself
as the birthplace of rock for
years, it wasn’t until two years
ago that Memphis thought it
should put together a worldwide
anniversary campaign to draw
attention to Memphis as a music
center.
“We feel the more exposure
that we can generate for
Memphis for events through
various things that we do, and
tying it to our musical legacy can
only help encourage people who
are motivated by music that
Memphis is a place you really
want to visit,” he said.
Rolling Stone magazine has
also agreed that Presley’s debut
song marks the birth of rock. But
Joe Levy, a deputy managing
Especial para ¿QPI?
Tras una ausencia de dos años de los
estudios de grabación y un sin fin de
presentaciones, gira internacionales y
reconocimientos artisticos, Jennifer Peña
regresa con una sólo propósito: seducir a
un
nuevo
público
y
continuar
enloqueciendo a sus miles de fanáticos
con
“Seducción”,
su
álbum
de
seguimiento con el sello Univision
Records.
Compuesto por diez cortes y varias
versiones alternas a manera de ‘bonus
tracks’, “Seducción” es quizá el proyecto
más ambicioso hasta la fecha de Peña,
ya que engalana con incluir a los
productores más respetados e ilustres
del mundo del disco latino. Entre ellos
figuran Emilio Estefan, quien colaboró
en el tema”Como saber”, y Kike
Santander, quien trabajó en “Cumbia
Iho” y “Anque me cueste la vida”. El
resto del álbum fue diestramente
producido por el maestro Rudy Pérez,
con la colaboración por primera vez de
AP Photo
Elvis Presley is shown in this 1957 file photo. July 5, 50 years to
the day that Elvis recorded "That's All Right," media and fans from
around the world will converge in Memphis for a blowout
celebration to commemorate the song.
editor of the magazine, says it
wasn’t jumping on the Memphis
bandwagon.
“We’ve been talking for several
years about when to mark the
anniversary of rock ‘n’ roll, and in
the end it seemed pretty
natural,” Levy said.
“As a mass phenomenon that
changed American culture, Elvis
Presley is a legitimate starting
point for the beginning of rock ‘n’
roll. That’s where the music
became a phenomenon, and the
phenomenon grew into a culture
that would change the culture
and the rest of the world.”
Reid, who is black, says that’s
partly because white culture
made that determination.
“Elvis was crowned the ‘King of
Rock ‘n’ Roll’ not by black
people. That’s really what it
comes down to — who had the
power to make the definitions
stick?” he asks. “The 300-pound
gorilla in the room is that this is
when white people started
paying attention to it.”
Still, Kirkeby says Presley —
who never claimed to have
invented
the
genre
—
transformed not only black
music, but white music as well.
“The seeds were present well
before Elvis, but the thing we call
rock ‘n’ roll was an explosion of
black culture meeting white
culture that was embodied in
him.”
Kravitz says the true creators
of rock will likely never get their
due.
“The guys who invented rock
‘n’ roll, we probably don’t even
know who they are,” he said.
“We can talk about all the Bo
Diddleys and the Fats Dominos
and all the great guys and Chuck
Berrys who were the pioneers,
but I’m sure there were a bunch
of guys sitting on porches
somewhere in the backwoods —
we don’t even know who they
are.”
Peña como productora en dos cortes,
“Ya veras” y “Si yo me vuelvo a
enamorar”, un ‘cover’ del tema clásico
americano “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of
You” de Bob Crewe y Bob Gaudio,
mismo que ha sido interpretado por
artistas de la talla de Frankie Valli and
the Four Season y Lauren Hill.
“El haber trabajado con los tres grandes
de la música latina ha sido realmente un
honor para mi. Me siento súper halagada
y bastante privilegiada por haber contado
con la colaboración de estos tres
productores, los cuales aportaron estilos y
sonidos muy particulares. Su participación
le da un gran valor al producto final”,
comentó Jennifer.
“Seducción” es por naturaleza y
definición una colección intima de baladas
potentes y una fusión ecléctica de ritmos
latinos, los cuales una vez que han sido
unidos seguramente seducirán hasta los
corazones más recalcitrantes del
universo.
Asimismo,
este
álbum
representa la llegada a la mayoría de
edad en cuanto al control creativo que
Peña empieza a ejercitar con su influencia
artística y su aportación activa y atinada a
nivel de prosucción.
Esta talentosa chica originaria de San
Antonio, Texas, llegó a la conciencia del
público en 1995 cuando se presentó en
un homenaje a Selena. Ante miles de
aficionados dentro del Astrodome de
Houston, Peña se ganó el afecto del
público con una voz tierna y poderosa a
la vez. Para 1996, lanzó su primera
producción discográfica titulada Dulzura,
misma que fue seguida por los discos
Jennifer (1997) y Mariposa (1998).
Cuando lanzó su cuarta producción,
Abrázame y Bésame, en el 2000, Peña
ya era una cantante reconocida en Los
Estados Unidos y México, en donde ha
logrado cimentar un público extenso en
un corto lapso. Esta grabación también
le failitó una nominación para el
prestigioso premio Grammy en la
categoría de “Mejor Presentación
Regional Mexicana”.
Peña se presentera en Houston hoy y
el 4 de Julio.
Promueve el cantautor Airah su disco debut
MEXICO (Notimex) - El
cantante de origen cubano de
música pop Airah, quien
actualmente promociona su
disco debut “Salir del clóset”,
descartó hoy aquí que con su
propuesta musical pretenda
convertirse en un líder del
movimiento gay, ya que su
objetivo es demostrar que el
arte es independiente de las
preferencias sexuales.
En entrevista con Notimex, el
cantautor comentó que su
música pretende dar un
mensaje a la sociedad y
manifestarle
que
“los
homosexuales tenemos el
derecho de decir que aquí
estamos, porque somos seres
humanos, somos parte de este
mundo y tenemos el derecho
de mostrarnos tal y como
somos”.
El intérprete de canciones
como “De mujer a mujer” y
“Salir del clóset”, que da título a
su producción, aseguró que “el
arte es un medio tan estético
para poder manifestarse, que a
través de mi música quise
tocar este tema, plasmar lo que
yo soy, tocar lo que es una
realidad en el mundo, aunque
el fantasma de la homofobia no
Foto de NOTIMEX
AIRAH
lo quiera ver así”.
Airah calificó su proyecto
como “algo honesto, sutil”,
pero sobre todo, “con una
propuesta conceptualmente
enfocada a la diversidad
sexual, de manera respetuosa
y sin pretensiones”.
“Cada
letra
está
cuidadosamente elaborada, lo
que da como resultado que mi
mensaje de amor sea limpio,
claro, transparente y con
mucha dignidad. Creo que eso
es lo que la hace atractiva,
porque a través de ella he
logrado expresar el concepto
de
diversidad,
en
la
que se encuentra el amor, más
allá del sexo y las etiquetas
sociales”, puntualizó.
Airah refirió que el sábado
pasado participó en la “Marcha
del Orgullo Lésbico-Gay”, que
partió del Angel de la
Independencia
al
Zócalo
capitalino, y que convocó a
miles de homosexuales y
lesbianas para exigir el respeto
a su derecho de elección.
Respecto a dicha experiencia,
el artista señaló que “en el
Zócalo tuve la oportunidad de
cantar, y me encantó, sobre
todo porque pude compartir
escenario con las señoras
Eugenia León y Regina
Orozco, quienes me dejaron
realmente impactado por su
nivel artístico”.
Por último, Airah adelantó
que ya se prepara para iniciar
una serie de presentaciones
en esta ciudad y diversas
plazas de la República
Mexicana,
en
las
que
promocionará
“Salir
del
clóset”, placa producida por
Mario Figueroa.
QPI file photo
JENNIFER PEÑA