http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/John%20Healey/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2007-17-2012.mp3
There are musicians who believe in the idea of pure and original creation, but my anecdotal sense, after a lot of creations, is that far more of them see music as a kind of coral reef, constructed out of layers and layers of prior work and that if you hear something that sounds startling and unprecedented, chances are you just haven't heard the stuff it's based on.
There are only so many notes and meters after all, they say. When you think about it that way, the artists who specialize in mashups and remixes are simply using new technology to do an old thing. From that point of view, composers like Vaughn Williams and Dvorak were remixers of folk melodies.
As we prepared for this show on the culture of mashup and remix I was repeatedly startled by the creativity exhibited by artists using the work of others as raw material. These are real song writers. We hope you'll be startled, too.
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