By Eduardo Alonso, journalist.
The imperfection of music
Beyond sporting performance, the spectacle surrounding the Super Bowl controversy always generates some encouraging talks in the days of office. A few years ago there was talk of centimeters of skin exhibited over Janet Jackson, this year the discussion has focused on the performance of Jennifer Hudson .
The singer, who rose to fame in the third season of "American Idol", was responsible for interpreting the U.S. anthem before the game. This performance was especially emotional because Hudson made her first public appearance since the murders of her mother, brother and nephew last October. To ensure that the timing was perfect, the show's producers recommended that Hudson did playback. This was the case. Hudson sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" in a touching and perfect, but her voice was not heard live. What we heard was a previous recording, which incidentally, is now available on iTunes for a dollar.
Of course, playback performances in such shows are common and cause scandal and in times of Milli Vanilli. However, I was struck by the ease with which Rickey Minor, the producer of the pre-game show and director of "American Idol", has defended the playback. Minor stated that "the playback is the right thing to do" and that "would not recommend any artist sing live because the slightest mistake would ruin the performance." More surprising, many bloggers and columnists have advocated this course of action, including the editor of Billboard magazine.
This normalization of playback is worrying. Producers and industry bosses seem to be moving towards making the robot singer. An artist without fault, not tune any note and acts as the metronome for the script of the show will not suffer delays. Therefore, in the recording studio is becoming more widespread and accepted use of software that corrects errors in real time tuning.
This way of working is to devalue further the role of artists and an industry in crisis, which has failed to adapt their business model. It is a way to precook the emotions of a live performance with such a seemingly adequate to serve an audience that is consumer and viewer.
No matter how perfect it is, what value is a performance in playback? Scarce. The authenticity of a creation in time gives way to a prefabricated product. If we accept the playback, why not exhibit copies of Guernica in any museum in the world?
It is also ironic that need to present a perfect product in a time when music is consumed by such dubious quality media such as mp3 players and mobile phones. Accept the imperfection of live performance. Accept the possibility that the singer can recite the lyrics wrong and breathless. Before giving the play the jukebox, I prefer hearing voices worn by age or nervous about a young stage. The imperfection is unique.
Nevertheless, the public wants to see live music. The demand for tickets and the subsequent resale is uncontrollable and this week has created a dispute between Bruce Springsteen and the ticketing company Ticketmaster. But this is a very complicated issue that is best left to a future post.
Playback of Jennifer Hudson in Super Bowl
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