Silenced by Sound: The Music Meritocracy Myth

by Ian Brennan, Adebimpe Tunde (Foreword)

Popular culture has woven itself into the social fabric of our lives, penetrating people’s homes and haunting their psyches through images and earworm hooks. Justice, at most levels, is something the average citizen may have little influence upon, leaving us feeling helpless and complacent. But pop music is a neglected arena where concrete change can occur—by exercising active and thoughtful choices to reject the low-hanging, omnipresent corporate fruit, we begin to rebalance the world, one engaged listener at a time. Silenced by The Music Meritocracy Myth is a powerful exploration of the challenges facing art, music, and media in the digital era. With his fifth book, producer, activist, and author Ian Brennan delves deep into his personal story to address the inequity of distribution in the arts globally. Brennan challenges music industry tycoons by skillfully demonstrating that there are millions of talented people around the world far more gifted than the superstars for whom billions of dollars are spent to promote the delusion that they have been blessed with unique genius. We are invited to accompany the author on his travels, finding and recording music from some of the world’s most marginalized peoples. In the breathtaking range of this book, our preconceived notions of art are challenged by musicians from South Sudan to Kosovo, as Brennan lucidly details his experiences recording music by the Tanzania Albinism Collective, the Zomba Prison Project, a “witch camp” in Ghana, the Vietnamese war veterans of Hanoi Masters, the Malawi Mouse Boys, the Canary Island whistlers, genocide survivors in both Cambodia and Rwanda, and more. Silenced by Sound is defined by muscular, terse, and poetic verse, and a nonlinear format rife with how-to tips and anecdotes. The narrative is driven and made corporeal via the author’s ongoing field-recording chronicles, his memoir-like reveries, and the striking photographs that accompany these projects. After reading it, you’ll never hear quite the same again.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

Published September 16, 2019

Reviews

[Peta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm having a hard time putting into words what I experienced through reading this book. Each chapter is like a song in and of itself, each divided into categories or themes. I feel that although I sometimes butted heads with the author (the tone could be too self-serious or overstated for my liking), I feel better for having read it.

Some ideas and stories will stay with me long after having put this book down. It made me laugh in it's audacity, it made me think about how I listen to (or "consume") and create music. It made me feel suddenly overcome with sadness at some of the stories throughout. I thoroughly recommend this book for musicians and those interested in music as a whole.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Ian Brennan and hearing him speak about his passionate beliefs on all things music is to learn so much about music we would otherwise not know about. And for that he is a treasure to this world, recording what he finds around the world. Particularly what music he finds in the most remote parts of Africa.

And Brennan wants all to appreciate music for its artistic value and to shun those celebrity musicians who have no soul and who have stolen music from the creators of that music. It is true that the originators of much of the music we listen to in the west were never credited or compensated for those thefts.

Brennan wants us to read this book as separate essays and in no particular order. But I still expect some cogent argument in each of them individually, but it is hard to identify that. Except that overall we should not accept the music spoon fed and algorithmed to us and we should find a way to get these unique musicians from the farthest corners of the world listened to and compensated for their music, Amen.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.

"Listen to the reluctant.
Ignore the demanding.
Seek out those forgotten and overlooked.
Help bring something beautiful into the world (. . . And try not to make too much of a mess along the way." ) p.270

[Frank Hoppe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A truly terrible writer. Fascinatingly terrible. Where was his editor? One redeeming aspect of this book--Brennan has explored the world for fine unknown world artists to record. He mentions them and his experience of recording them. Tracking down these field recordings is a whole lot more rewarding than reading his book. I'm glad they were named in the book.

[Mitchell Tousley · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much in this book. Each entry deserves a review of its own. As a musician, I resonated with a lot of what Brennan wrote. The “Tips to be taken with a grain of salt” entries are incredibly poignant and have me reconsidering my own musical processes. I think any reader could get a lot out of this book, but I’d especially encourage musicians to get a copy.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, quite simply, one of the best analyses of the modern musical landscapes. It is a book that offers not only a clear view of the problems with the music “industry,” but clear steps toward their solutions. Entirely excellent, highly recommended.

[greggo]

another absolute masterpiece of humanity

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I loved about this is the constant reminder that vanity and lust for fame are inherently incompatible with art