Musical Unity

The twenty-first century has seen many collaborations between country music stars and hip-hop luminaries. And now? Country star Tim McGraw, the son of major league pitcher Tug McGraw, will visit Cuba in May to perform with island legends such as Los Van Van and Carlos Varela.

The boundaries between music genres are imposed upon us by the music industry for marketing purposes. They are imaginary.

Artistic unity is accepted by the audiences. Maybe the audiences are ready to unite with each other. Maybe the boundaries between them that everyone so easily accepts are imaginary too.

Lee Ballinger, CounterPunch’s music columnist, is co-editor of Rock and Rap Confidential author of the forthcoming book Love and War: My First Thirty Years of Writing, interviewed Honkala for CounterPunch. RRRC is now available for free by emailing Ballinger at: rockrap@aol.com.