beirut > huffington post

I would love to see Beirut play live. Their founder/leader Zach Condon is uniquely inspired and has produced equally unique and inspiring music. His albums Gulag Orkestar, The Flying Cup Club, and March of the Zapotec are accomplished, well thought out pieces of musical artistry- refreshing, beautiful, and engaging.

This is why I want to slap someone from the Huffington Post in the face. A recent article covering his show at the Guggenheim completely missed the point of his music, calling it contrived and a "cannibalization of all the styles of the past". I'm sorry, but what the what? How does anyone get off ripping on someone for experimenting with different musical genres?

I'm going to be extremely short here, though I could rant for hours, but this is the bottom line: People listen to music because it sounds good. Music that sounds good is doing its job as music. Music does not need to have any greater purpose behind its existence and acceptance among audiences, although often it does. Beirut's music succeeds because it resonates with people who appreciate MUSIC. It is pleasing to the ear. It is well composed. It is filled with a veritable buffet of instruments not often messed around with in most mainstream rock bands, like the flugelhorn, ukelele, cello, mandolin, glockenspiel, accordion, organ, baritone sax, trumpet, trombone, and euphonium. It also achieves its goal of combining Eastern European folk music and Western popular music into one seamless, seemingly natural sound.

The problem with the writer of the Huffington article was that he attacked an artist for experimentation. He claimed that the reasons people listen to Beirut are because of its obscurity, nostalgia, and ability to let people peer into a window to a place people would rather not visit (a reference to the Balkan-folk music that Condon regularly cites as an influence). Because of this, they deem his music contrived. I take issue with someone criticizing music, or any art form, based on the audience in lieu of the musician or work itself. This is not how we should look at art. Instead, we should admire the aspirations of artists who feel inspired enough to create something unique and thought-provoking; something beautiful, something new.

So, listen to his music. Because it sounds good.