On Thu, 18 Jul 2002 21:22:37 +0000 "Arthur Gadney" wrote:

Hi!

...

i didnt understand the accolades many of my friends gave to bittovas singing or violin. (...) i think she's another 'personality' - often women- who people tend to like for reasons extramusical.

What reasons would that be?

Not thinking of Iva, there are zillions of non-musical reasons that can make some artists look bigger than they really are: - bend for the underdog (usually important for audiences convinced that small is beaufiful, and big is evil) - martyr artist (romantic belief that an unsuccessful artist is a genius waiting to blossom) - clan (an artist belongs to a clan that we like, hence our judgement is biased positively) - nice person (you like the way he behaves and would enjoy sharing a beer with) - great rethoric (you like what he has to say about his art) - great cause (you like the causes that he is associated with) - physical appearance (Kylie Minogue's success is not mainly based on her songwriting skills) - identification (you admire somebody because he embodies some of your ideals - purity, lack of compromission, etc) - confusion (an artist keeps on repeating the same thing stubbornly and you feel that he can't do that without a good reason) - hype (since all the good magazines say how great he is, it might be true...) - fear of not getting it (looks obscure but I don't want people to feel that I am stupid) - brainwashing (even after listening to CARTRIDGE MUSIC for the 100th time, I should keep on trying) I am sure that I could come up with more. Patrice.