<img src="http://nkhstudio.com/images/popup_amen_thumbs.jpg" width="330"><br><br>Can I Get An Amen? is an audio installation that unfolds a critical perspective of perhaps the most sampled drums beat in the history of recorded music, the Amen Break. It begins with the pop track Amen Brother by 60's soul band The Winstons, and traces the transformation of their drum solo from its original context as part of a 'B' side vinyl single into its use as a key aural ingredient in contemporary cultural expression. The work attempts to bring into scrutiny the techno-utopian notion that 'information wants to be free'- it questions its effectiveness as a democratizing agent. This as well as other issues are foregrounded through a history of the Amen Break and its peculiar relationship to current copyright law.
This one popped up on a lot of del.icio.us accounts, some months back, but it's interesting that Unmediated would bring it up, at this time. The question of information wanting to be free is an important, if not problematic one, right now. Just consider the paradox of Google books versus Google's query history... Joy Garnett's got some interesting posts on copyright, today (as she frequently does), over at Newsgrist.
Originally posted on unmediated by del.icio.us/tag/unmediated::exiledsurfer
