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Where has all the folk music gone?
Ani DiFranco offers an Educated Guess
Laura Castro
A&E Editor
Have you ever felt the estrogen in your body start flowing through your body and somehow combine itself with your adrenaline to give you a boost of super woman power? I know for some it may be extremely difficult to even imagine how that would feel, but if you’d like the experience, find a copy of Ani DiFranco’s newest album Educated Guess and hit play. Seriously, that’s all it takes.
For nearly a decade, Ani has not only broken down gender barriers and industry walls, but the self-made, self-labeled musical genius has paved the way for an international movement of feminist folk music. She’s worked with Prince and has had Dave Matthews cover her music, so that even those who wouldn’t normally enjoy the folk vibe are touched by her magic. This woman has flown all over the map with lyrics in her heart and a guitar in her hands, making it necessary for people to stop and listen to what she’s actually saying.
The sixteenth of Ani’s albums strays slightly from her previous works, but it doesn’t detract from the level of greatness achieved before. While the combination of poetic slamming with the conventional Ani music is a bit too distracting for the purpose of background music, if you get the opportunity sit down and let the Ani-experience overtake you, take it. It’s almost like being inside her head and feeling every word.
The first music-accompanied song, “Swim,” depicts a situation that most people have felt at one time or another and really begins to mold the rest of the album. The song “Bodily” involves the same main idea, but takes such a different approach that you don’t mind listening. Each song leads into the next, even if they’re completely disconnected in meaning and intention because they’re all about real emotions, real events, and real life.
Of the spoken-word tracks, the historical and patriotic “Grand Canyon” makes the most profound statement, because she relays ideas that have been presented to everyone at some point in time. The ability to relate to the music of your choice is something truly necessary to make the music yours. And just to offer some completely unsolicited choice-of-track advice, try “Educated Guess,” it’ll knock your socks off.
Extreme fanaticism aside, there are a few things that can get rather tiring about this album. After listening to it once, and fully immersing myself with Ani, I’m sure I’ll have to wait quite awhile before I pull it out again. It’s one of those things that triggers nearly every sense, and doesn’t stop for a moment. The experience is so intense, that over-exposure can seem emotionally harmful. The other downfall is that once you’ve listened to it once, choosing to repeat can make all the songs sound like one incessantly long rant, which can completely ruin the album. And finally, the fact that you can’t just put it in the background makes for inadequate study music.
This type of music also seems to intimidate those basking in their masculinity, but it really should do nothing of the sort. The lyrics can be understood by all, and appreciated in the same way because they express the human experience. While she doesn’t express her feminism with any subtlety, any sexually secure man should be able to value the art that is Ani without any trouble.
So here is the main point of it all: buy it, borrow it, or “find” it, you have to listen to this album at least once in your life.
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