A Note to ToS Listeners:

The Gypsy Scholar introduces his Tower of Song program each week by saying that it’s a unique program, falling in between the cracks of community radio programming—between the formats of information and music. But technically, the program is in the slot of “Late-Night Music” programming. As such, it’s constrained from the kind of presentation that one might hear on an informational or current affairs program; that is, it’s unlike some topical programs on KUSP’s morning and afternoon lineup. In other words, the basis of the program is not “politics.” (The GS used to have a current events political program in the 2 – 5 a.m. timeslot—Rave On Through the Night—before it was taken off the air during the major station restructuring of 2008.) 

Be that as it may, it is nonetheless instructive to inquire: What is “politics”? As KUSP’s topical Your Call host, Rose Aguilar, points out, the parameters of politics aren't confined to the usual goings on about government, but that “politics” covers arts, media, etc., and even everyday life. Indeed, as the GS has understood it for some time now, everything is, in a sense, “political.”

The fact of the matter is that it's almost impossible to discuss the subjects that the GS covers on his program without getting “political.” For example, take his “The Origins of the Troubadours” series of musical essays. One may well ask: what does the genre of the love-song have to do with politics? Well, if the GS is discussing the history of popular song (sixties and post-sixties), especially the love-song, with the troubadours of the South of France (i.e., the Occitan) and their initial inspiration from the Moorish poet-singers of Spain (i.e., Andalusia), it’s impossible to talk about this popular “entertainment” without talking about the socio-political issues that were the background of the development of popular love-song (i.e., canso). Thus, for instance, when the GS traced the history of the popular love-song back to its origins, he also had to talk about the history of the Western centuries-old chauvinistic prejudice against the non-European Arab other (of European Andalusia) in the field of academic medieval scholarship in its search for “origins” of the Troubadour invention of love-song. (This “political” issue also extends to gender politics and the repression of the Church against the troubadours for their invention of amor.) The GS had to show how the early “Arabist Theory” of the origins of the Troubadour love-song was dismissed out of hand since the nineteenth century not because of any evidence to the contrary, but because of the “myth of Westernness.” This is, of course, an issue still very relevant today with the crusade mentality against the Arab other. The GS could discuss this in the context of his Essay-with-Soundtrack on the Troubadours, but not directly; not as a presentation of his opinions on the political issues of the day.

Therefore, respecting the constraints put on his program, while feeling the need to be more forthright, the GS has created a place for his outright “political” views on his website, which is independent from his affiliation with KUSP. This “Post-program Communiqué” subpage and the ToS Blog are such places where the GS can freely express his thoughts on a variety of topics and issues of the day; to speak more openly and plainly than he can on the air about his views. Again, the GS hopes his listeners will be encouraged to also share their views.