Finding your own Identity

Every one has an identity. Rather, they have several things to identify with that make up who they are.

I am white.

I am male.

I am from New Jersey.

I like baseball.

I was raised Roman Catholic.

None of these are particularly interesting or extraordinary, but they define who I am by creating a set of experiences that I have known throughout my life. I have never really felt what it’s like to be in a minority (besides being a Mets’ fan in a sea of Yankee’s fans), but I imagine it allows a much clearer sense of identity. Whether it is race, culture, sexual preference, gender or anything else with a strong history of identity, you can choose how to let it into your life in different ways.

You can shun it, disassociate yourself from it and assimilate yourself to the norm.

Or you can exploit it, allow it to permeate all that you do, and when people look at you they can say, “Wow, that person is one specific thing!”

Or you can simply embrace your identity, let it influence who you are, but not let it become your entire being.

Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa discuss this at length in their conversation transcribed in the article Sangha: Collaborative Improvisations on Community. Vijay and Rudresh are both Indian American jazz musicians who have seen success in the US for the past 15 or so years. Both have a strong identity of their cultural roots, but have gone through phases of how they let into their lives.

Rudresh, speaking about how an entertainment lawyer was trying to sell him as blatantly Indian says,

“You need to pigeonhole yourself further, because you’re just a wild card. Here you are, you’re Indian American but you’re playing jazz, so you don’t fit into any preconceived notion of what a jazz musician is supposed to be. It all seems so edgy, if we could put you in a box, that way people could understand.”

Rudresh seemed uncomfortable with the fact that this lawyer wanted to take this angle. Both Rudresh and Vijay express throughout their conversation that they just want to be considered as jazz musicians and be judged on the merit of their music. While they do admit that they have explored Indian music and it can sometime have strong influence on their compositions, that is only a part of what their music means and it becomes part of their music’s identity.

On the whole I agree with Vijay and Rudresh’s ideas that although racial identity (or any identity) may have an influence on your art, it doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be the point of it. Hopefully, listeners will listen to the music without putting a label on it and just decide whether or not they enjoy it.

I think it’s great that identity and upbringing can have an influence on how one writes music, but it I don’t think it can ever be the focus. No one person is ever just one thing and that’s what makes everyone individual. If you’re able to embrace the individuality of yourself and everyone around you can begin to appreciate all art just for what it is.