Roger Porter

June 8, 2011

There is a juncture in society when what is considered to be high art reaches the commoner. This happened to me in elementary school when the Oakland East Bay Symphony used to come and do an annual assembly. They would perform such classics as the theme to Jaws, The Entertainer (or what we called the ice cream truck song), and the theme to Rocky. The idea was to get an auditorium full of young black children to appreciate fine arts and in my case it definitely worked—well to a certain extent.

The truth is that I consider the music of Marvin Gaye to be just as significant as that of Mozart. I appreciate Brahms in the same way that I do Tupac, and I think that classical music has no more or less to offer than soul music. But when these two genres are mixed in the right way I am always enraptured.

Recently I came across a video of a violinist named Daniel D. doing a cover of Souljah Boy’s Kiss me Through The Phone and I had a moment. I think it strikes a perfect balance between popular art and that which is said to be refined. If only we could reconstruct society to reflect the perfect fusion of this song then the world would be a much more ethical place.

This video inspires me in more ways than one.