In this Sunday’s edition of the New York Times, Larry Rohter reports this fascinating story about the new influence of African bands, musics, and musicians on rock. Those, like me, who remember the Paul Simon/”Graceland” moment in the 1980s, may well find their postcolonial antennae concernedly vibrating at this potential appropriation/expropriation/exoticism through “Western” rock toward African musics. Rohter takes that concern on, as well, emphasizing the new attitude of Western music labels toward contracts with African artists. We’ll see how that goes.

I consider this an extraordinary development of rock music and rock culture more broadly. The global habitations of rock certify that this genre is as alive as ever. And they make its religious environments, imbrications, and futures more complex than ever. The deepened influence of African artists will take rock well beyond Western Christian atmospherics.

Tom Beaudoin

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, United States