Why Bob Dylan matters

One of my pleasures in visiting our elder daughter in southern California is to feel the warmth and glory of the cultural environment of Los Angeles. It is surely not possible for me to delve into its depth but the opportunity to just loiter on its periphery becomes so invigorating and joyous.

It does feel like a dream because of where I come from. After all, I live in a society where, say, the horror of Jaranwala is possible – again and again – and where a film like Zindigi Tamasha cannot be released for public viewing.

But since I am attempting to leave Pakistan behind for some time, let me share with you my sense of wonder about the influence of popular music and songs in this and other advanced countries.

I sometimes talk about the books that have ‘shaped America’, a list compiled by the Library of Congress, and had reported about that unforgettable experience of attending a performance of the musical, ‘Hamilton’ on a previous visit. There is so much else to engage one’s interest. However, this is about the songs that people sing.

When I arrived here about two weeks ago, I looked around for meaningful engagements of the artistic kind. There was a lot to choose from by way of ‘immersive’ experiences and events around museums and cultural complexes. But across the horizon was lit the name of Taylor Swift, the celebrated singer and songwriter.

There were six shows of Taylor Swift in Los Angeles, marking the end of the first leg of her North American tour. I got a low down on the importance of these grand music shows from my teenage granddaughter Mahnoor, a high school senior. “We grew up with her, as she grew up in her personal life and her music,” she said. She elaborated on how Taylor Swift became a support system for her fans. “I’m in Los Angeles and I love concerts”, she added.

But the real mystery of this is that if my granddaughter can be branded as a ‘Swiftie’ so would be the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Rishi Sunak and his family concluded this week their 10-day vacation in Los Angeles and The New York Times had a story on how his activities were largely kept from the British media. The headline said: ‘Rishi Sunak’s vacation: Taylor Swift and Disneyland. (The rest is a secret.)’ Yes, he was at a Taylor Swift show.

What I have gathered from reading major publications is that Taylor Swift is recognized as a “prominent culture figure of [the] 21st century”. She is the most successful pop star of our time, like the Beatles were in the sixties. The point I am making is that this kind of power has a bearing on ideas and values that are generated in a society.

Last week, The New York Times had a serious analysis of the Taylor Swift phenomenon, telling its readers “How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour conquered the world”. It argues that “the pop star’s record-breaking, career spawning show has dominated the summer, commanding attention and whipping up demand at a level thought unachievable in a fragmented age”.

Look at some figures. Taylor Swift sells about $14 million in tickets each night, with an audience of about 70,000 people. There are 146 stadium dates in her present tour, going well into 2024. Its sales could reach $1.4 billion or more. Scalped tickets go up to $3000 or more.

Taylor Swift may be at the centre of the music world; we have veteran singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springstein and what I know about Springstein’s European tour last month is also like a fairytale for me with evidence provided by my younger daughter, Aliya. She lives in the Italian city of Monza, where the last concert of the tour was held.

In the first place, she had bought the tickets for herself and friends Kiran and George in May 2022 for the July 2023 concert and I remember that it was a rather hectic exercise. She tells me that on the morning of the concert, she met some people at a cafe who had attended the first concert of the tour in Barcelona and wanted to do the last one in Monza. She learnt that attending Springstein concerts multiple times is the done thing. At the concert, she met a lady who was attending her 24th. By the way, Barack Obama and Steven Spielberg had also flown to Barcelona for the concert.

Recalling her experience, Aliya tells me: “We were overcome by the power of one man and his music that got 70,000 people to gather almost like a community, from many different parts of the world, to sing along every line from the lyrics of his songs and just come together because they all love him. And they will do it again and again.”

I feel sorry that I have no space left to talk about Madonna, who turned 65 this week. In a tribute, The New York Times said: “She has accomplished what few artists have done: she has changed the world ...The battle against bigotry she has fought is far from over”.

Finally, let me conclude with a reference to Bob Dylan who, way back in the sixties, had given a voice to America’s civil rights movement, inciting social change with songs like ‘The times, they are a-changing’. He was crowned by the hippies as the guru of rock’n’roll.

It came like a bombshell in the literary world when Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 because he was a lyricist whose words penetrated the human soul. He did not attend the presentation ceremony due to “having other engagements”.

In late 2017, Harvard professor Richard F Thomas, a world expert on classical poetry, published his book titled: ‘Why Bob Dylan matters’. It is meant to be an answer to that obvious question: how could the world’s most prestigious book prize be awarded to a singer-songwriter?

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com