Update: I noticed that Dianne pronounces Ukraine incorrectly when introducing a piece of music from Ukraine. It’s a two syllable word and both syllables are pronounced with equal weight when pronounced correctly. Like the illiterate-sounding redneck hicks in the US Congress, Dianne accents the first syllable: U-kraine. That is incorrect. Not that she will ever read this article to note that correction, or to stop saying “America” and “American” frequently as she does.
Dianne “America(n)” Nicolini is one of the hosts at the Classical California radio network. From listening to her, she seems like a lovely person and she has a very pleasant radio voice. She comes across as very down to Earth, which I appreciate about her.
So what’s my problem with Dianne. There’s got to be a problem, right? At least one problem? Well yes.
One thing I’ve noticed about Dianne is that she doesn’t seem to understand that there are three Americas: North America (which includes the United States of America), Central America and South America. They are all America. The United States is not the only America. And the nation is not called the United States America. The official name of the US is the United States of America, meaning it is part of America. But somewhere along the way, the US and its people decided to be sloppy and refer to the United States as “America” when the US is technically only part of North America, just like Canada and México. And Dianne refers to anyone from the United States as “the American” so and so.
The other day, she started talking about George Gershwin and she mentioned Rhapsody in Blue. I thought: You’re not going to play that again are you? Didn’t we just hear that last week? The Rhapsody is played fairly often on the network by other hosts as well although I suspect they would deny that as stations do when one complains about certain pieces being overplayed. I think there used to be a rule that a piece would get played approximately once every six months. When I lived in the District of Columbia, I remember calling a classical music station — it was probably WGMS which is no longer around — and requesting that a broadcast of a special performance be repeated. I was told, “Since we just played that, it won’t be played again for at least another six months.” I take it that rule has been abandoned. But instead, fortunately Dianne played Gershwin’s Cuban Overture. Dianne referred to Gershwin as the “American composer” — which America did he live in, Dianne? — rather than “Gershwin was a composer from the United States of America.” I don’t recall ever hearing her use the term US or the United States. It’s always “America(n).”
Which makes me ask: Does Dianne think that there’s only one America and that’s the United States of (North) America? That’s the impression I’m left with. Many people do think that, including the tr*mp supporters. The MAGA crowd think that. I know because I have talked with them. They are all about “America” and “American.” They have told me, “There is only one America and that’s the US.” I suggested they study a map of the Americas at which point they told me they don’t believe in maps. So there was no room for any further discussion. One wonders how they drive somewhere if they haven’t been there before without using a map. Don’t they use a map for that?
The Country With No Name
The problem is that the United States of America never had the intelligence to come up with a one word name for their country like other countries did/have. So instead, the US arrogantly stole the name of the entire hemisphere (America) as the unofficial name of the country. I’m fully aware that the term “America” has been used for decades. And “everyone” uses it (except me and the people I know), even politicians who should know better. But many of them use sloppy and unofficial language all the time. An example of that and a brief aside: The official name for the US nation’s capital is the District of Columbia, it’s not “Washington DC.” Yet most people have been brainwashed to say “Washington DC.” Having lived in the District of Columbia, the residents call their City the District or DC. They don’t say “Washington DC” — they don’t put the two together — because they know there is no Washington in DC. They are synonymous. Saying “Washington DC” is like saying San Francisco, San Francisco. It’s redundant. That’s how it was explained to me by a law student from Georgetown University School of Law in the District.
Saying “America” and “American” used to be a pet peeve of so-called “progressives,” but it no longer is. I’ve learned that “progressives” have become an empty shell of their former selves, so these days they too regularly say “America” and “American” when referring to US residents. (roll eyes, sigh).
As my Latino friends say, “The US is the country with no name.” True, unlike México, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, France, Deutschland, China, and many other nations. All of those countries have a one word name because they had the intelligence to choose a name for their country.
And other countries have united states or provinces as part of their country. For example, there are 32 states in México and the official name of the country is: Estados Unidos Mexicanos/United Mexican States. Canada has 10 states or provinces and they also have three territories. Nihon/Japan is divided into 9 regions, which are split into 47 smaller prefectures. Those regions are not formally specified; they do not have elected officials nor are they corporate bodies.
I should think Dianne would know all of this. If so, why does she insist on saying “America” and “American” all the time? Considering there are three Americas as I listed above. Technically, again, the United States is part of North America.
Dianne mentioned George Gershwin had gone to visit Cuba, which is also part of the North American continent. I suspect most people don’t know that. So in the case of Gershwin, if Dianne insists on using the term “American” and “America,” one could say that an American (Gershwin) went to visit another part of (North) America, specifically Cuba.
When Dianne said Cuba, she did not pronounce it authentically as it’s spoken in español. She pronounced Cuba the way many English speakers unfortunately mispronounce Cuba by trying to make a word from español an English language word. Español words should be pronounced as close to authentically as they are pronounced in español. Major Orchestra Choruses do that. I know from experience. The Chorus Director brings in a language coach for the language the Chorus will be performing in to guarantee the authenticity of their diction. Because no credible Orchestra Chorus wants to read a review saying, “their German sucked!” Or whatever international language they’re performing in. Doesn’t English expect the same level of respect? And as I have written before, unfortunately English speakers are notorious for disrespecting and mispronouncing words of other world languages — they seem to thrive on it and even find it funny when they mangle words from other international languages (Whoopi Goldberg is an example of that; she always mangles Univisión when that español language network is a topic) — but English speakers often insist that their precious English be pronounced correctly.
Stop the nationalism
So what should Dianne and other classical music radio hosts be saying? Well since music is the international language and not a national language, there is no need for nationalism of any kind. Do we need to know where composers or performers/conductors were born? No, because what does that have to do with anything? It’s irrelevant, although I know classical music stations can’t seem to exist without engaging in nationalism where they have to announce the birth location of the artist (“the Irish pianist” or “the English pianist” or “the French pianist” or in the case of Dianne she would say, “the American pianist”, for example, and the birth place of the composer.
One does not get a better performance of a piece because of their birth place or where they live. To think that is a myth and it’s very outdated thinking. For example, my favourite performance of the Rachmaninov Third is with pianist Cristina Ortiz. She’s not Russian nor was the conductor, nor was the Orchestra she recorded the concerto with.
The Choruses I’ve heard from France have not sung with perfect intonation including on occasion at Notre Dame de Paris when that was open — instead their soprano section sounded more like the wobbling, fluttering, cackling and screechy inferior soprano section of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus — so if I were to listen to a performance of a French symphonic choral work, I’d be hesitant to listen to a French Orchestra Chorus because of that. Instead, I’d choose one of the superb Orchestra Choruses from Deutschland that I have featured in the Conservatory, those who do sing with perfect intonation in all vocal sections. My point is that one does not necessarily get a better performance from French performers of a French composition. The same can be true for other countries.
As my friend said: It’s surprising that classical music stations don’t go through every orchestral musician and give us their birth location. Yes, isn’t it! Most of the time they feel the name to say, “The French pianist — why do we need to know that the pianist is French when, again, music is the international language crossing all human-created borders? — will play for us a piece by the German composer — why do we need to know that the composer was German? — Johannes Brahms.
I also heard Dianne use the awful expression, “Kill two birds with one stone.” Why would one be talking about killing birds? Isn’t there some other way to say what one is trying to express without talking about killing something? Our society certainly does have some bad expression which some people mindlessly use.
In conclusion, I live under no illusions that classical music stations will ever change their rank nationalism in their programming. It seems to be habit for them. They all do it from the ones I’ve listened to. The BBC being amongst the worst in this regard.