Kris Tiner, the Music Director at Bakersfield college, and Josh Ottum, the professor in commercial hosted the second Deep Cuts and Conversations, on Oct. 21. Ottum and Tiner hold these conversations every third Thursday of each month. The event started two in half years ago, so students can have educated conversations on music.
Every conversation has a theme and for this conversation, the theme was “So corny it’s good”. The genre of music Ottum and Tiner mentioned in this conversation was Exotica.
Exotica first made its appearance in the 1950s. Both professors discussed how Exotica isn’t taken very seriously academically.
Exotica is a genre of music that only relies on instruments to make the song.
“There are artists who are hired to watch edited, or almost edited movies, and create songs for certain moments in the film,” Kris Tiner said. He said there’s a big chance everyone have heard a song from this certain genre. Exotica is also scattered around many playlists made for studying across many music streaming platforms. “Exotica can be stimulating to the brain and is functional,” he said.
The professors also pointed out that we can hear some influences of Exotica and many new age artists albums. For example, The Weekend, a well-known R&B artist, invited Kenny G to work on his song “In Your Eyes”. Kenny G is a well-known artist in the Exotica genre and has been making music for the past 30 years. He released his first album back in 1986 and has released many studio albums.
Kris Tiner also said, “It’s used as an escape of the real depressing reality of the world.”
The next Deep Cuts and Conversation is on Nov. 18 over zoom.