It’s no secret that I am a professed Harry Potter fanatic. I’m certain many of you reading this are; I know I am not alone in thinking that Mount Holyoke bears a striking resemblance to Hogwarts. The depths of my love for the universe rendered by the magnificent Jo Rowling, though, do not end with the closure of a book or a tear shed during a film. Harry Potter permeates every facet of my life – including my favorite genre of music.

So, let’s just get this out of the way right now: my favorite genre of music is undeniably, and unashamedly, Wizard Rock. As in, artists who write and perform music with lyrics taken from or inspired by the wizarding world.

Again, I know I am not alone in this adoration. Having attended the WMHC and Student Program-sponsored Harry and the Potters concert a month ago with an enthusiastic crowd of Five College folk, I am assured of the fact that there are people in this very valley who are as unhealthily addicted to Chocolate Frogs and trips to Hogsmeade as I am.

Our tastes in music are, admittedly, more than a little strange. Most Wizard Rock albums are recorded in living rooms or self-made studios. If you listen carefully to the opening track of Harry and the Potters’ self-titled debut album, you can hear the clinking of dishes. It’s a band member’s mom cleaning the kitchen. And it’s not like all the singers and musicians of said genre are always particularly talented – rather, their charisma and clever lyrics are what sustain the audience’s ability to listen to a whole album.

These are the facets of the music that make it so fresh in today’s music scene. It can be political or it can be just quirky and fun. In an era of the over-synthesized, the auto-tuned live performances and misogynistic declarations of lust, Wizard Rock stands in a position of staunchly DIY art.

Now, I love Ke$ha as much as the next feminist, but there is something undeniably authentic to the sound of those clinking dishes and imperfect vocals. Wizard Rock artists make music out of a passion for creating. They certainly aren’t in it for the money – and they are unafraid, in the era of the airbrushed, to let their flaws show. The Wizard Rock community is celebrating the Harry Potter story, but – more importantly – a fandom of people who live according to the values held true by Harry and his friends. It might be a fan base of Quibbler types – but it’s a collection of people who prize clarity in government, freedom for all peoples, and, above all else, the power of love. These bands make music without the resources or financial support of the music industry. I believe this scrappy resourcefulnes keeps the music industry honest.

So on Dec. 17, you better believe I’m making the drive to Brooklyn to attend the Yule Ball in my best radish earrings.

After all, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

For more writing by Elizabeth McManus, please check out her blog at www.wanderingwrites.com. For more information about the Yule Ball, see www.harryandthepotters.com.

Related posts:

1. Harry Potter grows up on a London stage
2. A Harry Potter “virgin” blogs the books
3. A Trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
4. Harry Potter to horses: animal magnetism of Equus
5. Of Mandrakes and Gillyweed: Williston Library Transformed into Harry Potter’s World

One Response to “Harry Potter & the power of music”

1. Ananya Shr says:

   January 25, 2012 at 5:50 am

   Cheers! *clinks bottle of Butterbeer*

   Wrock rocks! Have you tried Ministry of Magic’s songs? I love their vids as much as Harry and the Potters’ lyrics :D

   Hope you had great fun at the Yule Ball! :)

   Reply