Lately in class we’ve been talking about race and music. We also read Segregating Sound, wherein Miller laid out some of the history of modern day music and how racial politics led to current stereotypes and perceptions of music. I think it’s very interesting how much seemingly apolitical features of American life can have such a hidden racial and ugly history–such as current country music being a mainly white commodity based of minstrel shows and the colonization of Hawai’i. I think the concept of cultural appropriation seeping into music is complicated, because innovation and cultural tradition are especially blurred lines in the arts. However, when people like Elvis directly steal from others and become successful partly due to the fact that they are able to take advantage of privilege directly related to the color of their skin, it becomes apparent that theft and racism are larger players than one might think. Especially disturbing was the song about a “dark Filipina woman.” I think these types of songs speak directly to how racialized and problematic the history of music is. Going forward, I believe there should be a movement to give proper credit to black artists stolen from and continuation to support local artists of color.

Last class, we discussed the second part of how minstrel shows have shaped modern music, this time focusing on the appropriation of Hawaiian techniques and how they have shifted into modern country music. What was especially disturbing to me was the way Garage Band creates clearly racialized characters for their program. I don’t understand why they would not just abstain from creating characters. It makes me think about the illusion of originality and how so many things–especially in the US–are taken from other cultures and people. The dynamics between the takers and those being taken from is always interesting. In the case of Hawaii, tensions are still so high because of the colonialism thrust upon the Hawaiian people, and how racial tensions still exist there. Hawaiian people are so disadvantaged, while the colonizers have the privilege to benefit from their resources and culture.

Today in class we discussed the minstrel phenomenon and how what we contemporarily know as “white music” is derived from the caricaturization of black people, developed through minstrel entertainment. We also discussed how black people adopted minstrel performances in the later era of its existence, contrary to the typical practice of white people dressing up in blackface and mocking stereotypes of black communities. This was compared to the idea of artists like 50 Cent dressing in both stereotypical rap-associated garb vs. him wearing clothes to fit into white spaces. Personally, I think the idea that black individuals are capable of wearing any type of “blackface” is underdeveloped. Minority communities have the right to reclaim symbols of their culture that have been appropriated without appreciation for them as humans, or used to degrade them. Furthermore, certain paraphernalia and dress is associated with particular genres of music because these genres were borne out of resistance and reclamation of identity. Therefore it is not a charade or a mockery, but rather a tie to the genesis of the art form. Ultimately, telling the affected minority that their adoption of their own cultural symbols is “blackface” invites a dangerous connotation. Only members of other communities that participate in mocking the objects are capable of committing the same acts as those who participated in the original minstrel shows.