We’re starting a unit talking about the diasporic influences on music. I’ve just decided to catalog some of what we’ve been talking about, and the different examples relevant, and create a mass post.

Minstrel Show

The Minstrel Show unit/lecture was very uncomfortable to me. It truly reinforces the idea that one cannot study American history–literally any part of American history–without considering race. It would make complete sense that a country just ridden of slavery would seek other means to commodify blackness. No longer are slaves able to work in the fields, so they will be rebranded quite literally into sharecropping, or more abstractly into entertainment for white people. What Miller points out about American music’s history about becoming racialized is interesting. Originally, your music taste likely depended on what you were exposed to, not your racial or cultural background. However, this clearly shifted after the industry made conscious decisions to pander to certain demographics, creating clear racial divides in the music business. This goes to further show how the industry can make decisions about taking social aspects of music away by commodifying culture.

Hawai’ian Steel Guitar

The race to colonize and annex Hawai’i is another form of proof that mainstream white America loves to glorify and enjoy the “exotic” parts of one’s culture, while oppressing the actual human lives behind that culture. The colonization of Hawai’i was long, arduous, militaristic, and oppressive. Repeatedly, Hawai’ian rights and sovereignty were curtailed and Hawai’ian lives were lost because of European negligence. Hawai’ians underwent Christianification and the missionary culture in Hawai’i stripped Hawai’ians of a large part of their culture, religion, and language. Yet white Americans got to enjoy the romanticized beaches and musical innovations of Hawai’i while racism persisted. There is no way to justify the transaction of ideas if one party remained politically superior to the other. Colonization is not cultural dialogue or exchanging of ideas, it is stealing. Certainly steel guitar adds a very interesting and unique flavor to modern country music. Surely those who integrated it were creative and talented. However, this doesn’t justify or reconcile the pattern of white people taking from brown people while being agents of systems to ensure they will not be treated equally. Additionally, music holds great value for many of us of colonized cultures. We are normally happy to share in the meaningfulness and social value it has, but this cultural significance must be recognized and appreciated. Otherwise, it’s just another way to sell parts of our culture without caring about the humanity aspect.

Sampling

The concept of sampling is very interesting to me. In some ways, it is new and fresh and innovative. In other ways, it is used by people who come across as lazy. I think there is a lot of value in sharing and repurposing art/music, if it is done correctly and ethically. In most cases, I believe this is true for sampling. This also relates to the many examples of new renditions we looked at in class. For most of these, it reflected how contemporary influences could affect the way an artist repurposed an old song or melody. Personally, I find value in the idea that a culture owns its music, rather than an individual, and I think sampling shows how society can enhance the idea of one sound.