Post #8 - May 31, 2007

It would certainly be difficult discussing American music in only two hours but I think I would begin to explain American music by discussing American history first. One of the remarkable things about America is that its history is largely characterized by immigrant movements. In addition, it has become a country where different religions, cultures and ethnicities have merged. For this reason (as well as globalization), American music is changing and beginning to incorporate more cultural influences. This trend seems to occur readily in pop and hip hop music. For example, producer Timbaland’s success in the music industry is based on his ability to create unique musical sounds; this ability has come from his diverse musical taste which includes listening to artists such as Coldplay or Bjork. Similarly, the song “Toxic” by Britney Spears resonated with many Indian-Americans and other ethnic groups from the Sub-Continent because it incorporated traditional Indian rhythms.

I do not think it would be a particularly beneficial to discuss music by racial group because these different American genres have an appeal that goes beyond cultural lines. Instead, I think it would be far more beneficial to talk about different popular genres such as pop, hip-hop and rock. I think it would be interesting to discuss the roots of each musical movement and see how this has changed with various ethnic diasporas. Below is my outline and many of the artists that I chose are contemporary primarily because these cultural influences on American music have really begun to dominate only until recently. Furthermore, many of these artists are well known outside of America and consequently I think that the audience may become more interested in the lecture material if they are already familiar with the music.

Outline:

I. Introduction: America’s immigrant history
a. Talk about the major immigrant periods in American history
i. Jewish and Eastern European communities
ii. Asian American communities
iii. Middle Eastern and South Asian communities
b. Briefly discuss how immigrants have merged into different musical genres. Examples include:
i. Norah Jones/Jazz: Jones is half Indian and the daughter of Ravi Shankar, a master tabla player
ii. Pop Music: Popular artists include Shakira, Rihanna who all represent different ethnic backgrounds and incorporate this into their music. Shakira, for example, released “La Tortura” a song sung entirely in Spanish that played frequently in the radio. It did incredibly well in the US as well as other English-speaking countries.
iii. Hip-hop: Frequent collaborations between different types of music occur. A common example is Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’” which incorporates a melody from Abdel Halim Hafez’s “Big Pimpin”

Now go on to the specific genres:

II. Pop Music
a. Musical samples: La Tortura by Shakira, Forca by Nelly Furtado (Demonstrative of Portuguese folk music influence),
b. Pop music was initially influenced by ragtime and also carried a strong African American influence
c. Around the 1950s and 1960s, pop artists around the world began to become more prominent on the music scene. Examples of famous pop singers include the great Fairuz of Lebanon whose music (despite being entirely in Arabic) began to have a international following
d. By the 1980s, American pop music became very popular and included the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson
e. Many international pop artists have begun to “cross-over” particularly those from Latin America. This includes artists such as Shakira, Selena etc. In addition, pop music has begun to incorporate other genres of music within it such as R&B as well as hip hop (many pop songs contain some rap verses)
f. Pop music has also changed with the growing Latino population in America – for example, some songs contain many verses in Spanish or have Latino influences such as salsa.

III. Hip-hop
a. Musical samples: Life is a Loom by Outlandish (Danish hip-hop group that often uses social themes in their music – their music has been heavily influenced by Tupac Shakur); Big Pimpin’ by Jay-Z;
b. Began as a movement that helped reduce inner city violence by exchanging physical violence with “rap battles”
c. Used hip-hop as a voice for activism which continues on with Mos Def and Talib Kweli.
d. Though message of activism has been arguably lost in hip-hop, it has been used a popular form for singing for social justice in other parts of the world.
e. Hip-hop appears to appeal to many first-generation immigrants and their children.
i. For example, many rappers of Armenian descent use hip-hop to discuss legacy of the Armenian genocide.
ii. TIMZ, an rapper of Iraqi descent communicates his anti-war message through hip-hop
iii. Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’” samples “Khosara” by Abdel Halim Hafez
iv. Reggaeton music has become more prominent by Latino rappers; their music combines both English and Spanish lyrics
f. Talk about the difference between the quality of hip-hop in America and how it has been influenced by immigrants and then discuss the quality of hip-hop around the world and how it has been affected by Americans (especially Tupac) – The difference comes down to how hip-hop music around the world tends to have a more activist flavor or the lyrics are reworked to apply to a specific society (A good example of this occurred in Japan and was reported by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3324409.stm)

IV. Rock
a. Musical samples: “Aerials” by System of a Down (Beginning of the song demonstrates Middle Eastern influence); any song by Elvis Presley (his songs are demonstrative of the African American influence in rock); New by No Doubt (Has strong Indian influences which was inspired by one of the band members who is Indian)
b. Rock and roll began in the US and combined a variety of genres such as blues, R&B and many elements of African culture.
c. Because rock initially started off as a type of music where various influences could be combined (especially from African American culture), it quickly became popular across America. d. The rock scene is now dominated by more multi-racial groups and has various cultural influences. For example, sitar is used in many rock songs to give the song a more otherworldly sound. More mainstream examples of rock bands include No Doubt – the bass player is of Indian descent and has added more ethnic Indian flavor to some of their songs such as “New.”