This week’s readings were really interesting even more because they were about chicanos and In a white institute it’s rare to learn about chicano and latin music or even history. The website by Martha Gonzales a chicana artivitsa, PhD has a lot of great context. There are tabs for academia, in this tab she has previous lectures, research, and even her conference and panel presentations. In the Music tab she has different music information and songwriting, the songs are Latinx music and indigenous culture.
In Her bio it talks about how big of an impact she’s made on the music and education as a chicana. As a Chicana myself it’s really empowering to see how other Chicanas are taking up space and challenging whiteness. She has represented “Chicano in spaces such as the U.S. Library of Congress and The Kennedy Center in September of 2011”. This is the type of things I enjoy learning and reading because it gives me a sense of belonging and empowerment. The article American sabor was also very interesting. It was actually funny I didn’t notice it was in spanish when I first started reading the chapter. I started reading and about half way down I realized it was in spanish. In the section Hip-Hop Y Sus Parientes I found interesting that it talked about the disco music with a hint of chicanismo. She says they start with “la campana y la conga, seguida por la linea del bajo” which translates to they start with the bell and conga, and then add the bass line. Before this course I would of never thought about punk, disco , hiphop to have been inspired or even have a little bit of latino in them. I really enjoyed learning the different origins of modern music.
Finding a song that I was really passionate about was very hard until, I remembered the song that has been played throughout my whole life. This song gives me chills everytime I listen to it. This mariachi song has so much history and memories that I hope to never forget. At the start of the song he says “con gusto vengo a cantarles este muy alegre son pa’ quitarles la tristeza y alegrar el corazon” which translates to with pleaser I am here to sing this very happy song to take away your sadness and bring happiness to your heart. Throughout my life our family has dealt with very hard circumstances. On the day I was born my dads brother passed away in a car accident. Mi Papa used this song to cope with the passing of his hermano (brother) . My dad told me this song was the first song he ever played for me. So when I say this song has been played throughout my whole life it really has, since the first day I was born. I became the biggest fan of mariachi. I listen to it all the time, so much so that my friends make fun of me.
My life in Mexico was amazing, it was a very careless time. Life seemed to go slow and everyone was so humble and blessed even with little resources. We are from a very small town about 25 minutes from the city named Autlan. Throughout the song he talks about the beauty and traditions of our state Jalisco. He says “ es muy bonito Jalisco hay por el Grullo y Autlan” which translates to “ Jalisco is so beautiful, there through El Grullo and Autlan”. Both of these cities hold a special place in my heart that’s where I spent most of my childhood. When he sings the city names I yell them out at the top of my lungs, because i’m so proud to be from there. I am proud of my culture and my heritage.
Although life was amazing my father decided to move our family in search of the american dream. I moved to the United States when I was 6 years old. We lived in California first and after a couple years we moved to Washington. Life in america is definitely different.Both of my countries have beautiful landscapes and traditions. I really like how both of my cultures have been merging. I eat carne asada and tacos on football sundays, I listen to Hip Hop at the gym and Rancheras when i’m cleaning. No matter where life takes me this song will always have a special place in my heart.
This week’s reading and class lectures were really interesting because I love Beyonce and things activism against oppression. That was my first time fully watching and paying attention to her music videos. I thought it was so well put together you see her heritage and how she shows that off. She also had more of a country song to show of her Texas side. It was really interesting to see the different things people had to say about her visual album. In the article A Conversation About Beyonce’s “Lemonade”; it talks about some of the comments the people were making on twitter one of them said “it’s not for me”, she’s right this type of visual representation was not for everyone. The one time an African American artist has a form of protest the whole world goes insane. Do they ever stop to think that more than 50% of english music has no representation of black and brown girls? It amazes me how quick people were judging her music. The article also talks about a white woman saying she felt “rejected”. This comment made me so mad like why can’t they just let her do her. Brings up many questions like is being black really that frightening and taboo for white folx? No matter the race we all should be so happy just to think of how beyonce felt embracing and showing of her heritage while empowering brown women around the world. The article How #BlacksLivesMatter started a musical revolution, had some very interesting points. I remember watching the super bowl when beyonce performed and my friends and I were talking about how cool it was to see bey and her backup dancers dressed in black panther attire. We thought that many would agree but when we went on facebook we saw all the negative comments. People were saying things about its an american sport they should have not allowed that as if the black panthers were not american. If beyonce can use her platform to address “the killings of unarmed black men as well as women” why shouldn’t she? I think the article is right whether we agree or disagree with all the #blacklivesmatter music that’s been happening we should learn to respect all perspective but acknowledge the message that’s being sent out. The first song I chose is about black lives matter just like we have been discussing through the readings and songs. The second song by jcole called Be Free is also about black lives matter. He also had a music video which is very graphic. It shows the killings of innocent black folx. It also shows real pictures of past black kids women and men that have been killed.
When I first opened up the website Momma’s Hip Hop I was so empowered by all the pictures of the women of color. There are not many website, places, articles or even news of women in hip hop. I haven’t came across a community organization that helps educate and empower women of color through music. Its really cool to see how much they have been growing since they first started this organization in 2007. I first started scrolling through all the pictures and saw many smiling and they seem to look very comfortable performing. You can see the emotion in their eyes. I can only imagine if this type of places existed all over the world. Just like the type of conferences they hold for women, I went to something called Student of Color conference for two years in a row and it was very empowering I learned a lot about my identity. Just like Hip Hop kitchen at the conference they “used poetry, songs, dance, and art”. In the reading it talk about being unapologetic, that is something that i’ve struggled with and continue to struggle with. My mom has taught me to be in the background and try not to stand out because we were already “different”. Now that I am learning about social justice I have enough facts and information to backup myself up when I need it. In the article it says “ we are unapologetic now, it is second nature and we know how to manage it”. Which I something i’m still working on.
Moahi- It was honestly really cool to see the information on hip hop in Seattle. I honestly don’t see Seattle as a hip hop city. Reading through the information on the website there was so much that surprised me. They said Seattle is a “trendsetter when it comes to fashion” it was a really interesting fact because like I said before I don’t see Seattle as a hip hop city. When I think of music artist from Seattle I think of Macklemore. I am really interested in this center, for sure I am going to plan a visit there soon. I have never heard of a center like this in the Seattle area. They talk about the “creating a human look at this dynamic art form”, they have put so much effort into putting stories and experiences of seattle performers. Their hard work into this center really shows in the pictures.
There are many people that talk about artist as original and very unique. In this generation there are many rising artist because of social media and how quick one person’s video can go viral. It takes minutes for the whole world to see a video. I also believe with all the social media outlets people are quick to believe and assume what they see online. When I first started listening to Amy Winehouse I would go on the comments on youtube and see everyone posting about how original she was. To be honest I was thinking the same thing I felt like there were no other artist with her type of style, very pop and jazzy. After a couple weeks of this class I started seeing how much artist and music type influence the music of today. In my critical review, I make the following claim about Amy Winehouse live album at the BBC that; although one may seem unique their style of music and singing has a history through different genres and singers. I will use specific examples of songs from artist with similar style, songs from her album, as well as quotes from articles as evidence to support my argument that although Amy Winehouse was special she was not the only one with similar music style.
Amy Winehouse was 27 years old when she died. She was born London, England in 1983. Her first album Frank was released in the year of 2003. Her last album made a debut in the year of 2011. The album I am critiquing is a posthumous live album released on November 12th. The songs that are chosen for this album are some of the best in showing her performance skills as a live performer. When watching Amy’s live performances I see that most of her shows are done with her drinking on stage. I understand that many artists drink and perform but it seemed that towards the end of her career she would perform drunk. Even though she was drunk or sometimes even high on drugs her fans would still help her remember words by singing along and dancing to her music. Her choice of music and way of performing made her stand out and often recognized as “one of a kind” in reality her style of music is very much like past jazz, blues, R&B, and rock singers.
In the 6th song of the album, “You Know I’m No Good” starts off with congas sounds. This shows how there is some influence of Puerto Rican style of music. In fact according to Music of Puerto Rico the “conga drum was adapted from Africa” . This shows the influence music and style around the world. We as consumers of the music are sometimes not as well informed about the history and influences of music we listen to causing us to think the artist we hear are the originals. In the publication American Popular Music by Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman he talks about the influence of African Americans in popular music. He states that “African-American Culture took different forms in Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and the United States”(9). With this we can see how much styles vary but still have the same origin no matter how unique something may sound it has a history as seen through Amy’s songs with a tropical vibe.
Apart from the tropical sounds she mainly uses soul and as her style of music. Soul was first sung and influenced by gospel singers, mainly African American that sung at church. It’s interesting how the faces of these genres aren’t always where it comes from. In the very popular song titled “to Know Him Is To Love Him”. we are able to hear the influence of soul into her song. The song has slow tempo very melo almost just in the background drum noises. The drummer keeps the same rhythm throughout the song. This song reminded me of the popular song by Percy Sledge titled “When A Man Loves A Woman”. The drummer keeps the same rhythm throughout the song as well as keeping the tempo very slow. In the Article Maureen Mahon “Big Mama Thornton’s Voice” they explain how blues and soul came to be popular. They said blues artist like Thornton, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and many other were “surprised by the audience: young, predominantly white Americans and Europeans”(7). the audience had fallen in love with this type of music so much so that “they started creating their own music” (7). As we can see this type of music traveled to Europe where Amy is from. There must have been influence in her music. I’ve seen a quote by an unknown author that read “people say soul died but it has always been here, it just evolved”. I see that as I hear her songs with a hint of soul in her own way.
Amy Winehouse is a very talented women and it is very sad that she passed on at a young age. She shared her talent with the world and made her fans happy with her performances. There is definitely something special about Amy Winehouse, she brings something edgy and different to the table. One thing is certain that her style of music is not one of the first. As I have previously stated her style of music has a history especially in the African American communities such as blues, soul, R&B and jazz. Even though it may not be completely the same as these genres it does have aspects integrated in her songs. Music keeps evolving!
Maureen Mahon, “Listening for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s Voice: The Sound of Race and Gender Transgressions in Rock and Roll,” Women and Music, 15, 2011, 1-17. (PDF)
Maureen Mahon, “Rock,” The Music of Black Americans: An Introduction. Eds. Mellonee Burnim and Portia Maltsby. 558-584 (PDF)
Starr, Larry, and Christopher Alan Waterman. American Popular Music: from Minstrelsy to MP3. Oxford Univeristy Press, 2003.
After reading Rosetta Tharpe and Feminist “unforgetting” I was really surprised that first of all teachers would tell writers that If they wrote a book on a single person it was like considering a “professional dead end”. This happens a lot in our education system. We are taught to follow these rules and regulations and we can never be free and have freedom through our work. I really liked how she talked about the biographies being more male centered. For me as a women of color I see how this affects our lives everyday. On the top of the pyramid it is always a white male. Something that caught me off guard was when she said that by writing the biography it was a decision that would help with “intervention”. I am not sure if I did not understand the writing right. But what I got from it was that she didn’t want to be “loud” she didn’t want to be disruptive through her work and she felt like by writing the biography she would be more respectful. In my opinion I feel like what better way to inform and call out people on these type of subjects than by being loud? For me as a Latina I was always scared to correct people and confront them on their racist comments. I felt like if I did then I would just be living up to the stereotype of latina. Then I started reading the article Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe Inducted in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, class of 2018. It is so crazy to me that someone as amazing as her it would take this long of time to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. The way they talk about her is so empowering. They talked about how she was “ less concerned with what others chose to call her music than whether it moved them”. This is the type of careless I want to be. She didn’t care what they called her music she just wanted them to be moved by it. She just wanted them to recognize the music and it very sad that people of color have to work 10 times harder to have our art, work, power be good enough to be shown off.
jay.lyons.class 