Culture and Cross-Cultural Linkages in American Music

590 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How music impacts society

Culture and Cross-Cultural Linkages in American Music

I have recently been listening to a lot of Motown music and even jazz. I have never before explored music in the extent that I have done this semester. I always thought of myself as “cultured” but this semester, I’ve begun to realize there are more areas of music that I have not explored than those which I have. And as I explore culture and cross-cultural linkages in our music, I realize how much one generation’s music ‘speaks’ to the next.

Currently, the song I am intrigued by is “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday. This song is very moving. When Billie Holiday sings, you MUST listen. However, this song, unlike most of her other music, is not about love. It is not about solitary living. It is not about heartbreaking, selfish lovers. This song is a social outcry against injustices done in the South. During the time she sang this song, lynching was common among Southerners adhering to the Jim Crow laws. Black men were beaten, hung, and caught on fire. Oftentimes, rape is the ‘crime,’ even when no rape ...

Show More
Related

  • Motown

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1960s Motown had become a musical miracle; both whites and blacks sought this new and lively form of music to escape the turmoil that ha...

    Read More

  • There is More to Vikings than Violence

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    The word 'Viking' has been used to identify people who lived in Sweden, Norway and Denmark in early medieval times. In the language Old Norse, 'Viking' means pirate. Sometimes they were known as 'Northmen' or Danes. The Vikings shared a similar heritage as the Saxons, a group of people who had previously invaded Britain.

    Read More

  • Vikings: A Different Lifestyle During The Medieval Ages

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    They lived with a different lifestyle then other religions, always on the move, adjusting to climates, doing what it took to not just survive but also attempt conquering during the medieval times of Scandinavia. The present day countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark made up Scandinavia. The Norsemen first made a name for themselves around 750 for their bloody, violent raids in Europe. Norsemen and Northern men are other names for Vikings. The Vikings took advantage of their unique ways of survival and daily life techniques to new heights during the Viking Age. They were highly skilled builders; they built ships durable enough to take on the ocean. Vikings were the most intelligent navigators in their day, which eventually made them tremendous traders. The Vikings decided to quit their big armies of violence, stopped raiding and began farming and trading instead. Their last raid was England before deciding to give up their violent ways. When Scandinavians started practicing Christianity, some Vikings headed east to Russia, some moved to France, most headed to England’s coast, Ireland, or the islands above Scotland. The Norwegian Vikings were the first population in Europe to move west. “Stepping across the North Atlantic, Norse Colonists reached the Faeroe Islands by around AD 825, Iceland by around AD 875, and Greenland by around AD 895. Both Iceland and the Faeroe Islands were uninhabited at the time of the Norse colonization” (Gestsdottir and Price 130). The Vikings during the medieval period were a very powerful force. They got themselves out of the control of the Norwegian king, they were very good craftsman, and used many resources.

    Read More

  • Music and Race

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    Although artists do not create certain music to cure diseases or to make scientific or technological discoveries, music is one thing society can never live without. To both artists and their listeners, music provides an indispensible beauty that helps fulfill lives, and connect to nature. Music expresses the human condition in the purest way and affects everyone at a personal level. Plato, a well-known classical Greek philosopher once said, “If you want to measure the spiritual depth of society, make sure to mark its music.” Generally performer collaborate songs to represent the popular pop culture, and social issues, and wish for their society as well as their current era. For instance, controversial issues such as sex, violence, racism and discrimination has been represented through many musical genres including the blues, R&B, Disco/Funk, and Hip hop. When comparing previous historical periods to our current era, one can see tremendous differences in how they are exemplified in the genres have illustrated their music to address these specific issues. For instance, when talking about historical period they focus more on messages that are important to black communities such as freedom from racism, sexism and discrimination for example R&B conveyed a fight for freedom and stereotypes. On the other hand, recent genres such as Hip Hop do not portray a message, or if they do portray a message, the messages do not represent black culture as a whole.

    Read More

  • Satirized And Parody In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

    295 Words  | 1 Pages

    Despite being rampantly popular, the questionable plots of gothic novels is both satirized and parodied in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. However, while Austen mocks the gothic romance genre through Catherine’s intent fascination on its dark conditions, she simultaneously uses the setting of Northanger Abbey as a metaphor for the literal and realistic horrors underlying society. Initially introduced as naïve and trusting, Catherine’s time at Northanger Abbey is the setting of her bildungsroman and by the end of her stay one can consciously affirm her status as a heroine. Ironically, while Catherine is oblivious of the unscrupulous intentions of the Thorpes and General Tilney, she is hyperaware that the road within Northanger Abbey was “odd

    Read More

  • Jane Austen's Nothanger Abbey

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jane Austen’s Nothanger Abbey is a unique work unlike many other early 19th century novels. It is clear the author was aware of her audience and it can be argued that Austen had, in a sense, created a new breed of character within a new breed of novel. Catherine Morland, through her coming of age tale, is a completely believable and realistic character, challenging the way readers typically related to the characters in their novels. Throughout her journey, Catherine experiences excitements, disappointments and even struggles that avid readers, such as her, can easily relate to. Jane Austen strategically employs the use of various narrative techniques throughout her work, which also allow the reader to grasp greater insight into the mind of their heroine; they begin to become familiar with Catherine and even develop a relationship with and an attachment for her. Furthermore, to reinforce the development of a connection between her readers and characters, Austen establishes a new novel form, scattering her work, Northanger Abbey, throughout with gothic elements. Altogether, through her unique, believable characters, her narrative strategies and her eye for gothic features and challenging the norm, Jane Austen successfully established a classic, timeless novel.

    Read More

  • Vikings: Adventurous Seafarers and Explorers

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    Around A.D. 800 to the 11th century, a vast number of Scandinavians left their homelands to seek their fortunes elsewhere. These warriors were known mostly as Vikings or Norsemen Vikings. The name Viking came from the Scandinavians themselves, from the Old Norse word "vik" (bay or creek) which formed the root of "vikingr" (pirate). The vikings expanded from their original homeland in Scandinavia and settled down in some islands in the west which included Faeroe and Iceland. Vikings whose activities are best known come from the areas now known as Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The reasoning for the vikings venturing out and exploring is not precisely known. It may have have been due to it was due to overpopulation of their homeland, but the Vikings were looking for riches, not land (Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 2.)

    Read More

  • Analyzing Austen's Use of Satire

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    The idea of the gothic novel, as well as its satire, is introduced within the first few pages of the novel. The reader is told of Catherine’s upbringing, stating at one point that her mother, “…had three sons before Catherine was born; and instead of dying in bringing the latter into the world, as any body might expect, she still lived on…to see them growing up around her, and to enjoy excellent health herself” (3). This, along with other elements, is essential in beginning the satire of the gothic novels. In a gothic, the young female protagonist would probably have had a terrible childhood, either orphaned or raised only by her terrible father. However, this is not what Catherine experienced at all. If anything, she actually had a rather pleasant childhood. Austen even has Catherine, and her new friend Isabella Thorpe, read The Mysteries of Udolpho, which was a widely known gothic novel. All of these factors help...

    Read More

  • Norse Mythology Research Paper

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    The beginning of the ninth century AD to the eleventh was known as the “Viking age”; during this time Iceland was settled by Scandinavians and CeltsCeltics. Some of the settlers were Christian while most were Pagan; together they created a culture

    Read More

  • feminist novel

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Catherine’s independence reveals itself immediately in novel when Austen begins to paint her main character in a way that would not describe a typical heroine. “Catherine was fond of all boy’s plays, and greatly preferred cricket to the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a ro...

    Read More

  • Putin And The Cold War

    305 Words  | 1 Pages

    Even though the Cold war has ended accordingly during the 1990’s, tensions are still alive between the United States and Russia. From Putin’s perspective in this article, his announcement of new strategic weapons has demonstrated how the U.S. demands control on negotiations. The article talks about how the Russians have seen Putin taking initiative to make treaties between the U.S. and Russia on weapon agreements, such as a new START treaty, and rules and conducts in relations to cyberspace. It also points out how Putin could be handling the situation more appropriately.

    Read More

  • Analysis: The Hunger Games As Allegory Of American Pop Culture

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    If there is one thing anyone is close-minded about, it is music, especially which types of music people consider to be the “best.” Generations may overlap in what genre they prefer, but in nearly every case, someone will always consider his generation to have the best overall music. The youth of today will tell you “their” music is the best, adult generations will insist their youth decade of music was the greatest, and the elderly generation will demand that music played off records is the most superior. Music types seem to shift drastically from one age to another, and are easily distinguishable

    Read More

  • My Cultural Identity

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Powell, A. (2007). The Music of African Americans and its Impact on the American Culture in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Miller African Centered Academy, 1. Retrieved from http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/Powell.pdf

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Characters In Jane Austen's Novels

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    When Catherine Morland (the heroine) visits the Tilney’s home in Northanger Abbey and learns of “strange” events consisting of the sudden death of Mrs. Tilney, her room that no one goes into, and how the General refuses to hang his late wife’s picture up, she automatically suspects the General of being a bad husband. She fantasizes that the missus is actually alive and that he has her chained up somewhere, barely sustaining her (Austen 179). Catherine came to this conclusion by reading many Gothic novels, such as Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, and most notable Uldopho, all of which are allusions. She is so enraptured with these types of novels mainly because it represents the world of fantasy and temporary excursions (Austen 45; Lauber 12). Austen is ridiculing her father’s favorite genre as Catherine’s fantasy is utterly ridiculous and illogical. She really reveals Catherine’s idiocy by admitting her suspicions to her love interest, Henry, who says, “Consult your own understanding, your own sense of the probable, your own observation to what is passing around you. Does our education prepare us for such atrocities?”(Austen 188). By exposing the mind of a girl who believes she is living in a Gothic novel, Austen displays the concept of Quixotism which is disposing of outworn literary made through ridicule (Lauber 13). However, only through the words of her most beloved Henry Tilney does she grasp her foolhardiness and her whole perspective of the world

    Read More

  • The Effects of Globalization on Music

    1786 Words  | 4 Pages

    The influence that music has throughout the world is immeasurable. Music evokes many feelings, surfaces old memories, and creates new ones all while satisfying a sense of human emotion. With the ability to help identify a culture, as well as educate countries about other cultures, music also provides for a sense of knowledge. Music can be a tool for many things: relaxation, stimulation and communication. But at the same time it can also be a tool for resistance: against parents, against police against power. Within the reign of imported culture, cross cultivation and the creation of the so-called global village lies the need to expand horizons to engulf more than just what you see everyday. It is important to note that the role of music in today’s world is a key tool in the process of globalization. However, this does not necessarily provide us with any reasons that would make us believe that music has a homogenizing affect on the world.

    Read More

More about Culture and Cross-Cultural Linkages in American Music

Open Document