I thought that the Native American culture was extremely interesting. I never thought that something that was here long before we were could be so different. I learned that my own culture has been the basis of so many other types of music. I knew that African music has influenced Latin and Middle Eastern music, but I never dreamed of it influencing Native American and Asian music. I am really glad that my group decided to do Jamaica, because even though I knew a lot about Jamaican music because of my family, I didn't realize how much of an impact Rasta culture has had on Jamaica. There was a lot of killing during that time, and I'm really glad that my grandmother's parents left there before it got too bad. Here in America, we take for granted so much, and never think about it. We never stop to think about how the rest of the world is affected by our actions. But honestly, that's such a Western thing to do. All of the cultural music that we have learned about, has been influenced by the West because all of the dominant countries in the West invaded everywhere. I know that imperialism was the main reason behind this, but that was something else I didn't know. The Europeans affected every continent on this planet, and while I wish they hadn't invaded everywhere and killed off all of the native people, where would the music of the world be today if they hadn't? It's definitely something to think about. I want to learn more about the popular music of these cultures today. Of course, I already know about American and African popular music, and a little bit of Asian and Latin popular music but I want to know more. I want to know more about the different types of popular Native American music and how it's different from traditional Native American music. I want to learn the differences between K-pop and J-pop, aside from them originating in two different countries. Is English and Australian popular music similar, or is it basically the same as American popular music? Does classical Latin music have an influence on today's reggaetone? I've always had a fascination for popular music, because it's not just cookie-cutter pop. I think that a lot goes into making today's music and I really feel like people don't give it the credit it deserves. Maybe if people knew how popular music has formed through the years, pop would be appreciated more. I will definitely be looking into that more. They say that learning from the past always provides a better future. I see no reason why that wouldn't apply to music as well.

This is a video from the Prince of Egypt.The last minute and 30 seconds, the song is in Hebrew, and after class on the Middle East, I can really hear all the instruments and appreciate their differences.

Even though we didn't get to Korea, this still represents how far music has traveled. Underneath the first singer's voice, you can hear the hollow drums that sound as if they are coming from native instruments. Later, the electronic elements come in, and it is evident how Western influences have changed Asian music.

This is an example of Indian music. The 3rd Cheetah Girls movie, set in India, and this last song has the most examples of classic Bollywood style music. From the intro to the dance style to the clothes, it's clear to see how much their culture is represented in the States.

I interviewed my dad about the music that he listened to when he grew up. Even though my parents grew up in Liberia (as I'm sure everybody has heard by now), they were exposed to a lot of American music. A lot of countries in Africa are developed and have similar customs to the ones that people here are accustomed to. In the following interview between the two of us, I hope that some light is shed on the customs of countries that we didn't discuss during class. 

What kind of music did you listen to as a child?

R&B, African and Jazz

Which one would u say u listened to more, or were they equal?

R&B

How did you listen to music, i.e. what technology did you use?

Radio, Tape Player, Record Player

Was there any dancing involved? Why or why not?

Oh Yeah. All kind of dancing everything you could think about. Celebration for whatever occasion, party, wedding, for fun

What sort of environment did you listen to music in?

In the house, social gatherings, on the dorm

How did your parents or teachers feel about your music of choice?

Acceptable

What happened once you became the parent or teacher?

Listen to Jazz mostly, I don’t like music today kids music ya’ll are crazy I don’t like hip hop, not too much of country western not too much of African no rap I don’t like rap

Did you play an instrument or sing yourself? How was that for you?

No. In retrospect I wish I could. I had an opportunity to learn but I didn't

What was your musical environment like?

Rich. All the music and instruments were there

Why did you listen to music? Were there any situations that caused you to turn to certain kinds of music?

Yeah in the mission (boarding school) we listened to gospel. Listened to religious music on holy occasions and sad on occasions on festive occasions we listened to r&b as an adult I usually listen to jazz

Were you ever exposed to music outside of your own culture? How so, and what was it like?

R&b. How were u exposed to it was it just because Liberia was little America? It was out music too. African and International music too but our culture was more American than anything.

Do you feel like any types of music should have been present more when you were growing up? No I was content with what I had.

How did music in gender affect the way u listen or experience music today? 

Well, I think it gave me a keen sense as to what kind of music relaxes me, what kind of music I’m attuned to. I can easily like what I was brought up with that’s what I was accustomed to. And I guess I have a good ear for music because that’s how I was brought up even though I don’t mention it.

If you had to pick a song to describe you, what song would it be? I did it my way –Frank Sinatra. Is that song choice relevant to the way you grew up?  Very. How? Cause it expresses independence. Gave me an appreciation for who I am.

This song is so pretty! I think it really demonstrates the idea of classical music, as well as showing the Spanish influences that helped to create Latin music. At the end, it says that the instruments used were the guitar, the charango, the large Mexican guitar, and percussion. This pretty much ties in with everything that we learned about Latin music today.

I thought this was so interesting because I actually really love this song. This song is called "Jai Ho" and it's from Slumdog Millionaire. To hear this type of interpretation fascinated me, so I had to put it here. 

I think that in this particular selection, the Afro influences are evident. Not only through the jazz elements, but also through the drumming. We've learned that these types of complex drumming styles come from Africa. This is the only example of Latin music that doesn't have any guitar, but this just strengthens the idea that Latin America is a big mix of a lot of different ethnicities.

  In each of my blog postings, I’ve talked about how my Liberian up-bringing has influenced my musical autobiography. In this post, I think that the best example of music and gender comes from American music. Particularly Hip-Hop, R&B, and Rap music. For years, it seemed as though the women all sang their hearts out in R&B or sang on a Hip-Hop or Rap track, while the men all rapped. Of course, men were allowed to sing too, but women? Rapping? Banish the thought! Back in the days of 2pac and Biggie, I don’t think female rapping was exactly smiled upon. It makes me wonder though. What exactly is so hard about rapping that a female couldn’t do it? Of course now, we have Missy Elliot, Lil’ Kim, Lauryn Hill, Eve and Nikki Minaj, but where were all these characters in the ‘80s?

   I find it fascinating that as we progress through the years, and we discover more that can be done in the music world, women are still put on the backburner until enough rise up to prove that, once again, we can do anything that men can do. I know that some rappers today, such as The Game, can be characterized as being violent, and female rappers typically aren’t violent at all. But if they wanted to be, they totally could. Some female rappers, like Mary J. Blige and Lauryn Hill, often rap about their lives and their own personal experiences; Of course, they are known as highly influential singers as well. Missy Elliot has primarily entertaining and somewhat humorous music, while Lil’ Kim has more of a gangsta-like influence. Lil’ Kim has an interesting back-story, though. Despite the lack of female rappers in the ‘80s, she worked undercover with the Notorious B.I.G. and became known as his “sidekick”, and later became famous.

   On the flipside, males rapping and then singing would never have happened 10 years ago either. Up until a few years ago, the idea of using auto-tune, or even just natural talent, to sing as the hook or chorus of a song, would never have happened. Rapping used to be about the streets and the hood, probably contributing to why the whole concept of female rapping was unheard of. Now rapping can be about anything from the gangsta life, to love, real love. Artists like Drake and Nikki Minaj have really taken the idea of singing and rapping on the same track to a brand new level, and for them as well as Soulja Boy, Lil’ Wayne, and Kanye West, it’s extremely unclear to find the thin line between rapping and singing. 

This song is called "One Way Ticket to Monrovia." It is quite a popular song because most of the Liberians in America want to return home. Sung by CC Barnard, it represents the lives of many Liberians, like my family, that came here because of the war. Liberia, although a part of Sub-Saharan Africa, is considered to be "Little America" because of the principles, morals, and ideas that the freed slaves from here took to their beloved land of liberty. The African drumming is present, demonstrating a common quality in African music.

  In my religion, music plays a huge part in our worship services. Although I was raised a Baptist, my mother was raised a Catholic and my dad was raised an Episcopal. When both of them went away to boarding school, they got introduced to gospel music and then converted to Baptist. Why? Because of the music. My mother often tells me that after being introduced to the joys of gospel music in a Baptist atmosphere, there was no way she could go back to a regular Catholic church service.

  In my church, we have specific times for singing. However, if the spirit hits someone on the choir, they start to sing and the whole church follows. Gospel music has come from times of slavery, when the slaves would pick cotton and sing songs of how the Lord would come and save them. In order to sing gospel, no particular voice type is required, but a particular style is definitely employed. The singing style is either dramatically loud or quiet and the enunciation of words puts more emphasis on the words themselves.

  I guess gospel is used to express how you really feel about your religion. It’s hard to put all of your emotion into something that you don’t have emotion for. At most of the Baptist churches that I have attended, during or after a song, screaming, shouting, crying, and speaking in tongues happens, and that seems to just be a result of how gospel music represents religion.

  In Charlotte, Christianity is definitely the prevailing religion. There seems to be an equal amount of Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopalian churches. Each church community seems to have a different idea of what is beautiful in their music. When I go to Liberian churches, the branch of Christianity is either Catholic or Episcopalian and the singing style is more Baptist, but I think that represents how we as Liberians interact with each other rather than the religion.   

   I am a member of the Charlotte Chapter of a nationally renowned choir called the Gospel Music Workshop of America. When we have rehearsals and performances, we bring people to their feet because of the way that we sing. I know that in the black Baptist community, our music is especially touching because we have rhythms under our music but we have meaningful words as well. This type of style is considered beautiful and typical of a predominantly black, Baptist church.