Both of the readings, “Streams of Tradition: The Sources of Popular Music” and “American Sabor” revolve around the understanding that US American music is a combination of not only other culture’s music, but also music from various genres morphing together. It is not surprising to me that this is the case as the US is a melting pot country. “Streams of Tradition” explained how US Americans “borrowing from diverse musical traditions, have made their own original contributions to humanity’s truly universal language.” As someone who is heavily involved in the hip-hop scene, I see this over and over again with samples from classical or old 50s sounding tunes recreated into a new genre. “American Sabor” connects to this idea of genre bending music by revealing that latin@s have “contributed some of our music’s essential sabor” further showing just how much today’s US music is not only made of various genres, but various cultures as well.
This article also tells us that “we experience ideas, emotions, and physical sensations simultaneously and achieve a kind of understanding that surpasses mere words.” I find this aspect the most compelling in the article because it shows how music is so uniting in the way it ties together so many people despite language barriers or other obstacles that are created through pure speech. Music gives us a new form of communication to connect with each other. I’ve seen this in various reggaeton clubs I have visited in both my time living in the US and Australia. Although many of the people do not speak the language, we all share the same sensations and emotions in a single moment. I have also experienced this as I listen to song such as Sola by Jessie Reyez. The first time I listened, I hardly spoke Spanish. However, I was still moved so heavily by the song by the emotions it evokes rather than my full comprehension of the words.
My song selections:
Mia by Bad Bunny and Drake
Big Spender by ASAP Rocky
Bad Bunny is a good example of mixed genres as well as the Latin influence in music popular in the US. Not only does his song Mia incorporate American artist, Drake, but also fails to fit into one singular genre. As with most of his music, Bad Bunny incorporates trap, reggaeton, hip hop, and bachata into this track. Big Spender by ASAP Rocky samples from Peggy Lee’s hit Big Spender from 1966. He completely changes the genre to incorporate pop and hip-hop elements in his track while keeping some aspects of the extremely jazzy sample. I think this works so well because hip-hop is rooted in jazz from its origin.
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