Afram 337 Blog Post 4

Ludwig Hurtado and Laina Dawes both discuss the perceived histories of certain communities and the contrasting realities in their works. Hurtado, in his piece, "Country Music is also Mexican Music," calls out the perception that many people have about country music being white and stemming from white people. However, as Hurtado says in his article, this is not historically accurate; "What Trump failed to note was that without Mexican culture, the beloved American genre might never have existed. We take for granted that country music sounds white, looks white, and in many ways, is white. But country music's origins are far from white, and the perceived whiteness of American country music was a deliberate construction by the recording industry during the Jim Crow era" (Hurtado). Here Hurtado exhibits that our perceptions are not the reality. This relates to Dawes' "Finally, Filmmakers Tell the Forgotten History of Seattle DIY Self-Defense Group Home Alive," in which Dawes interviews filmmakers Rozz Therrien and Leah Michaels. The interview discusses the rape and murder of Mia Zapata in which Michaels says, "We found that it was really weird, like there was this lack of history talked about that no one of our generation knew about" (Dawes). In Michaels' statement we see a similar theme that was in Hurtado's article-- history appearing differently than reality. While Michaels' point is related to a much different subject than Hurtado's, both are connected in the fact that the histories of marginalized communities are often perceived in ways that stray from their realities due to systematic marginalization.



DJ Selections:

WAY OFF by YT Suns
https://open.spotify.com/track/1Vf1m5x4FvKVbeMTLN3fJN

LAST NIGHT by YT Suns
https://open.spotify.com/track/3GUHPY5C6tfW44fPnf0p7H

Ludwig Hurtado's "Country Music is also Mexican Music" discusses the history of country music and how mexican culture and sound developed the American country genre. YT Suns does something similar to what Hurtado discusses, mixing the sounds of their various cultures into widely recognized genres. While their songs as a whole fit within the genres of rap, hip-hop, and R&B; they also mix in the sounds of the Caribbean, Spanish, and British/American folk. The stylistic addition of instruments like the mandolin, the charango, steelpans, and more creates a sound which embodies reggae, pop, folk, rap, and soul into a conversation of cultural harmony. YT Suns' unique sound demonstrates how embedding culture within music is challenging the definition of genres, going outside of the boxes genres impose to begin with.