African Diaspora Research Paper

The genre bachata was developed in the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic. This genre was created based on boleros (slow-tempo Latin music), son cubanos, waltzes, Mexican music and merengue. Bachata is well known as love and depressing songs in which many people describe them self with this genre. At one point back in the earlier 1960s, bachata was considered vulgar and low-class. “Acceptance of the music has increased significantly in the last two decades, although some dominicans, both individuals living on the island and stateside, still do not accept the music because of the implication of its lower-class origins and associations with such themes as crime, poverty, drinking, and prostitution’’(Stavans 47). The genre Bachata has spread and grown so quickly for the past few years that is has become very famous in the United States, Europe, China, and South America. The genre bachata is well known to attract people with its lyrics, instruments, and dance since it identifies many people with real life events.

The Kenyan feminist and environmental activist, Wangari Maathai, explores the legacy of colonialism and oppression in her native country through her moving 2006 memoir, Unbowed. Maathai explains that over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Africa experienced a massive influx of white settlers. In an effort to solidify control over recently acquired colonies, many European powers had encouraged large numbers of their ethnically white citizens to make a new home on the African continent. As a result, thousands of native Africans were displaced. Maathai’s ancestors, the Kikuyu and Maasai peoples were among them. The majority of these forced dislocations took

“Cooning” was a TV show or Film usually they act like idiot behavior that misrepresents African American culture. I think idiot because that shows a deliberate act. Many people called “coons.” Yes, I saw some examples today’s culture some white people still discriminate black people. Some white people were enjoying it, and that seems to some people they insulted African- American behaves. African-American got angry. It was not fair at all that behavior. All are good examples.

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art

Hispanic’s music had a great impact in USA. Nowadays, Americans listen to Hispanics’ music. Hispanics’ music now is part of American’s culture. These changes in USA began around of 19th century, when Hispanics immigration increases in the USA. One of the big changes in music occurred around 1940s, when Americans began to recognize the efforts of Cuban-American musicians. One of the Cuban bands was Cugat. It was known better Orchestra ‘based in New York’s Waldorf Astoria’ which had a great visual and musical style. Another Cuban band was Machito who were dominated as one of the best New York’s scenes at that time. Thanks, to those bans Americans adopted some of Cubans’ dances and performances such as rumba, mambo and cumbia. Americans used and still using the Cuban instruments like bongos and maracas to create their rhythms. Later on, Americans created Jazz by African Americans with the influenced of Cuban’s music.

In the 19th Century, Merengue was being introduced in saloons and ballrooms everywhere on the island. However, this new music found its opposition among Europeans at the time. The custom style of dancing at this time was the Tumba, a cultural dance of the time which was danced in groups. The Merengue was embraced and accepted by the Dominican people and evolved within the country according to region. An example of this is the region of the Dominican Republic known as “El Cibao” has taken its influence from merengue and specified it to a particular sound and style influenced by that region a style which has been come to be known as “Perico Ripiao”. This dance eventually came to be revered by many as a sound relative to the Dominican Republic, it showed nationalism and was used to unify Dominicans.

The roots of modern american rock and roll music, are firmly planted in Africa. As the native Africans were torn apart from their family’s and brought to the new world their lives were immediately and drastically changed forever. Finding themselves immersed in a completely new environment with a foreign culture, they thankfully persevered and carried on with their own traditions and most importantly to this paper, musical ones. Most American slaves originated from Western and Central Africa. The West Africans carried a musical tradition rich with long melody lines, complicated rhythms (poly rhythmics) and stringed instruments CITATION. The West Africans music was also strongly integrated into their everyday lives. Songs were preformed for religious ceremonies and dances and music was often a

Each one of these instruments complements Merengue Tipico in a way that no other instrument would. The tambora is a two-headed drum that is more used as a background instrument in Merengue Tipico. It originated in Africa and was brought to the Caribbean by the West African slaves that came to work plantation (Larson, 2017). Moreover, the guira is a percussion instrument that is played by rasping a metal stick against the rough surface of the instrument (Solano, 2017). Also, there is the saxophone, which is one of the last instruments that was added to the Merengue Tipico, and contributes to give a better rhythm to it. The other instrument that is essential in Merengue Tipico is the accordion. This is a musical instrument that has form of a box. It is held and played by pulling the sides apart and then pushing them together while pressing buttons and keys. However, the instruments in Bachata are completely different, except that the guira is also played in Bachata. The instruments used to play bachata are the lead guitar, the segunda guitar, the bass guitar, the bongos, and the güira (Marracco, 2014). The lead guitar, the segunda guitar and the bass guitar are essential to play Bachata. These instruments are the ones that make the most improvisation. Followed by the bongos, which are a pair of single-headed drums that are played with hands and fingers (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017). Overall, Merengue Tipico and

Jazz is a music genre that has complex characteristics and history of development and thus many musicians and scholars face troubles in defining what jazz is. In general, jazz is believed to have born in New Orleans. Jazz developed for the pleasure of the social dancers. According to the “Understanding Jazz: What Is Jazz?” of John F. Kennedy center for the Performing Arts, Jazz was created mainly by Afro-Americans, and had elements of European and Afro-American culture. Also, it emphasizes few elements of Jazz, which are swing-feel, syncopation, and improvisation. These different culture and elements of jazz may be explained by how jazz

Many of the modern Cuban music comes from Europe and Africa. There are very few native traditions as it is Cuban music now consist of a mixture of African and European music. The paths with African music crossed when the Africans would work on large plantations and the Spanish would be on small farms. The Africans made many percussion instruments and rhythms that fit the new instruments well. The Spanish saw the innovation of the Africans and made the guitar as their contribution to the musical style of hard laborers. The Europeans gave the Spanish the idea to combine music styles and express it in a visual form, more commonly known as notes.

Question one is what is the African diaspora? (Who should be considered in the African diaspora? How is this like the black Atlantic and how is it different?). Students should use the Colin Palmer piece to answer this question.

Music has been around since the beginning. It is considered an important part and symbol of traditions and cultures. Despite the long history of music, it was not until the 1920’s when a genre emerged that was the first to originate from black individuals on the streets, be made by the working-class, and feature traditional African instruments (Moore 89). This genre was Son. Son music began in eastern Cuba and then slowly spread across the nation as individuals migrated to find opportunities or got called into duty in the Cuban military. Eventually, the music was spread across Cuba and Havana became known as the center for Son music. The spread of Son music went further than just Cuba – it became a worldwide phenomenon. Considering Son music incorporated various African traditions, the genre was not able to bring full racial equality and faced many challenges when being promoted in Cuba.

Latin American music arrived shortly after the arrival of Columbus. With the merging of different cultures into the new world, new music was created into what we know as Latin American music. Some music that was brought to American includes; Samba, Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Timba, Latin Pop, Rock en Español, and the Tango (Quintana, 2013, Para 8-12). Latin American music is very colorful just like the dance that comes with it.

In simple terms, the Diaspora as a concept, describes groups of people who currently live or reside outside the original homelands. We will approach the Diaspora from the lenses of migration; that the migration of people through out of the African continent has different points of origin, different patterns and results in different identity formations. Yet, all of these patterns of dispersion and germination/ assimilation represent formations of the Diaspora. My paper will focus on the complexities of the question of whether or not Africans in the Diaspora should return to Africa. This will be focused through the lenses of the different phases in the Diaspora.

“The true beauty of music is that it connects people. It carries a message, and we the musicians are the messengers”. Music has been the source of comfort for many people around the world who are battling hardships; it helps connect people who share similar experiences and aspire to share the same message together. In the Caribbean region, they all shared some fundamental experiences; in particular, the history of slavery. Enslaved people suffered extreme punishments, diseases, poverty, and rape. Their identities were stripped away from them and they were treated as a property of the European owners. In the twentieth century, after slavery has been finally eradicated, the aboriginals were weary of discrimination and the horrific living conditions they still suffered post-independence. Therefore, they decided to fight for their rights to speak and voice an opinion. In the Anglo-Caribbean region, music played a major part in people’s lives. The Caribbean people turned to Black Nationalism and began practicing their own spiritual beliefs and voicing their opinions to send a message through their songs and music. “Nations in Latin America were beginning a process of rapid urbanization. Cultural nationalism was widespread and expressed itself in musical nationalism” . Music developed greatly after independence, art forms like Reggae, diaspora, Samba, Tango, and Calypso that were established in the twentieth century are still practiced and celebrated today all around the world.