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Symbolism In A Caged Bird

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Introduction:
The title is a metaphor derived from Maya Angelou’s poem “Caged Bird” to mean the bird which is Bahamian music is throwing itself against the bars of its cage which is metaphorical for the constraints to the inclusiveness of other Bahamian artist under the umbrella of Bahamian music. Bahamian music struggles so much that it begins to bleed and needs to stop, but once its wounds are healed, it tries again. Bahamian music is very persistent for diversity and is just praying, wishing to be free. The cultural forefathers have caged the bird because they have been increasingly frightened at the possibility that the Bahamian culture is quickly becoming a hybrid culture that is being corroded almost daily. This fear could very well …show more content…

The Bahamian cultural forbearers have noticed that Bahamians seem to have a voracious yearning to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ by emulating the fashion, entertainment, and other cultural factors of foreign countries. In short, are Bahamians natural imitators or underrated originators? Bahamian music ancestors may be afraid that The Bahamian culture barely seems to be an expression of our African and European ancestry, appearing instead to be a diluted commodity that is rapidly being beleaguered by an invasion of foreign ideas and attitudes, and prostituted for marketing schemes. It is fair to assert that although the Bahamian culture is what makes one Bahamian, the creativity of Bahamian cultural art forms, such as “our architecture, our relation to the sea, our music, our dances and the original form of Junkanoo” (Gibson, 2008), is buried by the knack to copy everything that’s foreign. It is upon this fundamental background that the creators, the fundamentalist of Bahamian music have decided to “cage” in Bahamian music. The tendency of the Bahamian public is to put Bahamian music in a cage by excluding other sub genres sang by Bahamian artist leaves no doubt as to why younger consumers see the cultural …show more content…

Rousseau’s ideology in his piece on the social contract is directly related to the issue Bahamian music is facing. The importance of viewing Rousseau’s piece through an introspective lens is to allow Bahamians to appreciate that they should possess the freedom in relegating what art forms change and how they do instead of allowing the government (state) to control changes whether or not the people (sovereignty) want it to change. Rousseau really asserted that only the people, in the form of the sovereign have the all-powerful right to legislate; that governments are not sovereign but merely a tool of the people who really comprise the Sovereign, which is the excrete of the general will of the people. A test of any aspect of the social contract is the extent to which the Sovereign body (the people) accepts the status quo. The commands of the rulers may pass for general wills where the Sovereign, even while free to, does not oppose them. Silence is taken to imply acceptance. However, for laws to be heeded they need to be accepted. The aim of the Social Contract is to determine a legitimate political authority. In the Bahamas this authority is the elected Government on the

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