Globalization in Music

Hello,

John here.  Unlike my last blog post, which combined my interest in archaeology with our topic of globalization, this post will focus on something a bit more relevant to the average reader: the impact of globalization on music.

The Birth of an “American” Genre

When someone mentions “American music” today, the term brings to mind a variety of performers, genres, etc.  While thoughts of MTV, American Idol, and performers like Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood, or Train may easily spring to mind, few people will think of the African-American musicians of the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  However, these artists truly deserve credit for developing the first uniquely American music genre: the blues.

During the times of large Southern plantations and vibrant slave trade, music was treated very differently from today.  The upper class white society certainly appreciated music, but as a form of home entertainment rather than artistic expression.  Households typically included at least one pianist, who would perform traditional songs at various gatherings, but the average pianist was not typically a songwriter and could not pursue music as a professional career.  The slaves, however, were sometimes encouraged to pursue music in their limited down-time, as this was considered a simple, inexpensive way to improve worker morale while still demanding long hours of sweat and labor.  This encouragement naturally led to a number of pre-blues traditions like spirituals and work songs, and the Southern Africa-American population retained a tradition of musical expression well after emancipation.  While it is impossible to determine when the first blues songs appeared, it is clear that the musical traditions of American slavery contributed to the emergence of the first truly American genre.

However, the effects of globalization are not a recent phenomenon, and we can see a number of outside influences even in the blues.  While the emergence of the blues was the result of over a century of musical development, a number of “Africanisms” can still be identified in early recordings.  Although African music is commonly associated with the percussive beats of tribal drums, in reality a large number of African traditions prominently feature stringed instruments, a number of which were carried across the Atlantic during the slave trade.  Thus instruments like the banjo or the one-string diddley bow, which were the primary instruments of early blues, were often based on popular instruments used by the musicians’ ancestors.  The original blues musicians also served a very similar role to the African griots, musicians and storytellers who combined an appreciation of oral tradition with a dedication to addressing matters of social relevance in their music.  While modern conceptions of African music have certainly over-emphasized the use of tribal drums, it is also important to acknowledge that the early blues does incorporate very similar percussive styles to those of certain modern-day coastal tribes.

Although the blues is far from the only American genre to be affected by globalization, it presents a very unique case which helps to illustrate the true influence of a globalized culture.  Here we have a genre which developed over a very long period of time, involved a number of newly-developed instruments, represented a new perspective towards the role of music in society, and was performed by musicians who had never lived outside the country, and yet the genre still shows tell-tale signs of global influence. Above I’ve included a link to a video of Jali Nyama Suso, a modern griot whose music displays some of the Africanisms present in the early blues.  A number of common elements between this music and the early blues include a back-and-forth interaction between the vocals and instrumentation, the timbre of the instrument, and the percussive accompaniment.