Assignment: GLOBAL POP
WEST AFRICA: NIGERIA AND GHANA
• What historical factors, as discussed in lecture, helped shape West African popular music?
• What is palmwine music, where did it develop, and who introduced its characteristic guitar picking technique?
• Koo Nimo and Kwaa Mensah are associated with what genre of music?
• To what kinds of music did West African palmwine and military band music respectively give birth?
• What musical influences from outside the African continent helped to shape West African highlife music?
• Who was E.T. Mensah and what was his contribution to West African popular music?
• How did James Brown's style of soul/funk influence West African popular music?
• What are the defining musical characteristics of Gyedu Blay Ambolley's style of Afro-funk as shown in the listening example "Simigwa do"?
• What are the defining musical characteristics of Fela Kuti's Afrobeat genre as shown in your listening example "Zombie"?
• What is hiplife? What genres does it blend?
• How does Reggie Rockstone's "Keep Your Eyes on the Road" incorporate elements of old and new, local and global? What does the video say about hiplifers' image of themselves?
• How does Obrafour da Executioner differ from Rockstone and other emcees in his approach to hiplife?
• What was Mzbel's "16 years" about and why was it controversial? What message do you think she was trying to convey with the song and video?
• What are the defining musical characteristics of Rocky Dawuni's Afro-roots style as shown in your listening example "African Thriller"?
• What about the circumstances of Rocky Dawuni's upbringing enabled him to become well versed both in local Ghanaian cultures and international popular culture?
• How did Rocky Dawuni discover reggae music and why did he decide to devote his career to that genre of music?
JAMAICA AND U.K.
• What is "liberation theology" and what part does it play in Rastafarianism and reggae music?
• What are the key elements and tenants of the Rastafarian religious movement?
• Who are Marcus Garvey and Emperor Haile Selassie and why are they significant to Rastafarianism and reggae music?
• What is the name commonly given to Rastafarian drumming and chanting?
• What is mento music and what are its primary cultural sources?
• What is the name of the band that claims to be the originator of ska?
• In general terms, how did ska music develop out of American rhythm ‘n' blues "R&B"? What are the dominant musical characteristics of ska as discussed in your listening examples?
• Who was Desmond Dekker and why was he important to the development of Jamaican popular music?
• What are the defining elements of Jamaican "rudeboy" culture? With what genre of Jamaican popular music is it most closely associated?
• Why is the Jimmy Cliff film The Harder They Come culturally significant?
• What sets roots reggae apart - musically, politically, and spiritually - from earlier forms of Jamaican popular music?
• Who was Bob Marley and what were his contributions to Jamaican popular music?
• Who is Lee "Scratch" Perry and what were his contributions to Jamaican popular music?
• Who was King Tubby and what were his contributions to Jamaican popular music?
• What is a Jamaican "sound system"? What was the role of the Jamaican deejay (e.g., King Stitt and U-Roy)?
• Why were the "B-sides" of reggae records important to the development of dub?
• What musical technologies and techniques were used to transform reggae music into dub?
• What is the difference between dub music and dub poetry?
• What role have British Jamaicans played in the global diffusion of reggae?
• Why is the British reggae band Steel Pulse significant?
• How did Jamaican sound systems and the practice of deejaying and "toasting" contribute to the birth of hip-hop in New York City?
SOUTH ASIA: BOLLYWOOD AND BHANGRA
• What is hybridity/hybridization?
• How do the film East and West (Purab aur Pachhim) and the band Rhythm Dhol Bass (RDB) represent, respectively, "anxious" versus "optimistic" attitudes towards cultural mixing in the South Asian diaspora?
• Why was Indian silent film modeled after the folk theater? What qualities/elements of folk drama were incorporated into early Indian film?
• Why did filmi (popular film songs) become so important with the advent of talkies/sound films?
• Bollywood refers to the film industry of what city?
• Who is Lata Mangeshkar and why is she important?
• What is a "playback singer"?
• How did the decision to market film songs as independent products change the role of music in Indian film during the late 90s/early 2000s?
• Who is A.R. Rahman and why is he important?
• What Hindu and Sufi devotional genres are used in Indian film?
• The music featured in the film Sant Tukaram reflects what Indian religion and what musical genre?
• The Hindu deity Krishna is associated with what musical instrument?
• Where did bhangra music come from, what was its original function, and what are the names of its three key musical instruments?
• Who is Muhammad Ayub and how is he significant to the development of bhangra in the U.K.?
• Who is the band Alaap and why are they important?
• Who is Sheila Chandra and what does she view as her biggest challenges as a British pop artist of Indian descent?
• What genres does Panjabi MC blend in "Mundian to Bach Ke"?
• What is Bollywood-remix? What genres of music does it blend?
• How does the music/video of Bally Sagoo's remix "Aap ki Nazron ne Samjha" represent elements of new and old India? For what film was the original song composed?
• Who is Apache Indian and what is his contribution to South Asian popular music?
• What is Asian Underground and who is credited with inventing and naming this genre?
• What is Bhangra-remix? What genres of music does it blend?
• According to Sunaina Maira, in what ways does participation in the culture of Bhangra-remix pose opportunities for and challenges to South Asian identity formation in the diaspora? How does this differ for men and women?
• Who is Suhail Yusuf Khan, what instrument does he play, and what in what genres/styles of music does he perform?
• How does Suhail Yusuf Khan approach the blending of Indian classical music with rock and electronic music?
BRAZIL
• What is the myth of "racial democracy" and what has been its impact on music in Brazil?
• What was the contribution of Oswald de Andrade's "Cannibalist Manifesto" to artistic modernism in Brazil?
• In what context and for what purpose is Candomble music performed?
• What is afoxe?
• What is capoeira and why is it important to black Brazilian identity?
• What is samba de roda and what are its key characteristics?
• What is the name of the Euro-Brazilian two-step dance that preceded samba as the country's national dance?
• List the name, date, and composer of the first commercially recorded samba.
• Around what time period and where did samba schools come into being? What types of instruments do they feature and what social and musical purposes do they serve?
• What social and cultural factors led to samba's transformation from a regional to a national music?
• Who was Carmen Miranda, in what historical context did she emerge, and what did she represent to Americans and Brazilians, respectively?
• Who were Ismael Silva and Noel Rosa and why was their relationship important?
• Who are Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil and what are their contributions to Brazilian popular music?
• What were the key characteristics of the Tropicalia movement? On what musical and cultural sources did it draw?
• What social and musical factors led to the emergence of blocos-afros (Afro- blocks/black carnival groups) like Ile-Aiye and Olodum?
• What is samba-reggae and who created it?
EGYPT
• What were Umm Kulthum's primary contributions to Egyptian popular music and culture?
• What about Umm Kulthum's life story, musical talents, self-presentation, and social position led to her acceptance as a national figure - as a singer who was "as Egyptian as the pyramids"?
• What was actor/singer/composer Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab contribution to Egyptian popular music?
• What is the difference, other than size, between a takht (small ensemble) and firqa (orchestra) like the one Umm Kulthum used?
• What is maqam?
• What is iqa' ?
• What is tarab and what techniques did Umm Kulthum use to generate tarab in her musical performances?
• What are the key musical and social differences between mainstream and independent Arab pop music?
• Who was Sayyid Darwish and how did his music and poetry influence the protest music of the Egyptian uprising of 2011?
• Who is Ramy Essam and what was his role in the Egyptian uprising of 2011?
• What is mahragan (festival) music?
• How do mahragan artists differ from the uprising's independent artists in their social critique and in their attitude towards the uprising of 2011?
CAMBODIA
• What significance does the ancient Khmer Empire have to popular Cambodian artists today, i.e., what does it represent to them?
• In what ways do popular musicians today most commonly reference or symbolize the culture of the Khmer Empire?
• Who was Norodom Sihanouk and what role did he play in the birth of Cambodian popular music?
• Who were (by name) the "big three" of 1960s-70s Cambodian pop/rock?
• In what kind of political environment did Cambodian rock n' roll emerge in the 1960s? How did that change with the rise of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975?
• What were the musical influences on Cambodian rock n' roll of the 1960s?
• What musical characteristics make Cambodian rock n' roll different from its Western counterpart?
• Why is the band Dengue Fever significant, i.e., what are their unique achievements?
• How does the band Dengue Fever, through their album cover art and their music, do "memory work" - that is, in what ways do they memorialize or reimagine Cambodia's lost era of rock n' roll?
• Who is Laura Mam and why do so many Cambodian Americans identify with her video, "Sva Rom Monkiss"?
• Who is PraCh and what are his contributions to Cambodian/Cambodian- American music and culture?
• Who are CS and Yung Tee (a.k.a. Tee Cambo)? Why do they use the term "Cambo" to identify themselves?
KOREA: K-POP
• What was the cultural impact of media liberalization in Korea in the late 1980s and early 1990s?
• What role has Korean TV played in the success of K-pop throughout East Asia?
• What does the term "soft power" mean relative to Korea's dominance of mass media in East Asia?
• What characterizes the musical genre known as "trot" and on what musical sources does it draw?
• T'ong guitar music and the norae undong song movement of the 1970s and 80s were responses to what political conditions? From what American musical movement did it take inspiration?
• Who is Kim Min-ki and why was his music banned?
• Why is Sin Jung-hyun important to Korean popular music (hint: he introduced the electric guitar)
• What characterizes the genre of kugak fusion?
• Who is Seo Taiji and what contributions has he made to K-pop?
• Seo Taiji's songs "Classroom Ideology" and "Come Back Home" draw on what American musical genres and address what social issues?
• What elements of music and dance make up the "DNA" of K-pop?
• What is "cultural technology" and who coined the term?
• What is SM Entertainment and why is it important?
• What does "perfect localization" mean as a business strategy in K-pop? How does idol group EXO realize this strategy in their song/video "Mama"?
• How does the idol group Girls Generation (SNSD) reflect SM Entertainment's cultural technology model and its strategy of "perfect localization"?
• How do entertainment agencies like JYP and YG differ from SM in their approach to working with artists?
• How do artists like Rain and PSY differ in their approaches from the more mainstream industry-driven groups?
• Name the main types of K-pop fan activity, as outlined in Sun Jung's article.
CUBA
• How did West African Yoruba culture influence Cuban sacred music?
• What is santeria and what musical instruments does it feature?
• What is rumba, what instruments does it feature, and what do the dances symbolize?
• What instruments are featured in Cuban son and what are its key musical characteristics?
• What formal elements of rumba influenced the son? (Hint: two-part form with poetic verses in the first section and improvised playing and singing in the second).
• Who was Arsenio Rodriguez and what musical contributions did he make to the development of son?
• What was the impact of the Cuban Revolution of 1959 on Cuban music and musicians?
• What is the relationship between the danzon, cha-cha-cha, and mambo?
• Who are the key figures of New York City mambo? (Bauza, Machito, Puente, Rodriguez)
• Where and when did salsa develop? What record label is most closely associated with the emergence of salsa? What are its key musical characteristics?
• What story does Ry Cooder's album and film Buena Vista Social Club tell about Cuban music?
• What are the main criticisms of Ry Cooder's narrative? What stories and political realities are left out of Ry Cooder's narrative?
• What was the impact of Cuba's "special period" - the era that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union - on Cuban music and musicians?
• What musical genre does the group Orishas perform, and what is their significance to the history of Cuban popular music?
MEXICO: MARIACHI
• Where did mariachi originate and in what regional genre is it rooted?
• What is son jarocho and where did it originate?
• Who is credited with recording the first mariachi in 1907?
• Who is Mariachi Vargas and what is their contribution to mariachi music?
• Who is Lola Beltrán and with what genre of Mexican regional music is she primarily associated?
• What is canción ranchera and what are its musical influences?
• Who is Jose Alfredo Jimenez and what were his musical contributions?
• Who is Nati Cano and what was his contribution to mariachi music in the United States?
• What changes did mariachi go through in the United States that made it more open to the participation of women?
• Who were mariachi Las Rancheritas and why are they significant?
• Who is Rebecca González and why is she important?
• How does Pérez, in her essay, describe the contradictions she faces between the perceived "masculine" character of mariachi and traditional Chicana gender roles? How has being a mariachi changed her perception and experience of being a Chicana woman?