Wow, I never thought I ever live to see the day where I am going to blog about politics and music. This has got to be a dream or I must be hallucinating that my assignment is to read to articles about music with political themes. Oh well, here goes nothing!
The first article I read was ROOTS ‘n’ RAP (here’s the link: http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/calypso.html) which is, if you haven’t paused to click on the link and read the article, over artists in Trinidad creating music about the government oppression/unfairness. This type of music in Trinidad is called Calypso, which is basically rap with sick beats and rhythm (please YouTube it!) Furthermore, the music also talks about the Trinidadian’s hatred towards the white people. Funny thing is the white people who the Trinidadian’s hate enjoy their songs. I guess when you don’t understand the lyrics and just lose yourself to the rhythm of the music, the meaning of the song doesn’t matter anymore.
The second article Should Music Be Political (Link: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/until-the-next-revolution/) also talks about music with political themes. Okay, I just got to throw this out there. In the beginning the writer mentioned that he or she did not realize before classical music could be political. Classical music has been political for a while, for example, the 1930s when America was going through depression songs such as Appalachian Springs by Aaron Copland were created to call civilians to action. Those songs were to get people to ‘talk’ (not so much talking… just thought it’d be a nice way to say it) to the government and have them improve living conditions, pull the country out of depression, and bring happiness. Now getting back on track, the writer questioned how music can be political. In my perspective, music can be political just depends on the artist who created the masterpiece. The artist, especially those who sing can come up with lyrics that talk about how the government is doing nothing about poverty or what not.
I’m done with the summary now since I made it so long, I’m going to make my reflection/reaction short and sweet. I personally don’t mind music that are political, heck I enjoy some like BYOB by System of a Down. Please YouTube this song for those who do not know the band nor heard the song. Sorry I’m just too lazy to post the link… eh… I’ll post the link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkf45_OW3h8)
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