Puerto Rican Music and Its Significance
Spanish music didn’t mean a thing to me growing up, nor did Puerto Rican musicians. I remember listening to Spanish music and not understanding a word that the artists would sing about, but I do remember dancing on my father’s feet to the beat. Though I was a little off beat and stumbling over my feet, I had a great time trying to move. We generally listened to various artists on special occasions, in the car while sight seeing the suburbs and after church on Sundays. Though I dreaded to listen to Spanish music, I had no choice but to because my parents always did. I detested Spanish music in my younger years because I lacked the knowledge of the language. I never realized that Spanish music had a great influence on the Puerto Rican population. As Glasser mentioned, she herself was in the process of just beginning to learn about Spanish music, as I am in the process of. She states, "My Spanish needed a great deal of work, and my musical training was minimal" (p.xviii, Glasser).
As a Puerto Rican American I couldn’t understand why Spanish music was such a big deal to my parents and other family members? Now that I’m a bit older, I still don’t understand why Latin music brings out the Puerto Ricanness in the Puerto Rican community. But after reading "My Music Is My Flag" by Ruth Glasser, I found that Puerto Rican music is so important to the Puerto Rican community because Spanish music links us with our history and has been apart of our culture from the beginning of the Spanish ruling. As I elaborate on the questions listed below, I will also try to fit this paper into the perspective of my life and how Spanish music and Puerto Rican musicians affected me growing up. The questions are as follows:
1. How did Puerto Rican culture evolve during the first decade of American rule as
experienced through Puerto Rican musicians in the United States?
2. How was Puerto Rican popular culture experienced within the island and the Diaspora?
3. And how was Puerto Rican identity and culture expressed through music?
Puerto Ricans musicians had to start somewhere and somehow so they began with a well-mannered protest, in the following objective. "But Governor, that’s not what the law provides for or what we desire: we want to establish a music school where Puerto Ricans can develop there artistic talents, in the highest sense, and according to the standards established in foreign conservatories.
Many of their fans have crossed the border illegally, or have relatives that have done so. The song goes into saying, “Mis hijos son grandes y no les entiendo-- no hablan español,” translating into “My children are grown but I do not understand them-- they do not speak Spanish,” (1:14). A study done by the Pew Research Center reveals that the number of Latinos in the United States that speak Spanish is slowly decreasing (Krogstad and Lopez), which shows that this is an all too real issue facing those among the Latino community. This particular occurrence is becoming too common for many families because as they push to fit into the American way of living, their roots may sometimes get lost in translation. It is one thing to not be able to properly communicate with your children, but it is another to not be able to talk to them because of a language
The debate on Puerto Rican Identity is a hot bed of controversy, especially in today’s society where American colonialism dominates most of the island’s governmental and economic policies. The country wrestles with the strong influence of its present day colonizers, while it adamantly tries to retain aspects of the legacy of Spanish colonialism. Despite America’s presence, Puerto Ricans maintain what is arguably their own cultural identity which seems largely based on the influence of Spain mixed with customs that might have developed locally.
In this story, the reader can see exactly how, many Puerto Ricans feel when living on other grounds. Throughout this time, the boy that Rodriguez presents us realizes he has his culture and that he wants to preserve it as much as he can. “Because I’m Puerto Rican”. I ain’t no American. And I’m not a Yankee flag-waver”
Overall, this is really a good experience for me to participate in this interdisciplinary project. I like the implications under it, because this is a meaningful project. It is concerned about not only the Delaware River, but also us all.
I decided to analyze the poem English con Salsa by Gina Valdes, because I can identify myself with this poem in many different aspects. Both my parents and I were born in Mexico, but decided to move to the United States on February of 2000. With us moving here, we brought along our traditions and customs. My family has a blend of American culture with Latino culture since a few of my uncles married American women and had children. I feel that Valdes poem is about finding that “in between” feelings that are brought up when two cultures are mixed together.
Osteoarthritis is a disease that affects the joints and it is the most common type of arthritis. Evidence shows that the majority of the people affected are the over 60 (S. R 2006) This disease damages the surfaces of the joints stopping it from moving as smoothly as it should. The disease can also be referred to as osteoarthrosis or degenerative joint tissues. Osteoarthritis is more common in women than men but the prevalence
Throughout the experiences I have been through, such as meeting proud Latin kids in school and reading about the experiences of other Latinos, I am proud to say that I am Puerto Rican. I will teach the future generation about our culture, including traditions and customs. My children may not have the opportunity to read about well-known Latinos in school, but I will make sure they learn about prominent scholars, such as Jose Marti and Rigoberta Menchu. Also, speaking Spanish is very important because our culture is based on the language. After all, one day the official language of Puerto Rico might change to English. However, we can't forget our roots, or where we came from. Even though I was born in America, I am Puerto Rican.
To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there were very obvious differences in their culture and the one that I belong. Mexican-American culture identifies with their family rather than individualized or spiritual identities and the culture has gone through significant changes because of discrimination and the changing demographics of the United States.
Music is “The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre” ( Farlex, Inc 2013). Caribbean music has its own unique history, is very diverse with each island having its own unique genre of music. With so many different types of music out there and different performing artists these artists are looking for ways to make money by becoming popular.
After failure events occur, the attribution theory further suggests that interviewees have poorer performance and discouraging emotions (shame) if they attribute the events to uncontrollable factors. Consequently, they get low self-esteem, which is a behaviour making interviewees believe that their failures make a statement about their personal self-worth, eventually leading to fewer job offers. However, if the attributions (about failure events) are made to controllable factors, interviewees have improved performance and more positive emotions (hope). They therefore get high self-esteem, which is a behaviour allowing interviewees to get supe...
In Arabic, the word Islam represents,” submission to the will of god”. Muslims or followers of the Islamic religion believe in their one god, Allah or “Almighty God”. The Qur’an is their most important scripture; it contains messages sent from God to Muhammad (God’s messenger). The Islamic religion is a way of life for the Muslims and teaches them to be kind, respectful, and selfless. All Muslims are seen as equal before God and each other. About 23% of the world is Muslim, which shows that Islam is a widespread and accepted religion.
With 1.5 billion followers worldwide, the religion of Islam is the second most popular religion over the entire globe, and follows a strict set of rules derived from the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, a messenger of God, or Allah. Founded in 622 C.E. (also known as A.D.) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion that drew inspiration from earlier religions like Christianity and Judaism. It is divided into three different sections- the Sunni, Shi’a and Sufi sects. The Qur’an is the holy book of Islam, and is considered the unaltered word of Allah. All followers of Islam adhere to many high standards of living and daily practices meant to better their lives like The Twelve Imams, among others. Islam brings together many different aspects of peaceful and devoted living that bring together the billions of followers to one family.
Islam is one of the world's greatest monotheistic religions. The followers of Islam are known as Muslims, and they believe in God, Allah. The word "Islam" is an Arabic word that means "submitting and surrendering your will to Almighty God.” The word comes from the same root as the Arabic word "salam” which means peace. Islam is the religion of about one and half billion people in the world. It is the second largest in the number of followers after Christianity. I chose this religion as a topic of my research paper because at high school in my world history class I read few things about this religion like God is one, men can have four wives, etc and those sound interesting to me, so I want to learn more about this religion.
Islam is currently the world’s second-largest religion, with more than 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide. Although there are currently fewer Muslims than Christians, Islam is growing at a rate that is nearly twice that of Christianity. The main beliefs of the Islamic religion include the belief in one and only God, Allah. The main objective for those of Muslim faith is to abide by Allah’s will in hopes of a favorable outcome on the Day of Judgement—the day when every human’s life will be assessed to determine if they may go to heaven, or be eternally punished in hell.
Religion is an important factor in many lives in today’s society. A particular western religion that is taken very seriously by many is known as Islam. Essentially, Islam means “submission”, or in other words a person is to abide by God and peace will follow. In order to comprehend the Islamic religion, it is consequential to view the major themes associated with this religion. By going through the central themes of Islam it could help others comprehend what is involved with this specific religion.