American music and films have a powerful impact on cultures that are different from American popular culture. American films and music can be used by non-American audiences to express values and attitudes whether it is personal, political, or social. In Malik Bendjelloul’s documentary Searching for Sugar Man, Bendjelloul explains how a group of individuals searched for an untraceable and unknown American songwriter and singer named Sixto Rodriguez who became an icon to the white youth in South Africa. With his profound ability to discuss corruption in government and promote social movement through music, Rodriguez unknowingly inspired white South African youths to resists to apartheid between 1970 and 1990.
A system of institutionalized racial segregation in South Africa called apartheid was in effect from 1948 till 1991 under an all-white political organization known as the National Party. The
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National Party feared the idea of majority rule since blacks were the majority of the population in South Africa. Once the National Party seized control of the government, they enforced new laws to help sustain apartheid such as placing blacks Americans in reserves, making interracial marriage illegal, and requiring people to hold a pass that identified their race. Non-whites were also required to use separate facilities, had no unions and no political power in the government. The National Party isolated South Africa from anything that could jeopardize apartheid by banning any form of media that could cause South Americans to oppose their system, including Rodriguez’s music, to be aired. Although Rodriguez’s music was not popular in the United States, his album Cold Fact was appealing to white South African youth because Rodriguez had similar views about government authority and relatable concerns about the state of the United States as the youth in South Africa had for their own country. Rodriguez’s music vocalized a message that suggested to be anti-establishment. In Rodriguez's song “This Is Not a Song It’s An Outburst: Or the Establishment Blues,” Rodriguez sings about political corruption and neglecting the People, pollution, and mafia warfare. At one point in the song Rodriguez sings: Woke up this morning with an ache in my head I splashed on my clothes as I spilled out of bed I open the window to listen to the news But all I head was the Establishment Blues This excerpt can be related back to how the National Party controlled the media by implementing laws that enforced progressive propaganda to be banned in South Africa.
In another song called “I Wonder” Rodriguez brings up questions regarding war and hate towards each other which related deeply to what was happening in South Africans regarding their race. Bands in South Africa who admired Rodriguez would perform covers of his songs which also caused white youth to grow an interest in his music. Another reason that white youth was interested in Rodriguez’s music was that South Africa was highly conservative and listening to Rodriguez’s songs was a form of rebellion that not even the government had complete control over. Famous songs that are sung by Rodriguez such as “Sugar Man” and “I Wonder” suggested drug use and sex which were inappropriate conversations to have according to conservatives. In the documentary, a woman from a radio station shows that the stations were required to scratch out controversial songs from the records to prevent them from being played on the
air. South Americans heard the various ways Rodriguez had falsely committed suicide and since there was no trace of him in the United States fans became more curious to know who he was. It is clear in the lyrics of some of his songs that he was passionate about politics and social issues that were occurring in the world during the time he wrote his songs and would discover later in the documentary that he spoke out as a representative for the working class in Detroit where he lives. During the interview he has within the documentary, he talks about his life while working on the albums he produced and what he did after he stopped producing music. He advocates for the rights of the working class since he does hire labor as his job and participated in protests which later influenced him to run for mayor of Detroit twice. Although he never won either of the terms he never stopped representing his community. Rodriguez has the will to continue to fight for his social values and beliefs regardless if he fails countlessly which is a quality I personally value. Although Rodriguez did not know for the longest time that he was famous in South Africa, I believe that he still managed to achieve the American Dream. In the documentary, Rodriguez explains that in Detroit, where he lives in a lower-income neighborhood, people have low expectations on improving their lives and believe that their fate is already sealed. Rodriguez believes in the idea that we make our own destiny and received a bachelor's arts degree in philosophy. Rodriguez also taught this lesson to his two daughters by traveling to places outside of the city and going to the library to educate themselves. Although Rodriguez continues to live in the same neighborhood in Detroit, he represents that success and prosperity are not always found in materialistic items, but in wisdom and knowledge.
To illustrate how the social environment determined ‘The Politics of Plagiarism,” an article written by Jeff Stark exploring how Tom Zé’s unusual music is a result from the flourishing civil society in Brazil and the collective critique of capitalism. During this time period, the Tropicália movement was “set against injustice, restrictive sexuality and a military dictatorship.” Therefore, songs that protested against the state and that claimed freedom rights was the perfect environment for artists such as Zè or Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. These artists then used music as a tool for creating “a genre of music loosely based on the idea of marrying native sounds with foreign influences or music from other cultures.” Similarly, Professor Ramsey’s ‘I will Forever Remain Faithful” also illustrates how social environment can impact individuals and encourage them to embrace Lil Wayne’s music. When Ramsey points out that he “had a student who would rap a Lil Wayne line if he didn't know the answer to a question”, he shows the fact that the rapper himself had become a part of everyday life. Especially, when "On New Orleans radio, it seems like nearly every song features Lil
Released in 1997, Buena Vista Social Club immediately became an international success and won a Grammy Award in 1998. Around the world, especially in U.S. where the album was welcomed most heartily, Ry Cooder was considered the hero of Cuban music (Hernandez 65). Being the producer of the album, Cooder was assumed to discover a “lost treasure” in Cuban culture. However, Tanya Kateri Hernandez, in an article about Buena Vista Social Club, revealed that Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, not Cooder, was the person “who masterminded and facilitated the collaboration.” (Hernandez 62). Also in this article, it is noted that Juan de Marcos Gonzalez “implicitly acquiesced to Cooder’s propagation of the colonial myth for the purpose of ensuring the commercial success of the collaboration.” (Hernandez 64). Other musicians in the Buena Vista Social Club ensemble followed Gonzalez’s step, as there was hardly another choice for them.
Moreover, the task at hand is not one that is easily accomplished. In order for music to be a hit, it had to be a hit within the white community. The ...
The story of the birth of rock ‘n’ roll has a mythical quality to it. It speaks of racial barriers bridged through the fusion of Afro-American musical styles with white popular music in 1950s America. Not only did white record producers and radio disc jockeys market Afro-American artists, but white artists began to cover their songs, as well as incorporate Afro-American style into their own song writing. The musical style was so powerful that the white audience was infected by it, despite the social stigma that listening to “race music” possessed. The common view of teenagers’ participation in the creation of rock ‘n’ roll as an act of rebellion runs parallel with the music’s legendary origins. Through rock ‘n’ roll, the teenagers of the United States created a generational gap that angered their parents’ generation. Teenagers rejected kitchy Tin Pan Alley, “Sing Along with Mitch,” and the sleepy crooning of Perry Como in favour of sexually charged race music. Historians have taken different approaches to the question of teen rebellion. While some consider their love of rock ‘n’ roll revolutionary, others argue that the music cemented teenagers within the conformity and materialism of the 1950s; what cars were to adults, rock ‘n’ roll was to teens.[1]
The difference is that this segregation was not just between whites and blacks; it was among whites, and all the other races. The races were broken up into four categories: whites, Africans, Asians, and coloreds. How the people lived in South Africa depended on the race the person was. Everything was affected from education, employment, medical care and even where that person lived depended on their race. The apartheid was established to keep up white dominance in this country.
In the 1500’s through the 1700’s there were extravagant amounts of ships exporting the continent of Africa. Ships carrying cargo so precious and vital that it shaped the world forever. Millions and millions of slaves from all over the continent of Africa were being shipped over to Brazil and Cuba. There are many similarities and differences in slavery terms between Brazil and Cuba, primarily focusing on agricultural production. Sugar production was very important during this time, both Brazil and Cuba proposed in this production. The two countries shared more similarities in terms of the production of agriculture and what they used the slaves for. They had more differences as far as the history of their slavery production.
In South Africa between the years of 1948 to 1991 there was a political system called apartheid. Apartheid is the segregation of race meaning black people and other racial groups did not have the same rights as whites did. Two short stories were written in the apartheid era, Mrs. Plum by Mphahlete and Closed for Business by Ossendryver. These short stories have many similarities but also several differences.
The music of the 1960’s served as the voice of millions and was a large contributor to the revolution that was about to occur during the decade. This was a time of rebellion, when the young people of the country questioned everything ...
Early 1960s, a mix Caribbean musical style of jazz, rhythm-and-blues, soul and calypso surfaced from the cultural setting of the urban underclass of Kingston, Jamaica, then later gained ground in Africa in the 80s. Public opinion about African reggae artists is that, they are either illiterate or abuse illegal substances. While such stereotypes hold true for some, here is a man whose career has broken the barriers of such stereotypes with a career of pre–and post–‘born again.’
African-American music is a vibrant art form that describes the difficult lives of African American people. This can be proven by examining slave music, which shows its listeners how the slaves felt when they were working, and gives us insight into the problems of slavery; the blues, which expresses the significant connection with American history, discusses what the American spirit looks like and teaches a great deal from the stories it tells; and hip-hop, which started on the streets and includes topics such as misogyny, sex, and black-on-black violence to reveal the reactions to the circumstances faced by modern African Americans. First is about the effect of slave music on American history and African American music. The slave music’s
Nelson Mandela’s commitment to politics and the ANC grew stronger after the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner dominated National Party, which formed a formal system of racial classification and segregation “apartheid” which restricted non whites basic rights and barred them from government.
South Africa’s racial problems began when the white people came and discovered South Africa with its black population. The white people wanted power because there were many fewer whites than blacks. The only way to achieve that was to change the government around so that only white people had political power. The three terms that were used to describe racial groups under the system of apartheid were European, Native and Coloured.
South Africa really began to suffer when apartheid was written into the law. Apartheid was first introduced in the 1948 election that the Afrikaner National Party won. The plan was to take the already existing segregation and expand it (Wright, 60). Apartheid was a system that segregated South Africa’s population racially and considered non-whites inferior (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Apartheid was designed to make it legal for Europeans to dominate economics and politics (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”).
The apartheid was a very traumatic time for blacks in South Africa. Apartheid is the act of literally separating the races, whites and non-whites, and in 1948 the apartheid was now legal, and government enforced. The South African police began forcing relocations for black South Africans into tribal lines, which decreased their political influence and created white supremacy. After relocating the black South Africans, this gave whites around eighty percent of the land within South Africa. Jonathan Jansen, and Nick Taylor state “The population is roughly 78 percent black, 10 percent white, 9 percent colored, and l...
Apartheid is a word that means ‘separation’ in Afrikaans which is a spoken language in southern Africa. Apartheid was used in the twentieth century for racial segregation and political and economic discrimination in the late 1940’s . This is the separation between the blacks, coloured, and white South Africans. The apartheid in South Africa displays racial inequalities by having the twenty percent of whites rule over the majority of blacks and coloured. All whites wanted the blacks to have a whole other separate society. The African National Congress (ANC) which began as a nonviolent civil rights group tried to get rid of apartheid which was not successful until Nelson Mendela became the president and restored the South Africans natural rights.