Individual Blog Post Stream B #4

By Sarah Byron

Alternative imaginaries reclaim heritage. They regain ownership of stories and narratives that have been appropriated by more powerful groups and individuals. Alternative imaginaries empower minority groups to explore their own story and use that new insight to create a new image of themselves and who they are. It’s a power move aimed at reclaiming lost power. Martha Gonzalez defines the power of alternative imaginaries beautifully in “Zapateado Afro-Chicana Fandango Style: Self-Reflective Moments in Zapateado.” She explains that alternative imaginaries “absorb experiences, struggles, and elements from the present and from other cultures to create a unique voice.” In Imaginaries, Martha continues on, reflecting upon her own upbringing, writing about how the turbulent cultural environment in which she grew up shaped the way her community found their voice. She writes: “these events spurred a powerful synergy, in which avenues of expressive culture such as music and public art emerged as platforms from which to voice marginalized people’s desires, opinions, and resistance to the conditions in which they found themselves.” Influenced by cultural inequality, marginalized groups seek to reclaim their lost voice and their lost power. They do so by imagining alternative imaginaries.

The attached links are to other songs on Quetzal’s Grammy-award winning album. Through these selections, it’s evident that the band believes in this idea of alternative imaginaries – you can see this idea expressed through each song.

Critical Karaoke

Sarah Byron

Coldplay was my sister’s music before it was mine. Growing up, I didn’t listen to a lot of music, but when I did, it was with my family on vacation. When I was young, maybe around seven or eight, and my family and I would go on vacation, regardless of where we went, we would, without fail, bring one or two Coldplay CDs that my sister burned off iTunes. Through these CDs, I fell in love with Coldplay and their music. I was gripped by their intros and captivated by their rhythms and lyrics. I had never heard music like theirs before, and I have never since. Coldplay’s music ushered me through some of my most formative years and continues to be one of the most prominent voices in the soundtrack of my life currently.

This is my favorite song that Coldplay has ever released. I heard this song in one of my lowest moments in college. The Spring Quarter of my Freshman year was really rough for me – I was struggling in school, having a tough time finding my place, and I missed my family dearly. When I heard this song, though, I was immediately uplifted. This song gave me hope that the coming days would be better, that there was more to look forward to even though times were tough. The tempo, the message, the rhythm – it was all perfect to me and it spoke the words I needed to hear most in that moment.

As I continued to listen to the song, I was able to take more from it. Although this song is about a woman that Chris Martin wants to share an “adventure of a lifetime” with, for me, it’s more than that. It represents this recognition that time is precious and that it can’t be wasted. Life is the same way. Since we only have so much time, it’s important to share it with those you truly love. It resonates with me because this song is a celebration of life, of love and togetherness. It fills my heart with this unspeakable happiness and joy that I have never felt from any other song.

I’m so happy that I get to share this journey with Coldplay. It’s strange how you can have such a strong connection with people you have actually never met, but their music has helped me through some of my most challenging experiences as well as helped me celebrate triumphs. They have been such a huge part of my life and I’m thankful for their influence. This song typifies my special (at least to me) relationship with Coldplay – how one person, or in this case, a band, can ride along with you for an adventure of a lifetime.

Thank you, Coldplay, for letting me sing along with you this last decade. Your music has stayed with me since I first listened to “Fix You” so many years ago. I can’t imagine better company than yours.

Artist: Coldplay

Song : “Adventure of a Lifetime”

Album: A Head Full of Dreams

Song length: 4 minutes and 23 seconds

Individual Blog Post #3 Stream B

By Sarah Byron

Whether you listen to her music or not, it’s tough to deny the immense power and influence of Beyoncé. With her most recent musical and visual album release Lemonade, Beyoncé has utilized her fame and notoriety to bring a spotlight on political and social issues, as well as to redefine the black southern antebellum woman.
In “How #BlackLivesMatter Started a Musical Revolution,” Daphne Brooks explains that Beyoncé’s music (especially Lemonade) and her performances challenge us to engage and fight against political and social injustices. She writes Beyoncé, “provides us with a global stage on which we can get in formation with her…to withstand the brutality of repressive law enforcement in our daily lives.” Beyoncé brings this issue to the forefront, charging us to become active protesters against the racial and cultural injustices that permeate throughout our society.
On The Record, Regina Bradley and Dream Hampton discuss Lemonade and how it redefined southern black women. The two agree that in Lemonade, “the antebellum south serves as an entry point for Beyoncé to recognize the historical and cultural horrors of black womanhood while reclaiming the survival techniques passed down over time.” In this way, Beyoncé is redefining the black southern woman, revitalizing her image and extolling her ability to endure, reclaim and prosper.
In addition to her incredible musical talent, Beyoncé’s political activism will continue to propel her into the center of societies spotlight.

The videos attached showcase other examples of black activism by other artists. This goes to show that the sentiments Beyoncé shares in her music are echoed by many other artists.

Stream B Blog Post #2

By Sarah Byron

Hip-hop has long been a genre controlled by men. As we saw in Byron Hurt’s documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, hip-hop perpetuates this idea of what black and latino manhood looks like. To hip-hop, women are to be conquered and possessed. Hardly, if ever, are they seen as musical contributors to the genre. When discussing the rise of hip-hop in Seattle, Kyle Fleck describes in detail the many (male) rappers still in the game today. When he does mention a female rapper – Nicki Minaj – it’s in passing, stating that, “Nicki Minaj can reinterpret [Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”] into one of the biggest rap singles of the past half-decade, with “Anaconda.”” It’s only when we look to LaBennet Oneka’s “Histories and ‘Her Stories’ from the Bronx: Excavating Hidden Hip Hop Narratives” do we finally see examples of successful female rappers in full. Oneka writes about Patty Duke, Lah Tere and La Bruja. These women have made names for themselves despite how androcentric hip-hop has become and remains to be. Oneka argues that, “Bronx women’s creation narratives, as they relate to hip-hop’s early incarnations, have remained largely hidden and their roles in developing hip-hop culture in the contemporary context have been marginalized.” I certainly agree; the contributions of women in hip-hop need to be recognized.

For those who have never heard of these women, here are samples of Lah Tere and La Bruja’s work. Lah Tere’s work resembles more of what we consider “typical” hip-hop but La Bruja’s work is a different flavor. Although her style is more spoken word, the beat and rhythm of her presentation is like that of hip-hop.

Lemonade Review

Sarah Byron

Lemonade is an album of emotional discord and marital meltdown, from arguably the world’s most influential celebrity. It’s also a major personal statement from one of the most respected and established artists in the pop game. All over these songs, Beyoncé rolls through heartbreak and betrayal and infidelity, but underneath the rage and devastation, there lies a subtle but important statement – one that attempts to rewrite the narrative of today’s popular music genres. Beyoncé utilizes her influential music to regain ownership of genres like rock and roll, country and pop; genres that have long belonged to the white majority even though these genres were created by black musicians. Lemonade reclaims ownership of rock and roll, country and pop, effectively rewriting the narrative of these popular genres and highlighting the history of love and theft that shaped music’s histography.

The first track on the album, “Pray You Catch Up”, is a melancholy piano-led lamentation on her suspicions about her husband. “Hold Up” follows, taking up a different beat. In this calypso song, which harkens to a Trinidadian style of music, Beyoncé insists that nobody can love her husband the way she does. However, in “Don’t Hurt Yourself”, Beyoncé takes a sharp left turn into rock and roll. In a vicious, rage-filled track, pushed forth by a frantic tempo, Beyoncé threatens to leave, or even get revenge on her husband in this stomping rock anthem (with even a hint of punk).

The album continues, following the rock beat through “6 inch”, but again takes a different direction in “Daddy Lessons”. “Daddy Lessons” is a country song, featuring a New Orleans jazz intro that quickly turns into a fast-paced country riff. Again, we see Beyoncé pull from an unexpected genre, but one that has been hotly contested as having roots in black American musicians.
In the songs that follow, from “Love Drought” through “All Night”, Beyoncé returns to a much more familiar genre to black Americans: gospel. These songs are grounded by solemn piano cords, soulful trumpet notes, and authoritative drum beats, but propelled by Beyoncé’s undeniable vocal range. The whole album depends upon Beyoncé’s raw talent, and she more than delivers. Her vocal talents are undeniably on display, but underlying that talent is a political and cultural awareness that drives the additional purpose of the album.

Beyoncé created this album to regain the ownership of music genres that have historically belonged to the white majority even though the roots of the genre stem from lesser-known black musicians (like rock and roll, country and pop). Beyoncé uses songs like “Daddy Lessons” and “Don’t Hurt Yourself” to take back rock and roll and country. In “The Write to Rock”, Daphne Brooks explains the concept of love and theft: how “white (musical) masters and the (always) black, (most often) men that they admire and desire…continue to hold center stage in the critical imaginaries of performance studies and rock music histories alike” (Brooks, 2008). These musical masters take songs, or elements of songs (and performances) from vulnerable, black musicians, effectively owning the music produced by these black musicians. At the same time, this theft eliminates any evidence of their talent and contribution to the genre. Maureen Mahon adds to this last point in “Rock”, explaining that black musicians “had a continuous presence in genres, making significant contributions while influencing white men [and] white women” (Burnim, 2015). Despite this influence, the contributions of these black musicians hardly ever received proper acknowledgment. This concept of love and theft permeates throughout music history. Beyoncé recognizes this – the music she chose to include in this album supports this notion.

Beyoncé’s incredible position provides the platform on which she makes her statement regarding love and theft. In “Listening for Willie Mae “Big Mama Thornton’s” Voice”, Maureen Mahon describes her frustration with the “marginal position black women occupy in mainstream histories of genres” (Mahon, 2011). Beyoncé recognizes that she holds an incredible amount of power in the music industry, power that seldom, if ever, is held by a woman, let alone a black woman. In light of the cultural and musical thieving that has occurred, and continues to occur even today, she uses her music to rewrite the narrative of rock and roll, country, and pop music. Her album is a statement, one that demands attention and consideration. Rock and roll, country and pop music did not come from the white majority – these genres originated from black musicians.
Lemonade may be a powerful story about marital betrayal and eventual reconciliation but rooted in the heart of this album is a dissection of cycles of violence against black musicians. Lemonade serves to remind us of the loving and thieving that shaped and shapes the music industry and aims to reclaim ownership of the genres that black musicians created and developed.

Citations
Brooks, Daphne A. “The Write to Rock: Racial Mythologies, Feminist Theory, and the Pleasures of Rock Music Criticism.” Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, vol. 12, no. 1, 2008, p. 55.
Burnim, Mellonee V., and Portia K. Maultsby. African American Music: an Introduction. NY, 2015.
Mahon, Maureen. “Listening for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s Voice: The Sound of Race and Gender Transgressions in Rock and Roll.” Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, vol. 15, 2011, pp. 1.

Individual Blog Post #1 Stream B

By Sarah Byron

Jack Hamilton’s “How Rock and Roll Became White and how the Rolling Stones, a band in love with black music, helped lead the way to rock music’s segregated future” and Gayle Wald’s “Rosetta Tharpe and Feminist Unforgetting” both address the systematic erasing of influential black artists from music history’s memory. Hamilton writes about how white musicians and audiences rewrite the narrative of music, and in the case of rock and roll, praise bands like the Rolling Stones for creating the genre even though black musicians created rock and roll long before the Rolling Stones took the stage. Hamilton writes, “by far the most common way that the whitening of rock-and-roll music has been discussed is simply not at all,” highlighting how Rock and Roll die-hards have no interest in remembering who came before the Rolling Stones.

Wald’s piece of Rosetta Tharpe attempts to remember what has been forgotten by examining the use of biography to “un-forget”. Wald writes, “[biography] taught me that biography can be a crucial tool of ‘un-forgetting’: a process which, in the best cases, resists the totalizing and exclusionary strategies that have rendered a person invisible and un-accounted for.” The biography is Wald’s way of rewriting the past and bringing to light the memories and contributions of the incredible Rosette Tharpe, a musician that was removed from popular music’s history.