Cultural Background Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cultural Background Summary - Essay Example Our dance movements can be easily traced to many tribes of sub-Saharan, Sahelean Africa and western dance form. Similarly our music and songs are an amalgamation of African and European styles giving rise to unique styles like jazz, swing, blues and ragtime. When these evolved they were restricted to African Americans only but have become popular the world over. Similarly our folktales were a clever way of preserving the cultural traditions of the past conveyed through the convenience of riveting stories whose magic enthralled not just through words but also the expression and tone of the story teller. Modern day rap songs are an extension of the same. The dialect and distinct accent has also been shaped in the historical melting pot in which English and often unknown various African regional languages were thrown in. We are able to manage the Standard English at school and our unique dialect at home with equal ease. Though we know that our ancestors were forcibly converted, we are practicing Christians and regularly go to the church in the best possible dresses. The women especially like to wear elaborate caps for worship and our gospel songs also display unique African American flavor. Culturally the preference is for brightly colored attire as is the case with many western Africans, though mainstream clothes (fabric and patterns) do influence the dress sense and appearance.

Primitivism and Exoticism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Primitivism and Exoticism - Essay Example If an entity is being adopted or being infiltrated in the other culture then the entity becomes foreign for that specific culture. Exoticism deals with the exotic adoptions in arts from diverse and previous cultures and incorporates it in the modern era of art. It demonstrates that â€Å"Exoticism is to space what Primitivism is to time†. However, Primitivism and Exoticism in the modern music congealed the preceded understanding of these two schools of thought in the modern art. Exoticism and primitivism in music do not only deal with foreign or previous contents and contexts but also utilized the developed outcomes of those contexts in the modern manner. This paper is aimed to discuss the association of Exoticism and Primitivism to the music in the era of modernism and it will be discussed in the light of chapter seven of the book Modernism and Music: Anthology of Sources by Daniel Albright. Primitivism The side of modern music which is embarked in the ideology of Primitivism is contained with some distinct traits which are not usually found in the conventional ideals of primitivism in other modern art forms like paintings. It can be understood by contrasting the two art forms in the domain of Primitivism. Primitivism in the art is accepted to be consisting on three major factors. These major factors are intensely separate in their realistic sense and concepts. However the modern primitivism does incorporate all three of these distinct factors which are fascination, the factor of disgust and a significant proportion of terror. Modern primitive art is formulated by the compilation of these three factors in which the pessimistic account is more illuminated than the optimistic shade of the demonstration. (Albright, 2004). Primitivism in modern music is significantly different from the other art forms regarding Primitivism. It can be said that Primitivism in music contains a less amount of pessimism as compared to the Primitivism in painting and literature. Musical primitivism is immensely based on research and this research involves the analyses of folksongs. The researchers of these folksongs realize the non modernity of those folksongs which were produced in the preceding times. The essence of Primitivism is steeped under the principle that the art of previous times must be adopted and demonstrated on the canvas of modern art in the modern times. Similarly, the Primitivism in modern music manifests the correspondence of preceding folksongs with a lesser of the dark side (Albright, 2004). Primitivism and Modernism Modernism is often described as the post feudal and post colonial era in which the preceding ideologies were replaced with the modern ideologies including the equality of mankind. The most fundamental change which is marked to be identified as the major change was the rise of capitalism and industrialization in the prominent parts of the world. This major change initiated the congealment of society by every possible aspect and perspective including the system of politics in the society, educational system and most importantly the art. The period of modernism is also known as the era of enlightenment in which many thinker and artists played there significant roles in their scope of excellence. Many of the artistic movements were formed and appreciated in