Discussion 3: Music is Cuba's core
I had two main ideas come out to me while reading the modules for this assignment. The first one was how important music is in Cuban culture to the point where they invest so much money into the infrastructure of teaching kids from an early age. The second one was how the music in Cuba has an exceptionally diverse background similar to the diversity of the people living in Cuba itself
Before I get into those two main points I just wanted to give my secondary thoughts on things I decided to mainly focus on the music aspect instead of the art aspect of these modules because I focused on the art aspect in the last discussion. It was very interesting to see how different people expressed themselves in Cuban art. The person that I think was the coolest was the artist who took rubble painted on it and then returned it. The fact that he says that his art is free and that you have to find it is cool and it also is very interesting because he doesn’t suffer from the material problems that other artists might have. From the last discussion, one of the main problems with art in Cuba is the lack of materials and sadly his materials aren’t running out because Cuba has so many deteriorating buildings. I hope to find one of the pieces of art that he has done and I don’t think I’ll be able to bring it back to the United States because I don’t think my mom would be very happy with me bringing a cinderblock home.
Now to the first point, I was genuinely surprised at the infrastructure in place for Cuban children in music aspects. Usually, countries that have experienced such a volatile past do not have a very good infrastructure for learning. Originally I thought that it was going to be some rundown schools that did not have the greatest teachers. Still, after watching the modules I see now that the teachers and the schools are not rundown in the slightest and instead are almost near to what I had when I went to elementary school. While Fidel Castro did put a lot of this infrastructure in, I believe that the reason why he put it in was because of the importance that has with Cuban culture besides being one way for self-expression, music in Cuba has so many backgrounds and since anyone can dance to the music anyone can experience and appreciate that background. Back to the actual infrastructure, the fact that people outside of Cuba say that Cuba has such a great music program is pretty interesting. I wouldn’t think that a country that has such a volatile economy would be able to so strongly support this type of academics. I was also surprised to learn about how they had it in engineering and architecture schools that produced a lot of famous engineers and architects. Overall I was genuinely surprised at how much Cuba once it’s kids to grow up to be very smart and also how much better the Cuban infrastructure for education is compared to what I had believed previously.
The second point, Cuban music has such a large background. There are some dances and music from places ranging from Africa to Spain to France to even the US. Instead of just adopting the dances and or music from the countries mentioned earlier, Cuba put its spin on them and in some ways made them better. As it was said in some of the readings, Cuba is a musical melting pot. Anything that comes from outside of the world, if you can make it into Cuba becomes part of their culture I genuinely started to enjoy the music that was being played on one of the videos and it was interesting to see that it was a derivative of a song that I had once had to play for a band class. It’s just exciting to me to see all this culture now being brought to my eyes because originally I thought there was almost no form of freedom of expression in Cuba besides what the government allowed and that there might’ve been some salsa but nothing special to Cuba. It’s one of those culture shock things where you don’t know much about a country until you start learning about it and then you realize that they are a lot more complex than you think.
I can’t wait to do the salsa class in Cuba and listen to some musicians. I used to play the horn and I can a musician almost going out of breath trying to keep in tune without stopping the beat.
Do you think certain types of music would not work in Cuba due to the conflict that it might have with its culture or government? (Ex dubstep, punk rock, metal)
Do you think that the spins that Cuba put on outside music make it Cuban or make it just part of the melting pot that is Cuba?
I think it's pretty reasonable to label music as a core of Cuban culture. The fact that the Cuban government makes sure children are well educated musically contributes strongly to this. I don't think I would go so far as to label music as THE core of Cuban culture - but it's definitely high on the list.
ReplyDeleteWhile traditional Cuban music like rumba and salsa are very popular, I also don't feel it's fair to say that other types of music "would not work" - musical genres will always have a niche in any culture. However, to say that other genres would not become popular in Cuba I think is more than fair to say. Rumba is so integrated into the culture that to find a replacement to fill that slot would be impossible.
Intriguingly, your decision to focus on the music aspect over art in these modules provides a fresh perspective. I love both but the secondary thoughts on Cuban art, especially the artist using rubble as a medium, adds another layer to the discussion. How do you think the emphasis on music education contributes to the broader cultural and societal resilience of Cuba, especially in the face of economic difficulties? Do you think it's made it more difficult for artists?
ReplyDeleteHi Connor!
ReplyDeleteI think most music would be legal in Cuba, but the government seems to want to cultivate art and culture that propogate the national image or symbols. I am sure metal done tastefully would be legal and even popular, but I do not know if the government would seem to endorse it like other types of music and expression. I like how you mentioned the governmental infrastructure for music, as it makes sense when realizing now how dance and music are Cuban symbols and presumably bring the country good PR and money. Regarding your second question, I think the modifications from Cubans on outside music are no doubt what make it Cuban, it takes something old and reinvents it in a new place.
To answer your first question, I think many in Cuba would be accepting of other genres, but the history of the Cuban governments control over self expression and art indicates that the government would not allow it. Distinctly non-cuban genres have yet to infiltrate Cuba culture because the government has not allowed them to. The potential conflict that other genres may have with the governments ideology leads me to believe that the genres you proposed would not work in Cuba today, no matter what average citizens may want.
ReplyDeleteHello Connor,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post. It was very thorough and quite detailed and I like how you were able to give your personal thoughts and opinions in the reflection. You pose a great second question that has stumped me for a few minutes as I found some time to reflect. A similar cultural phenomena is Chinese food in America (or perhaps Chinese-American food). Who gets to call something authentic and what determines if something now defines a culture and can be called is own? Technically, the dishes we enjoy at our local Chinese takeout restaurants should be considered more American than football as they were brought over and improvised with different, more accessible ingredients in the America before the beloved sport synonymous with this country's cultural identity was even invented. The dishes in America are very different from many dishes in China, some will say it was to please Western palettes and some will say it was lack of ingredients and assimilation overtime. However, the cuisine itself is both uniquely Chinese and American and a taste that is hard to find out of the States and even harder to find in its "country of origin." So back to your question about music, I think only the locals can really tell/make a statement regarding the genre and cultural identity of the mixed music; however, many people may disagree just as many people in the States sort Chinese-American food into different labels (in regards to considering it a part of American culture). Especially, since music can carry so many deeply personal messages from heartbreak to political messages and codes, perhaps as tourists and ultimately outsides to the Cuban culture, there are many meanings in Cuban music that will pass over our heads.