MUS 2420 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: California Gold Rush, Lisbon, Glissando
Document Summary
Music travels easily with migrating communities because it is portable and can be transmitted orally ex: folk music. Some musical styles are maintained when groups migrate others are transformed of discarded ex: african rhythms in jazz in western instruments. Music making can embody and reenact the migration process as well as commemorate the homeland left behind ex: ballads, fado lisboeta. Music is portable and can travel with dislocated communities. Immigration from china mostly voluntary, seeking economic opportunity, with the intention of returning home. Migration is full of internal conflict and its intensely personal to migrate. Chinese immigration began 1850s and was largely voluntary. There was a large pull factor in the western us. Many voluntary chinese immigrants early on, considered their move to the us as temporary. Most were motivated by economic gain, hoping to return home prosperous. This caused them to maintain their cultural traditions as they expected to return someday.
