MUSIC 26AC Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Joseph Shabalala, World Music, Ethnomusicology
Case “tudies November ,
• Paul Simon Graceland
• Wold usi ad old usi idusty
o Wold usi: atual otat ad/o idea etee people aoss the gloe
o 1950s: popular marketing
▪ Generally called exotic, primitive, folk, traditional, or sometimes international
▪ Exotica: musical styled outside of the US or represents something that is less
sophisticated (ie: Primativa)
• Labeled placed onto music that was recorded outside of the US or labels
that were attached to certain artists
▪ Used to promote appreciation for music outside of the Western orientation – music
was just as valuable as Western music
o 1960s: ethnomusicology
▪ Separation of west and non-west
▪ Highlighting differences in music (cultural or racial) – comes with a value judgment
o World music industry
▪ 1986 – Paul “io’s Graceland: album was successful and followed by other western
artists promoted as a joining of west and non-west through music
• Spurred interest in music from around the world
▪ 1987 – London meeting: a number of music recording executives that meet up in
London to discuss a new way to capitalize on non-Western music
• Idusty spae that deelops out of the te old usi deelops
into pop music
▪ 1990: Billboard category created
• Graceland artists and projects
o Paul Simon, Graceland: released in 1986; 7th solo album
▪ Singer, songwriter, and guitarist from the US
▪ Start in US folk scene of the 1960s
▪ Awards, honors, and major celebrity artist
o Ladysmith Black Mambazo – collaborated with Paul Simon for his Graceland album
▪ South African vocal/choral group
▪ Founded by Joseph Shabalala in 1960
▪ Major group in South Africa and rose to international fame with Graceland album
▪ Gives rise to international fame – people listening to their work
▪ Hoeless
• Sonic elements: vocals (singing in harmony), all spaces are filled in, no
istuets, hous is the epetitio of the od hoeless
• Framing issues
o Social and political issues
▪ Decontextualization of sounds from world musical cultures: there are a lot of sounds
that are embedded in cultures
• People that listen to the music listen to music with different
interpretations (ie: what the sound means, how the hierarchy can have
an effect)
▪ Conflation of world musical cultures
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Document Summary
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