I was excited for this weeks since am a fan of Latin American music! My love for Latin American music started during my exchange year and it has been upheld by various Latin parties here in Finland as well as by various dance classes I have taken. Initially I thought I would be doing my final project on music, and so I read a bit about bachata, cumbia and capoeira before settling on a completely different topic. Anyway, the short bit of research I did, together with this weeks material, completely changed my understanding of where Latin American music has its roots. In my little mind I had always thought that, for example tango and bachata were cultural products of the elites, and I could have not been more wrong?? Somehow the image they carry is very expensive (especially tango)? Turned out that many of the music styles emerged in the lower classes and were a form of resistance and even survival, as we saw in the documentary by Kaurismäki. Much like football, music provided people with escape, a coping mechanism, entertainment and sense of community. However, as many cultural elements of the lower classes, their music has been heavily stigmatized and disregarded by the upper classes, which can be even seen in the lyrics of some bachata songs:
(Romeo Santos Millonario)
“La he visto desde niño y no me he atrevido a hablar
Porque su mundo es fino, muy selecto
Yo soy un vagabundo para su clase social
Y en su familia odian bachateros”
It strikes me how today many of them are globally famous dance & music styles that people from all over the world enjoy and consume, without barely any connection to their roots. Somehow they have been able to escape the stigma and been accepted by the elites, but the question is how? Or is it possible that the perception is different in their country of origin than what it is abroad? Also I wonder what are the similarities/differences between sport and music in a society?
Hi!
Great post 🙂
You bring up a really interesting discussion of how the elites may stigmatize the activities/products of the lower socio-economic classes one day, and accept them the next. I think this is a kind of appropriation/co-opting by the elites. I think fashion is a great example. Certain items are considered tacky when worn by the lower class and then subversive/interesting when worn by the upper class. These items are worn mockingly or performatively, they are also usually altered slightly to showcase that the wearer themselves makes up the upper and not the lower class. It is an identifier. This is actually a whole area of study and is super interesting!
Your last question is quite interesting, considering that both sports and music have such a heavy influence and impact on society. What comes to mind is that both sports and music tend to have the creation of ingroups and outgroups, where in sports its quite simple and can come down to teams, but in music it can be the genre of music you’re into or the bands you know about.