During our discussion on Rock 'n' Roll's musical roots today, I was struck by the various cultural and ethnic origins from which rock emerged, many of which remain unrecognized. From the reading and the musical examples we were given today, I developed a sense of rock 'n' roll being a musical culture that came from diverse roots, but was largely acquired, popularized and marketed for and by white people. Elvis is, of course, one of the more famous examples of this, specifically in relation to the history of the song "All Shook Up". Has rock 'n' roll been completely taken over by white culture? Even now many of the rock groups I think of offhand consist of white performers and are aimed towards a white audience. Considering Rock 'n' Roll's diverse African American and Chicano influences, this white monopoly on Rock seems quite inhibiting to musical evolution and diversity.
But the more I thought about it, the more I found examples of Chicanos and African Americans reclaiming Rock 'n' Roll and making it their own. Above are pictures of Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana, two of my personal favorite rock guitarists who have been hailed as musical legends; innovators and icons of the rock genre. Jimi Hendrix not only created incredible music with his guitar, but in some ways he reclaimed the traditionally white monopoly on music manufacturing and marketing by becoming a successful record producer. His music is influenced by blues, soul, jazz , R&B, and other origins of the classical Rock 'n' Roll, and thus reminds us of the somewhat forgotten African American roots which contributed to the rock genre. In the same vein, Carlos Santana's music also includes jazz and blues influences, as well as infusions of salsa and other Latin beats. Thus we see the continuation of the process of musical evolution, as these artist's hybridize unique sounds to create new branches of existing genres.
But many questions remain... to put it simply, is this enough? Can the success of a few minority rock artists justify the acquisition of this genre by a white culture? How many young black artists contributed to this genre but lived in indigence while artists like Elvis thrived on covers of another musician's song? And how much has the situation really changed? Can you think of more African American or Chicano rock artists? And where does the genre go from here?
1 comment:
Rochelle - I'm glad you brought this up.
I worked at Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle this summer - a rock 'n' roll museum firstly dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, but also has exhibits on other artists. The traveling exhibit this summer was "American Sabor: Latinos in US Popular Music" (I think I mentioned this in class the first day.) It explored the different ways that Chicanos and Latin Americans have contributed to rock 'n' roll, and even how they have been forgotten and lost in music history. Santana is a huge, huge. huge artist that has the fame he deserves, but there are so many others who are not as well known, even if there music has been borrowed by white artists. Ritchie Valens is another example of a famous artist, and so is Selena, but they both tragically died at the height of their fame. There's also ? and the Mysterians, from the 60's, but they were sold as white artists and not Latinos. I think a lot of artists during this time were able to be successful if they appeared more "white."
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