Music as an Indicative of the History of Puerto Rico :: Culture cultural History Puerto Rican Essays

Music as an significative of the History of Puerto RicoDuring Dr. Lise Waxers October 29th lecture she conditiond music as being indicative of the recital of a people, a way of establishing sociable relations, and being a forum for dialogue. However, upon a critical digest of the claims deep down her lecture and the issues discussed within pathos Glassers My Music is My Flag, I suppose that modern studies of Puerto Rican popular culture reveal more than about the look state of Puerto Rican identity than the historical subjects themselves. It is clear that above all else Puerto Rican musical theater history, from its evolution on the island and in the diaspora, was created and conditioned by the US compound system. Therefore, any attempt to elevate its significance may be more of a classed-based attempt to elevate their social position within the stage setting of colonized historical reality. Before embarking upon this analysis it is important to note that Ruth Glasser is not Puerto Rican. Although she is a nice Jewish girl studying the history of Puerto Rican music, the fact that she is not Puerto Rican does not exclude her from misinterpreting the significance of her findings (xv). From the onset of her analysis she presents herself in opposition to the traditional historians assumptions about Puerto Rican history. She claims that virtually(prenominal) popular and scholarly assessments suggest that Puerto Rican musicians have left their own plainly meager musical resources behind and havemerely adopted Cuban sounds (3). This opinion, she claims, characterizes Puerto Rican musical culture as being imported, meaning that it has no self-sustaining historical traditions of its own. Such a claim would also challenge Lise Waxers claims which characterize Puerto Rican music as a manifestation of Puerto Rican national history. Glasser in knead proceeds within her study to describe the numerous historical traditions of Puerto Rican music. some prominen t among these traditions is the fact that many of the early bands under early US colonial rule began as military bands during the First World War. Indeed, the US army band soldiers were examples of the first musical experience during the Puerto Rican Diaspora because their travels to Europe allowed some musician form a particularly prominent part of the coupled States Armys most famous musical ensembles. For example the 369th Infantry Hellfighters resound (54). As professional musician these people benefitted greatly by gaining access to more traditional forms of musical skills.