Eyoel Abera
MUMH 1610
Unit Essay 2
Prompt #2
Race & ethnicity has been an ongoing topic to discuss when it comes to politics, racism
itself, and any modern-day event/thing. When it comes to music, it’s a wide variety of sounds
that we hear and are accustomed to throughout different cultures and countries. As a young black
male, this topic has high significance in my life. From a lot of these modern-day public events
and tragic occurrences, the distinction between colored and Caucasian music can be a big factor
when it comes to racism involved, or degrading one genre of music over another. Music can
easily be categorized between race nowadays, but on the other hand there are still plenty of
artists who contradict those stereotypes.
Back when I was in high school, I attended a concert that became one of my favorites,
and it was in recognition of a black composer, Omar Thomas, and his piece was titled, “Come
Sunday”. This piece was based off of Thomas’s childhood growing up in the black church, and
what he was able to do was incorporate that musical knowledge and tradition into the classical
setting. It was such a fun, touching, and exciting piece. Thomas’s work has inspired myself as a
black musician to incorporate my own cultural sounds into the music I get to create. How I do
that is by exploring the wide depth of artists and genres that my country, Ethiopia has, while also
relistening to songs I’ve heard multiple times growing up. It made me more aware of other
cultures who share the same idea when it comes to hip hop music or rap. For example, afrobeat’s
is a rising genre that has so much attention these days, and it all originated from Africa. I believe
that it is so important to understand and tap into your roots, so that when it comes to your own
creation of music you have that source to pull from and help portray your identity overall and
within the topic of race and ethnicity in music.
The concepts between cultural appreciation/interaction and appropriation I feel like over
time have leaned more towards one side, while appropriation may still be present here and there.
Through the use of genres like jazz, pop, and hip hop, it has allowed for a wide variety of
cultures to adapt its own taste to them. “The 1938 concert and 1961 Albany musicking each
occurred during a peak of social movement activity… In both, African Americans and whites
joined to make music, challenging the dominant racial order that infected all aspects of social
life.” (Roy, Ch. 1) This shows that within the last century of our time, we have taken note of
instances where different music cultures were appreciated and celebrated, especially during a
time of social and activist movements. When it comes to jazz, there are many African American
pioneers for that genre, and it carried on through different races and cultures throughout time, to
where jazz itself has sub genres. Jazz is a huge genre throughout America and the world now
because of it. Music and the discussion of race and ethnicity within it, has played a huge part in
the evolving of social and cultural traditions, as well as bringing cultures and ideas together.
Works Cited
Roy, William G. “Reds, Whites, and Blues” Princeton University Press, 2010.