Search Results for: black studies
Dagomba dance-drumming
Created by the ethnomusicologist David Locke, Dagomba dance-drumming presents sound recordings, staff notation, and text materials on the dance drumming of the Dagomba people of northern Ghana. The recordings and historical narratives—including a personal narrative of training in drumming—were collected … Continue reading
Musical expressions of the Harlem Renaissance: An annotated bibliography
Emerging from a New York neighborhood in the early 20th century, the Harlem Renaissance was a period of vibrant intellectual and artistic development in the African American community. Considered a turning point in Black history, the Harlem Renaissance offered African … Continue reading
Filed under Black studies, Jazz and blues, Literature, North America, Performers, Politics, Popular music
Public Enemy brings the noise
Formed in Long Island, New York, the U.S. hip hop group Public Enemy emerged from a DJ sound system called Spectrum City DJs, founded by Hank Shocklee in 1975. Although the sound system originally consisted only of Shocklee and his … Continue reading
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Filed under Black studies, Popular music
Ellis Marsalis, jazz pianist, educator, and Marsalis family patriarch
Ellis Marsalis first learned to play the clarinet and saxophone but the piano later became his main instrument. From 1951 to 1955, he completed a bachelor’s degree in music education at Dillard University in New Orleans while receiving informal jazz … Continue reading
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Filed under Jazz and blues, North America, Performers, Popular music
Hip hop at 50: Part II–Indigenous hip hop as decolonial art
Indigenous hip hop in recent years has created a space for unpacking ideas of authenticity, contemporary Indigenous identity, links between indigeneity and U.S. Blackness, and urban Indigenous experiences. But what is Indigenous hip hop and what does it represent? Indigenous … Continue reading
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Filed under Asia, North America, Politics, Popular music
Grace Bumbry at Bayreuth Festspielhaus
Grace Bumbry’s appearance as the first African American singer in the role of Venus in Wagner’s Tannhäuser from 1961 through 1963 sparked fierce reactions. By the age of 23, Bumbry had created such a stir in the opera world that … Continue reading
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Filed under Black studies, Europe, Opera, Women's studies
“A Shakespearean panoply of characters”: Lou Reed: Caught between the twisted stars–An annotated bibliography
The main entrance to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’s exhibition Lou Reed: Caught between the twisted stars opens up on Lincoln Plaza, directly adjacent to the The Metropolitan Opera house. On a sunny day, the Met’s … Continue reading
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Filed under featured, Literature, Mass media, Musicology, Performers, Popular music
Breaking barriers in Latinx musical practices: An annotated bibliography
As the largest minority in the United States, the Latino/a/x population has spawned a diverse array of cultural and musical expressions, many of which have impacted American popular culture. From the Latino/a/x groups historically affected by border expansions, to today’s … Continue reading
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Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Analysis, Central America, Dance, Ethnomusicology, Jazz and blues, Mass media, Musicology, Performers, Politics, Popular music, South America, Uncategorized, World music
Anne Brown and “Porgy and Bess”
Anne Brown literally put the Bess in Porgy and Bess by inspiring George Gershwin to expand the character’s part in an opera that was originally to be called Porgy. Brown was the first person Gershwin heard singing the role of … Continue reading
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Filed under 20th- and 21st-century music, Black studies, Opera, Performers
