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

Music as an Indicative of the History of Puerto RicoDuring Dr. Lise Waxers October twenty-ninth lecture she characterized music as being indicative of the history of a plenty, a way of establishing mixer relations, and being a forum for dialogue. However, upon a critical digest of the claims within her lecture and the issues discussed within Ruth Glassers My Music is My Flag, I believe that modern studies of Puerto Rican popular culture wear out more about the present state of Puerto Rican identity than the historical subjects themselves. It is cloudless that above all else Puerto Rican melodic history, from its evolution on the island and in the diaspora, was created and conditioned by the US colonial system. Therefore, any attempt to elevate its significance may be more of a classed-based attempt to elevate their social position within the context of colonized historical reality. Before embarking upon this analysis it is important to note that Ruth Glasser is not Puerto Ric an. Although she is a nice Jewish girl studying the history of Puerto Rican music, the fact that she is not Puerto Rican does not exhaust 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 many popular and scholarly assessments suggest that Puerto Rican musicians aim left their own ostensibly meager musical resources behind and have only adopted Cuban sounds (3). This opinion, she claims, characterizes Puerto Rican musical culture as being imported, heart that it has no self-sustaining historical traditions of its own. Such a claim would alike challenge Lise Waxers claims which characterize Puerto Rican music as a revelation of Puerto Rican national history. Glasser in turn proceeds within her study to reap the numerous historical traditions of Puerto Rican music. Most prominent among these traditions is the fact t hat many of the primaeval bands under early US colonial rule began as troops 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 oddly prominent part of the United States Armys most far-famed musical ensembles. For example the 369th Infantry Hellfighters Band (54). As professional musician these people benefitted greatly by gaining access to more traditional forms of musical skills.