Panel 1: Intersections of Race

Presenter Information

Joseph JohnsonFollow

Degree Program

Undergraduate

Major

World Music, Saxophone Performance

Abstract

From childhood to the present, I have heard stories from my grandmother of growing up as an African American in rural North Carolina. As a young girl, she experienced a great deal of racial injustice, but she also told me of many of her most memorable experiences, mainly in relation to the church and old-time string band music. Through the musicological study of Rhiannon Giddens and The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jake Blount, and Valerie June, I will show how these performing artists in the U.S. keep the tradition of African American old-time music alive while blending it with other contemporary musical styles. This presentation will tell the stories of various African American folk-fusion artists and the modes through which they express their identity in relation to both their own subcultures and their interactions with the mainstream. In addition to a deepening reconciliation of their socio-political identifiers, I will inform the understanding of these musical styles in the continuation of that tradition through the etymology of the music as expressed by these artists. I will do this through the study of their various influences and analyzing the lyrical and structural forms of the albums such as Genuine Negro Jig, Reparations, and Pushin’ Against a Stone as compared to other similar devices of distinct genres.

Start Date

8-2-2019 9:00 AM

End Date

8-2-2019 10:15 AM

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Feb 8th, 9:00 AM Feb 8th, 10:15 AM

Blended Styles of African American Folk Music

From childhood to the present, I have heard stories from my grandmother of growing up as an African American in rural North Carolina. As a young girl, she experienced a great deal of racial injustice, but she also told me of many of her most memorable experiences, mainly in relation to the church and old-time string band music. Through the musicological study of Rhiannon Giddens and The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jake Blount, and Valerie June, I will show how these performing artists in the U.S. keep the tradition of African American old-time music alive while blending it with other contemporary musical styles. This presentation will tell the stories of various African American folk-fusion artists and the modes through which they express their identity in relation to both their own subcultures and their interactions with the mainstream. In addition to a deepening reconciliation of their socio-political identifiers, I will inform the understanding of these musical styles in the continuation of that tradition through the etymology of the music as expressed by these artists. I will do this through the study of their various influences and analyzing the lyrical and structural forms of the albums such as Genuine Negro Jig, Reparations, and Pushin’ Against a Stone as compared to other similar devices of distinct genres.