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La raza cosmica is the concept from Mexican Philosopher Jose Vasconcellos of a mestizo race, characterized by the merging of all races. It is in theory, then, more mutable and genetically rich (La consciencia de la mestiza, Anzaldua, pp 77). The concept seems more utopic than real, as recognized by the author, but made in an attempt to "improve the cultural morale of a 'depressed race' [...]" (La Raza Cósmica, Wikipedia). In class, we also saw Kateri Hernandez's critique of the concept.

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Phenomenal Mexican-American artist that broke gender and generational barriers in tejano music.

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Concept learned in class by the dissonant diva Deborah Vargas. It sets informal knowledge against formal knowledge with the concept of learning through experience with family and friends rather than at an educational institution. Important because it "revealed different stories and narratives of music" (Lecture 1 slides). In other words, knowing with your body ideas that aren't considered dominant.

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Genre of art classified mainly through it's production independent from companies such as labels. In class, we saw an example of indie music with The Marias.

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The connotation of a word can mean the difference of empowering, belittling, motivating, informing, and/or reaffirming someone or something. The connotations surround the prefix "trans-" has drastically changed in this much more radicalized society that is the present. Some say that "'Trans-' dust becomes the capillary space of connection in circulation between the macro- and micro- political registers throughout which the lives of bodies becomes enmeshed in the lives of nations, states, and capital formations" (Stryker et al. 2008, 14). I believe this quote encapsulates the connotations of the prefix in the politicized landscape of today. Trans- is immediately intertwined with political beliefs, when they should be unique and personal, not cult beliefs.

-Vincent Lopez

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Bad Bunny is not shy about his sexual expression. In the music video for his hit song Yo Perreo Sola, he utilizes gender fluidity in order to further convey the song's point that women do not need a man to go out and be independent, be successful, and have fun. He is loose with his gender expression in this video, almost as to say "If I can be an independent woman, you can be too."

-Vincent Lopez

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Not only in musical performance, gender is stereotypically reaffirmed in almost every action people make. Whether it is picking a color of a shirt to wear or the way you present yourself by talking and walking, for example, you are constantly, subconsciously reaffirming gender through stylistic cultural, everyday practices.

-Vincent Lopez

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A term in Brazilian Portuguese that means "more alive, alert, and sassy". When reading the article the quote that stood out to me the most was, "Being mais viva! is that healing knowledge that does not let you be in pieces;it is that knowledge that refuses losing ourselves by aggressions produced by racialized gendered violence that negates us"(Santana 217). It spoke to the heart because I could relate to this quote. During the height of COVID the AAPI community was constantly attacked, ridiculed, and harassed. I lived in one of the main areas where all the attacks were happening at, the Bay Area specially, Oakland. It hurt to see all these elderly being hate crimed and no one was doing anything to help them or address the issue. But the community has grown and persevered through these hard ships and we won't let what happened during this time dictate who we are as a community. We have developed this "healing knowledge" that stops us from being "in pieces".

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Storytelling and Self-Expression in Music

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Storytelling and Self-Expression in Music

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Not only does music provide noise to fill spaces and overtake the quietness of life, it allows artists to convey emotions, hardships, and experiences through their lyrics and musical rhythms.

-Vincent Lopez

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This song encapsulates the self-hatred one had for being different, but growing to love and appreciate themselves. The artist describes hating her hair because it was a "Mat of Hair" and the constant discrimination she faced because of it. This hatred grew into self-empowerment. This song describes her own experiences, but it also acts as a resource for other people who have gone through very similar experiences to find community and realize they are not alone

-Vincent Lopez

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A term "imaginary topographies" is mentioned in Cepeda's text. It can be found in the quote "Both of these 'connections' therefore foreground the centrality of popular music as an arbitrator of the 'imaginary topographies' of memory, identity, and place for colombianos, particularly among those claiming multiple cultural and state-sanctioned citizenships." This quote shows how music can connect different people back to their identities and their origins. In specific, the term "imaginary topographies" describes how music allows people who may be far away from their home, country, and culture to create in their minds a map or "topography" of their home, neighborhood, and culture as they listen to music. This shows the power of music to connect people and evoke memories of their origin.

-Samuel Paik

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A term (or phrase) that is frequently used throughout the second section of the essay is "the colonial imposition of gender;" I believe that, in using such a phrase, Lugones is drawing a connection between the binary understanding of gender and colonialism in both a figurative and literal sense. Not only does she believe that this man/woman dichotomy eradicates the existence of nonbinary or genderqueer individuals in a similar vein to the eradication of native peoples and culture via colonization, but also that colonization literally eradicated diverse understandings of gender around the globe and replaced such with the binary gendering perpetuated by the colonizers. This ties together many of the main ideas of this section, which seeks to theorize methods that would ultimately enable the decolonization of gender. To succeed in this endeavor, as argued by Lugones, pragmatic action is required "... to enact a critique of racialized, colonial, and capitalist heterosexualist gender oppression as a lived transformation of the social" (Lugones 746). A key piece of this effort, as she argues, comes with the proper translation of indigenous languages that have been twisted and misrepresented by dichotomous colonial perception of gender. She sees this to be an essential (but difficult) step in the process of decolonization, as "... resistance to the coloniality of gender is also lived linguistically in the tension of the colonial wound" (Lugones 750). The rhetoric and theories about decolonization presented within this section remind me of a song titled Itsári by the Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, which prominently features a chant of the Xavante tribe. This song (as well as the album it appears on as a whole) is meant to blend the band's signature metal style with collaborations from the historically marginalized native peoples of Brazil, which I interpret to be an effort to decolonize the genre through representation.

- Eugene

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Throughout this song, the topic of longing and loss is continually brought up. Using string instruments and chords, add a melancholic vibe boosting the feeling of loss and longing. This vibe of longing can be connected to the hispanic communities outside of their home countries as they connect over this sense of longing and start to create a sense of belonging.

-Samue Paik

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Listening in Detail: Performances of Cuban Music - Vasquez

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Listening in Detail: Performances of Cuban Music - Vasquez

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"the ways that music and the musical reflect — in flashes, moments, sounds — the colonial, racial, and geographic past and present of Cuba as much as the creative traditions that impact and impart from it" (Vaquez, 4). This quote reflects how music holds deeper meaning and powerful messages, in particular dealing with society. By addressing aspects of society, music is shown to be deeply intertwined with history and culture.

-Samuel Paik

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State in Brazil with the largest African population. Referenced in Carmen Miranda's "O Que É Que a Baiana tem?"

-Vincent Lopez

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Song by Carmen Miranda about the women from Bahia. In the song, she talks about all the luxuries she has, like silk and gold. Furthermore, she talks about how she has charm and dances like no other. The song serves as an example of the process of associating Latin Americans with dance, music, tropicality, sexuality, etc.

-Vincent Lopez

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Carmen Miranda - O que é que a baiana tem/Quando eu penso na Bahia | 1944

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-Vincent Lopez

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BAD BUNNY - YO PERREO SOLA | YHLQMDLG (Video Oficial)

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This concept was discussed in José Esteban Muñoz'a essay "Disidentifications". To be chusma or to have a sense of chusmeria, you are then labeled as tacky, loud, excessive, non-normative, etc. Chusmería was widely used as a tool for divisiveness between social and financial classes in Cuba.

-Vincent Lopez

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The music video and the song itself are perfect representations of Chusmería being represented in a prideful and not divisive way. For example, the opening to this music video is in what looks like a thrift store or a clothes shop. Consumerism could be considered "tacky". The intro to the music video is loud and rowdy. The song itself if energetic and "dancey", but its still a female rap song, so it may be perceived as excessive. "Chongivity" is a made up word and is repeated relentlessly which could be considered tacky. The artists do all of these despite knowing the criticisms they may get, but they still do it because they are proud of who they are and their lifestyle.

-Vincent Lopez

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-Vincent Lopez

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La Goony Chonga - Chongivity Activity (Official Music Video)

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Different properties of music helps with, what Alexandra T. Vasquez calls, "Listening in Detail". Some of these properties, but not limited to, are: pitch, rhythm, time, harmony (dissonance vs. consonance), vocality, instrumentation, mix/reverb, etc.

-Vincent Lopez

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The music video for Las Malandrinas depicts the duality and nuance of femininity and Latinidad. Some of the subjects of the music video display more non-normative, masculine characteristics through their clothes, tattoos, and behaviors. They are seen stealing and causing fights. Conversely, they are more normative, feminine women who talk politely to the employee, and are well reserved.

-Vincent Lopez

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-Vincent Lopez

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Jenni Rivera - Las Malandrinas (Official Video)

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In Deborah Vargas's article "The J/Jota in Jenni", she explains how the social aspect of consumerism is more fulfilling than the actual consuming/shopping. This is seen in the music video for Las Malandrinas because no one was seen actually buying anything, but instead, it turned to be one big "hangout".

-Vincent Lopez

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A powerful poem by the Afro-Peruvian artist Victoria Santa Cruz, emphasized even more by the accompanying video. The continuous chanting of the word "Negra" by those in the background plays into the story being told by Santa Cruz, which recollects the discrimination she faced growing up as a black woman in Latin America.

- Eugene

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Victoria Santa Cruz | Me Gritaron Negra (Afro Perú) | Music MGP

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Como La Flor describes the emotions of lost love. Capturing the emotional aftermath of a break-up, a story of sadness, longing, and acceptance is described. Being a story that many people can relate to, the song has given the message of loss and hope to many.

-Samuel Paik

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Classification of music with similar characteristics including style, themes, rhytms, and cultural and historical contexts.

-Samuel Paik

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A genre of music that can be classified as widely accesible and relateable. It aligns with contemporary cultural trends, movements, and stylisc choices.

-Samuel Paik

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Call and response

Has melody - call

Spanish

Multiple instruments

Chorus - response

Tex mex Cumbia - texas

Musical dissonance - sad lyrics upbeat music

Tempo change (slow down) at end, exaggerated ending

Major key

Around walking tempo

-Samuel Paik

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Syncopated beats - danceable rhythm

Latin urban music rhythm

Electronic beats, bass, synth

4/4 time signature

Moderate tempo

Minor key

Reggaeton genre

Energetic, confident

-Samuel Paik

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Vincent Lopez

Emily La

Eugene Larson

Miguel Rodrigues

Samuel Paik

Gaurav Nair

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"Live performance for an audience of elites is the only imaginable mode of survival for minoritarian subjects within the hegemonic order that they live within and in opposition to"(Disidentifications, Queers of color and the performance of politics, Munoz, 187). This quote clearly demonstrates how the “minoritarian subjects”, marginalized communities, challenge the “hegemonic order”, or the cultural and societal norms that are forced upon them. These “live performances” create spaces for minority groups to express their identities and resist against the dominant social order.

-Samuel Paik

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Minor key, usually gives sad moody vibe, harmonic minor common in this genre

3/4 time signature, waltz-like

Guitar and voice, no percussive instruments

Slower tempo - andante around like 80 to 90

Very expressive, addition of vibrato

Changes in dynamic add to dramatization

Idk it kinda sounds homey

Spanish (mexican)

Sings to lover - lyrics focus on heartbreak/romance

Female artist/singer

Ranchera music

Written by tomas mendez

-Samuel Paik

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Women are allowed to be independent and do not need male validation to live their lives

"I twerk alone"

LGBTQ awareness with outfit choices

Ni Una Menos movement

Toxic Masculinity

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Survival strategy of marginalized/minority groups to resist dominant cultural narratives. Dominant social and cultural narratives are reinterpreted to create spaces for these minority identities and voices.

-Samuel Paik

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When minoritarian groups are expected to perfrom their identities to "elite eyes" or dominant social groups.

-Samuel Paik

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This is a different version of my favorite song of my favorite song shown within the course. It is incredible how you can hear someones growth and heightened maturity through just their voice. The raspiness and deepened quality of Vargas's voice almost makes me emotional, thinking about how much she had grown since the first rendition we listened to.

- Eugene

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starts at a very slow paced then builds suspension and starts going at a faster space

highlights how she is hurt from a past love and might not be able to love because of that

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A music video released by J Balvin that attracted controversy due to the visualization of him walking to black women (dressed as dogs) on a leash. Could demonstrate a line between what is artistic, meaningful artistic expression and something that is just disrespectful to marginalized communities.

- Eugene

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Perra - J Balvin Ft. Tokischa (Vídeo Oficial)