Music as an Art in Mexico and the Caribbean (Essay Sample)

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Music as an Art in Mexico and the Caribbean
Outline
Art can be defined as activities that people engage in for the purpose of communication. It has also been defined as arranging of elements or activities so as to pass a message across, it can be in form of a song, dance or even a picture. It’s an important component of culture as it passes across the values and ideas important in each culture over period of time. Art has changed over time due to changing social attitudes and even technological advances with art being conveyed in the form of computer generated designs and photographs. The attitudes have also changed in that hat could have been considered as unethical and obscene is what some of acts as themes to inspire art like homosexuality racial discrimination among others. There have been controversies among art historians when it comes to defining art thus the many definitions of art. Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz emphasizes on it as quoted “our century has come to the conclusion that a comprehensive definition of art is not only difficult but impossible to achieve.” Morris weitz another historian adds to this by saying “the very expansive, adventurous character of art, it’s ever present changes and novel creations make it logically impossible to ensure any set of defining properties.”

This essay focuses on music as an art in Mexico and also in the Caribbean. The mariachi group away from music and is a major illustration of the Mexican culture, it is also religious and traditional. It also incorporates themes of love and patriotism. With the advent of technology, Radio and Television this saw the group being featured in films adding more instruments like trumpets and violins and they even started performing with famous musicians. Today their music is played all over the world and as is a definite representation of their culture and is unique to their country. In the Caribbean reggae music had the theme of love unity and nationalism and the music helped unite them during the pre-independence period but currently the concept has courtships, in burials among other events. The essay will also compare and contrast the arts in the two different countries, the themes in detail and also their style. Though cultural features, language, clothing, and customs vary enormously from one tribe to another, there are certain elements which are encountered frequently and shared by many tribes. The main native tribes in North America were the Uto-Aztecan and the Nadene.These earliest tribes in Mexico, were hunters and gatherers and were making their weapons from stone; this was almost 1000 years ago. Later when the age of metallurgy dawned, new technologies were introduced. Before these tribes came into contact with Europeans, their weapons were similar. The implements that were common then were the bows, war clubs, the spear and the arrows. They used fire to prepare their meals. Since big mammals like the mammoths and the mastodons had become extinct by 8000BCE, they began hunting other big animals like the bison. When the tribes from the Great Plains met the Europeans, they were still hunting the bison. When the Spanish introduced the horse to North America, the culture completely changed because, they learned how to use them, and in the process, changed the way in which they did their hunting. Horses later became very important elements by being regarded as a sign of wealth (Manuel, Kenneth and Michael 11). The Uto-Aztecan, which lived around the Great Lakes used strings and belts that were called wampum. The knots and the designs which were beaded represented the tribal stories and legends. They were also used as units of measure and mediums of exchange. On the other hand, the Nadene made items that were very impressive and which had connections with their religious cetremonies.The Kachina dancers were wearing masks that were well decorated and painted as they performed rituals impersonating different ancestral sprits. The sculpture was not highly developed amongst the Nadene as it was among the Uto-Aztecan. They however, carved stone and wood fetishes which were used for religious purposes. The textile arts among them were characterized with, superior weaving, decorations that were embroidered and dyes that were rich. Both communities used turquoise and shell was used to make jewelry. Pictorial arts and high quality pottery were made (Manuel, Kenneth and Michael 11). Both tribes valued creating a good relationship with the spits highly. They managed to achieve this by ceremonial acts like sandpainting.The colors that were made from charcoal, sand, cornmeal and pollen, represented specific spirits
Of all the cultures, the Mexican one is the most exciting, mesmerizing and educative. Mariachi a form of folk music originated from the state of Jalisco in the 19th century and has had the most impact on Mexico socially.. The use of the listed contraptions was adopted after the Spanish introduced various forms of instruments in music concerts. Prior to their full adoption, the aboriginal music was frolicked using the flute and drums. They are customarily in unmistakable outfit. The costume used in the mariachi music is called the charro which consisted of white pants and record jacket. In this group, there is ordinarily no lead singer (soloist) as all players take various opportunities in singing as well as leading. Well defined yells and screams are done during the songs to emphasize specific meanings. Traditionally only males are allowed to be part of the group of singers but women are increasingly starting to be part of it. Linguists believe the word mariachi to have originated from the word marriage and it was also observed to be played in weddings (Manuel, Kenneth and Michael 11).
. The mariachi music is observed to have come about during the time of Mexican independence from Spain thus the songs became a symbol of nationalism and a form of national identity. Their songs concentrate on love, treachery, revolutionary heroes among others. The mariachi band is currently used for many different occasions, it’s played in birthday parties, baptism, funerals and it is not unusual to find the group serenading a lady who is being proposed to for marriage. The music has also been amalgamated to the Roman Catholic Church to complement the ceremony (Keyler 20).
People love it because it brings back good memories of childhood, its original and its entertaining at the same time. In the past the mariachi music was associated with womanizing and drinking tequila this was due to their many performances in bars, this changed in the 20th century when they became more professional with formal training and even started appearing in films, this is when they started using the instruments like the violin and classical guitar becoming kind of an orchestra. It is also said the advent on radio, television and films helped a lot in production of mariachi music an imperative constituent of the Mexican culture. They incorporated new ideas in their music but still maintained their traditional roots. That time period also saw them incorporate women in their music. The mariachi music is also accompanied by a dance called the Zapateado that involves tapping of their feet on the wooden platform pounding out swift and calculated rhythms which complement the sound of musical instruments. There is also the hat dance that is highly stylized and the men wear the charro suits and the women are usually in bright sequined skirt and a hand woven shawl (Manuel, Kenneth and Michael 11).
. Their culture is an origination of events that emerged in the past stretching through the present and the future. Music in the Caribbean provided a platform for unity, cohesion and stability and also a sense of nationalism during the 1960s and 1970s when they were under the colonial rule. Some of the music commonly in this region comprises of reggae, calypso, salsa, mento. Mento on the other hand is a practice mostly of Jamaican folk music which is mainly supported by guitar bass and drums. Salsa is a lively style of dance which has an African and Spanish influence it mainly incorporates rhythmic and melodic foundation, Calypso on the other hand mainly incorporates instruments like Saxophones, and electric guitars and has versus and chorus songs which have a call and response sound to it. Last but not least is the reggae music, the term reggae was invented in 1960 in Jamaica from the ’‘ragged” style of dance the music incorporated. Some attributed the name to the ragged manner of clothing of those who sang the music. Stylistically reggae amalgamated rhythm and melancholy and also calypso and mento benevolent of music that was cited earlier on (Manuel et al 16).
. Both ge...