Samantha White

MUS 418: Lusophone Music

Quiz 3

12/12/18

Within the Jewish community, music played a major role in religious society. In the

article by Judith Cohen, she described how Jewish people were in hiding because of the

inquisition and then the dictatorship. While in this hiding, the roles of singing and prayers were

maintained in secret by woman. This made the religion more gender equal at the time because

music was a huge part of the religious tradition and therefore a huge part of Jewish culture, and

to have woman in charge gave them a crucial role during this time of hiding. While this shift to

equality changed when their religion became more safe to practice the woman still have a sense

of belonging through this music. Even though the woman at the start of the article is nervous to

sing and on the lookout for her son coming home while she does so, her memory of the

traditional songs shows that she still remembers being the leader within her community and that

the ceremonial aspect of song was able to give her a religious identity.

An example of cosmopolitanism from this course can be viewed through the Portuguese’s

Fado. While this was a traditional to Portugal, it grew into a popular tourist music and therefor

can show the effects the cosmopolitans seeking out world music can have on tradition. While this

genre of music was perceived to be extremely regional and a symbol of the country it originated

in, the audiences and phenomenon were primarily associated with French and American

audiences who wanted to feel worldly. In the 1980’s, music listening experienced a shift from

serving to be a display of class with magnificent and classical operas to showing an appreciation
for culture and the world. This then led to the music that was associated to being popular with a

home country to gain popularity, no matter how true that association is. This ties back to Fado

because while this genre was definitely present in Portugal, to the world it was viewed as the

only music is Portugal which was extremely false. The music gained most of it’s popularity from

being popular among “cultured” and “worldly” western audiences.

In Brazil, the genre of Musical Caipira shows the effect that immigration had on music.

This music was a product of the recording industry in the 1930s and 1940s and was used to

segment the markets and sell a higher quantity of music by doing so. It included aspects of

United States Western music and Mexican Rancheria music and was there classified as white

music and marketed towards migrants from the South and Central West. The effects of

immigration of the genres of Brazilian music is especially apparent when comparing Music

Caipira and Baiao. Even though these musical styles are basically the same they were consumed

by different audiences because recording companies used tactics to sell Baiao to migrants from

different regions, therefor creating multiple genres that were primarily the same music.

Diaspora can be viewed by looking at the music of Malaka. They claim that their music

and tradition was from 1511 and that those performing it are of Portuguese ancestry and that is

how they know the traditions. This shows a longing to be connected to Portugal because in

reality these traditions didn’t begin in Malaka until 1950 when a Portuguese administrator that

needed to be impressed came into the city. Not only is the amount of time these traditions have

been present being exaggerated but the people participating in them also exaggerate their

backgrounds in order to claim their colonizer’s identity. This shows the impact that music can

have on creating diaspora and how effective of a tool music was in creating connection to
Portugal during the times of colonization. Even though Malaka had their own traditions and

culture, they were replaced by the ones of Portugal, and because they have become a tourist

attraction that acquires a high profit they are remaining a part of the Malakan culture and

replacing older traditions with new colonized ones that create a Lusophone connection.