Sunday, March 6, 2011

Gender and musical appropriation

The game of body politics that women play in regards to the nor-tec is the reaffirmation of one's power over her body, a site that has been an commodity and taken advantage of by the media and others. In the case of Diana in Los Angeles, dancing nor-tec empowers her, giving her the power to express her sexuality without the addition of a male body and becoming a sexual object. In this regard, why do you think certain nor-tec dancing styles allows women to reclaim their bodies?

Nor-tec while becoming part of the Mexican American musical canon, is also an evolution of the ideas of Chicanismo. It is a distinct in that it draws upon Mexican music and American music, making a genre that appeals to those who speak both Spanish and English in ways that other musical forms have not. Personally, I would prefer to listen to the sounds of Nor-tec collective than the sounds of Ricky Martin. Perhaps it is because one is much better and musically imaginative that they other. Or perhaps it is because one is just an appropriation of one musical form and lyrics transformed into English with the other is a true mixture. This appropriation can be considered inauthentic, but that is a relative term. Looking to Ricky Martin and others as a point of interest, why did the music of certain Latin Americans make it into the mainstream mainstream ,while others were left on the periphery?

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