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American music has always been more than just an acoustic experience. From the early days of hillbilly music, when musicians would travel from village to village in the Appalachian Mountains, singing songs that included the latest news and gossips that they had heard of, until the early 21st ct., when rock musicians try to raise awareness to the world's social issues, and hip-hop artists describe the hardships of life that come with growing up ghettos, music has always delivered comments on US history, society and culture.
In addition to an analysis of these main categories, this course also deals with issues of identity, gender, race and ethnicity in the United States, and how they are represented in contemporary music forms, with a strong focus on the three most popular genres in the U.S., those being R&B/Soul, Country and (modern) Rock. Based on their cultural studies 'tool set', students will have a closer look at the lyrics and analyze music videos, in an attempt to find out how (and why) the United States are portrayed in mainstream music. |
