I too am a tad bit older than the average Converse freshman coming in at the oddly even age of 22. Originally from the Bronx, New York, I grew up living between Manning, South Carolina and Brooklyn, New York for most of my life. I was raised by my wonderful grandmother who would send me back home to the city with my mom and stepfather during the summer months and most major holidays every year. I remember walking through the busy streets of Manhattan, hearing Jamaican drummers and bands playing the music of their culture as their busy migrating audience shaked and shimmied to the rhythm all the way to their destinations.
The house that I grew up in New York had two recording studios. One was for my late father's R&B and the other for my uncle Cedie's Hip Hop. They would stay up until the wee hours of the night coming up with new lyrics and rhymes while I snoozed in my favorite chair in the corner.
One of my favorite places to go as a young child was the intersection where Little Italy met Chinatown in the lower part of Manhattan. When I would stand on the corner of that intersection, it was like fusing the best of both worlds to create an Italian opera and oriental musical love child. It had to have been one of the best eye opening experiences of my young adult life.
My family is also very diverse which made stepping out of the western music world convenient. For instance, my Aunt Gloria is from Puerto Rico. We would spend hours dancing and making up words to popular Latin songs. I also enjoyed spending time with my stepmother riding in the car with both Indian and Jamaican musical influences blasting through the speakers.
While in high school, I had a total of three singing groups. One was a Jazz ensemble called BOS, an R&B/Gospel group known as Benevolent, and a pop group called Vivid Colors. I was also very active in church choirs and other African American religious services.Once I began my college career, I found myself drawn to various music classes. I have taken a blues course, Jazz history, Jazz theory, and an African American culture class. After taking the African American culture class, it inspired me to start incorporating Negro Spirituals into my repertoire. I also have a new appreciation and understanding for my strong heritage.
I believe that my experiences with non-western music at such an early age has a huge impact on the woman who I am becoming and also the open-minded people of society who I will raise my children to be.
Wow, you have a rich background. I also like listening to music of different cultures.
ReplyDeleteI've not really had the experience of walking down the street and hearing people make music. I've seen it on the Travel Channel, but not in real life. The concept of music fusing together is interesting, particularly with two such distinct cultures as Italian and Chinese. I think it will be interesting to see in our lifetimes how musics influence one another throughout the world.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Audrey, the ability to walk down the street for music was not open to me. We had a jazz group at my middle school, but not in high school. At most we had the Showchoir that did rock, pop, jazz, and very little rap. If you've got a favorite CD would you mind exposing me to it?
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Yeah, Chinatown and Little Italy are very alive with a musical culture. Isn't it so interesting how you can walk down a street in New York and end up completely in the middle of a different culture? New York is cool like that.
ReplyDeleteWow. That's truly incredible. I've been to New York a few times, but I never got to stay as long as I would have liked. It must have been amazing to grow up in such a diverse community.
ReplyDeleteWhat a privilege to live in a place where so many cultures and genres of music exist together! I love being able to exude all the different facets of my ethnic background!
ReplyDeleteReally, a very good blog--interesting and well-written (do watch the occasional comma issue). Yes, Manhattan is an amazing place to hear all sorts of music. Our trio's Faculty Recital in March is going to showcase music by New York composer Brian DuFord, and one of the pieces is different sorts of music inspired by different streets on Manhattan.
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