Culture and Cross-Cultural Linkages in American Music Essay -- Music C

Culture and Cross-Cultural Linkages in American Music I have recently been listening to a lot of Motown music and even jazz. I have never before explored music in the extent that I have done this semester. I always thought of myself as â€Å"cultured† but this semester, I’ve begun to realize there are more areas of music that I have not explored than those which I have. And as I explore culture and cross-cultural linkages in our music, I realize how much one generation’s music ‘speaks’ to the next. Currently, the song I am intrigued by is â€Å"Strange Fruit† by Billie Holiday. This song is very moving. When Billie Holiday sings, you MUST listen. However, this song, unlike most of her other music, is not about love. It is not about solitary living. It is not about heartbreaking, selfish lovers. This song is a social outcry against injustices done in the South. During the time she sang this song, lynching was common among Southerners adhering to the Jim Crow laws. Black men were beaten, hung, and caught on fire. Oftentimes, rape is the ‘crime,’ even when no rape ...