The musical economy and the diverse array of genres it peddles have become ubiquitous aspects of our world. Believed by many musicologists and historians to be the result of American culture spreading its influence after WWII, there is little doubt that globalization has created an international arena in which people can purchase,stream, and download music. However, not all academics adhere to the idea that the United States is the origin of today’s omnipresent musical marketplace. In his book Noise Uprising, Yale professor Michael Denning argues for an alternate take on the formation of our “global soundscape”. Denning posits that many of the “musical idioms”(genres) of today actually trace their roots to a recording boom that occurred between
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Some musical genres, such as tango, have become world renowned; others, such as the Indonesian kroncong, have not enjoyed the same level of popularity. The sheer diversity of the music recorded during the brief five year time period astounded me at first, but Denning offers a completely believable and well substantiated (the book provides a ton of sources including an online playlist) explanation. Denning postulates that recording companies specifically worked in port cities to maximize production and heterogeneity. He credits this focus to the colorful mixture of sounds that existed due to the influx of millions of migrants. This influx established a hotbed of sounds and profit opportunities in cities like Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, New York, and many others.
Following his discussion of the recording boom’s origins, Denning analyzes how it contributed to the “vernacularization” of music. Denning defines vernacular music as songs created by the people to represent their own wishes and beliefs, described as a kind of “proletarian loudspeaker”by German philosopher Theodor Adorno. Denning argues that recordings boosted the acceptance of vernacular music, much like how Johann Guttenberg’s printing press helped vernacular languages supplant
Some musical genres, such as tango, have become world renowned; others, such as the Indonesian kroncong, have not enjoyed the same level of popularity. The sheer diversity of the music recorded during the brief five year time period astounded me at first, but Denning offers a completely believable and well substantiated (the book provides a ton of sources including an online playlist) explanation. Denning postulates that recording companies specifically worked in port cities to maximize production and heterogeneity. He credits this focus to the colorful mixture of sounds that existed due to the influx of millions of migrants. This influx established a hotbed of sounds and profit opportunities in cities like Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, New York, and many others.
Following his discussion of the recording boom’s origins, Denning analyzes how it contributed to the “vernacularization” of music. Denning defines vernacular music as songs created by the people to represent their own wishes and beliefs, described as a kind of “proletarian loudspeaker”by German philosopher Theodor Adorno. Denning argues that recordings boosted the acceptance of vernacular music, much like how Johann Guttenberg’s printing press helped vernacular languages supplant