Les Back (1996) p. 183-211
In the excerpt from this article, Back the gives a history of the evolution of music in the black urban areas of London, explaining its roots in reggae sound system performance and its meshing with soul, funk, and hip hop. An important historical element of this process is that of sound system performance, in which MCs "chat" lyrics to prerecorded mixes. Back writes that London MCs will often mesh symbols from Caribbean and American versions of music in order to create their own style. This fusion of black cultural sounds from around the world, he says, which results in a musical culture that is "simultaneously local, multinational, and transcultural” (210).
We have seen this trend of musical evolution throughout this course. What role does technology play in proliferating this cycle of transcultural music creation? Will music have a "local" identity/phase in the future, or will it immediately become widely disseminated?
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