=Russell Low
Professor MacGilvray
USSY 293Q
February 9th, 2023
Assignment #5 - Appropriated Nationalism
Antonín Dvořák’s view of “plantation songs” complements Fredrick Douglass’ view because both Dvořák and Douglass distinguish plantation songs as a medium to communicate the sorrows of slavery. For example, in My Bondage and My Freedom, Douglass expresses plantation songs’ ability to exhibit the emotional nuances of the struggles of a slave: “They (plantation songs) were mostly of a plaintive cast, and told a tale of grief and sorrow. In the most boisterous outbursts of rapturous sentiment, there was ever a tingle of deep melancholy.” Douglass exhibits plantation songs' ability to convey the complexities of slave attitudes. Likewise, in Music
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Modern globalization of entertainment allows artistic paradigms to respectfully intersect, appropriate, and evolve. In Music in America, Dvořák argues that the demographical origin of an artist cannot prohibit an artist from producing music of another origin. Throughout the excerpt, Dvořák provides numerous examples of artists composing famous pieces that possess musical characteristics of certain cultures the artist does not originate from like Verdi’s Aida and Bizet’s Carmen. In fact, Dvořák argues that proper representation “need not necessarily be of the same blood,” but instead, requires accurate expression of the underlying morals: “Our (musicians’) mission should be to give pure pleasure, and to uphold the ideals of our race.” Dvořák’s ideals of respectful appropriation can be seen in respected white hip-hop artists like Eminem and Mac Miller who share their experiences and ideals regarding social reform, mental illness, and poverty that resonate with the underlying ideals of rap and hip-hop. Furthermore, respectful appropriation of hip-hop goes beyond the United States, as Latin, South-East Asian, and Korean rap accurately expresses these same underlying morals with respect to their own struggles by taking inspiration from foreign musical paradigms. Regardless of demographic or origin, the human experience of hardship and desire for reform is universal. Consequently, art that spawns from these underlying issues and morals respectfully appropriate and inspire each other which accepts and exhibits Dvořák’s defense of respectful