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Colleagues, greetings:
Great strand on what makes Southern music "Southern".
Thanks for getting the ball rolling, Michael. It's
been interesting to read the flurry of responses.
This is obviously a question worth considering and
worth taking the time to tease out in the long term.
I've been thinking recently about memory in terms of
Southern identity. Yes, the South (defined by
geography, religion, music) has long been well
bounded, but what about the temporal end emotional
dimensions of the South in relationship to music.
Seems like "the South" has been both rejected and
embraced at various times by various communities for
various reasons.
The South is often a highly passionate site for the
performance of identity, especially when one's identity
is rooted in memory (memories of family, home, rural
life, etc.). If memory is indeed integral to the
assertion of identity (both in the South and out of the
South), why limit out understanding of the South to place
and time?
What does Southern music sound like? At what point in
time? For whom? Where? Huge questions....all worth
considering.
The most interesting aspect of the original question for
me was the curious quotation marks placed around the
word "Southern". This just begs for reflection, eh?
Best,
Greg Barz
Gregory F. Barz, PhD
Associate Professor of Musicology (Ethnomusicology)
Blair School of Music
2400 Blakemore Avenue
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37212 USA
telephone: 615-343-5177; fax: 615-343-0324
email: Gregory.Barz@Vanderbilt.edu
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