Music and Meaning in Three Zapotec Songs
| dc.contributor.advisor | Freedman, Richard | |
| dc.contributor.author | Goldberg, Kathryn | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-04-08T00:11:29Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-04-08T00:11:29Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018 | |
| dc.description | Kathryn Goldberg was a Bryn Mawr College student. | |
| dc.description.abstract | This study explores different types of meaning in three songs by Gario Ángeles in the popular music genre in Teotitlán del Valle Zapotec, an endangered indigenous language spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico. I examine the spoken language’s interaction with melodic and rhythmic patterns in Ángeles’s songs, with a particular focus on how tone is manifested in the vocal melody. I find that the needs of the spoken language are not prioritized, and music and language are equally important, working together to coexist on parallel tracks. I explore the specifics of the songs: how they are organized, how the words and music interact with each other, and how these relationships shape the listener’s understanding of the songs as a whole. Finally, I step back to consider the broader cultural meanings that circulate through these songs. I examine the ways in which Gario Ángeles uses his music as a form of language activism, to valorize the Zapotec language by using universally recognized harmonies, structures, and themes to bridge the gap between local and universal, and with it between tradition and modernity. | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Haverford College. Department of Music | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10066/20794 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.rights.access | Open Access | |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ | |
| dc.title | Music and Meaning in Three Zapotec Songs | |
| dc.type | Thesis |