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Writer's pictureLauren Avero
Aug 27, 20193 min read

Appreciation or AppropriatioN?

Music is usually associated with the ability to have creative liberty and create content with no restriction. It is global and although language is sometimes restrictive in understanding the song, the basis of music isn't limited to a certain group of people or individual. Although music has the ability to draw together individuals from different countries, cultures and social backgrounds, there is a need to be able to recognise when cultures are exploited for the sake of the production.


The concern of cultural appropriation in music is nothing new. We've seen this issue since the early 20th century, and we continue to see it today. "Defined as the use of a culture’s symbols, artifacts, genres, rituals, or technologies by members of another culture, cultural appropriation can be placed into 4 categories: exchange, dominance, exploitation, and transculturation" focusing on exploitation is "the appropriation of elements of a subordinated culture by a dominant culture without substantive reciprocity, permission, and/or compensation" (Richard Rogers).

So what does this mean! I'm a visual learner so examples of recent exploitations:

  • Iggy Azalea's performative speech versus her actual speaking voice

  • Selena Gomez's stage costume at the MTV Music Video Awards

  • At the American Music Awards, in a performance for her single, "Unconditionally," Perry dressed up like a geisha, appropriating Japanese culture in the process. In 2014, she sparked controversy again when she wore cornrows in her music video for, "This is How We Do."

  • Miley Cyrus' 2013 Video Music Awards performance, one of them being her use of "twerking," a popular dance among black women. Miley popularized twerking around the country without ever commenting on its origins.




 



Let's take a closer look. In January 2016, Coldplay and Beyonce released a music video 'Hymn for the Weekend'. It came under serious fire from media and the individuals who watched it due to the depiction of Indian culture in such a stereotypical way whilst also having famous well known American singer Beyonce dressed as Bollywood actress. Shot in India, the video features the British band performing in Mumbai during the Holi festival while frontman Chris Martin rides in a rickshaw and goes to the cinema to watch a Bollywood film starring Beyoncé. Some were quick to call out Beyoncé for wearing Indian clothes and jewellery while others found nothing offensive about the video. So down the definition if cultural appropriation means that "a privileged group adopts the symbols and practices of a marginalised one for profit or social capital", then yes, Coldplay’s video is committing cultural appropriation.


Focusing on Indian 'culture' being portrayed through video clips we also see Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s video for Lean On and Iggy Azalea’s Bounce. This clips we also hit with negativity as they clashed with line of what appropriate and what is exploiting the culture.



 


The Hymn for the Weekend shouldn't be “just a video” – music is part of a system of representation that shapes how the west understands and engages with the world.

The cultural theorist Stuart Hall wrote extensively about how representations become meaningful – and powerful – in relation to each other and to similar images throughout history. These tropes of colours and spirituality and poverty have been reproduced so often by western media to the point that they’ve become inherent to what India means in our collective imaginations.


Just some food for your thought...Where do you draw the line in creative liberty and cultural exploitation?



Until Next Time, Live and Laugh,












References:

Rogers, Richard A. "From cultural exchange to transculturation: A review and reconceptualization of cultural appropriation." Communication Theory 16.4 (2006): 474-503. Accessed: 26.08.19

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