1 Salsa: Latino Diaspora, Music Industry, and Dance Leopoldo Tablante, PhD Office: BO 337. Office Hours: MWF 10:00 am - 11:00 am. (appointments recommended); E-mail: [email protected]; Phone: (504) 865-2887 Course Description Salsa music is recognized as a symbol for Latinos in the United States and Hispanics abroad, but it is above all a commercial musical product that evolved throughout the 1970s in the United States thanks to the promotion of independent recording initiatives. This class seeks to go through Latino music evolution in the United States since the turn of the 20th century, its influence in the Caribbean, Latin America, and the world, and the consolidation of the salsa style and subculture in the 1970s Latin New York. It stimulates reflection about the life and experience of Latino-Caribbean minorities in the United States and how Latino-Caribbean social and musical traditions have shaped American and global pop cultures. The class will be relying on music itself in order to examine the history of Latino music, the social changes that this music symbolizes, and the configuration of the American entertainment and media network specialized in Latino styles. It also includes a dancing component whose goal is to familiarize students with one of the most important vehicles of socialization for Latino minorities in the United States and Hispanics abroad. The study of Salsa Music will be useful in explaining the connections between society and culture, enabling students to grasp the logic through which the mass media and the recording industry interpret collective sensibilities and histories. Requirements Students are required to attend class not only to listen to the professor lecture, or to the music that will be our subject, but as critical thinkers. In this sense, you are responsible for conducting research in order to make informed opinions about the content and implications of the pieces of 2 music we will be analyzing. In this class, music is the pretext to undertake research involving several disciplines: sociology, anthropology, ethnography, media economics, and cultural studies. The idea is to understand the importance of Latino Caribbean musical sources in the enrichment of American music as a whole and in the development of the show business and recording industry. Course Outcomes - To grasp the sensibility corresponding to a relatively large repertoire of Afro-Latino popular music highlighting the historical, social, and cultural processes it implies; - To clarify the functions of one part of the cultural industries, the recording industry, in order to standardize the production, promotion, and distribution of cultural goods; - To understand Salsa’s contents as a representation of a Latino urban lifestyle and of a Latino interpretation of modernity; - To examine the global network of cultural industries through the challenges implied in Salsa conception, production, promotion, and distribution. Assessment and Grading → Class Attendance and Participation. There will be 29 classes. You may miss four (4) without penalty, but only two (2) before the mid semester. For every absence, you will receive a zero (0) for class participation. Each time you come unprepared, you will receive a zero (0) for class participation. Class participation implies having read the material (please, print them from Blackboard) as well as the exercises, exams, or quizzes presented in class. The professor will often propose a question for you to reflect and write about before beginning a discussion. Participation will be worth 25% of your final grade Exercises requiring your presence in the classroom will be worth 30% of your final grade. → Presentations. Throughout the semester you will do two presentations. The first one will be in groups of three (3) people and the second one individual. The subject of these presentations may be proposed by the professor or by yourselves. You can work on a subject, a musical- historical personality or one or two songs. If you decide to work on a song, you will have to defend your selection and explain that or those songs’ importance relying on some basic information: 1) genre, 2) date of releasing, 3) biography of the recording artist, 4) record label, 5) aesthetic characteristics, 6) symbolic elements both in lyrics and music, 7) main audience, 8) critiques (if available), 9) statistics about its commercial performance (if available), and 10) historical value. YOUR SUBJECT WILL BE THE STARTING POINT FOR THE CLASS TO DISCUSS THE STATE OF THE SOCIETY IN THE TIME PERIOD YOU ARE COVERING. You can use any media available to support your statements. The purpose of these presentations is to motivate discussion and exchanges in the classroom. Presentations will be worth 20% of your final grade → Quizzes. Throughout the semester we will be dealing with historical events depicting the evolution of the Hispanic Caribbean minorities in the United States during the 20th century, 3 especially in the New York City area. These events can motivate our using of abstract concepts allowing us to understand these events as processes within specific theoretical frameworks (sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, politics, etc.) Quizzes will be given in order to assess the students’ comprehension of these events and processes and as reading assessments. Quizzes will be worth 10% of your final grade → Essay Papers. You will turn in four (4) papers, three partial ones of four (4) pages each and a final one of up to twelve (12) pages. On Monday 01/15, you will have to submit a proposal of the theme you will be working on during the semester. This proposal must be presented formally in a document stating 1) why you are choosing that theme, 2) what specific aspects you want to cover, and 3) what the outcomes of your research will be. Each partial paper must cover one specific aspect of the general topic you will be working on during the semester. If you decide to work on Tito Puente’s big band format during the 1950s and 1960s as a key factor of his commercial success, you are required to develop three different parts. For example: 1) Tito Puente’s biography and cultural identity, 2) Musical influences and familiarity with the American popular music of the swing era, and 3) conception of a commercial hybrid style combining traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms and American ballroom arrangements. Your final project will combine the previous three papers in an organic one including introduction and conclusions. In the introduction you will expose and justify your outline; in the conclusion you will highlight your major findings establishing logical associations between them. Each individual paper will be worth 10% of your final grade. Al the three (3) = 30% The final paper will be worth 15% of your final grade. 4 General Grading Criteria for Papers a. Title (10 1. Excellent to very good: It conveys clearly and succinctly the 10 points) subject of the essay; 2. Good to average: Although it presents the problem the essay 6-9 deals with, it fails to address a specific problem; 3. Fair to poor: The title is too broad. It does not give the reader a 2-5 precise idea of the essay´s argument nor helps to anticipate the intellectual perspective chosen by author. 4. Very Poor: The title is too general or vague. 1 b. 1. Excellent to very good: Presents precisely and succinctly the 20 Introduction problem chosen and explains the topical outline; (20 points) 2. Good to average: Presents the problem chosen by the author but 14-19 it fails to precisely establish the topical outline; 3. Fair to poor: The introduction is merely a section throughout 7-13 which the author refers to her/his theme in general terms; 4. Very Poor: The introduction seems to be merely a formal 1-6 requisite in the document. c. Body of the 1. Excellent to very good: The author defines and contextualizes the 37-40 Essay issue. Ideas are clearly expressed, with pertinent theoretical (40 points) references cited formally (MLA protocol). Logical transitions between the different sections of the essay are utilized; 2. Good to average: The author defines and contextualizes the 25-36 argument but fails in supporting her/his statements with the appropriate documented references or does not cite them properly. Although the ideas are presented clearly enough, the logical transition between the different parts of the essay are not explicit; 3. Fair to poor: The author’s statements are merely impressionistic. 15-24 There are conceptual gaps from one section to another; 4. Very Poor: The essay is a reunion of scattered or isolated 1-14 impressionistic considerations. The lack of logical connection between each part conveys to the reader the idea that the essay does not have a goal. d. Conclusion 1. Excellent to very good: By means of a brief recapitulation, the 20 (20 points) author explains the implicit logic of the subject, associates it with more complex processes, or presents a new research problem; 2. Good to average: The author recapitulates the material without 14-19 establishing further associations; 3. Fair to poor: The author repeats statements coming from the 7-13 body of the essay; 4. Very Poor: The conclusion is just a text written with the goal of 1-6 filling a formality but without any useful function. e. List of 1. Acceptable: The references match those cited throughout the 6-10 References essay and are listed using MLA format; (10 points) 2. Unacceptable: The references do not match those cited 1-5 throughout the essay and do not fit the MLA format. 5 Notice about the Assignments and Readings YOU ARE REQUIRED TO CHECK BLACKBOARD PERIODICALLY AND CONSULT THE ANNOUNCEMENTS. CHANGES MIGHT OCCUR DEPENDING ON CLASS DISCUSSIONS. NEW READINGS, NOT POSTED IN THE PRESENT SYLLABUS, MAY BE ADDED.