Beyond The Classroom: NAC, Renata Flores, and Sona with the Gambian Academy
There have been many things that I have thought were interesting in class that we have not discussed in detail. All three of my topics are from each culture that we have talked over in class.
1. Native American Church
In class, we did not discuss much about the Native American Church except for the peyote song that we listened to. And I wanted to know more of the behind the scenes and where the Native American Church began. It was first recognized as a religion in 1885 when the Kiowa and Comanche tribes spread the word to other tribes about their rituals and songs. The religion is monotheistic with a god called Supreme God or Great Spirit. This Supreme God, in a similar way of Christianity with the God, Holy Ghost and Jesus, connects with people with various other spirits that they call waterbird or thunderbird. The peyote music in the Native American Church is closely related with healing rituals, wakes, births, other important life events. The rituals and services are normally conducted in a tepee and the time period of sunset until dawn and end with breakfast. The rituals have four core songs and that are repeated four time in a row. These songs are called "The Opening Song", "The Midnight Water Song", "The Sunrise Song", and "The Closing Song".
This is the" Opening Song"
This is "The Midnight Water Song"
This is "The Sunrise Song"
This is "The Closing Song"
2. Renata Flores
In our class discussion on the Andean culture, we talked about the growing importance of the Quechuan language. We reflected on the singer, songwriter Renata Flores who covered American songs into the Quechuan language. I wanted to know more about her and her life as she has grown in her fame in Peru. As a child, she has always had the love of music as it was instilled into her from her grandparents introducing cumia, rock, electronic, and folklore music into her life. As a young lady at the age of fourteen, she competed in a reality talent show, named "La Voz Kids Peru", and though she did not win the competition it continued to jumpstart her singing career. She then began she YouTube account and started posting cover songs to popular American music that had reached people globally. Her first song that made a important impact for her was the cover she did of Micheal Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel". Through the cover songs that she post on Youtube, she wants the people of Peru and other South America countries to notice how important the Quechuan language is to their culture. She explained to he interviewers at Refinery29 that many of youth are not taught the Quechuan language due to the older generations' fear of being ridiculed, discriminated against, and the feeling of being inferior to others that speak Spanish. As of now, being a 19 year old woman, she has started writing her own music. The newest song that she has came out with is "Mirando a la misma luna", which translates to looking at the same moon. This is song is about the persecution suffering of the Quechuan youth because of the hardships of learning Spanish.
This video of Renata Flores' cover of Michel Jackson.
This video is of Renata's original song "Mirando a la misma luna".
3. Sona and the Gambian Academy
As we all know from past Thursday class time, Sona Jobarteh has a huge impact on the culture of Gambia, and specifically on the youth. The Gambian Academy is one of her ways of improving the Gambian future with the kids who will build it. She has conducted many ways of research to find the best way for the kids of Gambia to enjoy school and learn in school. She has said that her inspiration for the Gambian Academy was to stress importance of education in Gambia and throughout the continent of Africa. She believes that the education system for children has been overlooked and needs to focus on educating the next generations. At the beginning of creating the Gambian Academy, she was stressing the importance of improving the education curriculum and involving music. Now that she has completed that mission, she having the struggle of finding the best environment for the kids to learn because as of right now they are enclosed in four walls with no roof. She is hoping that through the education at the Gambian Academy the students with learn self-worth, empowerment, social responsibility, and confidence.
Works Cited
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Native American Church. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American-Church
Barrientos, B. (n.d.). Renata Flores & Her Music are an act of indigenous resistance. Renata Flores Quechua Rap Music Is An Act Of Resistance. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/10/10036118/renata-flores-peru-quechuan-music-indigineous-culture
Sona Jobarteh | The Gambia Academy - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFe3Ipkj3Zs
Sona Jobarteh. (n.d.). The Gambia Academy. Sona Jobarteh. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://sonajobarteh.com/the-gambia-academy
I loved your blog, I like how you focused and had a theme of all their music and not their clothing or dancing or instruments (don’t know if you were trying for that just something I noticed). I loved the videos of Renata Flores, I enjoy her songs.
I didn't know Renata Flores was in a talent show and lost. I think it's great how younger generations who don't know the Quechuan language can listen to her songs and maybe learn it from her.
The NAC was a really interesting topic to focus on I think! I didn’t realize the NAC had so many differences from our stereotypical ideas of “church” and I enjoyed learning more about their specific rituals and hearing the variety of songs incorporated throughout. I think my favorite was the Sunrise Prayer. I loved hearing Renata Flores’ own music. She’s talented in all of her videos but I think her talent shows even more when she’s performing her own songs. I think you could also hear a bit of pan flute in the background at a few points! I also really appreciate how Sona Jobarteh is not only focusing on teaching music to her students, but also confidence and empowerment and I enjoyed seeing some of the traditional dancing in her Gambia video!
I loved Renata Flores Quechuan cover of fallin'. It was nice to get more of a feel for her music through the videos. I truly admire her dedication to keeping the language alive.
Great post! I really enjoyed reading this. I loved how you talked about the Native American church. I really enjoy leaning about other cultures churches and religions. I loved the Fallin' cover Renata Flores did! After we watched that video in class I had that song to my Spotify playlist! I will be listening to more of her because her voice is beautiful.
Hey Maggie! Your information on the Native American church was very intriguing. I also wanted to learn more about the history of the church so learning that from you was very exciting! :D
Hey Maggie, I really enjoyed getting to read your blog! I found it very interesting reading about the Native American church and how it began. I did not know much about the Native American church, but I did learn a lot just by reading your blog!
I loved your blog, I like how you focused and had a theme of all their music and not their clothing or dancing or instruments (don’t know if you were trying for that just something I noticed). I loved the videos of Renata Flores, I enjoy her songs.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Renata Flores was in a talent show and lost. I think it's great how younger generations who don't know the Quechuan language can listen to her songs and maybe learn it from her.
ReplyDeleteThe NAC was a really interesting topic to focus on I think! I didn’t realize the NAC had so many differences from our stereotypical ideas of “church” and I enjoyed learning more about their specific rituals and hearing the variety of songs incorporated throughout. I think my favorite was the Sunrise Prayer. I loved hearing Renata Flores’ own music. She’s talented in all of her videos but I think her talent shows even more when she’s performing her own songs. I think you could also hear a bit of pan flute in the background at a few points! I also really appreciate how Sona Jobarteh is not only focusing on teaching music to her students, but also confidence and empowerment and I enjoyed seeing some of the traditional dancing in her Gambia video!
ReplyDeleteI loved Renata Flores Quechuan cover of fallin'. It was nice to get more of a feel for her music through the videos. I truly admire her dedication to keeping the language alive.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really enjoyed reading this. I loved how you talked about the Native American church. I really enjoy leaning about other cultures churches and religions. I loved the Fallin' cover Renata Flores did! After we watched that video in class I had that song to my Spotify playlist! I will be listening to more of her because her voice is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHey Maggie! Your information on the Native American church was very intriguing. I also wanted to learn more about the history of the church so learning that from you was very exciting! :D
ReplyDeleteHey Maggie, I really enjoyed getting to read your blog! I found it very interesting reading about the Native American church and how it began. I did not know much about the Native American church, but I did learn a lot just by reading your blog!
ReplyDelete