Cultural Significance of the Song Task
For this assignment, choose and closely study one song (your choice) from your assigned Section 6 reading and listening, noting the CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE and SOCIAL USAGE of the song you select. Then search YouTube for a song (any genre) that you can demonstrate has the same (or closely similar) cultural and social function and message. This can be a fun assignment, but to get a good grade requires that you really look into the songs deeply.
note: this assignment is not asking you for your “opinion” about what the songs are about; you should strive to present factual information that stems from research, citing sources and locations, as a major component of your comparative analysis. Please be sure to include the following:
1) the title of the assigned listening song you are using for comparison, AND,
2)Song “FACTS”of the YouTube song you’ve chosen – Title, composer, performer(s) and their instrument(s), genre, length of song, record label, date of recording or release, language, and a URL link to the work you’ve chosen (not a general page, but the actual song so that the professor can listen to your selection as he reads your work), AND,
3) Write a detailed COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS – merge information from your assigned reading AND at least one other academic source. As you write your COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS OF THE TWO SONGS, describe in your own words
* Which cultures/countries the two songs are from.
* What it the cultural and social significance/function/usage of both songs? How are they similar?
* the details of the two genres/styles of music both songs represent
* Remember to write about your selected songs in a way showing “you’ve grasped the connections both have to the materials you’ve read about and researched so far in this course.”
IMPORTANT! FOR EXAMPLE: if you chose “Sueño de Barrilete”, a tango/folk song, you should give specific information and examples of the music and lyrics that directly compare to your YouTube song. And then, write about how these two songs relate culturally/socially and in usage. What aspects of the music, lyrics, or history convey the cultural/social significance? Tango is dance music, but there is significant cultural representations and social usages that are part of the style; how does that compare to your YouTube song?
