CLAS Hosts Virtual Event Discussing African Influence in Mexican Music
On July 17, the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), an affiliated regional center of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, hosted a virtual event titled “500 years of African presence in Mexican Music.” The event featured Michael Birenbaum Quintero, Associate Professor of Music and Chair of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Boston University, and Benjamín Juárez, Professor of Fine Arts at Boston University.
Throughout the summer of 2020, CLAS has been engaging with current events, particularly how nation states have excluded African and indigenous voices from their ongoing conversations surrounding modernity and social justice. Latin America in particular cannot be understood without recognizing its own history of colonization and struggle. Music and culture provide one of the best lenses through which to view the history of encounter on the Latin American continent.
Africa’s presence in Latin America, while very visible in the musical traditions of Brazil and Colombia, has been less visible in Mexico. In this conversation, Professors Birenbaum Quintero and Juárez explored the rich musical heritage of Mexico and African involvement in the formation of la música de México.
A recording of the event will be made available here in the coming days.
The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) provides students with a versatile and powerful vehicle to develop an in-depth and interdisciplinary understanding of the Latin American region. The program offers students a wide variety of regionally-focused courses in Latin America, which are taught by a range of academic departments. The interdisciplinary nature of the program provides the necessary breadth and depth for students to understand the complexities and remarkable diversity of Latin America, defined as the 20 independent countries in the Western Hemisphere south of the United States with Spanish, French, or Portuguese as their official languages. Learn more here.