Music and Gender
In this blog you'll be exploring the intersection of music and gender. We've already noticed some gender norms in the cultures we've studied. While African griots are both men and women, it's rare for a female griot to play an instrument--they usually just sing. But Sona Jobarteh breaks that mold! Too, it's uncommon for women in Africa to play the drums. But both men and women in Africa sing and dance in groups. As you study The Blues, you'll discover that, while many of the earliest blues musicians were men, it was blues women that really brought the genre to the general public, becoming famous singing the classic blues on records and in music halls. In future units we'll discover other instruments, styles, and roles that are typically assigned to specific genders. I'm sure that, if you stop to think about it, you've noticed gender expectations in the music you've experienced. Have different genders listened to different types of music, or been...