Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I guess I'd say music, specifically instrumental music. People can have food allergies that might make say cultures that rely on seafood not that appetizing for them. People may hate say Chinese instrumental music, but I don't think they could be allergic to it.
I would say food because you can find the foods of many countries and ethnic groups spread far and wide from their place of origin. And big cities everywhere seem to take pride in having foreign restaurants.
Music is much more of a one-way street. The U.S. dominates music and video because its TV channels are seen around the world. Americans (perhaps that should be "young Americans") think they have such progressive, wide open tastes; but, in fact, they are among the most conservative listeners in the world. You rarely hear foreign music in the U.S. be it foreign pop or more traditional. The usual American reaction is "Yeeeeeeeeck!!!!!!!....................what's thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???!!!
African and Arabic pop is sensational, but it is an unknown quantity. Brazil has one of the biggest recording industries in the world. I have collected a huge amount of pop music over the years, and at this point the American portion is certainly less than 20%.
You make a point, I might have been thinking more in potential than actual.
Still look at TV. Grey's Anatomy has played songs by Icelandic and Norwegian musicians, that's just what I know of. David Letterman has had Tuvan throat singers, the Soweto Gospel Choir, etc. I doubt people are eating Norwegian or Tuvan food much in American towns or that Norwegian food is even being slipped in much without their notice.
That said the focus on singing might make it harder. In the early 1960s an instrumental song could be a hit so people might listen to Bossa Nova or songs based on Polynesian melodies. Now if it's not sung it's not much and people are maybe less open to listening to songs they don't understand. (Although Gaelic music is somewhat popular so that might belie that)
....That said the focus on singing might make it harder. In the early 1960s an instrumental song could be a hit so people might listen to Bossa Nova or songs based on Polynesian melodies.
A classic example - up to a point - would be Manu Dibango's Soul Makossa of 1972 from Cameroon, which is considered to be one of the first "disco" recordings. But, I think, if you did not live in a large urban center during the 70's with many blacks, Latinos and gay people this observation is something of a huh wha? Even before this Babatunde Olatunji's music was being played in a NYC club as dance music and packing the floor. The "but" in this phenomenon is that foreign dance music this "far out" got encysted in black/latino/gay dance venues, which on the whole played music 50% of which was never heard in the white, straight Top 40/Billboard disco scene. So its influence was very limited....and just as bossa nova after a brief fad, disappeared into American jazz, where it still retains a minor place.
Quote:
Now if it's not sung it's not much and people are maybe less open to listening to songs they don't understand. (Although Gaelic music is somewhat popular so that might belie that)
I would be a bit inclined not to say "people" and maybe Americans or, more broadly, English speakers.
I am far too ancient to be going to clubs, but because I have browsed a lot in music stores in various countries that sell Greek, Arabic or Spanish or Luso-African pop, I end up meeting a lot of (incredulous) people in their twenties who are busy shopping the same stuff.
I found Arabic and African music played in clubs in the Greek islands, and Spanish and Arabic music mixed together in the western end of the Med - I'm talking vocal music, by the way. Brazilians will latch onto a hot African number in an African language, the Portuguese and French listen to Cabo Verde creole, and in the relatively small city I live in dance clubs playing African languague vocals have more whites than blacks, and Cuban salsa has a following too.
I am a native English speaker (USA), and my observation -as above, is that Europeans are less bothered by not comprehending the lyrics of a song, especially, I think, if it is dance music. Perhaps it is simply because Europeans are exposed to lots of languages, many of which they do not comprehend.
On the other hand, I have to say that I was never especially bothered by not understanding French, Portuguese, Arabic when I was a young person in the U.S. I just dived into what sounded and felt good to me.....ending up with large numbers of foreign LP's by the mid-Sixties. But I found few other Americans back then who shared these tastes.
I think it is sports!
Take a look at all those FIFA football world championships in Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006), South Africa (2010). In my opinion this is what connects people and cultures, thousands of fans and people watching the games together. During the summer 2010 I have been to Hungary and watched the game Germany vs. Argentina with many others (mostly hungarian, dutch and british) people. It was really amazing.
If I had to choose only out of food or music, I would go for music.
I think it is sports!
Take a look at all those FIFA football world championships in Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006), South Africa (2010). In my opinion this is what connects people and cultures, thousands of fans and people watching the games together. During the summer 2010 I have been to Hungary and watched the game Germany vs. Argentina with many others (mostly hungarian, dutch and british) people. It was really amazing.
If I had to choose only out of food or music, I would go for music.
Sports isn't a bad choice, although not every country is into football/soccer. The US is the obvious exception, but I believe there are others. Australia doesn't look to be quite as football crazy as some with Australian rules football maybe being more popular than the international kind, if I'm reading things right, but probably more popular than in the US. From what my sister told me Japan is more interested in baseball than football, although football appears to be their second most popular sport even if a somewhat distant second. In the Philippines it looks like Basketball and Boxing are bigger, but again they do have something of a football world.
Running and fighting sports (wrestling, boxing, etc) I imagine is pretty international even if some countries may not be as into it as others. The pre-civilized cultures I know of often had running, wrestling, or fighting sports.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
