Musical Expressions of Puerto Rican Culture

[conciencia]

Musical Expressions of Puerto Rican Culture

During Dr. Lise Waxer’s October 29th lecture she characterized "music" as being indicative of the history of a people, a way of establishing social relations, and being a forum for dialogue. However, upon a critical analysis of the claims within her lecture and the issues discussed within Ruth Glasser’s My Music is My Flag, I believe that modern studies of Puerto Rican popular culture reveal more about the present state of Puerto Rican identity than the historical subjects themselves. It is clear that above all else Puerto Rican musical history, from its evolution on the island and in the diaspora, was created and conditioned by the US colonial system. Therefore, any attempt to elevate its significance may be more of a classed-based attempt to elevate their social position within the context of colonized historical reality.

Before embarking upon this analysis it is important to note that Ruth Glasser is not Puerto Rican. Although she is "a nice Jewish girl" studying the history of Puerto Rican music, the fact that she is not Puerto Rican does not exclude her from misinterpreting the significance of her findings (xv). From the onset of her analysis she presents herself in opposition to "the traditional historian’s" assumptions about Puerto Rican history. She claims that "many popular and scholarly assessments suggest that Puerto Rican musicians have left their own ostensibly meager musical resources behind and [have]‘merely’ adopted Cuban sounds" (3). This opinion, she claims, characterizes Puerto Rican musical culture as being "imported," meaning that it has no self-sustaining historical traditions of its own. Such a claim would also challenge Lise Waxer’s claims which characterize Puerto Rican music as a manifestation of Puerto Rican national history.

Glasser in turn proceeds within her study to describe the numerous historical traditions of Puerto Rican music. Most prominent among these traditions is the fact that many of the early bands under early US colonial rule began as military bands during the First World War. Indeed, the US army band soldiers were examples of the first musical experience during the Puerto Rican Diaspora because their travels to Europe allowed some musician form "a particularly prominent part of the United States Army’s most famous musical ensembles. [For example] the 369th Infantry "Hellfighters" Band" (54). As professional musician these people benefitted greatly by gaining access to more traditional forms of musical skills. Therefore, after the war they would comprise a small but significant minority of musicians who "within both the band and the orchestra were adept at reading sheet music, and most could play several instruments" (55). However, she is also careful to point out that this military tradition is not limited to the US colonial experience because the Spanish employed Puerto Ricans for similar military purposes on the mainland (and in Cuba) (22). Glasser then continues to enumerate the various musical genres that came out of this unique historical practice (23-37).

Upon evaluating the author’s agenda for essentially describing very obvious facts, she disproves an ignorant (and perhaps racist) assumption made by the above scholars who claimed that Puerto Rican music has no historical traditions of its own. However, is that not a plainly obvious fact? It would not be surprising to any educated person that a particular people who have lived under colonialism by two different nations would have developed unique historical traditions of their own. This leads me to suggest that there was another agenda behind Glasser’s attempt to write a book which in its structure is far more descriptive like an encyclopedia, than analytical like a history book.

I believe that My Music is My Flag is in large part a response to another critique of beliefs in the US rather than a true historical analysis of Puerto Rican musical culture. In addition to describing the subjects within her book as "quietly heroic" she claims that "amazingly, Puerto Rican musical production remains nearly as invisible to North American audiences today as it did in the 1930s" (2). This claim suggests that her rationale behind tirelessly describing the various historical traditions throughout her book is actually an attempt to have US citizens accept Puerto Rican music on the same level as other accepted genres.

Unfortunately, I believe that she fails in her endeavor much, like the delegation that went to Governor Roosevelt to "establish a music school where Puerto Ricans [could] develop their artistic talents, in the highest sense, and according to the standards established in foreign conservatories" (13). As these Puerto Ricans accepted the US-Eurocentric standards for which to be judged, they automatically accept their inferiority. Colonial subjects who ask to be accepted culturally by their master, cannot expect to be treated on equal terms. Glasser’s book, in its attempts to describe the self-evident fact that a people who have lived in one place for over 300 years do indeed have historical musical traditions of its own, does this also. Given this fact, I believe that she should have openly stated this agenda so that her readers would know that the true analytical significance of the book is not found in the the historical subjects but rather in the questions it raises concerning cultural acceptance within the context of colonialism.

Like Glasser I believe that Dr. Waxer and the sources that she cited during her presentation, also make similar mistakes by attributing more to Puerto Rican music than is justified. For example, upon returning to her claim that music helps, establish "social relations," I see no evidence within Glasser’s book that this form of pop-culture developed independently from the constraints imposed under the US’s colonial capitalist society. This is best shown by the way in which these musicians integrated into, rather than challenged the racial dynamics of US society within the diaspora.

Glasser writes of numerous examples of racism in New York City, and how it came to affect the lives of the Puerto Rican musicians. For example, she describes the experience of the famous latin jazz musician Rafael Hernández, who "may have been restricted to uptown live performances sites in New York, but became internationally famous partly as a result of racism" (77). Here she shows the paradoxical effects of racism on everyday life, in which one part of the world you are discriminated against and in other parts you may be favored because of your color. Other factors including phenotype, accents, hair texture (the album covers that Dr. Waxer showed in class often had blacks with very straight hair), the ability to speak in English, etc.—all affected the various musicians in different ways depending on the time period and location.

However, does Glasser’s evidence suggest that through their music Puerto Ricans were able to establish these social relations imposed by race? I believe that this is in part a romatization of the real effects of popular culture on the Puerto Rican society. The evidence suggests that like most people under situations of oppression, these Puerto Ricans found creative ways to renegotiate their social positions. Thus, the few lucky individuals like Augusto Coen and Alberto Socarrás who by the early 1930s "had played with black revues, and had already began extensive recording careers[s] with Clarence Williams, Benny Carter, and other African-American band leaders," were able to become "successful" (80). Yet these individuals were able to find appropriate ways within the system to prosper in spite of the racial restrictions that effected them everyday. They did not establish social relations themselves, but rather they maneuvered and accommodated themselves to the conditions imposed by the US’s racist culture.

Finally upon addressing the ever-present question of Puerto Rican identity, a careful examination of the web site "The Puerto Rican Cuatro" at http:// http://www.cuatro-pr.org/, can provide some insight. The page entitled "Missions & Motives" presents a mission statement in the form of a question which reads:



How does an island define itself, especially if it is only one hundred miles long and thirty five miles wide, if it is not homogenous in either its racial or national heritage, if it retains few traces of its indigenous past, and if it perceives itself as having little other than slavery and colonization around with to crystalize its national memories? How does it record its past in a way that assures its future?

After completing this critical analysis of Glasser’s book I am very skeptical of the notion that "an island" can struggle to define itself. Also, given that I have learned thus far that Puerto Rican history has been characterized by huge racial and class differences, I am not sure that it is possible (or even desirable) to have one national identity. Certainly, the cuatro, a mere instrument, cannot be a symbol which accurately encompasses the colonial experiences of the entire Puerto Rican people.

After hearing one of the projects founders, William Compiano speak during October 13th Panel entitled "Music Matters: Musical Expression in the Experience of Migratory and Diasporic Processes," I have a developed very critical perspective on the subject. He began his discussion by describing his desire to reclaim his Puerto Rican heritage that was a source of shame during his youth. This was the initial impetus behind him starting the project. However, just because his middle-classed status makes him feel the need to fit Puerto Rican heritage into the his well designed web pages (I wonder how many jÃ*baro cuatro players have access to the internet), it does not mean that the project can accurately achieve its goals. I believe that these goals are more reflective of his own identity issues rather than those of the cuatro players.