'Sobre Las Olas': A Mexican Genesis in Borderlands Jazz and the Legacy for Ethnic Studies

Author: Theresa Johnson, Gaye

Source: Comparative American Studies, Volume 6, Number 3, September 2008 , pp. 225-240(16)

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Abstract:

In 1884 the Mexican government sent a national military band to the Cotton Exposition in New Orleans. When the Fair ended in 1885, several of these musicians remained in the city. By the 1890s, many of New Orleans' and Texas' most promising Black jazz and blues artists were acquiring musical instruction from Mexicano musicians. The evidence presented in this article recalls the centuries-long parallels and meeting points between Black and Mexicano histories of subjugation and resilience, of political suppression and cultural expression, and of the inevitable exchanges that occur through migration and culture among marginalized communities. I argue that the presence of Mexico and Mexicans in the jazz and blues history of the borderlands inspires a reconsideration of relational identities and cultural productions that lie outside the bounds of traditional racial and historical discourses.

Keywords: BLUES; MEXICO; BORDERLANDS; BLACK; ETHNIC STUDIES; RELATIONAL IDENTITIES; JAZZ; NEW ORLEANS

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/147757008X330195

Publication date: 2008-09-01

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