This entry is an excerpt from a more complete entry of the same name on my Environmental Geography blog; it describes a travel course we are planning, in which music will combine with environmental and linguistic topics. Please see that version of São Vicente Paisagens for much more information about the course we are planning. It will offered primarily to BSU students but others may apply. The full entry describes the environmental content of the course and more about the music as well.
Music is an important part of cultural geography everywhere, but it seems especially to be the case in Cape Verde, where each island is home both to several distinct musical traditions and to a variety of contemporary artists.
Among the latter are producers of music videos who really help geography learners by their rich incorporation of the cultural landscape. One example is Khaly Angel and his 2022 production Mindel (Mindelo -- below); another is Ariah by Jenifer Solidade.
I was captivated by this image during my random scrolling a few weeks ago, and I also enjoy the caption. It is profoundly geographic and definitely sounds better in the original Spanish than in translation.
The Spanish "Somos de la Tierra del Nopal" means "We are the Land of the Nopal." This is even less poetic if we translate the last word: "We are the Land of the Prickly Pear Cactus."
But in any language, the point is made (pun intended) about the symbols that tie people to their land, in this case Mexican people to Mexico.
This illustration is a variation on the illustration central to the national flag of Mexico, which reflects the origin story of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan -- which was to become the literal foundation of Mexico City. The artist Aswer Garcia has done the original story one better, with the cactus growing from a skull instead of a rock.
Johnny Cash was known as a performer of Country music, which is also sometimes called Country & Western. The latter is appropriate in the context of his song "I've Been Everywhere" which has been represented on the map below, shared on the popular Facebook page Terrible Maps.
Most of the locations are in the United States and even those that are elsewhere are in the Western Hemisphere. This is not what is usually meant by Country & Western, of course, but it works for the purposes of this post. And given that this is for a course on world music, we might call this an example of half-world music.
It is often good to avoid the comments in social-media posts, but I recommend the comments on this one. Some are unduly sarcastic or pedantic, but many do offer some geographic insights and opinions. They also mention other musicians with a claim to the song -- Johnny Cash was not the first nor the last person to record it.
Herewith, the song itself, with helpful subtitles.
I have not examined the map or lyrics in detail, but I estimate that I have been to about half of the "everywheres" mentioned.
One of these is the subject of a song by Barry Manilow. (Okay, Manilow scholars -- the song is about a hotel, but you can see the hotel from the beach.)
The other is an even bigger hit from a decade earlier -- the Girl from Ipanema. The stage decor in this version mimics the pavement patterns common on Portuguese and Brazilian public places, including the sidewalks near both of these beaches.
This version is the most familiar. Another YouTube video includes two interesting versions, one from a movie and one from a jazz club in Germany.
In many ways, my introduction to world music began in Rondônia, the state in the western Amazon of Brazil where I completed my dissertation research in 1996. I was there to study the connections between urbanization and deforestation, but the friends I met during my three-month stay were eager to teach me other things about their country, and many of them were particularly interested in music.
The CDs that were recommended during that stay and during briefer research trips in 2000 and 2003 formed the basis of Music of the Americas in Global Context -- a web page and public lecture series I offered in the mid-aughts.
With a couple of delightful exceptions, the music they shared was from elsewhere in Brazil. The local music scene in Rondônia has flourished in recent years, along with the arts in general. Thanks to social media connections, I learned just yesterday of a YouTube playlist dedicated to the very local music of Rondônia.
I am glad to be able to explore these performances with students who are studying global music in general and the Amazon in particular.
It was written, produced, and performed by artists born in the United States. It has a Boston connection -- see a note about that from John Gray.
But I include it on this world-music blog because it is has a story -- a big, beautiful story that overlaps with many of the stories of world music.
Fast Car -- and the story of its recent revival -- is best told in several videos. The 1988 song is the second track on Tracy Chapman's eponymous 1990 album (CD/vinyl/cassette), which we played repeatedly in our home and (not-so-fast) car in the years after its release.
The live version recored at Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday celebration has garnered over 5 million views on YouTube alone. (Read the story behind this performance for the bittersweet details of how she ended up on the Wembley stage for the second time that day. She was originally scheduled only to perform Talkin 'bout a Revolution -- which is equally amazing and important.)
Among the white folks who enjoyed the song was Chester Combs, a North Carolinian more or less my age. Like me, he played the song a lot. So much that it became one of his son's favorite songs. Luke Combs was born two years after Chapman first performed the song, the same year as it was released on the album.
Young Luke grew up to become a very successful country musician and in his mid 20s he started singing Fast Car at his live shows. People sang along. Again, everyone of a certain age already knew the words. His cover is the same song, beautifully reimagined but at the same time only subtly different from the original.
This version of the song did several things at once. It helped to earn awards and set records for Luke Combs. It earned Tracy Chapman Song of the Year from the Country Music Association -- something nice to go along with multiple nominations and one award from the Grammys and MTV a full generation earlier.
And like all great cross-over successes, it introduced artists to new audiences. I am willing to bet that there were as many "Tracy who?" as "Luke who?" questions being asked when this news broke -- each from fans of one who were unfamiliar with the other.
I remember learning of a huge group called Black-eyed Peas only after they recorded a few songs with Brazilian bossa nova singer Sérgio Mendes (speaking of world music). I was later lucky enough to see the Peas on stage near Boston, though I have yet to see Sérgio.
Lagniappe
Now we do have a very fast car, and I have to be judicious about playing this while driving it. My exuberance could get me unwelcome attention from the constabulary.
