What was the effect of this song on contemporary culture? How about the effect on the musician’s reputation or career?

-Read the paper “World Music: Commodification, Imperialism and Resistance” to serve as a
background on this topic and concepts.
-Choose and listen to one of the songs listed below. These will be works by an established
Western or Anglo-American musician, who has “borrowed” musical elements from a non-
Western musical style.
-Listen to the companion pieces listed along with your choice. These are examples of the
“borrowed”, non-Western musical style.
-(20%)-Do some research on this non-Western style or musician; try and determine some of
its salient features (meaning what kinds of things do people talk about when they describe this
music). Relate your findings in your paper.
-(20%)-Do some general research on the Western musician who did the borrowing. Can you
determine what gave them the idea to incorporate this non-Western style into their music?
What was the effect of this song on contemporary culture? How about the effect on the musician’s reputation or career? Relate your findings in your paper.
-(10%)-Try and address some of the concepts from the reading; for example does this strike
you as an exploitive relationship or did the non-Western musician(s) benefit too? Elaborate in
your paper.
-(10%)-How much does the non-Western music add to the song? Make some general
comments about what you think of the music.
-(40%)-Paper must be a minimum of 4 pages and use APA format for any works cited. The
remaining points are will be awarded based on demonstration of critical listening skills and
the ability to expound on the concepts of Genre Fusion and Cultural Imperialism.
If students wish, they may additionally discuss the entire album or pick a different
composition on the album, provided that they can find non-Western listening examples
and adequate research materials.

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