SPAN 39: CARIBBEAN MUSIC

University of California, Santa Barbara

From the West African roots of bomba to the global rise of artist Bad Bunny , this course explores the rich soundscape of Spanish Caribbean music as a sonic story of memory, migration, identity and resistance. Synthesizing his torical research with contemporary art and culture, we examine how genres l ike rumba, bachata, salsa, hip hop, and reggaetón have expressed the strugg les and creativity of Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican communities across time and space. Students engage critically and personally with music as a form of cultural memory and social movement in the Caribbean and its diaspo ras in the United States. Taught in English.