Music as a Cultural Commodity

Anyi Li

The global popularity of hip-pop is a perfect example of how culture itself can be a commodity and circulate through the geographies of globalization. Hip-hop begins in the Bronx of New York City, originally with very locally-based content. Over time, it evolves into a cultural movement narrating many aspects of African and Latino American culture, life, and the diaspora. As rappers in The Global Influence of Hip-Hop introduced, hip-pop presents the pan-African story, taking all Africans back to the proud African culture, and represents the African spirit to overcome the difficulties brought by the history of slavery and courageously seek new opportunities for themselves (“The Global Influence of Hip-Hop”). Hip-hop is not just any piece of music but also a movement learned and shared by African people throughout the world. Though it may have started local, African people worldwide resonated with the local New York City conditions, for they have endured similar oppression and diaspora experiences. They grasped their shared essence and culture behind the local art and developed it into a global cultural movement. While circulating through the geographies of globalization, hip-hop also has proved itself a worthy commodity, defined as we learned: “something which can be bought, sold, and invested in” (Lepofsky). It is now “a multi-billion dollar business sector” and commands global influence (Lepofsky). People pay to enjoy hip-hop art and to understand the fascinating African culture. In spreading its pan-African message through cultural globalization, hip-hop also transcends global geographies as a cultural commodity.

The relatively recent popularization of Chinese gufeng music (means ancient-style music) is another case that music sells as a cultural commodity. Gufeng music is the music that tells a story in ancient and contemporary Chinese history and literature. For instance, a viral song named YuXiTan tells the tale between Xiangyu, the Hegemon King of Western Chu, and his beloved concubine Yu Ji when Yu Ji bid farewell and committed suicide in front of a defeated and hopeless Xiang Yu. It starts with sounds that model natural-occurring sounds of fire and horses to provide the context of the story behind the music, which in this case is war. Not all gufeng music incorporates such natural sounds, but many do. YuXiTan’s vocal style adopts the modern Western orchestra, traditional Chinese instruments such as Pipa, and Peking Opera’s sharp, dry sound. Since gufeng music a recent surge in Chinese music, its exact definition remains unclear, especially when it often imports modern, western musical structures. For example, YuXiTan also has Jazz elements on top of the very historical storyline and the Peking Opera vocal style. As one gufeng musician Yin Lin says, gufeng music doesn’t exemplify a clear boundary structurally or instrumentally. Rather, any music that conveys traditional Chinese culture and narrates ancient Chinese literary and historical stories is gufeng music. Similar to hip-hop’s role in African culture, gufeng music is a testimony to modern China’s transition. In recent decades, education has produced generations of upwardly mobile and historically literate people, spurring the society’s nostalgic confidence in China’s glorious history and multifarious traditions. Meanwhile, the rapid surge of globalization has shaped a population with a very diverse aesthetic in musical structures. Especially amongst the Millenials, the mix-bred of local Chinese stories and vocal styles accompanied by global Jazz invokes appreciation of both traditional Chinese and modern globalized cultures. In addition to purchasing music, gufeng music lovers are buying modern Chinese culture.

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