Hip hop is everywhere today, but sometimes we forget to talk about where it comes from and why. African and African Diaspora Studies scholar La’Kayla Williams joins us to discuss how Black musicians continue to build on hip hop’s powerful foundation and helps us understand the importance of speaking up about the negative messages that sometimes come out of hip hop. Hip hop duo Riders Against the Storm show us how we can use rap and hip hop to use our voices powerfully and creatively. (more…)

Latin America is a beautiful, diverse region full of different musical traditions. In this episode we explore Brazilian samba and how genres are continuously changing due to the efforts to all sorts of people. Ethnomusicologists Jeannelle Ramirez and Vicky Mogollón Montagne join us to talk about changing Latin American traditions and what it means to be Latinx. Hit play to hear from Vicky and Jeannelle and learn how to perform samba from Felipe Brito, Marco Antônio Santos, and Fábio...

A brief discussion of what this podcast is about, and how you can get involved. We look forward to hearing from you! Transcript Click to Read Transcript Hi! Welcome to Reflective Rhythms. My name is Cristina Saltos, I’m a musicologist who studies the ways that we can use music to connect across the boundaries that exist between communities—particularly communities of color—and academia in order to share knowledge and create impactful, lasting change. This podcast has been...

Welcome to the show! Hit play to understand what Reflective Rhythms is all about and how you can be a part our learning journey. Transcript Click to Read Transcript Hi everyone! Welcome to Reflective Rhythms! My name is Cristina Saltos, I’m a musicologist, which means I study how humans make music, why humans make music, and how human music-making has changed over time. Reflective Rhythms is a podcast, which means my friends and I went into a recording studio with an engineer...

We all know that different kinds of music can make us feel different kinds of feelings. But how do musicians use sound to create different moods and emotions? In this episode we’ll explore how the Blues queens of the 1920s used musical affect to express themselves and stand up for Black women. Singer-songwriter Sonya Jevette show us how to use musical affect in songs, and helps us understand what it means to be a feminist today. (more…)