Black Swamp Festival

For my event I attended the Black Swamp Arts Festival back in September. This festival was over a whole weekend and it was filled with eclectic styles of art and music. Walking through the festival and seeing the different booths made me feel like I was in a whole new world sometimes. The art was gorgeous, some of it was funny and amusing, and others were moving and were very deep. The musical portion of the weekend is where I found my most memorable events that I believe related to this class in particular. I saw two very different musical performances, one was the modern jazz pair called GINKGOA, and the second was the female mariachi band called MARIACHI FLOR DE TOLOACHE. Both were culturally diverse performances both within the group and
This couple is made up of a white male performer and the lead singer who is a black female. This relates to our class topics on race and how race is socially constructed. Within this group and their audience separation between races seemed to be completely nonexistent. Some people in our nation still believe that blacks and whites should not be allowed to marry each other or be in relationships with each other in any way. This is a complete travesty and this performance really hit home with me that people who think that need to realize that skin color and race do not separate or make one person better or worse than another. In fact the mixture of races and ethnicities can potentially create shocking and amazing outcomes. If a multiracial couple, coming from different childhood, family, and ethnic backgrounds can make beautiful music then just imagine what all the others can accomplish as well. I saw an advertisement recently relating to this topic. It was a crowd of people of all different ages, races, sexual orientation, and gender standing in a city as an audience and there was a huge x-ray wall in front of them. Behind the wall they could see the skeletons of people dancing, playing, and even kissing. Then the people from behind the wall would step out and it was either two women, or two men, or one of the persons could have had a disability. But the last one was
The two performances, GINKGO and MARIACHI FLOR DE TOLOACHE, were extremely fascinating, fun, and inspirational. I learned that no matter what race, gender, or ethnicity all people can be brought together though a common love or passion. The mixture of cultures and races of people I met helped me to step out of my comfort zone and opened my mind up to what my previously Americanized brain had kept me from being able to learn and