Code-switching.
Code-switching can be done in different contexts either in language or even musical scenarios. It is defined as the process of shifting from one language code to another due to a change in conversational settings or social contexts. It thus alters elements in language dialects to contextualize an interaction or musical audience (Nilep,2006). The art of code-switching has been studied over the years to get a clearer picture of how the members of the minority ethnic groups use it to maintain their sense of identity in a larger community and at the same time poets, musicians use it to also rhyme their instruments with applauds and chats from their audiences.
It was identified in the United States among African Americans who would be able to shift between the standard English (which is written and spoken in the education system and also recognised as the normal language in the United States) to their ethnic African American English (AAE) which is a common dialect spoken by Americans who have African descent. This is evident among us as students even in schools in that despite the standardized English in schools, we still find a way to incorporate the AAE language in our daily interactions as a form of identity and relate to each other. During these moments we can relate to our ethnic identity. Code-switching goes beyond just changing language by enabling the participants to express anger, distress, pain disagreements and happiness in their conversations.
Important work of Alan Lomax during the 20th century.
Alan Thomas was a famous ethnomusicologist in America in the 20th Century. He was known as the man who was able to record the world (Szwed, 2012). This is because he was an all-rounded artist not only a musician but had the best skills when it came to folk music field recordings. As a Folklorist, he did the most work to ensure that the American folk music was preserved by discovering several folks and jazz musicians such as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy and even Jelly Roll Morton. He went out of his way to record music for them and guide them in their music careers and even legitimized folk music among the guardians and academics. He is one of the reasons why Jazz and Blues to date are accepted as forms of art in America.
Through his work and efforts, he was able to change how we perceive and hear American Music and even went ahead to collect music ideas and store them for future generations, something that was disregarded by numerous world academic musicologists in a conference. He did not give up on his vision of a future academic monograph because he was bent on making the world know that African American Music was our greatest cultural tradition. The 5,000 hours of recordings somehow paid off even though not all of the recordings are yet to be heard, this is because the vast materials that Alan Lomax collected are present at the Library of Congress so that anyone interested to see his journey, interviews, documentaries, folkways records and radio shows can listen in.
Szwed, J. (2012). The man who recorded the world: A biography of Alan Lomax. Random House.
Nilep, C. (2006). “Code-switching” in sociocultural linguistics. Colorado research in linguistics, 19(1), 1.