Amazing popularity of American country music in rural Africa

It turns that American country music is surprisingly popular rural Africa:

https://twitter.com/RisenChow/status/1542564697353895941

Here a recent country song in Kikuyu, a Bantu language of Kenya:
https://twitter.com/RisenChow/status/1542970731750891520

I was similar surprised when I visited Monterrey, Mexio, and heard Norteño. The music is basically a form of polka music that is very popular in northern Mexico.

Is music the universal language that transcends borders?

Yeah music is a true international language.

Hip-hop is crazy popular in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan.

Blues had spread all over the world by the 1960s.

Reggae is beloved in the United States and Canada.

Im an enormous fan of J-Rock and J-Pop (Japanese rock and Japanese pop) music.

Music, art, and film has no borders.

Yes, but it can be disorienting for some people.

A while back I found a Mexican video of polka dancing to Norteño. It reminded me of scenes with polka bands in Pennsylvania.

When I showed the to a Puerto Rican relative, his response was on the lines of “that is so wrong . . .”

When does music become cultural imperialism or cultural appropriation?

That’s because we Rednecks are everywhere. :wink:

Speaking of white people and black people getting together to make a mix of Norteño and Reggae sung in English and Spanish, I present to you one of the bangin’est one hit wonders of the 90’s (or ever). lol

No culture exists in a vacuum. All have been heavily influenced by other cultures. Some modern cultures are literally created by two cultures melding together.

Like the Japan-United States cultural exchange. After World War II our two nations became extremely close military allies. That eventually led to huge cultural exchanges, with the Japanese picking up a love for baseball, a love of American music, and an obsession with American films.

From the Japanese side Americans developed a passion for Anime, Japanese martial arts such as karate, and an obsession with Japanese video games.

There’s still huge differences between our cultures. But we have become huge fans of each others art and cultural productions. And we’ve even taken those things and put our own spin on them. For example a significant portion of modern American animated works try to imitate the unique style of Anime. And many Japanese big budget films emulate the styles of American film making.

99.9% of the world is flyover country.

We all play the banjo, and play it well.