Minstrel shows

I would consider the performance of “Sábados Felices” as a kind of Colombian minstrel show, because it shows two men dressing up like a black couple of the Colombian pacific coast and they’re making jokes about their customs, their physical appearance and about their intellectual capacity. The most related part of this performance with a minstrel show, what make it so similar with the minstrel shows watched in the class is the appearance of the “actors” because they overact and highlight the physical characteristics of the black people they’re imitating.

Although, the real minstrel shows were created in United States by the 1830’s era, and were interpreted by the working class. The American minstrel shows “combined savage parody of black Americans with genuine fondness for African American cultural forms”[1]. Initially the music of this kind of theater exposed the idea of what withe guys though was the black south music, so “they combined work songs, hymns and the old folkloric music of violin and bassoon, making it closer to Irish and Scottish music than African American music”[2].

Having this in mind, I can say that it exist many differences between the real minstrel show and the episode of “Sábados Felices”, according to the context,  the deep of object and most important the musical aspect. That is to say, the first one had by scenario the American culture, and had by object the “insult” or joke about the African American people, and it had a musical background which made it “attractive” for the public. And the second one, the Colombian, is just a joke about the blacks of the pacific coast, with blackface but with no musical background which is distinctive of the first one.

I consider those are racists because both make a mock of black people, and the mean of mock is “to treat with contempt or ridicule”[3], minstrel shows try to give a bad image of the black people, try to show them like ignorant and analphabets, and most of all the ridicule the culture and the identity of the other.

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[1]Watch Mintrel Shows http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/jackson/minstrel/minstrel.html

[2] Paraphrased  Sablosky, Irving: La música norteamericana , Edt. Diana, México, 1ª edición, 1971.

[3] Watch Merrian Webster, An encyclopedia Britannica company http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mock