“The key to understanding the problem in the didjeridoo incident lies in the fact that indigenous people have their territory stolen, their society displaced” and their culture suppressed. When a minority group observes the dominant group wearing their style or creating their art, it is looked upon as if they are taking away something again from these minority groups because they have been oppressed before already.  Diversity plays a big role into today’s society as the action of diversifying something or the fact of becoming more diverse. There’s no way in avoiding other peoples culture, this creates a new experience and knowledge for an individual standpoint and members of a group. No one appreciates when the credit is not due. Educating yourself and others to issues can bring you a long way into creating awareness to these problems and understanding more. 

During this festival an artist was going to perform “original music for traditional music” but was requested from an aboriginal women that she would stay away from performing this music using an aboriginal wind instrument called a “didjeridoo”. As this piece of instrument is scared in her culture, that only an aboriginal would have the right to play it. The artist Gwen Jones respectfully accepted this request as she had made her own “didjeridoo” that mimics the same sound as the instrument. The fact that the artist composed a piece of didjeridoo indicated that has a pure intention of respect and love for the culture. The artist meant no harm. This situation rises a long range of questions, such as “that no one should learn songs in other languages? Is it wrong to make our repertoires diverse? Is each of supposed to stay in our little cubicle and never try to exchange cultures? Under what circumstances is it just to incorporate the music or the instruments of other cultures into ones own music.”  Perhaps the answer that if you give as much as you borrow, and you identify where it came from, you’re playing fair.  Most cultures have some form of drumming, connected with dance or war. At the Michigan festival there was a certain space at night where each night until after midnight with a very diverse group of women that drummed together. This occasion made it possible for people to enjoy something that can be so open to anyone. It created an opportunity, especially for white women that can have pleasurable experience. If a white woman wanted to drum, she may do so but if she was pretending to be a native person or trying to belong in a different group she would be disrespecting the opposing culture.

Cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements of ones culture by members of another culture. This can get controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from disadvantaged minority cultures. Most instances cultural appropriation is regarded as the un-acknowledgment or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, symbols, art, rituals, music, style, etc… of ones society.  An article written by Joanne Stato gives her point of view experience on an issue she had went through at a music festival that changed her perspective.

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