John Bimbiras | The City College of New York (original) (raw)
I am a Ph.D. student in Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin. My research focuses on the labor of Dominican musicians in New York City during the early to mid-twentieth century.
Address: New York, New York, United States
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Papers by John Bimbiras
Latin American Music Review, 2023
This article presents the first study of the life and works of a little-known but brilliant Domin... more This article presents the first study of the life and works of a little-known but brilliant Dominican musician who worked in New York City in the mid-twentieth century. Pulling from archival materials held in the repository of the CUNY Dominican Studies Ar- chives, the article offers an alternative to the conventional canon of Latin music in New York, which focuses on Cuban genres played primarily by Puerto Ricans, demonstrating the cen- trality of Dominican and other influences to the richly diverse panorama of latinidad in the United States.
Ethnomusicology, 2021
Many authors in recent years note threats to humanistic studies within higher education. They exp... more Many authors in recent years note threats to humanistic studies within higher education. They express concern about the overproduction of PhD graduates, the increasing costs of higher education, and other topics. Ethnomusicologists are undoubtedly aware of such issues, yet as a society SEM has not engaged with related publications, nor has it collected much data on specific challenges to our own field. This essay synthesizes literature on trends within the humanities and considers its potential relevance for ethnomusicology. Then, based on interviews with faculty, as well as a 2018 survey circulated to current and former students on the SEM LISTSERV, it briefly considers the state of our discipline in terms of core training, student support, student placement, and other topics. The data suggest that many issues confronting ethnomusicologists resonate with those in other disciplines and that we would benefit from engagement with nationwide dialogues involving the future of graduate s...
Jazz is considered by many to be the quintessential form of American music. Some may even go as f... more Jazz is considered by many to be the quintessential form of American music. Some may even go as far as to call it “America’s classical music.” However, the black and white binary that pervades race relations in the United States has obscured the role of Latin American interpreters of jazz within its nationalist rhetoric. Ken Burns’ Jazz, the ten-part PBS documentary series released in 2001, was a major cultural turning point in the United States. A moving tribute to the triumph of African Ame...
Latin American Music Review, 2023
This article presents the first study of the life and works of a little-known but brilliant Domin... more This article presents the first study of the life and works of a little-known but brilliant Dominican musician who worked in New York City in the mid-twentieth century. Pulling from archival materials held in the repository of the CUNY Dominican Studies Ar- chives, the article offers an alternative to the conventional canon of Latin music in New York, which focuses on Cuban genres played primarily by Puerto Ricans, demonstrating the cen- trality of Dominican and other influences to the richly diverse panorama of latinidad in the United States.
Ethnomusicology, 2021
Many authors in recent years note threats to humanistic studies within higher education. They exp... more Many authors in recent years note threats to humanistic studies within higher education. They express concern about the overproduction of PhD graduates, the increasing costs of higher education, and other topics. Ethnomusicologists are undoubtedly aware of such issues, yet as a society SEM has not engaged with related publications, nor has it collected much data on specific challenges to our own field. This essay synthesizes literature on trends within the humanities and considers its potential relevance for ethnomusicology. Then, based on interviews with faculty, as well as a 2018 survey circulated to current and former students on the SEM LISTSERV, it briefly considers the state of our discipline in terms of core training, student support, student placement, and other topics. The data suggest that many issues confronting ethnomusicologists resonate with those in other disciplines and that we would benefit from engagement with nationwide dialogues involving the future of graduate s...
Jazz is considered by many to be the quintessential form of American music. Some may even go as f... more Jazz is considered by many to be the quintessential form of American music. Some may even go as far as to call it “America’s classical music.” However, the black and white binary that pervades race relations in the United States has obscured the role of Latin American interpreters of jazz within its nationalist rhetoric. Ken Burns’ Jazz, the ten-part PBS documentary series released in 2001, was a major cultural turning point in the United States. A moving tribute to the triumph of African Ame...