Jacobo Macwan
Survey of the Music Industry
Final Project
For the majority of my life, I lived in Chicago, Illinois. My house was on the west side of
the city, and almost every week would consist of a visit to the downtown part, or eastside to the
pier. On rare occasions, my parents and I would eat at local blues bars, as Chicago was littered
with them. Sometimes, a man with a guitar could be heard singing and playing on the street
with a traditional southern blues sound that had slowly crept up to the north in the early part
of the 20th century. In my formative years, I was entranced by these musicians that played
beautiful melodies virtually for free. They sang about their troubles in a way that made people
stop and listen to their stories. Although I mostly couldn’t relate to the same problems they did,
the emotion they put into their work was obvious.
A few weeks before my sophomore year of highschool had started, I decided to learn
how to play guitar. I looked towards the band ‘Guns n Roses’ as my first inspiration to play
guitar. I was determined to be self taught, as I wanted to create a voice for myself, instead of
copying a teacher. Through my research of new music, I was opened up to a whole new world I
was unaware of. Bands such as Led Zeppelin and The Beatles quickly became my favorites,
and I tried to emulate some techniques used by famous guitarists and blend them into the way
I wanted to play. Most importantly, learning guitar taught me discipline, and ignited the first
real passion of my life. Before, I didn’t really have consistent interests, and no sense of identity.
It has shaped the person I am today, and made me happy to be alive.
Playing guitar, I have tried to expose myself to as many different styles as possible. In
doing so, I also created connections to my cultural heritage through my parents. My mother,
who is Columbian, encouraged me to delve into Spanish guitar styles like Flamenco. I grew up
speaking Spanish, yet was unaware of most of the rich culture that was present in South
American countries. Music is an extremely important part of the culture, and in my youth I
had never embraced or appreciated the songs until I began playing guitar. Now, I find myself
frequently listening to Spanish artists in my free time to be more exposed to them. Growing up,
my father would play many Indian movies which we would watch, and tell me stories of when
he was a child in India. He, like my mother, also encouraged me to learn songs that he knew
from the region. In doing so, I learned of the sitar, a traditional Indian instrument, and learned
of other eastern instruments such as the Japanese koto and the Arabic oud.
This Folk music became integral in my playing style, as I tried to blend many different
styles into one. Songs and musicians of the Renaissance such as John Dowland were major
influences. It was at this time that I thought back upon the place I grew up, and the origin of
the music I originally played, Rock and Roll. The period of the most radical change in music
was arguably born from the Blues. Now living in the south, I see the place in which this most
genuine and emotional style of music was inspired. The Blues artists of Chicago had
profoundly impacted me years after I moved away, and it was with that that I realized just how
essential music is to human life. It's an art, and a way of expressing our deepest emotions that
words alone can’t do justice. Through guitar, I changed my entire outlook on life, and learned
to appreciate many different aspects of nature and the world.