Music of California

The earliest Spanish and English explorers in California encountered Native Americans and established missions to convert them to Christianity. Chanted prayers and hymns were often used, and choirs were eventually formed; many missions formed Native American choirs among recent converts.

As California's European, Asian and African population increased in the 19th century, the state became the earliest west coast territory admitted to the United States. As on the east coast, music at the time was dominated by popular minstrel shows and the sale of sheet music. Performers included the Sacramento-born Hyers Sisters[?] and Black Patti[?]. The state's high Mexican population brought traditional folk guitar to California, including virtuoso Luis T. Romero[?]. Chinese immigrants came to California to work on the transcontinental railroad and soon became a large minority in the state; the San Francisco Chinese Opera House[?] was built in 1880, though two years later saw the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in order to prevent more immigration. The visit of King Kalakaua[?] of Hawaii in 1874 saw the Hawaiian national anthem, "Hawaii Ponoi" (written by the king) set to music by Henry Berger[?]. In the 1880s, Carlos Troyer[?] became a prominent composer, incorporating Spanish and Zuni[?] influences. Polish composer Chevalier Anton de Kontski[?]'s Polish Patrol and Awakening the Lion were also quite popular.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, country music was dominated by the slick Nashville sound that stripped the genre of its gritty roots. The town of Bakersfield, California saw the rise of the Bakersfield sound as a reaction against Nashville, led by people like future star Merle Haggard.

In the early 1960s, youth in southern California became enamored with surf rock groups, many instrumental, like The Chantays and The Surfaris. Surf rock is said to have been invented by Dick Dale with his 1961 (see 1961 in music) album "Let's Go Trippin'[?]".

The late 1960s saw San Francisco rise as the center for psychedelic rock and a mecca for hippies. Haight-Ashbury[?] became a countercultural capital, and bands like Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother & the Holding Company and The Grateful Dead got their careers started in San Francisco.

Hair metal arose along the Sunset Strip[?] in Los Angeles in the 1970s and quickly became known for anthemic hard rock and power ballads, as well as band members' distinctively feminine make-up, hair and clothing in spite of the scene's macho posturing.

In the 1980s, ska punk bands like Operation Ivy and NOFX became popular, primarily in southern California and in the Long Beach area. During the middle of the next decade, descendents like Sublime, Rancid and No Doubt became mainstream sensations. Los Angeles' original late 70s punk scene was not as active as New York City's, nor many other American cities', but it did include legendary cult bands like X.

Also during the 1980s, hip hop music flourished in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, especially Watts[?] and Compton. Derived from New York City, hip hop drew upon primarily Jamaican and East Coast influences, though early 1970s black nationalist poets The Watts Prophets[?] were also notable. The earliest forms of Los Angeles hip hop were hardcore hip hop artists like Ice-T (whose mid-80s "6 'N Da Mornin'" is arguably the first gangsta rap track) and a kind of dance music called electro hop. Among the most popular electro hop groups was the World Class Wrecking Cru[?], which included future star Dr. Dre, among others. In 1989 (see 1989 in music), Dr. Dre, along with Eazy-E and Ice Cube, released Straight Outta Compton under the name N.W.A. The album took many hip hop fans by surprise, as it single-handedly placed West Coast hip hop on the map and quickly moved gangsta rap into the mainstream. In 1991 (see 1991 in music), Dr. Dre's solo debut, The Chronic, made West Coast hip hop and Death Row Records[?] the dominant sound in hip hop, drawing primarily upon George Clinton's P funk for samples and the general, slow, lazy funk. Death Row Records soon acquired Tupac Shakur, Warren G and Snoop Doggy Dogg as a feud developed between the East and West Coasts. In the mid-90s, Shakur and his rival Notorious B.I.G. were both shot and killed. Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight was imprisoned, and most of the label's acts tried to leave. The lack of leadership helped put New York, Atlanta and New Orleans on the top of the hip hop charts.

Local music scenes

• Anaheim:
• Bakersfield:
• Berkeley:
• Compton:
• Fresno:
• Irvine:
• Long Beach:
• Los Angeles:
• Oakland:
• Sacramento:
• San Diego:
• San Francisco:
• San Jose:
• Santa Ana:
• Santa Barbara:
• Santa Cruz:
• Watts:

External links

• California Music Awards (http://www.californiamusicawards.com/) (formerly the Bammies)
• collection of 19th century Californian sheet music (http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~mkduggan/neh)
• California Worldfest (http://www.worldmusicfestival.com/) (an annual gathering of world musicians)
• WPA recordings of 1930s folk music from California (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome)
• The California Traditional Music Society (http://www.ctmsfolkmusic.org/)