Everyone knows that the USA is a land of immigrants. Around the end of the 19th century and early 20th century there were massive waves of immigrants from Europe. Many came from Italy and Eastern Europe and settled all throughout America. As a result, many U.S. cities from New York to Chicago to San Diego have neighborhoods called “Little Italy” or “Polish Village” or “Ukrainian Village.”
The same thing happened in South American. Countries like Argentina saw waves of new immigrants coming from Italy and Spain which greatly influenced the culture and cuisine of the host country. So you can get some of the best Italian food in Argentina!
The Old Ways are Preserved in the New World
Now having lived in both the “Old World” and the “New World” what I have observed is that the descendants of immigrants living in the New World seem to be more interested in preserving the customs and traditions of the Old World than the people that were left behind in the Old World. Especially as people get older, they like to go back to what they see as their “roots.”
If you go to an second- or third-generation ethnic neighborhood in America you will find people still playing the old songs and cooking food the old way. I was recently at an “old school” Italian restaurant in Little Italy in San Diego. The food was prepared and served there was exactly the same as I remember eating it forty or fifty years ago in Little Italy in New York. This style of cooking has been preserved in America.
Not so in Italy. If you travel there, you would be hard pressed to find that old style of food being prepared in restaurants. Like everything, restaurants have evolved following the latest fashions and trends. The old styles fall out of favor, a victim of commercialism and the marketplace.
The same is true with music. There is a neighborhood of Cleveland called “Slavic Village” where many Czech and Slovak immigrants settled. On the local radio, they still play the old folk songs. However, if you travel to Czech Republic or Slovakia today, you will find all the teenagers listening to hip-hop and rap music on their iPods just like their counterparts in America. The music is sung in the local language, but the young people have no interest in traditional folk songs.
Bulgarian Pop-Folk Music
One country I lived in where folk music was still popular was Bulgaria. it is on half the channels on television and is really a unique style of music with a very complex rhythm. But it is mostly a pop version of folk songs that is now played with electric instruments.
Do the American descendants believe that the old songs are still played the old way back in the old country? If they ever go there they might be disappointed to find that life in the old country is not much different life in any modern city like Chicago or Los Angeles.
To summarize, traditions back in the old country continue to evolve, but are frozen in time in the new world.
