Music and Us: Our New Playlist

Going into this class I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought that we would just go over the cultures and just how they affected the culture, not sit and dissect the music. This surprisingly gave me a new perspective on actually listening to music. Now instead of just listening I dissect it myself, asking myself what are the things that are underneath the melody, is it polyphonic, is a big range or small range, or is there other instruments that I can't hear right of the bat? 

This time instead of my own music, I chose 4 different types of cultures did some dissecting of my own. (I haven't really done much look into music around the world.) I haven't listened to many songs that are not from our own cultures, except for the couple rock songs with throat singing if you want to count that.

Heres what I found! I hope you enjoy!

Yodeling - Switzerland and the Austrian Toil (Europe)

This first type of singing that Ive always been curios about is yodeling. This type of singing comes from the county of Switzerland and the Austrian Triol.

Many believing that it dates back to the stone age, yodeling is a form of singing that involves repeated and rapid changed in pitch between the low and high register. This was surprisingly a way for herders to cattle and for villages to communicate with each other. They did this because of huge mountain ranges within the area. It became a form of European music hall entertainment in the 19th century, during the same time it made its way to America. 

There type of music like these videos below, usually consist of wide vocal ranges and use vocabols or vowel sounds like ah, oh, oo, ay, and ee. You don't see many instruments either with the singer being in full control. 

I chose this because of the way they can control there breathing and just there words in general. If I ever tried that, you would hear voice cracks galore. Also, I found it really interesting on how they used in in a communicative way. 

This is what yodeling would traditional look like if we went back to where it first came from. A random person, standing on top of a mountain yodeling his little heart away to the next village. 

This is more of an up to date version. You may see that these people are not on top of the mountain instead they are performing in the streets. This is for mainly entertaining purposes rather than communication. I really enjoyed the harmony in this piece.

Fado - Portugal (Europe - traditional)

Fado was something that I found searching the web, instead of a type of singing its a genre. This is normally found in the Portugal area.

Considered the "soul" of Portuguese it expresses the feeling of loss, longing and hope, kinda like how we look at Amazing Grace her in America. Fado singers are typically wearing black and actually sing with their eyes closed, this is because they expose and share their inner most feeling. Their performances often include bodily gesture and facial expressions. 

In this piece you can hear a singer, Portuguese guitar, acoustic guitar, it has and consistent beat and the singer has a pretty wide range. 

I chose this type of music because of the meaning of it. It's suppose to be sad and emotions are going to be raw (or is suppose to be). I find it interesting also that portigual made there own guitar.

Heres another with lyric translations showing what some her music talks about. I couldn't find translation for the video above. 

"When the wind barely blows

Quando o vento mal bulia

And the sky and the sea extended

E o céu o mar prolongava

On the side of a sailboat

Na amurada dum veleiro

On a sailor's chest

No peito de um marinheiro

Who, being sad, sang

Que estando triste canta" 

Lokk (Viking) - Norway (Europe)

A type of singing that has been passed down orally. We better know it as viking singing! This type was originally founded in Norway. 

Lokk was made to preserve and pass down songs and stories for over generations bringing us an insight into Viking culture. These can be sung at ritual/traditional occasions and festivals. They had many instruments to occupant their music, such as flute, tambourines, drums, rebec (like a violin) and the "lur" horn. 

This song had drums, violin, it showed a "lur" horn, kept a consistent beat, and harmony. 

Skal - cheers or toast

Now this is a very modernized version, but the video also shows what life and traditions as a viking (or at least what we thought it was.) The lyrics are actually portraying a story as well. 

I have always found the viking culture so interesting and this is my first time actually looking in the music aspect of it. What I find interesting in it is how versatile it was, it could had been used for war, festivals, rituals and probably to much more. This is my favorite one! :)

Reggae - New Zealand (Geographical Region of Oceania - modern )

Originating not too long ago reggae us a fusions of traditional reggae, ska, and dud. This type of music can be found in New Zealand. 

New Zealand Reggae is known for its positive vibes and how it focus on social and political issues. This type of music was actually introduced by Bob Marley and his band, when he encouraged Reggae bands to explores the pacific reggae sound. What makes reggae,  reggae music is the offbeat rhythm, syncopated chords, heavy base sound, slower tempo, and melodic base line. All of these are incorporated within this song below. 

I chose this culture because the name really drew me in. I wanted to know what Reggae meant to this place simply because I've never seen a word like that. I know that sounds surely silly and simple but it's the truth. What I found interesting in this music is how recent it was and the fact that Bob Marley introduced to the culture. 

This song or the beat may feel extremely familiar, because too me is sound like "Its the most beautiful time of year" by just Bieber. and we've have all heard "don't worry be happy"! This type of music is very recent and even has the pop culture vibe to you.

Congratulations!! You made it to the end!

With that, that is everything that I have for this blog. I tried to keep to the same pattern as we did in class, so maybe we could all get the bigger picture of it. Yes there is a lot, but I actually really enjoyed doing this blog more than the others!Just seeing all of the different cultures and diverse the music gives us a bigger picture on how different our world really is. I enjoyed researching and finding different types of music and actually having a chance to dissect it myself. I hope you enjoy reading and listening to what I've discovered!