TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!
This has absolutely NOTHING to do with the reading this week, but I met this beat boxer over the weekend and wanted to share.
This is Ben Mirin beat boxing with traditional Maasai Warriors in Tanzenia. He's also been to Japan and done some stuff over there as well. I just thought this would be cool to check out and share. ENJOY!
Title: Three African Clapping Games from Liberia
Instrumentation: Children's Voices and Clapping
Origin: Liberia
Performers: Children from the Refugee Camp in Ghana associated with The Heartwood Project
Since both the reading this week centers around children's musical games I figured that's what I would try to find. I liked this recording because I thought it was particularly accesible to young children. I remember from my elementary school days that you couldn't get through a bus ride home without playing some sort of clapping game, be it "Miss Mary Mac" or "Concentration." It's cool that these kind of games are a constant no matter what continent you're from.
I also enjoyed this recording because it captures the innocence and playfulness Lew and Campbell talk about in their article. Nothing about this is remotely formal. There are kids running around in the background, trying to be on camera and join in the games that are being played. Even the words to the last song are whimsical and silly. So much of a child's musical education takes place outside of the classroom. It would be great to make connections between what they are learning in school and how they play after school.
Title: Esti dal Performer: Erika Miklosa Culture: Hungarian Folk song collected by Zoltán Kodály. Instrumentation: A violin and a female singer
The reading this week focused on the oral/aural tradition of passing on music, so I picked a song from a culture that utilized the tradition. The song is a quiet Hungarian folk song collected and arranged by the pedagogue and composer Zoltán Kodály. Just a little background the translation of the piece is as follows.
Evening darkness overtook me near the woods;
I have put my coat under my head (i.e. as a pillow),
I have put my hands together
To pray to the Lord, like this:
Oh, my Lord, give me a place to sleep,
I am weary with wandering,
With walking around and hiding,
With living on foreign land.
May Lord give me a good night,
May he send me a holy angel,
May he encourage our hearts' dreams,
May he give us a good night.
It is a prayer of a weary traveler asking for a permanent place to lay his head. This is a theme that is
common among traditional Hungarian songs as they are a country that have been under the rule of other people for centuries. The tour choir sang this when we went to Hungarian and our conductor (who is
Hungarian) told us all of this before we performed this. These folk songs have a deep meaning to the
people there and they were touched that we performed them.
The "problem" of an oral/aural traditions is the variants that occur between generation. As each
generation passes down the song there can be little changes that are made between songs, done either
purposely or accidentally. I think of this in relation to on of the previous readings we did that spoke
about authenticity. A few of the ideas mentioned in the article suggested that authenticity is a concept
resting on the premise that music is static, which most of us realize is not true. The little changes
between generations prove this. Music changes as each person performs/teaches it. We all have
different interpretations and different ways of performing a piece. I think of music as almost a living
organism, that grows and flourishes as time progresses.
For those of you that want to hear the choral arrangement, here is a great recording of The King's
Title: (The video doesn't give a title to the piece)
Origin: Bali
Instrumentation: Xylophones, membranophones, a flute, some kind of gong-like idiophone
Performers: Balinese gamelan performers (The video doesn't give a specific group name)
In both of the books we're reading, the authors talk about Balinese gamelan music and I literally have no idea what they're talking about, so I decided to look it up. I'm glad I did because it is like no other kind of music I've heard. I'm not going to lie, I find the metal xylophones they play on rather strident. However, I like the tightness of the rhythms and the harmonies that they play. As a group, the performer are very tight and together. It is also interesting how the piece is broken up. There will be a section of the xylophones playing then they will drop out and a flute, or the gong-like instrument will come in. I only noticed this a few minutes in, but the group is antiphonal, with a group of performers on one side of the "stage" and another group on the other. It is not very rhythmically complicated, just relentless.
Obviously this is an absolutely authentic example. It is performed in a Balinese palace in the city of Ubud, for Balinese people, performed by Balinese people, with Balinese instruments
Title: Mehendi Rachi Culture of Origin: Northern Indian, English "nu-folk" music Performers: Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons, The Dharohar Project
Instruments: Female English Singing (Laura Marling), guitar, Indian Vocals (A man, a women, a whole chorus of people) banjo/mandolin, traditional Rajasthani instruments (dhol drum, dhal, Sarangi [chordaphone], a flute), fiddle?
I LOVE Mumford and Sons, so I'm pretty much using this as an accuse to listen to Mumford. No, but I was actually thinking about this in terms of our authentic argument and how that effects music in the crossover genre.
This recording meets two of the guidelines of absolute music provided by Abril. It is performed on traditional instruments and in the original language. However, at the same time these aren't true. A traditional Indian song wouldn't contain the English that is heard, nor the traditional English folk instruments. The same is true of the English. The album was recorded by Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons and was probably intended to bring this music to their fans, both in England and all over the world. I would imagine The Dharohar Project had similar intentions, as this album would bring their music to a broader scope of people. This rules out Palmer's idea that authentic music is performed for the culture it comes from. As for setting, this was definitely recorded in a studio, not the typical setting determined by the teacher. So does all this inauthenticity make this blending of cultures and cross-over bad example to utilize and listen to? I feel that they offer access to music that students might not otherwise be exposed to. Also, Abril mentions that authenticity stems from the idea that music is static and unchanging. This recording demonstrates that music is clearly not static, but flowing and ever changing. One could argue that maintaining authenticity hinders the growth of music itself and kills opportunities for music like this to come about.
Wow...I this came out a lot more preachy than I intended...
I also, must obviously like the blending of cultures considering my last example was a cross-over too.
Title: Homeless from Paul Simon's African Concert Performers: Ladysmith Black Mambazo Instrumentation: 10 men with one solo voice
Culture: It is a South African Zulu song.
This album was a particular favorite of mine growing up. My original intention was to use this song as a springboard, but as I was watching I found myself thinking a lot of various readings we've done. My first thought was to this week's reading. One of the ethnomusicologist issues Campbell discussed was the globalization of music. This album is a perfect example of this. Simon came to South Africa to record his album which gave many of the songs on the album an African sound. He collaborated with such artists as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, which gave more people and opportunity to experience their music and lead to their increased popularity.
If a group decided to perform this song, it would be an obvious piece for enactive listening. The style of the soloist and in some parts the background are very specific and not at all like our western classical ideas. There are many stylistic differences to listen for (my favorite was always the "he-ee-eh" percussive breathing sounds in the second half.)
