The Wrap up!!

One of the things that intrigued me about our diverse musical studies, are the various vocal timbres of singers in each area of the world. I love the vocal timbre of both Ireland's sean-nos singers and that of women in India and parts of the middle east. At first, I actually found it to be quite uncomfortable to my ears. However, after a few listenings, my ears adjusted. All of a sudden, I am finding myself downloading more sean-nos style and Indian vocal music than ever. Although it will most likely never happen, I would love to learn how to correctly sing a traditional Indian song (from India) or an Irish sean-nos inspired song. What attracts me to these styles of singing is their extreme level of difficulty and the intentional avoidance of pinpointing a certain set of pitches. The singer's ranges are also usually higher than that of an average western singer.

Looking at my own culture, I realize that it has no drawn line, seal, or even a single origin from which is derived but that it is and always will be a blend of influences that I will never be able to single out. It reminds me of a water color painting I saw as a child where I could not tell where one color began or ending. The painting was beautiful but was painted to be a bit of a brain tease. I stood on that street for 20 minutes with my uncle and would not let us leave until I tried to make sense of the painting. Obviously, my uncle grew impatient shortly and bent over to say, "NeNe, try to understand that the most beautiful things in life are often the most confusing and that beauty does not have to make sense to make and impact." I mentioned what he said because I still call him to discuss things that puzzle me and he still says the same thing. Therefore, learning about my culture has forced me to learn about the culture of others because somewhere down the line, elements of the two are linked. Not to sound like a drag but maybe my culture is turning out not to be as unique and one of a kind as I thought.

Of course, everything in life has its purpose and the purpose of this class was to help me to realize that one, I really need to follow my dreams and travel abroad, and two, I have chosen music as the path for my life and I need to drown in not just my western roots, but all of it in order to be the best musician I can be. Besides the eye opening cultural aspects, I really feel that this class has brought me back to a place where I once again realize why I chose music-I mean why music chose me. Even though I feel that I can conduct further research on some of the cultures we discussed on my own, I am taking away with me a new outlook of the world. For instance, I now know that at least some type of classical music is apparent in almost every musical culture, all have sacred ceremonies or rituals containing music, and that music is usually the basis of a culture's defining roots. However, I feel that the most important thing that I have learned from this class comes in the form of a very wise and remember able quote: "The world always works in circles, and everything tries to be round."-Black Elk

cool stuff #3

Since we were talking about how all music cultures seem to eventually flow into the other, I found this you tube sound clip of and Indonesian pop singer named TiTi Dj. Surprisingly, the music seems very westernized due to the computer synthesized orchestrations and the smooth pop beat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LjBaeOBsCg

Shifting over to Japan, here is a very talented woman playing the shamisen. Be sure to watch her fingers- they are so fast! I actually got the full effect of what the shamisen is supposed to sound like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNmi3KIojtI&feature=related

I believe that my ears have officially adjusted to the timbre of the sitar after listening to Anoushka Shankar. She has won a fan! Here are two videos of her performing. The first video is her at a concert. The video was taken from some one's DVD and put on you tube. The second is of her talking about the production of her CD "Rise". After watching this one and seeing how involved she is with her CD production process, I am a great fan and believe that she is a true talent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAkZyCvlWsg&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5J7XaXXmPw&feature=related

Music and Society

When I think of music and society, songs of government protest, peace, and messages of world healing come to mind. Some of the artists that I grew up listening to and who I relate to musically are Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, John Legend, and The Beatles, just to name. These musicians not only had an impact on American society and billboard charts, but they also affected many other parts of the world with their powerful songs of awareness.

Despite the controversy that he has been linked to most recently, Michael Jackson has always been an advocate for world peace and curing things like racism and hunger around the world. "Earth Song" is a song of his that comes to mind in terms of earth preservation and ending the over consumption of the earth's natural resources. This song was not only one of my favorites, but it was one of the most eye opening because of the video that accompanied it. The video featured special effects of the earth at its absolute worst state with our forests and rain forests being depleted leaving even more people starving and homeless. The video helped to launch the song to the top of the charts and to create more projects to save the planet. Michael Jackson also released racial protest songs entitled "They Don't Care About Us" and "Stranger In Moscow".

Detouring from the United States, there were artists such as The Beatles and Bob Marley who devoted almost all of their career to promoting equal rights, anti-war, and peace to all. Marley's powerful chart toppers such as "Redemption Song" and "War" gave many people the courage to speak out against those who threatened the well being and prosperity of peace. Another BIG protest song revolving around the Vietnam war is Marvin Gaye's hit "What's Going On". I once wrote an entire paper on this song and its impact on society in the 1970's and surprisingly, it is still affective today.

Due to the recent events of our very historical election, the tragedy of 911, and our unnecessary war in Iraq, artists have reached out and spoke out on behalf of our nation even more. Kid Rock's "Amen", Josh Groban's "Weeping", and John Legends number of songs supporting the Obama campaign. Protest songs and their effects on society have been around long before I or anyone else whom I have ever known. Songs for freedom have been around since the slave trade and remain alive through what is known as negro spirituals. "Ain't Nobody gon turn me Around", "Trouble don't last always", and "Go down Mosses".

After witnessing the inauguration of our new president Barack Obama, I feel that if we work together as a nation of Americans, we can change the status of many situations that negatively effect the way we live as a people. Maybe we won't have any need for songs of freedom, change, and peace if our government will work with its people and vice versa.

Cool Stuff #2!

I found a video of a snake charmer in Pakistan. If you look closely, the snake lunges at the charmer a few times but they are very fast. I guess I wouldn't want his job!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWF1VPlS1c&feature=PlayList&p=8D8AB6B991637295&index=0&playnext=1


Here is an evening call to prayer in Egypt. I think that the building construction and lighting are amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA1oUStKbZg&feature=PlayList&p=962690466B38FC83&playnext=1&index=14

Music and Rites- All cultures United

Just about every culture of the world has at least one rite that includes music. Among the various rites are weddings, funerals, coming of age, and for the very lucky ones, graduation. Speaking on behalf of American culture, all of the rites or occasions are accompanied by music that contributes to the ceremony. Because most rites are treated with respect and significance, it is important that the music contribute to the importance of the rite.

Music within rites tend to evoke specific emotions surrounding the event such as the feelings of accomplishment and completion during a graduation ceremony as the graduates walk to Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance". For some cultures, death is more so celebrated as a passage to a better place, however, most American funerals are used as a time to express grief, despair, and sometimes anger. Some of the instrumentation that I have heard and seen at funerals involve organs, pianos, harps, and flutes. Church hymns are often sung glorifying God and ask that he watch over their loved one as they pass into his kingdom. Most of the funerals that have been held for members of my family include very little instrumentation and all vocals are done acapella. We sing different types of Negro Spirituals and have a praise service afterwards which ,unlike the first half of the service, involves almost too many instruments. We even use drums. One of my favorite spirituals to hear and sing is "Give me Jesus".

Wedding in the states just as funerals can involve a number of religious hymns, however, the most popular song most likely to be heard at a traditional American wedding is "The Wedding March" by Mendelssohn. On the other hand, my personal experience at different weddings range from acappella singing groups singing a classic rhythm and blues tune, all the way across the board to classic soul music. I have heard Luther Vandross, KC and JoJo, Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, Smokey Robinson, Whitney Houston, Norah Jones, and Gladys Knight all sung during the wedding processional of the bride. Talk about creative!Most other occasions are more freelance with music such as birthdays where in my family, obviously, any tune goes!

Music included in rites can be traditional, as stated in my previous examples, or nontraditional, also stated in the previous example of weddings in my family:) My point is that the vitality and importance of the performance of the rite is just as important as the music included. The music effects human emotion making the rite associated with courage, happiness, peace, praise, or even grief. The music performed during a rite becomes apart of the ceremony for that rite making them inseparable to the mind and impossible to associate one without the other.

Music gives me a deeper spiritual connection .....

Twenty-two years later, I find that music has given me a deeper spiritual connection with my religion and the messages within my religion. I say this because I have not always such deep ties to music within my religion until now.

I grew up as a Jehovah's witness as a child due to my grandmother. She raised me therefore, I had to participate and attend Kingdom Hall meetings on Sundays with her. I can honestly say that a Jehovah's witness praise and worship experience is a complete 180 compared to my new southern baptist church beliefs. The musical aspects in a Jehovah witness church service, rests largely on tape and Cd instrumental song recordings than on a full out band that you would normally find in my baptist church. Because of the lack of instrumental presence within the Jehovah witnesses approach to song and worship, it leads me to believe that they define their religious ties to God based solely on the word of the Bible and excerpts of religious text. Whereas, the traditional southern (African American) Baptist Church uses the music as a tool for further insight into knowing and believing the word of God. For instance, most Sunday sermons in my church last less than 20 minutes while the music and singing may take up the remaining time for service.

In this case, there is no right or wrong concerning a religion's ties to their beliefs based on their music performance rituals but, their maybe a line drawn concerning the sole belief in their music over believing their and understanding their religion. What I mean by this is that if at my church we were using or exploiting the music as a means to skip, shorten, or take away from what the Bible says then that would be wrong. However, we are only using the music as a form of expression or almost as a portal in order to hold direct personal conversations with God and to make a spiritual connection with the powers that be.

There are so many religions in the world that use music to express and address things spiritually. For some, there are different songs for prayers, rituals, and religious ceremonies. From my academic experiences, the majority of religious songs simply give praise to a higher being for protection, peace, and health. This often leads to the question: are we even that different after all or are we one confused human race chasing after the same things through different colored, geographically bound lenses? A person known as Black Elk once said, "The world always works in circles and everything tries to be round."

Cool and unusual stuff-Africa

Ok, I decided to donate part of my finds to a website that has cool and random facts about all things pertaining to Africa. Here is the link: http://www.zilvan.com/funnyfacts/facts_about_africa.htm

If it will not link, just do the good old copy paste.

The pictures I found above are of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Africa. As you can see, these people are pretty brave.