Dan’s Music Blog

The first piece, “Lambago,” sounded very foreign and strange to me, although nice. I was struck by the interesting plucking style of the guitar like instruments in the backround, the strange ryhthm which seemed to add an extra half beat every bar or something, and the language of the singers.”Ale Lake (Kora)”  sounded more familiarly Western, with a simpler rhythm and guitar in the backround. Other than the shakers, at timesit soundd similar to a bob dylan folk song, especially the tone and timbre of the male singers voice and his style of singing.I think my personal favorite of the songs was the third, “Saheli Yeri,” which begins with an instrument which sounds like a guitar, which reminds me of the music I’ve heard by Ali Farka Toure, and then vibes or a xylophone like corpophone enters elaborating on the melody and ryhthm. Finally, there is singing, and the ?two ?  voices are so distinct from one another and altogether unique. I especially enjoyed the female singer, who alternated from going singing high and almost comically to lower, and the way the two singers collaborated and used unison to add to their performances.I found the pirates song, which is more upbeat and danceable, to be funny to listen to, because it is an interesting conglomeration of Hip-Hop, which I’m very familiar with and more traditional musical styles. Also, this one sounds like its in French, and I wonder if that was a deliberate choice to make it easier to market than if it were in a less commonly spoken language. 

There are many similarities between Gamelan Beleganjur and the other types of gong ensembles from Indonesia we have studied thus far; namely in the instruments used and the overall sound created are similar, but there are some clear points where Gamelan Beleganjur differs as well. Gamelan Beleganjur differs from Javanese Gamelan in context of playing , and in sound.The most important distinction between Balinese Gamelan and Javanese Gamelan is that the latter is played processionally at ceremonies in a manner similar to a marching band, while the former is strictly stationary. This difference may lead to some of the other differnces found between the Balinese style and others.For another thing, although Gamelan Beleganjur sounds similar to other gong ensembles at times, to my ears there is less melody and more percussion in Gamelan Beleganjur. One important distinction which helps create this sound is the “ceng-ceng”, or cymbal instrument which is found only in Balinese Gamelan and not other types. The “ceng-ceng” sounds, which play complex  interlocking patterns of symbolic  spiritual signifigance, were very prominent in the recordings on the Website.Also, as far as I could tell, the processional style Balinese Gamelan groups lacked all the melodic instruments  which could can be found in a seated style Javanese set.

I found the range, and mixture of influence, in these examples of “pygmy pop” to be very interesting. I went into listening to them curious, but with virtually no distinct predictions or expectations about what it would sound like. The first piece, Hindewhu BaBenzele sounded less familiar and influenced by Western music than the others, with it’s interesting mix of vocal sounds and a flute-like instrument but without without a drum beat or lyrics.The second piece, Watermelon Man, began in a similar way to Hindewhu BaBenzele, but then becomes more complex with layers of voices and flutes and then a funky bassline and drumming, and an (guitar???) loop which sounds frustratingly similar to a Notorious B.I.G. song. Finally the song ends with a funky drum break, bassline, electric piano and saxophone in what sounds like it could be found on an American funk/jazz fusion album from the 70s or 80s. Its interesting how the song progresses from having some original “pygmy” influenced sounds to having virtually none whatsoever.I can’t tell whether the loop in watermelon man is the same one as in a Biggie song, but the “Deep Forest” peice definately uses part of James Brown’s famous drum break on “The Funky Drummer,” and I’ve definately heard it before. Im curious to find out where I heard it, and in what context it was made, because its surprising to come across something familiar in “Pygmy Pop”.Mostly I found it striking how much of the music here sounded familiar to some music I’m familiar with as a Westerner, although I guess I could have expected this to some extent.

Listening to and these various forms of prayer calls was very interesting for me, particularly in thinking about the question of what consistutes something as “music” or “not-music”.  I found the first example to be particularly beautiful; I liked the use of long pauses in between phrases, which served to emphasize the space around the content of the song, the emptiness from which the words came. In the second call, I noticed the way the voices wove in and out of one another, creating an interlocking piece.  On the question of whether the prayer calls are an example of music though, I find some difficulty deciding. They all, especially the first one, sound like music to my ears. The “singer” uses many different notes even within one word or syllable. In the cell phone example, there are even synth and piano sounds added in the backround. These are interesting cases to me because the creators of the sound explicitly say it is not music, in fact music is forbidden by some strict adherents of Islam, and yet to my ears with my culture and conditioning they sound like beautiful singing which is music. 

Yeah, it is Friday.