Final Project

The American folk music tradition is based entirely around a participatory framework. Everything from the layout of the songs to the lyrics supports and encourages participation. Kip Lornell gives an extensive definition of folk music and in it he gives examples of aspects of folk music that are intertwined with the idea of the involvement of an entire community. In his definition Lornell says, “Folk songs are usually disseminated by word-of-mouth, aurally, or through informal apprenticeships within a community” (Lornell, p.10). This means that many of the folk songs that we hear today were passed down through families and were probably picked up by people who were exposed to them at a young age. For many they are songs that they never remember learning, but seem to have always known. In another part of Lornell’s definition of Folk music he says that, “short forms and predictable patterns are fundamental for folk music” (Lornell, p.11). He then goes on to give the example that much of blues music “tends to follow the same basic harmonic progression… however its form invites individual expression within these boundaries” (Lornell, p.11). This is similar to other forms of music that we studied in class like the mbira music of the Shona people where cyclical patterns make improvisation and participation accessible to all. These predictable patterns function in much the same way because if one knows the chord that is coming next one can work around this knowledge and add a personal style.

In the United States folk culture grew out of the musical practices of “rural whites and African Americans [who] had been playing their traditional music since long before the 1900’s” (Filene, p.9). It was only after academics “discovered” this music and it was promoted by the Left that it was given its name and moved into the mainstream (William, p.459). With this shift and the advent of radio, television and recordings folk music started becoming less regional and spread around the country and the world. This provided a unique dilemma for folk music because the part of its definition that says that it is usually passed down within a community is challenged by the idea of mass media and electronic transmission. Of course there will always be the community oriented side of folk music, but in a way mass media, especially the internet, have invited the world to enter the sphere of folk music. Now, with the internet being widespread, regional space and separation has been all but obliterated. People have recorded, uploaded, and broadcasted music that was once only available through person to person transmission. At the same time, when done through a medium like Youtube where one can instantly respond to the information one receives the participatory framework takes on an entirely new meaning.

In this project I look at the nature and meanings of folk music. On one end folk music comes from the idea of ordinary people playing music that deals with the interests and concerns of the people who make it. On the other end its “modes of transmission–word of mouth, the internet, radio, CDs and so on–underscore ways in which alterations occur within these traditions” (Lornell, p. 12). In this way even music that is transmitted to millions of people can be considered folk. The blending of the two ends of this definition says that as long as the music is made by ordinary people and is altered naturally in its transmission , it can be considered folk. The main change that has occured over the years is not the participaroty framework, but the way in which people interact with it.

Track List:

Freight Train (4:38) – Elizabeth Cotten (clip below)

Freight Train (2:04) – Matt Costa (clip below)

House of the Rising Sun (2:58) – Doc Watson & Clarence “Tom” Ashley

House of the Rising Sun (4:22) – Odetta (clip below)

House of the Rising Sun (5:15) – Bob Dylan (clip below)

House of the Rising Sun (4:30) – Nina Simone

This Land Is Your Land (2:18) – Woody Guthrie

This Land Is Your Land (5:58) – Bob Dylan

Goodnight Irene (1:55) – Lead Belly

Goodnight Irene (3:25) – The Weavers with Gordon Jenkins

Which Side Are You On? (2:47) – Pete Seeger (clip below)

Which Side Are You On? (4:04) – Rebel Diaz (clip below)

One Meat Ball (2:45) – Josh White

One Meat Ball (4:10) – Calvin Russell

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (2:43) – Paul Robeson

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (2:16) – Beyonce
Freight Train

The song “Freight Train” was written by Elizabeth Cotten when she was a girl about the trains that used to go by her North Carolina home as a child. It is remarkable that a song by a little girl could become so famous and have relevancy for so many people around the world. A number of artists including Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal have covered her song, not to mention all of the people who sing and play her song in their homes.

One aspect of “Freight Train” that makes it compatible with the participatory framework is the lyrics. They are simple, but also have a certain sadness to them.

“When I’m dead and in my grave
No more good times here I crave
Place the stones at my head and feet
And tell them all I’ve gone to sleep”

Within a few listens one can sing along with the song and this clearly is a help in getting people to participate. On the Youtube clip where she is singing with Pete Seeger they even show the lyrics on the bottom of the screen (starting at 3:10) and Pete Seeger invites whoever is watching to sing along. Little did he know that he would be inviting Oberlin College students, in addition to anyone anywhere on the globe who stumbles across the clip to sing along.

One of the people who stumbled across the song happened to be Matt Costa, a contemporary folk singer/songwriter who puts his own spin on “Freight Train”. It is interesting to see how Costa communicates with Cotten’s song and how well it has been preserved over the one hundred years since it was written.

Which Side Are You On?

From the lyrics one can tell that “Which Side Are You On?” is a union song about a miner’s strike. It is talking directly to workers and potential scabs trying to get them to stick with the strike until their demands are met. Lyrics like the ones below get at the heart of the song:

“Oh, workers can you stand it?
Oh, tell me how you can
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?”

This song clearly fits within the framework of participation because it is meant to be sung by strikers. At one point in the recording one can even here a chorus of people singing and clapping behind Seegers vocals during the chorus of the song.

This song was reinterpretted by the rap group Rebel Diaz in their version of the song. They piggyback on the feeling of the song and the idea of it asking a question related to politics to make something of their own. They sample the chorus from an older version of the song, but over it they add a rap beat and lyrics that talk about issues that concern them.

House of the Rising Sun

In the Lornell definition of folk music he includes that “the authorship or origins of folk songs and tunes are generally unknown” (Lornell, p.10) and in this way “House of the Rising” is an example of a quintessential folk song because it is difficult to find out who wrote it. In order for a song without a known author to survive it must have had a strong community of people who passed it down through word of mouth transmission. This brings us back to the idea of informal apprenticeship and learning that is based entirely on participation in folk culture.

Despite the fact that we don’t know who wrote it it is one of the most widely known and sung American folk songs. One of the beautiful things about this song is that its meaning changes depending on who is singing it. When an African American Woman like Odetta Holmes sings it it is different than when Bob Dylan sings it. It takes on the same heroic and foreboding mood, but it carries the baggage of two seemingly antithetical American communities.

While it has different meanings depending on the singer hearing two different singers perform the song with so much emotion serves to bridge the gap between black women and white men so that an underlying common suffering is revealed.

Conclusion

The tracks I chose for this project are all about the use and reuse of musical entities. The way that a song can be passed on from generation to generation through various modes of transmission and can continue its journey to immortality propelled by the power of the people who use the internet. Each one of these songs fall into the tradition of folk music and that is embodied in the fact that some of America’s best known folk singers all take part in performing the same tunes.

I have adhered to the honor code in this assignment!

Solomon Turner

Bibliography:

Lornell, Kip. 2002, 1993. Introducing Folk Music: Ethnic and Grassroot Traditions in the United States. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Filene, Benjamin. 2000. Romancing the Folk: Public Memory & American Roots Music. The University of North Carolina Press.

William, Roy. 2002. “Aesthetic Identity, Race, and American Folk Music“. Qualitative Sociology, Volume 25, issue 3 (Fall 2002), p. 459-469.

Cover art: http://www.dotloose.com/walls/Kentucky%20Pasture.jpg

Paper

The Roma and the Punks: The Counterculture of Gypsy Punk

Big booming drums. Whirling skirts. Moustaches groomed with wax and sharpened to a point. Guitars, fiddles, accordions, and, of course, a snappy hat, help create an image that is now known in some countercultures as gypsy punk. This music has emerged from cosmopolitan rock interpretations of Balkan and Roma folk music and is characterized by uses of icons and indices that resemble and invoke Americanized concepts of gypsies as a rag-tag and theatrical fun-loving group. These interpretations help form cultural cohorts of mostly young people who enjoy the bright colors and ornamented melodies of Balkan and Roma folk music but are also involved in punk countercultures. My discussion of gypsy punk spans from the origins of the scene, the gypsy punk aesthetic, and how bands borrow from Balkan, Roma, klezmer, Slavic, and mariachi music and incorporate those styles into folk, rock, and punk music through the use of visual, musical, and behavioral signs. I also discuss how cultural cohorts are formed and identified using Merriam’s tripartite model and Percian semiotics. The last part of the paper specifically discusses what musical signs are borrowed from Balkan folk music and how they are used in the music of groups like Gogol Bordello and the World/Inferno Friendship Society. The accompanying CD has some Balkan and Roma music to compare with modern examples of gypsy punk.
Gypsy punk is a kind of American rock music that borrows from Eastern European sounds and cultures. Mat Moran of Slavic Soul Party defines gypsy punk as people borrowing sounds that they think of as exotic and Eastern European: “either accordion or violin or brass or female folk singing or half-step trills in a melody and using it as a tinge to color what is otherwise basically western music” (Moran interview, 12/5). Gypsy punk began to coalesce into a scene in New York City at two different physical locations: the Mehanata Bulgarian Bar parties, and Sxip Shirey’s (of Luminescent Orchestrii) King Gypsy Massive parties at the Knitting Factory (Nicolay interview, 12/8). When I asked members of gypsy punk bands what drew them to Roma or Balkan music, they replied that they had been captivated by the challenging subdivisions and ornamentations of the music. Everything is filtered through a Western lens by being incorporated into American and English rock styles.

The sound of Roma music and the behavioral norms of punk scenes help create the concept of gypsy punk, as in Merriam’s tripartite model of sound, concept, and behavior all affecting each other (class lecture). Peter Hess of Slavic Soul Party, Balkan Beat Box, the World/Inferno Friendship Society, Barbez, and Guignol (and an Oberlin alumnus), thinks of gypsy punk as “an aspect of fandom rather than musicianship.” (Hess interview, 12/7). Fans may not think of themselves as gypsy punks, but many identify themselves as punk, which means that they tend to dress and act a certain way at shows. Being a part of a ‘scene’ is an important aspect of punk subculture, and so it is unsurprising that gypsy punk emerged out of physical locations and certain parties to create a social identity. Some fans signal their belonging to a punk scene by dancing in certain ways. Bands like Guignol, World/Inferno, and Gogol Bordello, which are more identified with the punk subculture, often have young fans that mosh, stage dive, and crowdsurf. This kind of dancing is highly participatory and requires the same kind of crowd cooperation that is found in Balkan circular folk dancing: people must make a decision to be in or out of the pit (or circle), and must make room for dancers. There is even a kind of mosh pit protocol called the circle pit, in which fans run in a counter-clockwise circle in order to create an open area in which to mosh. Circle pitting is basically a cruder form of any sort of circular folk dancing. Although these similarities are most probably coincidences, the participatory natures of both punk and traditional Roma or Balkan folk music may make it easier for the two styles to mesh. Groups that are less identified with punk because of their more disparate musical influences, such as Luminescent Orchestrii, Barbez, Balkan Beat Box, and Slavic Soul Party, often see traditional folk dancing at their shows, as well as free-style dancing, which Moran calls “shaking it.” Without the punk aesthetic to tie things together, people tend to incorporate more codified Balkan dance traditions, or simply not dance as much. This change in dance style may come from the music, if it is more folk-influenced and less hard as in the case of Barbez, or it may be because there is no codified dance style present already, as is the case in more punk-influenced scenes.

Gypsy punk bands tends to share a certain visual aesthetic. Both Hess and Nicolay told me that the typical gypsy punk style originates from the films of Emir Kusturica, specifically “Black Cat, White Cat” and his band the No Smoking Orchestra (Hess, 12/7, Nicolay, 12/8).

Figure 1: Emile Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra http://www.kustu.com/w2/_media/images:musique:nso:galerie:roumanie:no_smoking_live_roumanie_2.jpg 12/15

The gypsy punk style is characterized by a crowded stage with lots of different instruments, bright colors, hats, and mismatched clothing. Gypsy punk often takes Kusturica’s style to the extreme, as seen below:

Figure 2: Gogol Bordello
http://extruded.googlepages.com/gogol_bordello.jpg 12/15

Gypsy punk bands attempt to construct a kind of bohemia in which authenticity is not as important as theatrics. Eugene Hutz, the mustachioed leader of Gogol Bordello, is a Ukrainian immigrant who exaggerates his accent and broken English. There is an origins page on the Gogol Bordello website, but it is so cryptic that it becomes humorous, playing on the exoticized notion of Roma immigrants and the New World/Old World dichotomies that existed in the early 20th century (http://www.gogolbordello.com/chronicles/origins/12/10).

These icons of bohemian and gypsy culture are combined with rock music to create an image that is an approachable other: just exotic enough to be interesting and different, but familiar and celebratory enough that the audience concentrates on the circus-like atmosphere of fast-paced dancing and fun. Many bands reject the gypsy punk construction of Gogol Bordello altogether. Moran of Slavic Soul Party says that he subverts the phrase by calling his group Gypsy Funk. He feels that it is an appropriate description because of the group’s R&B, salsa, soul, and hip-hop influences, and because it is the only group in the gypsy punk family that includes Rom musicians that he knows of (Moran 12/5). The manufacturing of punk, though it seems antithetical to the culture’s do-it-yourself underground anti-authoritarian values, has deep roots and goes as far back as Malcom McLaren and the Sex Pistols.
These aesthetics are indexical of Roma and Balkan cultures because of the cosmopolitan culture we share in the United States. The co-occurances of the perceivers that make a sign an index as theorized by C.S. Pierce are prevalent throughout Western musical culture (class lecture). The cosmopolitan nature of our culture makes it so that identities can be found in multiple places and in a type of universalism (class lecture).

Whether in Berlioz or Jimi Hendrix, Roma imagery has always been a signal of the cool and mysterious, as well as a sort of anarchic hedonism and freedom. Gypsy punk bands take the punk culture of anarchy and anti-authoritarianism and supplement it with Roma icons that stand for similar values like mismatched clothing and an outsider status. I have discussed the visual aspects of such icons; I will now show how gypsy punk bands incorporate those same icons musically.

I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again

Gogol Bordello’s “I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again” from their 2005 album Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike starts with a strong punk beat and frantic guitars. The song is in 4/4 time, but the strong accent on the upbeat sounds vaguely ethnic because of the association in Western music between strange time signatures and Balkan and Roma music. Cued by a scream, a violin comes in at around 20 seconds, and Hutz’s voice comes in at about a minute. The violin lines are fast and ornamented, and the accent is always on the downbeat. Hutz’s voice is very accented and hard to understand. He puts strong emphasis on hard syllables like “ch” in order to sound passionate and foreign. The lyrics talk about being an immigrant and outsider, referencing things like embassies and being checked for fleas. The screaming and the slower breakdown that occurs about three minutes into the song help reinforce the image of gypsies as being very passionate and emotional. All of these references to Western concepts of gypsies help constantly reinforce the nature of Gogol Bordello as gypsy punk, from musical to vocal affects to the title of the album, which conjures up images of repressed minorities coming up to conquer the world.

Fiend in Wien

The World/Inferno Friendship Society’s “Fiend In Wien” from their 2006 album Red Eyed Soul has similar themes of outsider status and emphasis on upbeats. Instead of a fast violin part, there is a fast horn part with emphasis on upbeats, either on the two and four or on the second half of a beat, and sixteenth-note triplets. There is also a prominent tambourine part. There are also references to being an outsider in the lyrics: Jack Terricloth, the bandleader, talks about dreaming of faraway places, “Stealing tips off tables”, and being told that “We’re not like you”. The outro has a rest on the downbeat and hits the ‘and’ of the one really strongly into a sixteenth-note triplet. Tambourines, heavily accented upbeats, and ornamented horn lines make “Fiend in Wien” sounds gypsy-ish, but the song is actually about the actor, Hungarian Holocaust refugee, and heroin addict Peter Lorre. World/Inferno combines many different elements of gypsy and cabaret cultures in their music, and are not true Gypsy Punk, but have been very influential in the gypsy punk scene; two of their members, Peter Hess and Franz Nicolay, are in several gypsy punk bands.

“Stranger” by the Luminescent Orchestrii

The Luminescent Orchestrii’s “Stranger” from their 2005 album Too Hot to Sleep is more based on a traditional Bulgarian song. There is more folk influence because their group is made out of all strings. The upright bass keeps the rhythm and does the bassline, and the rest is resonator guitar and violins. The song starts out seeming very simple, as the strings mimic the vocals, but soon gets more complicated as the strings start winding around each other with lots of different melodies. There is less emphasis on the upbeat as in the other two songs because there is less punk influence on the group. There is lots of ornamentation and sliding in the vocals and violin parts, which helps evoke Balkan music. “Stranger” is the most traditional sounding of the three tracks because it is more directly influenced by Balkan music, but it does not evoke the same images of being an outcast that World/Inferno and Gogol Bordello use.

A big part of the modern American music scene is the manufacturing of a certain image in order to appeal to a certain niche. Gypsy punk capitalizes on the outsider status of the Roma and Balkan people, and the counterculture aspects of punk rock, in order to create a scene of challenging, interesting music and high-energy dance moves. There are many gypsy punk bands that I haven’t been able to cover in this paper, like Romashka, Devotchka, the Hungry March Band, and Kultur Shock. They have all had a hand in creating a scene that could not exist without the cosmopolitan cultural formation that we live in and the icons and indices of Balkan and Roma music that exist in our culture.

I have followed the honor code on this assignment.
Danielle Kolker

Tracklist
1. Trigona – Traditional – from The Rough Guide to the Music of the Balkans
2. Mundo Cocek – Traditional – from The Rough Guide to the Music of Balkan Gypsies
3. Taraf – Shukar Collective – from The Rough Guide to the Music of Romanian Gypsies
4. Gypsy Queens – Balkan Beat Box – from Nu Med
5. I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again – Gogol Bordello – from Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike
6. Fiend in Wien – World/Inferno Friendship Society – from Red Eyed Soul.
7. Stranger – Luminescent Orchestrii – from Too Hot To Sleep.
8. Djelem, Djelem – Slavic Soul Party! – from Teknochek Collision
9. Blessing in Disguise – Devotchka – from A Mad and Faithful Telling
10. Sarajevo – Kultur Shock – from We Came to Take Your Jobs Away

Bibliography

Balkan Beat Box. 2007. Gypsy Queens. Nu Med. Jdub Records New York City CD.

Devotchka. 2008. Blessing in Disguise. A Mad and Faithful Telling. Anti LA CD.

Gogol Bordello. 2005. I Would Never Wanna Be Young Again. Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike. Side One Dummy Records LA CD.

Hess, Peter. Interview with Danielle Kolker. 12/7/2008. Email.

Luminescent Orchestrii. 2005. Stranger. Too Hot To Sleep. Nine Mile Records Massachusetts CD

Kultur Shock. 2006. Sarajevo. We Came to Take Your Jobs Away. Koolarrow Records SF CD.

Moran, Matt. Interview with Danielle Kolker, 12/5/2008. Email.

Nicolay, Franz. Interview with Danielle Kolker, 12/8/2008. Email
Slavic Soul Party, Traditional. 2007. Djelem, Djelem. Teknochek Collision. Barbes Records NY CD

Sisario, Ben. “The Rise of Gypsy Punkers”. NY Times 7/2/2005

Various Artists. 2003. Trigona. The Rough Guide to the Music of the Balkans. World Music Network London CD.

Various Artists. 2005. Mundo Cocek. The Rough Guide to the Music of Balkan Gypsies. World Music Network London CD.

Various Artists. 2008. Taraf. The Rough Guide to the Music of Romanian Gypsies. World Music Network London CD.

World/Inferno Friendship Society. 2006. Fiend in Wien. Red Eyed Soul. Chunksaah Records New Jersey CD.

Track Listing:

1. The Clancy Brothers “All For Me Grog” 2:02

2. Stan Rogers “Barrett’s Privateers” 4:51

3. Sting “Blood Red Roses” 2:44

4. Captain Bogg and Salty “Dead Men Tell No Tales” 4:05

5. Steve Goodman “Lincoln Park Pirates” 3:54

6. The Arrogant Worms “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” 4:13

7. The Pogues “South Australia” 3:28

8. Blackbeard’s Crew “Down Among the Deadmen” 2:34

9. Flogging Molly “Salty Dogs” 2:25

10. The Muppets “Professional Pirate” 2:54

11. Roger McGuinn “Jolly Roger” 3:45

12. The Pirates of Penzance “The Pirate King” 3:55

13. Bounding Main “Haul Away Joe” 2:01

14. Baby Gramps “Old Man of the Sea” 5:18

15. Toucan Pirates “The Lilting Fisherman” 1:57

16. Kevin Hendrickson & Matt Giger “Treading the Seas for Pirate Gold” 3:01

17. Jarvis Cocker “A Drop of Nelson’s Blood” 7:10

18. The Seadogs “Blow the Man Down” 3:27

INTRODUCTORY NOTES

There has been a lot of concern since new technological advances about music pirates and the repercussions that they have had on the music industry. In an article about this issue, Adrian Johns describes the way the public views the music industry as monopolistic and orthodox and “the pirates, by contrast, are ostentatiously freedom-loving…” (Johns 2002:67). With this C.D., I want to turn the public’s attention away, for a short while, from pirates of music, and bring it towards the similarly “ostentatiously freedom-loving” music of pirates.

…the foremost man of all setting up a song with no words to it, only a strange musical rise and fall of notes. In the dark night, and far out upon the lonely sea, it sounded wild enough, and made me feel as I had sometimes felt, when in a twilight room a cousin of mine, with black eyes, used to play some old German airs on the piano, I almost looked round for goblins, and felt just a little bit afraid. But I soon got used to this singing; for the sailors never touched a rope without it. Sometimes, when no one happened to strike up, and the pulling, whatever it might be, did not seem to be getting forward, very well, the mate would always say, “Come, men, can’t any of you sing? Sing now, and raise the dead.” And the some one of them would begin, and if every man’s arms were as much relieved as mine by the song, and he could pull as much better as I did, with such a cheering accompaniment, I am sure the song was well worth the breath expended on it. It is a great thing in a sailor to know how to sing well, for he gets a great name by it from the officers, and a good deal of popularity among his shipmates. Some sea-captains, before shipping a man, always ask him whether he can sing out a rope. (Melville 1983:54)

This passage is from Herman Melville’s novel Redburn, which is based on Melville’s experience as a cabin boy aboard the merchant ship St. Lawrence in 1839. Although this description is neither from an autobiography nor directly about the pirate lifestyle, I felt it captured the very essence- the interconnectedness of the concept, sound, behavior- of the pirate song.

Pirate songs are also known as shanties (or chanties), and this word is derived from the French word chanter, meaning to sing. Nowadays, with a little help from books, movies, etc., it is easy for the general public to romanticize piracy and therefore to forget the fact that these men and women were living harsh, tiring, and criminal lives. Spending long stretches of time on these filthy ships and constantly running out of food and potable water, these pirates, who have come to be admired in our modern culture, would spend their days working on the ship and toiling to continue the voyage. While raising and lowering the ships’ anchors and sails or hauling ropes, it was necessary for the group of sailors to coordinate in order to complete these taxing activities (which could entail lifting several tons of loads) in unison. During these long, demanding and laborious days the pirates would turn to music not only to boost their morale but also to coordinate them as they worked the ships (Saunders 1928: 339-357). “In the days when human muscles were the only power source available aboard ship, sea shanties served a practical purpose: the rhythm of the song served to synchronize the movements of ship workers as they toiled at repetitive tasks. They also served a social purpose: singing, and listening to a song is pleasant; it alleviated boredom, and it lightens the burden of hard work, of which there was no shortage on long voyages” (Ossian).

This concept of synchronization and invigoration lead to a very particular, participatory sound specific to the pirate song, and instructed a certain behavior in the pirates. These sea shanties are characteristically rhythmic and catchy, and incorporate the use of call-and-response. As one self-appointed sailor (called the shantyman) would call out in song to the other crewmembers, they would all shout back, and certain points in the song would signify the appropriate time for the pirates to do the job at hand. As they sang and worked together in unison, and the sailors’ voices and bodies joined together to complete a common goal, the men would bond and become re-energized to persist in this difficult process (Saunders 1928: 342).

There are various categories of pirate songs that served the sailors different purposes. For example, the Short Drag Shanty was used when the men were completing tasks like unfolding or shortening sails, in which they would have to make swift heaves in a brief period of time. Short Drag shanties are characterized by their repetitive lyrics and helped the men to keep in rhythm when completing these tasks. Another essential type of shanty is the Long Drag Shanty, which was sung when the men were completing heavy tasks for longer periods of time. Long Drag Shanties are usually epitomized by the chorus every other line that offered the men a chance to rest or tighten their grip. Because of the use of the sea shanties as work songs, these traditional songs rely solely on the voices of the men and do not incorporate many instruments. I believe that Saunders was able to envelope the interconnectedness of the concept behind the shanties, the sound this created and the behavior it inspired in this passage:

It has undoubtedly grown out of the natural inclination one feels in hauling, or in otherwise performing any rhythmical operation, to keep time with one’s voice, feet or hands, in parallel rhythmical sound. Indeed, when one considers that a single bare spar or yard of one of the old windjammers or clippers frequently weighed anything from thirty hundredweights to two tons, one can understand how essential it was, both for the efficient effectuation of the work, and for the safety of the ship an men themselves, that all of those hauling upon a rope or halliard, for the raising or lowering of the yard in question, should do so together as one man. Such simultaneous action can only be attained by some method of beating time…in the never-ending labours of his life afloat… (Saunders 1928:339)

In many ways, the representation of the pirate that society knows today has become distorted and exaggerated from the actual lifestyle of traditional historical outlaws sailing the seas. However, literally living by their own rules and in extremely filthy conditions, as well as constantly stealing, drinking, and behaving violently, pirates, in many ways, are seen accurately by the public. This vulgar, rough, crude, drunken life of the pirate is present both in the lyrics as well as the rude, coarse, rowdy, and loud sound of these shanties. The printed sea songs available to us today often do not do justice to the gross imaginations of true pirates. Actually, the Shantyman was often chosen based on the his ability to improvise, “his function being to sing already existing verses, and to improvise others as he went along, while the rest of the company joined the chorus, which as a rule, was invariable. Often indeed these improvisations were crude and vulgar enough, and the examples of good taste which are generally the distinguishing features of the printed collections, by no means give a complete idea of the shanty as it was regularly sung on board ship” (Saunders 1928:343). The fun attitude and often slightly comical lyrics of the songs were meant to raise the spirits of the men. Pirates lived their lives exclusively based on fulfilling their desires for travel, money, women, and alcohol and sang about these subjects in their shanties, which helps in understanding the sound of these songs. Because these men truly lived their lives day to day under few rules but their own, and in pursuit of nothing but their own personal desires, pirates have become a symbol in modern culture of that mentality.

When researching pirate music I was perplexed by the plethora of versions of traditional pirate shanties as well as songs pertaining to pirates available in such an array of genres. However, though gaining an understanding of the ideas the pirate has come embody, it has become more obvious to me as to why. In this excerpt from a music book entitled Please Kill Me: The Uncnesored Oral History of Punk, the author comments on the origins of punk (a genre in which many pirate themed songs have been created):

Punk was like, this is new, this is now, the apotheosis, powerful. But it wasn’t political. I mean, maybe that is political. I mean the great thing about punk was that it had no political agenda. It was about real freedom, personal freedom. It was also about doing anything that’s gonna offend a grown-up. Just being as offensive as possible. Which seemed delightful, just euphoric. Be the real people we are. You know? I just loved it.

I remember my favorite nights were just getting drunk and walking around the East Village kicking over garbage cans… (McNeil 1996: 299)

The ideals expressed in this passage: personal freedom, breaking rules, alcohol, seemed to coincide with the thoughts that the very image of the pirate seem to conjure up in our minds. I realized that this put simply, do-what-you-want or break-the-rules mentality, is present in and essential to a multitude of categories of music. I feel that such a range of musicians incorporate pirate themes-whether it be in the subject matter or the sound- into their music is to help express this outlook. The pirate symbol is now used as a means to energize listeners or bond an audience much in the same way the lyrics and emotion behind historical pirate songs were meant to do to their original creators/performers. Therefore, this C.D. is a compilation of various authentic traditional pirate songs meant to encourage the appreciation of the power and fun of these shanties, children’s songs that tell pirate tales and comical parodies about this subject to keep the fantastical representation alive, as well as songs from various genres of music that incorporate the pirate as a symbol to keep the spirit of what the pirates lived for alive.

DETAILED MUSIC ANALYSIS

“BARRETT’S PRIVATEERS”

Stan Goodman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl-CfQvz21Y

Lyrics:

Oh, the year was 1778, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

A letter of marque came from the king,

To the scummiest vessel I’d ever seen,

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

Oh, Elcid Barrett cried the town, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

For twenty brave men all fishermen who

would make for him the Antelope’s crew

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

The Antelope sloop was a sickening sight,HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

She’d a list to the port and her sails in rags

And the cook in scuppers with the staggers and the jags

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

On the King’s birthday we put to sea, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

We were 91 days to Montego Bay

Pumping like madmen all the way

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

On the 96th day we sailed again, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

When a bloody great Yankee hove in sight

With our cracked four pounders we made to fight

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

The Yankee lay low down with gold, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

She was broad and fat and loose in the stays

But to catch her took the Antelope two whole days

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

Then at length we stood two cables away, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

Our cracked four pounders made an awful din

But with one fat ball the Yank stove us in

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

The Antelope shook and pitched on her side, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

Barrett was smashed like a bowl of eggs

And the Maintruck carried off both me legs

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

So here I lay in my 23rd year, HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!

It’s been 6 years since we sailed away

And I just made Halifax yesterday

God damn them all!

I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold

We’d fire no guns-shed no tears

Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier

The last of Barrett’s Privateers.

This is a folk song recently written by Stan Rogers in the style of a pirate’s shanty. In “Barrett’s Privateers,” Rogers creates an authentic sounding rendition of the shanty with an extremely repetitive rhythm and very steady, beat which are both necessary in a traditional shanty to coordinate the efforts of the sailors. The characteristic call and response nature of the sea song can also be heard in this track as Rogers acts as the Shantyman, singing out in a deep, rich and powerful timbre and as the other men respond to his changing lyrics with a repetitive chorus. The loud and powerful effect created by the joining of all the singers together exemplifies the revitalizing mood the original pirate songs were meant to create. Rogers’ reliance on solely voice and corpophone also helps to further establish this song as an accurate modern shanty.

“A DROP OF NELSON’S BLOOD”

Version by Jarvis Cocker

2-18-a-drop-of-nelsons-blood.mp3

Lyrics:

Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm

And we’ll all hang on behind.

so we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a plate of Irish stew wouldn’t do us any harm

And we’ll all hang on behind.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a nice fat cook wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a nice fat cook wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a nice fat cook wouldn’t do us any harm

And we’ll all hang on behind.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a roll in the clover wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a roll in the clover wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a roll in the clover wouldn’t do us any harm

And we’ll all hang on behind.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a long spell in gaol wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a long spell in gaol wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a long spell in gaol wouldn’t do us any harm

And we’ll all hang on behind.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a nice watch below wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a nice watch below wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a nice watch below wouldn’t do us any harm

And we’ll all hang on behind.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

Oh, a night with the gals wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a night with the gals wouldn’t do us any harm

Oh, a night with the gals wouldn’t do us any harm

And we’ll all hang on behind.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll roll the golden chariot along.

So we’ll roll the old chariot along

An’ we’ll all hang on behind!

This track is a recent (2006) adaptation of a the traditional pirate shanty “A Drop of Nelson’s Blood.” There is a legend stating that “Nelson’s Blood” is a nickname for Grog (a pirate’s drink made from rum), and when considering the topics mentioned in the lyrics (“Nelson’s Blood,” “gals”) as well as the song’s repetitive nature, it is clear that this tune could certainly be an altered shanty. The original version of this song is classified as a Capstan Shanty, which is a shanty that would help the sailors to coordinate during long and repetitive tasks, and remnants of this initial purpose can still be traced in the repetitive rhythm and lyrics of this ‘updated shanty.’ The faint voices under the main singing in this recording create a texture in the song that can remind the listener of the call of the Shantyman and the response of the other crewmembers. Jarvis Cocker, famous for his time as the frontman in the band Pulp, sings this version of “A Drop of Nelson’s Blood.” Pulp played a significant role in the Britpop movement of the late 1980’s and early 90’s, and the timbre of Cocker’s voice serves an icon for this genre. This alternative Britpop music was somewhat of a counter response to the grunge trend occurring at the time. The mentality of going against the popular style coincides with the pirate serving as a symbol of disobedience, and as Cocker sings in his recognizable voice he creates a rebellious energy in the song reminiscent of traditional shanties.

“Haul Away Joe”

Recording by Bounding Main

http://mp3.rhapsody.com/bounding-main/lost-at-sea

Bounding Main is a chorus comprised of six men and women that perform ‘songs of the sea.’ The traditional shanty “Haul Away Joe” is an example of a Short Haul Shanty in which the sailors would make swift pulls in small periods of time. Therefore this song, as represented by Bounding Main, is and was meant to be sung, once again, with a very crisp and steady beat. In this shanty the repetitive chorus occurs often, indicating the correct time for the men to pull. The chorus provides its listeners with an authentic portrayal of the essential call and response nature of the pirate song while the singers rely exclusively on their voices and bodies to make the music, as traditional pirates would have done. At the end of this version we can hear an informal shouting of encouragement and other noises, creating a rowdiness that adds to the correctness of the re-enactment. However, the organized harmony produced with the singers’ voices creates a melody that sounds more beautiful and delicate than would the unorganized, almost harsh and shouting voices of a crew of pirates.

Sources

Johns, Adrian. 2002. “Pop Music Pirate Hunters.” Daedalus, Vol. 131, No. 2, On

Intellectual Property, 67-77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027761

McNeil, Legs. 1996. “Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk.” In

Because the Night, New York: Grove Press, 299.

Melville, Herman. 1983. “Redburn.” In Chapter 9. New York: Literary Classics of the

Untied States Inc, 53-54.

Saunders, William. 1928. “Sailor Songs and the Songs of the Sea.” The Musical

Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 3, 339-357.

Rob Ossian’s Pirate Cove. http://www.thepirateking.com/index.htm Last accessed

December 14th, 2008.

Lyrics:

Nelson’s Blood. http://www.contemplator.com/sea/nblood.html Last accessed December

14th, 2008.

Lets Sing It. http://artists.letssingit.com/stan-rogers-barretts-privateers-rx8tzpw Last

accessed December 14th, 2008.

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Track Listing:

1.) Svatba (The Wedding) by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

2.) Kalimankou Denkou (The Evening Gathering)

by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

3.) Strati Na Angelaki Doumasche (Haiduk Song)

by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

4.) Messetschinko Lio Greïlivko (Love Song from the Mountains)

by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

5.) Breï Yvance (Dancing Song) by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

6.) Erghan Diado (Song of Schopsko)

by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

7.) Sableyalo Mi Agontze (The Bleating Lamb)

by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

8.) Mir Stanke Le (Harvest Song from Thrace)

by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

9.) Prïtourïtze Planinata (Song from the Tracian Plain) by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

10.) Schopska Pesen (Diaphonic Chant) by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

11.) Polegnala e Todora (Love Song) by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

12.) Polegnala e Pschenitza (Harvest Song from Thrace) by Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

13.) Touched by VAST

14.) Pravo Horo by Ivo Papazov

15.) Amari Szi, Amari by Csokolom

16.) Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello

17.) When the Trickster Starts A-Pokin’ by Gogol Bordello

18.) Krivo Plovdivsko Horo (folk orchestra) by Nikola Ganchev

19.) Immigrant Punk by Gogol Bordello

20.) Occurance On the Border by Gogol Bordello

21.) Thracian gudulka compiled by OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

22.) Tsonkinata (Thracian gaida), hard 7/8 by Bulgarian Artists

23.) Trite Puti (kaval)

24.) Daichovo Horo (ensemble) compiled by OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

25.) Mahedonsko Horo compiled by OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Over the past 20 years, America has developed a sort of fascination with the genre “world music,” a term coined in 1987 by British media executives and music promoters in an attempt to categorize and capitalize upon the synthesis of Western and Eastern musical elements (Rice 2004: 77). Since its beginning, this gradual osmosis of east meets west has greatly impacted the way the western world views eastern European cultural formations, especially coloring the lens with which we perceive their musical traditions.

Since 1988, Bulgarian choirs have performed all around the United States, to a sweepingly positive reception. One of the most famous examples of this is fervor is the United States’ reaction to the albums by the Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir, the Le mystère des voix bulgares volumes (Rice 2004: 77). Rice has attributed part of this to American perception of “these recordings as ‘authentic’ folk music. These recordings seemed to awaken in some Americans a yearning for ancient, traditional, pre-modern experiences that have been eclipsed by modernity” (Rice 2004:78). But what is “authentic?” How can listeners categorize what is “real” Bulgarian music? The answer is not clear-cut, especially when music becomes embedded in a cosmopolitan formation. Perhaps the real question is, “is there a singular type of ‘real’ music with which to represent a nation or community?”

There was a time when the Soviet Union believed this to be true. From 1944 to 1989, music became a mode for transmitting ‘political symbolism,’ drastically changing the context of musical practices in Bulgaria (Rice 2004: 60). According to Rice, “what had been primarily a pastime before World War II became a profession…What had been an important context in which to act out social relations had become a symbol of the Communist party, the nation, and submission to Soviet domination in cultural, political, and economic matters” (Rice 2004: 60). The goal of the Communist Party was to represent the proletariat, or “common man” through rural, “folk” music (Rice 2004: 61). However, it didn’t become a symbol for the benefit of just the citizens of Bulgaria; the process was two-fold. This state-created music was used as a visage to represent Bulgaria, and in turn the Soviet Union, to the rest of the international community.

Rice describes this rationale as the desire to represent the Soviet way of life “in an attractive manner full of positive feelings. The world they wanted to represent was not the dreary present with its poverty and struggle…Rather, it was the bright, happy, prosperous, progressive world of the future promised by communism,” even if those governmental promises could not actually reach fruition due to severe economic restraints (Rice 2004: 61). In 1951, the State commissioned the classical composer Philip Koutev to form a “State Ensemble of Folk Song and Dance,” imbuing “traditional,” rural music with classical elements. Out of this evolved the format of the Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir that we recognize today; music performed in large choral groups, as opposed to the original practices in villages where songs would be sung by only one or two people, all the while performing in “traditional” dress, regardless of the fact that many modern Bulgarians no longer adopt this style of clothing (Rice 2004: 62-63, class notes). In order to appeal to the aesthetics of the western world and gain acceptance, Bulgarian folk music underwent a sort of intentionally applied cosmopolitanism, producing what Rice calls, only “a certain kind of Bulgarian music,” by no means the only, singular way of defining a nation (Rice 2004: 58).

Koutev’s works continued to be a part of the repertoire performed by the Bulgarian choirs touring America almost 40 years after they were written. In an almost ironic meeting of two sets of ideologies, Stevie Wonder performed his music in 1998 for one of these Bulgarian choirs, directly proceeding one of their concert (Rice 2004:78). The same year, the band VAST released its debut album, Visual Audio Sensory Theater, containing the track “Touched,” which won them rave reviews in popular music magazines and earned them a large fan base. The track incorporated a sample of a recording found on one of the Le mystère des voix bulgares volumes.

“Touched” begins with a quiet acoustic guitar riff, accompanied by Crosby’s soft vocals. Roughly 47 seconds in the piece, the 4-second sample of the Bulgarian Women’s Choir begins its cyclical loop that lasts for almost the duration of the piece. This clip does not truly expand or develop; instead it just repeats, soon juxtaposed against heavy electric guitar and thundering drums. A few times in the piece, the sample drops out, only to reenter a few measures later with renewed guitar gusto to back it up. During this 4-second sample, one wonders what its original context and intention. In the final 20 seconds of the song, a gaida can be heard playing, with in its characteristic diaphone of a drone underneath an embellished musical phrase.

Crosby, the founder and lead singer of VAST, is heralded on Visual Audio Sensory Theater’s iTunes page for his ‘ingenuity’; “The ingredient that sets VAST apart from its contemporaries is Crosby’s experimentation with samples not yet touched upon in rock music.” Although the sample is attributed to the Bulgarian Female Choir, this fact is said in the same breath as a commendation for Crosby’s additional inclusion of samples from the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Saint-Mauer, “plus the use of an actual 18-piece orchestra, to boot.”

The review is not explicit on which track the sample originally comes from, or even which album of the Bulgarian Female Choir. Online reviews of VAST’s CD range in the depth of their accreditation, a few acknowledging that Crosby draws upon Le mystère des voix bulgares, while most simply state that the “Touched” features a female Bulgarian choir. In fact, it is almost an impossible feat to determine which song the sample is originally from, without actually purchasing Visual Audio Sensory Theater and viewing the liner notes.

In an interview conducted in 2000, KAOS2000 Magazine referred to Crosby’s use of samples as a sort of “aural signature,” to which Crosby replied, “A lot of [the samples] [are] different because it’s written for purposes other than selling something and I think it’s cool to inject it into what we’re doing; the Bulgarian Women’s Choir, the Tibetan horn and all these things are old and ancient and they’re coming from ceremonial, traditional, religious places. I think it’s nice that they’re not trying to sell anything to you” (“KAOS2000 Magazine interview with Jon Crosby of VAST”). With this comment, Crosby reveals that he is indeed enthralled by this concept of the “traditional,” in addition to the aesthetic of the “ethnic,” “exotic,” and “ancient mysticism.” He doesn’t seem to realize that Le mystère des voix bulgares is not in itself “old and ancient…coming from ceremonial, traditional, religious places,” but rather is a product of governmental influence by the Soviet State on traditional musical practices, thus rendering Le mystère des voix bulgares a fusion of genres; Crosby has taken this practice of rearranging traditional music one step further, fulfilling another component in the immigration social model, for the “gradual tendency is to assimilate over the years,” resulting in the “disappearance of [a] distinct cultural formation” (class handout).

At the time of the interview, the song “Touched” had been used in a trailer for the movie The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Considering that The Beach takes place on a mysterious tropical island filled with various love triangles and drug dealers, it is sufficient to say that the sample has become even further disassociated its original connotations with village musical participation as a group (Rice 2004: 31).

Another particularly intriguing example of music embodying two cosmopolitan formations, modern-capitalism and socialism, is the genre “Gypsy punk,” as so dubbed by its ‘creator’ Eugene Hütz, one of the founders of the band Gogol Bordello. Gogol Bordello got its start during 1999 in New York’s Lower East Side. Many of its founding and current members are immigrants from various countries in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, Romania, and Russia, although some are from places such as Scotland, Ethiopia, Israel, and Vermont (“Gogol Bordello”).

Without a doubt, the most recognizable member of Gogol Bordello is Eugene Hütz, with his distinct voice, lyrics, and stage presence. Hütz was born Evgeny Aleksandrovitch Nikolaev in Boiarka, Urkaine, with a Ukrainian, Russian, and Roma (Servo Roma tribe) family background. After the Chernobyl crisis, Hütz and his family left Boiarka, and spent the next seven years in various Eastern European refugee camps, eventually traveling through Poland, Hungary, Austria, and Italy, finally coming to the United States in 1990 via an immigrant resettlement program (“Eugene Hütz”).

 As the lyricist for the band, Hütz has much influence over the content of the songs; thus, many of the lyrics, song names, and album titles draw upon his experiences of being an immigrant, caught between two different opposing cultural formations. Take for instance, the sarcasm-tinged lyrics of the song “Immigrant Punk”, released on the Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike album; “Upon arriving to the melting pot/I get penciled in as a goddamn white/Now that I am categorized/Officer gets me naturalized/[Refrain]/ Now that I’m living up in God knows where/Sometimes it gets hard without a friend/But as I am lurking around/Hoptza! I see another immigrant punk!/ Legalize me! Realize me!” Expressing indignation at the immigration and assimilation processes while simultaneously prideful of being an individual on the fringe of society, “Immigrant Punk” represents one of the components of the diasporic formation model, that “cultural identity emphasize homeland and historical heritage, [and] combines models of original home, new home, and other places in the diaspora” (class handout).

Although the “punk rock” American influence in their music is strong, with heavy drum set beats and prominent electric guitars, Gogol Bordello has kept the focus of their lyrics music mainly on the Eastern European influences, sometimes switching back and forth between English and other languages as they do in the song “Occurrence on the Border.” The constant reference to their ‘multiculturalism,’ often in conjunction with humor and irony, is one of the most reoccurring themes in the music of Gogol Bordello; their songs include “Greencard Husband,” “My Strange Uncles from Abroad,” “Passport,” “Balkanization of Amerikanization,” “Letter to Mother,” and “Wanderlust King.”

 Gogol Bordello also reveals some of the many paradoxes within diasporic formations; the group heartily connects themselves with the moniker “Gypsy Punks,” as opposed to a potentially less-loaded term, such as “Roma Punks.” Instead of being an offensive word, “Gypsy” is used in this context as a term for being nonconformist and rebellious, while serving as a reminder of the band’s origins. Simultaneously, it is also a highly marketable catch-phrase that feeds into the band’s ultimate goal; to entertain. The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir, VAST, and Gogol Bordello all face the same dilemma of how to be “cosmopolitan” and appeal to large audiences with still retaining elements of “authenticity.”

I have adhered to the honor code in this assignment.

  -Brittany Brahn

List of References

“bulgaria_instruments_gaida.jpg.” Folk With Dunav.

Last accessed December 16, 2008.

“Eugene Hütz.” Wikipedia. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_H%C3%BCtz>

 Last accessed December 16, 2008.

“FENDER+031-0001-540.JPG.” Free-Scores.

 Last accessed December 16, 2008.

“Gogol Bordello.” Wikipedia. Last accessed

December 16, 2008.

“Gypsy Punk.” Wikipedia.< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_punk> Last accessed December

16, 2008.

“Immigrant Punk Lyrics.” Sing 365.

Last accessed December 16, 2008.

Worley, Gail. “KAOS2000 Magazine interview with Jon Crosby of VAST.” KAO2000 Magazine. 2000.

  Last accessed December 16, 2008.

Rice, Timothy. 2004. Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture.

New York: Oxford University Press.

“VAST.” Answers. Last accessed December 16, 2008.

“VAST (Visual Audio Sensory Theater).” Rate Your Music.

 Last accessed December 16, 2008.

TITLE: Nicaragua, Nicaragüita: Traditional Marimba Music of Nicaragua  Read the rest of this entry »

What is music? Music is often defined in technical terms. But, it is more than that. It is an expression: of everyday feelings to radical, political and different other social feelings. If we glance through the music around the world, most of the famous ones are related to politics and problems within a society including injustice, discrimination, poverty, etc. In many cases, many of the musicians had to face extreme reactions from government, political parties and people owing to the beliefs they expressed. Is the combination of music, politics and expression so powerful that it can radically change a society? What makes them famous or on the other hand, extremely infamous? This article is an exploration of some famous compositions that are accepted or al least discussed universally.

Marvin Gaye: “What’s Going On”

A crossover hit single  “What’s Going On”, a song written by Renaldo “Obie” Benson, Al Cleveland, and Marvin Gaye, is the title track of Gaye’s critically and commercially successful 1971 album of the same name. The song was the author’s reflection on the troubles and problems of the world.  The song addressed the social and political problems that the world was facing and also included some lines on black to black crime. It is also said that this song marked the departure of Gaye from mainstream 1960’s pop styling to more personnel materials¹. The song was compositionally differently back then due to its notable use of major seventh and minor seventh chords, a fairly uncommon occurrence in popular music of that era².

John Lennon: “Give peace a chance”, “Imagine”

The song “ Give peace a chance” has extensively been used in motion pictures, television shows and theatre and, in a sense, has “become a recognized semiotic to indicate protest”³; for example, in the movie “The Trial of Billy Jack” students sing this sing, and the peace activists in “Pretty Village, Pretty Flame” also sing this song during demonstration. The song quickly “became the anthem of the anti-war movement” ⁴, and about a half million demonstrators in Washington, D.C sang the song at the Vietnam Moratorium Day, on 15 October 1969^5. During the demonstrative concert, the leader and folk singer Pete Seeger would stop and say phrases like “Are you listening Nixon?”, “all we are saying is ……………….Give peace a chance”⁶. Owing to the popularity of the song, it was used in various events and forms to protest “violence” policies throughout the world.

  As much John Lennon is famous as a musician, he is famous for his “political activism and beliefs” too. One of the famous songs in history⁷, “Imagine” is an expression of his radical political beliefs which he himself describes as an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic virtually similar to communist manifesto”⁸. Jimmy Carter said that “In many countries around the world – my wife and I have visited about 125 countries – you hear John Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’ used almost equally with national anthems.”⁹ Maybe, it’s the unconventional political elements present in the song that inspires and motivates people; but, it’s more than the composition of the song that makes it so famous.  

   Bob Dylan: Blowin’ in the Wind

 ”Blowin’ in the Wind” has been described as the anthem of the 1960s civil rights movement ⁹. In Martin Scorsese’s documentary on Dylan, No Direction Home, Mavis Staples expressed her amazement on how a white singer could capture the sufferings, pain and injustice to the black people so powerfully. One of the most popular anti-war songs during the 1960s and the Vietnam War, “blowing in the wind” has been a staple song for protest against injustice, violence and racism. Even some religious institutions including liberal churches have the song, and in the 1960s and 1970s it was sung both in Catholic Church “folk masses” and as a hymn in Protestant ones. In 1975, the song was included as poetry in a new high school English textbook in Sri Lanka.

What accounts for the popularity of the song? Maybe, because the song expresses universally valid problems; maybe, its slow and poignant melody has something to do. But, the popularity it gained and the beliefs it expresses made it the “one of the greatest song of all time” in rolling stone magazine’s list.¹⁰ 

 

We shall over-come:

In 1963, folksinger Joan Baez led a crowd of 300,000 in singing “We Shall Overcome” at the Lincoln Memorial during Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. President Lyndon Johnson used the phrase “we shall overcome” in addressing Congress on March 15, 1965. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made call of “we shall overcome” in his speech in 1968 before his assassination. U.S. Senator for New York Robert F. Kennedy sang the song “We Shall Overcome” while leading anti-apartheid crowds from the rooftop of his car during his tour of United States in 1966. In India, its literal translation in Hindi “Hum Honge Kaamyab / Ek Din” became a patriotic/spiritual song during the 1980s, particularly in schools. There is also a Bangladeshi version of the song. In many boarding schools of Nepal, the song is sung as an anthem. Seeger and other famous folksingers in the early 1960sincluding Joan Baez, sang the song at rallies, folk festivals, and concerts in the North and made it popular. Since its rise to prominence, the songs, and songs based on it, have been used in a variety of protests worldwide.

The singers who covered the song in various forms and made it famous have hardly such popular creation of their own. So, it’s more than the singers, more than music that made it famous. Have the expressions of rebel, freedom and optimism that this song conveys got to do something with its popularity? ¹¹

Daniel Viglietti

Born to a musical family in Uruguay, Daniel was a great political activist with his music. His music, which was the genre of la Nueva Cancion, focused on the people of his place who were carrying arms up against the political and economic struggle they were facing. Uruguay, in the time of Daniel, was going through great political struggles. A guerilla called Tupamaros formed and helped destabilize the country. This brought along great social crisis as the government was in a frenzy and fret. They did not know how to handle the guerilla nor how to get the country stabilized. It was a time of great Social Crisis. Daniel, among with others who believed in the guerilla, sung songs for the people in hope of encouragement. Given that he could be threat to the government because of his beliefs, he was exiled from the country. . His exile was only one example of how much of a political threat he was to the government. Whilst there could be many people who disagreed with the government, he was one of the few exiled because he expressed his beliefs in form of music: a possible threat which the government wanted to eliminate. 

 Lyrics from his song:

Tear Down the Fences!

I ask those who are here

If they have never thought

That this land belongs to us,

And not to those who have all

I ask if on the land

You have never thought

That if our hands our ours

Then ours is that which they give us.

we have hands, we can do, allw e need is belief.

 

In the first video, he can be seen making people say what we was saying, something related to freedom of uruguay. It is apparent that he is using music as a way of creating awareness in people.

The Weavers:-

A similarly influential folk music band who sang protest songs was “The Weavers”, of which future protest music leader Pete Seeger was a member. The Weavers was the first American band to enjoy mainstream success while singing protest songs.  While they specifically avoided recording the more controversial songs in their repertoire, and refrained from performing at controversial venues and events (for which the leftwing press derided them as having sold out their beliefs in exchange for popular success), they nevertheless, came under political pressure owing to their history in protest songs and support for labor unions. Despite their caution they were placed under FBI surveillance and blacklisted by parts of the entertainment industry during the McCarthy era, from 1950. Because they were left handed, right-wing and anti-Communist groups protested at their performances. As a result of the blacklisting, the Weavers lost radio airplay and the group’s popularity diminished rapidly. Decca Records eventually terminated their recording contract.

Their expression of political beliefs was so strong that their criticizers did not stop until the band had any strength. The threat the right-winged parties perceived from the band was intense enough for the parties to plan to “eradicate” them from the roots.

 

Old man Atom:

After the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during Second World War, many people the world over feared nuclear warfare, and many protest songs were written against this new danger to planet. The most immediate success of these post-war anti-nuclear protest songs was Vern Partlow’s “Old Man Atom” (1945). The song treats its subject in comic-serious fashion, with a combination of black humor puns and serious statements regarding the different morale and social diffculties.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident

All men may be cremated equal”

 ”I don’t mean the Adam that Mother Eve mated

I mean that thing that science liberated”

 ”The people of the world must pick out a thesis

Peace in the world, or the world in pieces!”

 Folk singer Sam Hinton recorded “Old Man Atom” in 1950 for ABC Eagle, a small California independent label. New York DJ Martin Block played Hinton’s record on his ‘Make Believe Ballroom.’ Overwhelming listener response urged Columbia Records to acquire the rights for nation-wide distribution. From all indications, it promised to be one of the year’s biggest novelty records. Later, the song was covered by many other artists including RCA Victor (which recorded the song in rush-manner), Sons of the Pioneers, Country singer Ozzie Waters,  Fred Hellerman , Decca, Bing Crosby. Afterwards, right-wing organizations began attacking Columbia for releasing a song that reflected a Communist ideology.

http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=2092635&song=08+-+Old+Man+Atom 

Though, it cannot be firmly said that the music or lyrics had more profound effect on people. But, it seems the messages these songs convey are more powerful than the compositional part. There are certain universally necessary changes, including peace, justice, and love, which many of these songs advocate. Perhaps, this is the reason for their universal existence. Viewing things from a merruim tripartite model perspective, we can say that these songs became famous because these songs hit at right places at right time. These songs could help people escape from the political and social traumas because they were sources of entertainment; at the same time, they also made people feel like the people were part of the society. In a way, these songs could both entertain and aware people. The context was favourable because people expect such thingd from music. The context was appropriate, the people were ready aware and ready, and the “source”, the music triggered the feelings of energy, enthusiasm, freedom and peace upon them. People got  what they wanted; the songs became universally known.  

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_Going_On_(song)
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_Going_On_(song)
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_Peace_A_Chance#cite_note-VietnamMoratorium-1#cite_note-VietnamMoratorium-1
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_Peace_A_Chance#cite_note-VietnamMoratorium-1#cite_note-VietnamMoratorium-1
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/15/newsid_2533000/2533131.stm
6. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/series/pt_09.html
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_Peace_A_Chance
8. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/johnlennon/articles/story/8898300/lennon_lives_forever
9. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/johnlennon/articles/story/8898300/lennon_lives_forever
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowin’_in_the_Wind
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Shall_Overcome

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[I CAN'T GET MY UPLOADS WORKING, SO I WILL BE EMAILING YOU SONGS.]

Track List:
1.    El derecho de vivir en paz—Victor Jara
2.    La carta—Violeta Parra

3.    Plegaria a un labrador—Victor Jara
4.    Plegaria a un Labrador—Quilapayun
5.    Venceremos—Inti-Illimani
6.    El trigo—Rolando Alarcon
7.    Parabien de la paloma—Rolando Alarcon

http://setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu/~davea/albums/Miscellaneous%20Rolando%20Alarcon/Parabien%20de%20la%20Paloma.mp3
8.    De libertad y amor—Illapu
9.    Corazon maldito—Angel Parra
10.    Manifiesto—Salvador Allende
11.    Javiera Carrera—Los Cuatro Cuartos
12.    Porque los pobres no tienen—Isabel Parra
13.    Volver a los diecisiete—Violeta Parra
14.    Allende—Quilapayun

La Nueva Cancion:

Nueva Cancion was a protest music movement that emerged in various Latin American countries in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Its musicians opposed Western cultural domination in South America and in protest returned to the traditional forms and instruments of their regions. In Chile, Nueva Cancion, led by artists such as Violeta Parra and Victor Jara, aligned itself with Salvador Allende’s Unidad Popular party. When Allende was inaugurated in 1970, becoming the first democratically elected socialist president in Chile and in the world, a banner emblazoned with the phrase “No Hay Revolucion Sin Canciones”—“You Can’t Have a Revolution Without Songs”—hung behind him, alluding to the prominent role that the Nueva Cancion musicians had played in his election and continued to play in politics. Indeed, the music was so effective a galvanizing agent that the military junta that overthrew Allende’s government in a 1973 coup felt the need to violently suppress it.
Nueva Cancion musicians united under the resolve that music could and should be used as a tool to facilitate social change. Victor Jara proclaimed that it was their duty,

to give our people weapons to fight against this (the North American commercial monopoly in music); to give our people its own identity with a folklore which is, after all, the most authentic language a country has, to make our people understand their reality through the protest song…[and] to help our people unmask the world around them, to transform it not with paternalistic prophecies, but together with the people (Tumas-Serna 1992: 146).

The concept of the music as Alan Merriam would identify it within his tripartite model was to instill pride in and empower a people who had long been force-fed foreign cultural commodities, their inherited culture completely marginalized. Led by Violeta Parra, this was accomplished by a return to the use of traditional instruments and forms, which, due to the simplicity of the song structures, the instrumentation, and the accompanying lyrics, could speak directly and easily to the masses, and which, deriving from their own regional traditions, the people could claim as their own. Beginning in the 1950s, Parra traveled extensively, devoted to collecting and preserving traditional Chilean folklore and folk songs, which she later adapted and performed. Parra was called by Cuban musician Silvio Rodriguez, “fundamental. Nothing would have been as it is had if not been for Violeta”(Morris120). Another friend and admirer said,

We were stuck in North American and European culture…imitating it…Latin American things had no value…and Violeta was a kind of bridge, a connection with Chile…There was all that life in the common people and Violeta had the ability to become part of it, love it, and give it back in her songs. That is, she acted as a translator, so that we could know ourselves (Morris 119).

Parra employed traditional song forms. She played mostly cuecas—the song accompaniments to the national dance of Chile, which were generally upbeat, in 6/8, and always major—and tonadas—a less rigidly structured form of song, and one not danced to. (http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Music-of-Chile) Among the traditional instruments that Parra, and those who came after her, employed were the panpipes, the quena—a traditional six-holed Andean flute—and the charango—a stringed instrument in the lute family with five courses of two strings each, the body traditionally constructed out of the shell of an armadillo (http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Music-of-Chile).  Also common were drums called bombos and cuatros, which are smaller, four-stringed guitars (Fairley: 112). And, of course, the acoustic guitar was integral. The use of traditional instruments had an impact beyond the inellectual. The acoustic timbres and the very basic instrumentation, as intended, did indeed give the impression of a rugged authenticity. And, associated with the traditional music from out in the mountains, the sounds worked as signs, evocative of the natural land. As described in Merriam’s model, the concept affected the aesthetic nature and impacts both intellectual and emotional of the sound, and in return, the sound reinforced the concept. These traditional instruments were so closely associated with the politics of the Nueva Cancion movement that after the 1973 coup they were implicitly outlawed by Augusto Pinochet’s government, “playing them considered tantamount to subversion” (Morris: 123).
Some artists did make forays into electric music, such as Victor Jara, who teamed up with Los Blops for the single “El Derecho de Vivir en Paz”—from the album of the same name—which even has a very distorted electric guitar solo at 1:55. Victor Jara’s use of select Western instruments on the entire album was a great point of contention within the Nueva Cancion world. But despite slight variations in instrumentation, there were always certain continuities in content in the songs. The songs generally contain a political message, to varying degrees of overtness, often betraying some degree or strain of socialist sentiment. The message of Violeta Parra’s 1962 song “La Carta” (“The Letter”) is fairly blatant:
They sent me a letter
In the early mail
In the letter they tell me
They took my brother to jail

While I’m so far away,
Waiting for news,
The letter comes to tell me
There is no justce in my country.
The hungry people ask for bread,
The militia gives them lead, yes.

Luckily I have a guitar
For lamenting my pain.
I also have nine brothers and sisters
Besides the one they locked up
The nine are communists,
By the grace of God, yes.

Victor Jara’s song “Plegaria a un Labrador” (“Prayer to a Worker”) is certainly less overt than Parra’s praising God for the fact that her siblings are communists, but it is a song of solidarity with the workingman and contains the lyrics,
Arise and look at your hands
Reach out to your brother so you may grow
Together we will go united in blood
Today is the time to build for tomorrow
Free us from the one who dominates us in misery
Bring us your kingdom of justice and equality.

These have distinct Marxist undertones. Possibly, the epitome of the political message carrying song is Allende’s campaign song, “Venceremos” (“We Will Triumph”), written and sung by the group, Inti-Illimani, the lyrics of which go,
From the depths of our country,
The cry of the people rises
Now the new dawn is announced.
All of Chile begins to sing.

We will triumph, we will triumph.
A thousand chains will have to be broken.
We will triumph, we will triumph.
We will learn how to conquer misery.

We will sow the fields of glory.
The future will be socialist.
Together we will make history.
Carry on, carry on, carry on.

And, though the instrumentation differentiates the song somewhat from other Nueva Cancion music, Victor Jara’s “El Derecho de Vivir en Paz”, an ode to the communist leader of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, certainly communicates a political message similar to the other examples.
But even more essential in terms of content, more than specific political views, was that the music some how speak directly to and for the people, and that it carry an inspirational message. Even if the lyrics seemed to come from a place of despair over the state of the country, with lyrics sung passionately about the homeland and its unified people, their plight, the songs could communicate to the people a sense of belonging and purpose. Emotional authenticity was also largely emphasized. In the eyes of the Nueva Cancion musicians, music should not be “a consumer product used by capitalism to alienate” the people (Fairley: 107). Fernando Castillo of the Universidad Catolica in Santiago declared that the “fundamental concern [should] be that our own art be deeply rooted in the Chilean spirit so that when we sing—be it badly or well—we express genuine happiness and pain, happiness and pain that are our own” (Morris: 120). The artists thus forsook Western aesthetic conventions and restrictions. Even Jara’s “Derecho”, with its elaborate production, avoided refinement, aiming instead for raw emotionality. And certainly, it would be difficult to find emotion more raw than that in Violeta Parra’s voice as it stood alone with its guitar or cuatro.

In the Nueva Cancion conception of music, the musician was more than an artist—her or she was a social activist. The musicans regarded their roles with seriousness and actively tried through honest expression of their sentiments to empower, influence, incense, and give pride and hope. The artists’ were enamored with the idea of music as a form of exceptionally viable communication. The forums for sharing of the music were made as democratic as possible. Artists performed in peñas—community meeting places and organizing grounds—most notably Peña de los Parras, opened by Violeta Parra and her children Angel and Isabel, and large open festivals (Fairley: 111). The artists created “autonomous [spaces] for the uninhibited performance of their music.” (Fairley: 111) Additionally, importation and distribution of foreign records was limited by the Unidad Popular government, giving more prominence and influence to the local Nueva Cancion music. And record pressing within the country was nationalized. The government thus essentially subsidized Nueva Cancion music.
Nueva Cancion was a music of the Chilean people, using the forms of their ancestors and discussing their struggles. The aesthetics, promotion, and messages carried within the Nueva Cancion movement were all unified under a comprehensive ideology, one that fostered social change and the revitalization of national culture. As Jane Tumas-Serna, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Hollins University said, the Nueva Cancion musicians “founded a mass movement around music that was extremely popular and…played a central role in popular resitance and protest” (1992: 146).
In 1973, General Augusto Pinochet, backed heavily by the United States government, overthrew the Unidad Popular government of Chile, assassinating Allende. Many Nueva Cancion leaders—most famously, Victor Jara—were casualties of the coup, brutally murdered. Other musicians were forced into exile. Nueva Cancion music represented “an ideological stance…in opposition to the homogenizing and centralizing tendencies of transnational commercial mass media,”(Morris: 121) while the military junta’s “stated goal was to eradicate Marxism and its objective was to reverse the direction of Chilean political and economic development.” (Morris: 122) The junta viewed Nueva Cancion music was as a threat due to the potency of its political and social content, and the manner in which it effectively galvanized and organized the Chilean people. The music was thus effectively outlawed. But the musicians in exile continued to produce, and through clandestine efforts of black market trading of recordings, the music was able to live on to some degree within Chile. There was a period of blackout, the so-called “apagon cultural,” but with time, the movement built back up into what has been dubbed “Nuevo Canto.” The music is somewhat different from Nueva Cancion, one reason being that returning exiles brought European influences back with them, but the sentiments are still the same. Nuevo Canto is a socially and politically conscious music movement that would not exist if the musicians of Nueva Cancion had not planted the seeds of pride and purpose in the Chilean people, helping them value their culture and country.

Song Analyses:
1.) El derecho de vivir en paz—Victor Jara

The right to live
Poet Ho Chi Minh
Who strikes from Vietnam at all humanity
No canon will erase
The furrow of his rice patty
The right to live in peace

Indochina is the place
Beyond the wide sea
Where they burst the blossoms
With genocide and napalm
The moon is an explosion
That melts all the clamor
The right to live in peace

Uncle Ho, our song
Is fire of pure love
It is the shelter of the dove
The oil of olive
It is a universal song
A chain that will prevail
The right to live in peace

The song begins with the traditional charango. At 0:08, vocals and an acoustic guitar come in. Electric bass and sparse drumming are added at 0:44. At 1:19, when organ and electric guitar come in, the drumming really starts—on a set, not a bombo. At 1:55, the electric guitar really comes to the fore in a fairly conventional rock solo. Electric guitars continue to be layered until the end of the song. At 3:41 a chorus joins behind Jara’s voice to sing the last lyrics,

It is the universal song
A chain that will prevail
The right to live in peace
The right to live in peace

The song ends on electric guitar.
Though Western instruments are used in the song, the charango carries throughout, and the song is soaring and inspirational as most Nueva Cancion songs intended to be. Also of note is the mention of the dove. The imagery of doves was used commonly to represent the spirit of peace in Chile, as in the following track by Rolando Alarcon.

8.) Parabien de la paloma—Rolando Alarcon

The she-dove died and the he-dove didn’t know
The she-dove died and the he-dove didn’t know
“Get up, little dove”, he said over and over
“We’re going to get married as soon as the weather clears up”.
Such sad announcements must I sing.

The she-dove died and the he-dove is weeping
The she-dove died and the he-dove is weeping
This poor dove, where will he fly to?
There won’t be lights in the church
there won’t be happiness or songs
Such sad announcements must I sing.

The she-dove died, she died from a gunshot
The she-dove died, she died from a gunshot
A man was watching with a gun in his hand
Her brothers were waiting for her in the church
Such sad announcements must I sing.

The she-dove died and a child is still weeping
The she-dove died and a child is still weeping
The man with the gun doesn’t know what love is.
He’s never been in a temple, he’s never lit a candle
Such sad announcements must I sing.

The she-dove died, a cowardly man killed her
The she-dove died, a cowardly man killed her
Knowing that she was innocent, let’s punish the guilty party.
The he-dove doesn’t pardon him; her mother doesn’t pardon him.
Such sad announcements must I sing.

The she-dove died, ladies and gentlemen
The she-dove died, ladies and gentlemen
The man sold the gun and kept on causing death.
Shooting at brothers, destroying continents
Such sad announcements must I sing.

Rolando Alarcon sings alone with acoustic guitar, allowing the poignant lyrics to ring through. The song seems to be about the annihilation of peace and prosperity in the country of Chile.

13.) Volver a los diecisiete—Violeta Parra

To return to seventeen
After living a century
Is like deciphering signs
Without being sufficiently wise.
To return suddenly to being as fragile as a second.
To return to feeling as deeply as a child before God.
This is what I feel in this fertile moment.

Entangling, entangling,
Like the ivy in the wall,
Sprouting, sprouting,
Like the moss on the rock,
Like the moss on the rock,
Ay, yes, yes, yes

My path recedes
As yours advances.
The arc of the alliances
Has penetrated my nest
With all its intensity
Has gone through my veins
All the way to the hard chain
That ties us to our destiny.
It is like a fine diamond
That lights up my tranquil soul.

Entangling, entangling…

What feeling can do, knowledge cannot
Nor the clearest action
Nor the broadest thought.
It all changes in the moment
That the great magician
Gently removes us from rancor and malice.
Only the alchemy of love
Can return us to such innocence.

Entangling, entangling…

Love is a whirlwind
Of original purity.
Even the ferocious animal
Whispers its sweet trill.
It stops the pilgrims
Frees the prisoners.
Love, with its care,
Turns old men into boys.
And only kindness can render evil
Pure and sincere.

Entangling, entangling…

Through the window
It opens like a song.
In came love with her mantle
Like a warm morning.
The sound of beautiful Diana
Made the jasmine bloom.
An angel flew up and put earrings on the sky
And the cherub transformed
My seventeen-year-old self.

Entangling, entangling,
Like the ivy in the wall,
Sprouting, sprouting,
Like the moss on the rock,
Like the moss on the rock,
Ay, yes, yes, yes

The song seems to be a very personal lament of the way that the events in her country had transformed Parra’s soul. The delicate, tense plucking of the strings of the guitar, and the very faint but insistent chanting of the bombo create a sense of urgency. The manner in which Parra alternates between a whispering singing to extended near moans, imbues the song with a sense of poignant wistfulness.

Bibliography:
Meyer, Zac. 2008. “No Hay Revolucion Sin Canciones: The Role of Music in Modern Andean Social Movements.” Wesleyan University.

Morris, Nancy. “Canto Porque es Necesario Cantar: The New Song Movement in Chile, 1973–1983.” University of New Mexico.

Tumas-Serna, Jane. 1992. “The ‘Nueva Cancion’ Movement and Its Mass-Mediated Performance Context.” Latin American Music Review 13, no. 2

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Music-of-Chile

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