música

  I’m still not clear on what exactly makes something ‘pop’; aside from it being considered what is currently popular within and by a cultural formation, usually as indicated by commercial success. It seems that in these examples some elements from ‘traditional’ music were preserved such as instruments used (like panpipes), and in the wayno Julio Benavente Valicha clip the dense texture.  However in most of the clips the modern aspects are stronger and the music differs greatly: to me, the vocal parts seems flashier, and the form and rhythm is more recognizable. The music incorporates many ‘western’ elements – in some clips there is a strong, steady beat and the songs have a set form of chorus and verses, such as the song by Rossy War. I also found from what I could translate that the lyrics conveyed a similar themes expressed in way resembling  western music: War sings mi duele corazon/estoy llorando/ – my heart aches/ I’m crying. In fact, I feel that most of the songs are not all that distinguishable from what is consider ‘pop’ music in the U.S. besides obviously the language and some instrumentation. It is interesting to speculate on how the music has evolved to this modern form in Peru – how westernization has drastically transformed the very artistic expression of cultural formations.

I have to admit, the depth I have previously thought about yodeling goes no farther than thoughts of herders high in the swiss alps; it never occured to me that yodeling is incorporated into many different cultures throughout the world. According to Wikipedia, yodeling consists of a note held for a long time which alternates quickly between the chest and falsetto voice, resulting in the succession of high-low-high-low. It’s interesting to think of how yodeling could have originated separately in different regions; it seems to be a fairly universal form of music as it is not limited by a specific language and does not require an instrument. This led me to ask why yodeling is not present in more cultures. I must also say that I would not have been able to pinpoint these yodelers as inhabitants of Africa; this sound did not fit within my concept African music.I did however associate  with African music I’ve heard before. This ‘African’ sound may be that of one lead singer followed  by a group and also that repeats itself in cycles over and over, such as molimo song, but I’m not sure.   I notice in all four pieces posted the importance of interlocking vocals. I like to imagine the social setting in which these people come together and interweave their voices to create such a powerful product. I feel that these four selections are probably performances, so the singers have practiced the pieces and coordinated their parts beforehand. I also feel that the music of Makala and the Ejengi ceremony, which both had a percussive rhythm (drumming in Makala, clapping? in Ejengi) could have inspired dancing. The texture of all the rainforest musics is very different than we are accustomed to; in the US popular culture such interlocking singing is not as prevalent. The last two clips have a very dense texture, while the yodeling obviously has a transparent texture. Overall these textures contribute to my concept of what could be considered ‘African’ music.

These video clips explore the movement associated with Indonesian music. The four scenes appear to all be for entertainment purposes. The specific social settings are unclear; perhaps they are for ceremonies or maybe, as it seems with silek tuo, to simply be casual physical expression of music.   The dances seem to be fairly traditional, although silek tuo appears to be more free-form.Some things that struck me:  - the use of the body to produce sound (corpophones!): I really appreciated this because it is not something we see  in the western world very frequently. I especially like the contemporary randai clip when they move from their pants to stomachs to chests to cheeks causing a change in pitch. - synchronicity and  symmetry of movement: in accordance with the rhythm, the performers’ arrangement on stage is balanced and the timing of their movement is uniform. -  the alteration of stillness and movement (which can be percussive or swooping): in display randai, silek tuo, and silek galombang, there is a distinct contrast between movement and stillness; the performances seem more like a series of positions than a flowing dance. This is very different than any western cultural concept of dance, and though it somewhat resembles martial arts, it does not fit our concept of that either. I also observed the movement to at times be graceful, swooping, slow actions (such as silek galombang), while at other times more percussive and quick (contemp. randai). - interaction of male and  female dancers: I found the entrance of female performers in display randai interesting. Their roles seem to be quite different than the males; they do not use their bodies to make sound or move very violently; but appear to complement the performance of the men. Their interplay does give more texture to the show.  I enjoyed seeing how movement is traditionally associated with the music we have been listening to and studying in class; watching the accompanying visual performance adds another sensory and cultural layer to consider.

Adhan: Although we learned that this is not intended by the creators as music but purely for religious purposes, the rich melody leads me to perceive it as music. I appreciate hearing different phonetical patterns than I’m accustomed to. The genuine spirituality of the caller manifests itself in the soulful and almost mournful sound of the call. To me, it elicits forlorn and mystical feelings associated with a foreign and ancient land.Multiple Azan: I found the static sound (made by other people?) distracting to the sound of the calling. Similiar to the first one, it is apparent that the melody is very rich sounding  - there is much variation in pitch and duration of notes, and also of the voices producing the sound. Azan Ringtone: Firstly, it seems a little sacrilegious  to turn such a call to prayer into a generic ringtone. Aside from the cultural implications however, the sound quality is not as good as the first recording, the texture has been changed from a monophony to a diaphony, and the recording has simply lost the deep spiritual feel.  I imagine how a Muslim individual and how a western-world  individual perceive and are affected by these divergent clips would be very different and I’d be curious to learn in what ways they would differ. 

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