Hello everyone! For this last blog post, I am going to be talking about the music of the Inuit, who are native to Alaska region and Canada. To start off, and to give some context, let's start with their cultural background!

Firstly, the Inuit live all across the artics- from Siberia to Greenland- although just about half of the population live in Alaska. It is also important to note that the name “Inuit” actually translates to “the people” and that, although not too far from Native peoples of the United States mainland, that are actually more similar to those of East Asia, culturally and linguistically speaking. It is also known that the Inuit do not reside in one place, but they move around following hunting seasons: seal, caribou, and fishing. Additionally, opposed to other Native American traditions we have studied, the Inuit have “bilateral kinship,” meaning that both the mother and father’s sides are equally important, rather than a matrilineal society. When it comes to religion, they also believed that “the forces of nature are essentially malevolent,” due to the harsh climate. However, once the “whale trade” began, the Inuit were terribly impacted. Not only was it difficult with the whale trade essentially taken from them, but when the U.S. had bought Alaska disease was also brought in. This pushed them to have to move away from their inland communities towards the coast. From then till now, conditions have only worsened.

In their culture, music and dance had an important role, as they would have what are called “karigi” (ritual dance houses) where they would dance and recite stories during feast times. As you can probably infer, these poems would be about nature and the soul, and they would sing both secular and religious poems with dance to accompany.

In traditional Inuit music, the drum is pretty much essential; you’ll see it is used for any dancing, storytelling and music. Their common drum is a frame drum, called the qilaut, with a handle and with stretched caribou skin over a wooden frame, traditionally. Nowadays, it is more synthetic. These drums also come in a variety of sizes, up to a meter long, and it is hit with a stick called a qatuk along the wooden edge. Here is a video of what the qilaut looks like and how it is played

 

What is really cool about their music, is what we call throat singing, or “katajjaq” in the native language of inuktitut. Like many other cultures, their music was created to resemble nature, with no types of work songs or love songs. Originally, their music was only used for spiritual purposes and ceremonies, and when the Europeans arrived, so did more secular music like “dancing gig,” along with new instruments, such as the accordion and fiddle.

Now, throat singing is quite competitive, much like a game, and it is classified as overtone singing, where you are able to distort the note that you are singing to create its overtones, while breathing in and out. These competitions will have two women sing the intervals back and forth, with a certain rhythm between strong and weak notes, until it is “indistinguishable.” This technique is used to mimic the sounds of nature, like the caribou. This game will continue until one of the participants can no longer go on or until one messes up, and it was originally used to entertain one another while the men were gone on long trips. Here below is a video of two sisters who talk a little bit more about the history of throat singing and demonstrate how it is done!

And here is another example of throat singing! It is a little bit of a poor video quality, but it gets better as it continues and is a good example.

Another type of traditional Inuit music is pisiit. Pisiit is a type of traditional music that was used to tell the stories of what has happened in the past and singing these types of songs is a “living tradition.” When performing these songs,  the only instrument (other than the voice) is the qilaut. In the video below, there is an example of these songs, along with a brief translation of what she is singing. 

An additional style is drum dancing. This type of music combines a single drummer performer along with an Ayaya singer (ayaya is music about personal stories). For these songs there is no specific dance, but the dancers will follow the drummer’s song and rhythm. This activity is usually performed at a gathering after a successful hunt or to honor someone who died. Typically, when one drummer is done, others will then take the drum and play their own song, and this continues throughout the night. The drum dancing is often seen as a celebration of good times, good fortune and happiness. 

As I was searching around for different kinds of examples of this, I discovered that, naturally, there are some variations in how it is performed (number of drummers, setting, etc.) but they all had the common idea of singing about various stories while someone (or a group) dance and play the drum. Down below is a video that kinda encompases what the styles had shown. 

Lastly, in today’s world you can hear western music influences all throughout the region, including folk, hiphop, and rock. This of course leads to some syncretic music as you could assume! This is a band called “The Jerry Cans,” and they are a mostly indie rock group, except they also have throat singing, accordion and violin. Their music talks about their home communities and about themes of “love, anxiety, desperation and grief.” Below is a song of theirs, I think it sounds really cool!

Bentham, Morgan. “Traditional Inuit Music.” leapintothevoidwithme (blog). April 12, 2016,  https://leapintothevoidwithme.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/traditional-inuit-music/ 

Canadian Geographic. “Performing arts.” Inuit. Accessed February 4, 2021. https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/performance-arts/#:~:text=everyone%20to%20enjoy.-,Music,and%20throat%20singing%20in%20English.&text=The%20technical%20characteristics%20of%20Inuit,a%20relatively%20small%20melodic%20range. 

J. Sydney Jones. “Inuit.” World Culture Encyclopedia. Accessed February 4, 2021. https://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Inuit.html

The Jerry Cans. “About.” The Jerry Cans. Accessed February 4, 2021. https://www.thejerrycans.com/about 

Travel Nunavut. “Music and Performance.” Travel Nunavut. Accessed February 4, 2021. https://travelnunavut.ca/things-to-see-do/music-performance-art/

Music and Family

For this entry, I decided to interview my Dad! It is a little lengthy of an interview, but here we go!

 Me: So starting off, what was your first, real, "music memory?” 

Dad: My first memory was listening to Led Zeppelin as a kid, I was probably about 8 years old, my brother listened to it a lot. Looking back, it was a way to bond with him and I really liked the way it flows; it felt like it never got old.

Me: Do you think you have any fond memories of music growing up?

Dad: Yes, my favorite memories were going to concerts when I was younger. In the fall, the “Poughkeepsie Civic Center and the Chance” theater had headliners weekly for 15$ a ticket, it was never more than 20$. It really exposed me to a lot of different bands and the top bands in my favorite genre. You could go with your friends and the venue was less than 5,000 people so it was a smaller setting and you could see your favorite bands up close. My favorite concert I saw there was Kiss and it was so loud that my ears actually rang for a week! Some other really cool bands I saw were Ozzy Osbourne, and well, Black Sabbath, Queensryche and more!. 

Me: What is your favorite artist now? 

Dad: Rob Halford!

Me: What about when you were younger, like my age, has it changed much over time?

Dad: In my 20’s it was definitely Metallica, stuff like the black album was my favorite. Over time though my taste in music has stayed pretty much the same, if anything it grew closer to British rock and metal but I still listen to the same music overall.

Me: Have you always liked the mainstream rock scene?

Dad: Hmm not really, as a whole I did not like what the big sellers were, like glam rock and Gun ‘n Roses etc. Much like rock now, a lot of it is over produced with no originality. It appeals to masses over what the artist wants, they make whatever sells.

Me: Interesting! Did you listen to other, non-rock genres at all? 

Dad: Pretty much no, I didn’t. I didn’t have much appreciation for the “top 40.” If it came on I would know the songs and all that but I didn’t go out of my way to listen to it.

Me: I’m curious about this one, what did your parents think of your music tastes?

Dad: You know, they never really said anything about it, other than Dad saying to turn it down!

Me: Hmm, so what did they listen to?

Dad: They would listen to “easy listening” and that was pretty much it. Your Grandpa liked maritime folk music, but that’s it. So they didn’t influence my music.

 

Me: So, what do you think about what kids my age listen to now.

Dad: To be honest I don’t think there’s a lot of excitement or depth, to me, it’s boring overall, across all genres. I think it has to do with how the songwriting process has changed. A lot of it is all just sampling.

Me: Oh yea, the process has totally changed. In pop now a lot of times you will get, like, 20 people all collaborating on a track rather than writing it just yourself or with your group.

Dad: Yea, like where we lived there are tons of small studios all throughout upstate, New York, and these celebrities would come up to the mountains and out of the city to focus on just their album away from labels.

Me: That’s interesting, like my friend who’s father turned their garage into a full blown studio, and had people come up and record- they lived over in Woodstock!

Dad: Yea, exactly!

Me: Now, I don’t think you were, but in case, were you in any type of music ensemble in school, like band or something like that? 

Dad: I didn’t do band class but I was affiliated with a rock band when I was younger

Me: Oh, tell me about that!

Dad: Well I didn’t play anything in the band, but I helped with the soundboard and lights for a local bar band in Canada. I really think it changed how I viewed the music scene; I didn’t know what technical abilities it takes to put on a show until I had to help out with that.

 

(For background in the upcoming questions, he was in Newfoundland, Canada for a number of years when he was in the Navy. In addition to this, he had gone to Nova Scotia every summer as a kid to visit family, that had not moved to the U.S. (his entire side of the family is from there.))

Me: Now here’s what I’m really interested in hearing about, what was your experience like with music in Canada.

Dad: Well, Newfoundland is famous for their “kitchen parties.” Almost every weekend there would be live music, in someone’s kitchen, where every friend and neighbor comes over to play together and have a good time. They would have guitars, accordions, bodhran drums (Irish frame drums), and then everyone sings and carries on. It’s like, Scottish and Gaelic folk music. All of it is about fishing and boats- they were work songs because it’s a fishing community. I got really into it because I was around it so much and I still really like it.

Me: Did you hear much music in Nova Scotia? I’d imagine it is really similar because they are both fishing communities.

 Dad: Yea, Nova Scotian music is very similar to “Newfie,” the only real defining difference is the accent because people in Newfoundland are mostly Scottish and Irish. And a lot of times it's actually in French! Really, all music in Canada is very regional; it doesn’t spread through Canada.

Me: Oh that’s interesting! Do you think music has ever had purpose to you?

Dad: In Canada, it was a way to get friends and family together- the kitchen parties were Friday nights and Sundays are like a feast with everyone over again. I miss it because the culture is so different here.

Me: Alright, well, that’s all I’ve got, thanks a lot!

Dad: Oh it’s no problem!

And in case anyone is curious, here's an example of Newfie music!

Cool Stuff: Arabic and Indian

 Hello all! For today's blog we are going to start in the Arabic world!

This past week in class, I found myself really interested in Arabic music and I thought it as especially cool (in all of the cultures we have studied so far) when these traditional styles or ideas get fused together with contemporary music- so I decided to look for other artists that were similar to Mona Haydar. While looking I came across a "Hip-hop Crew" that is actually from Palestine. Their name is "DAM" and they have been creating music since the early 90's, one of the first to rap in Arabic. Their music is tends to be grouped in with protest music, with lyrics talking about women's rights, poverty, political conflicts with Israel, and racism. They also make use of Arabic rhythms in melodies in their music as well! See here  to read more about them!

Here is one of their songs, "Who You R." 

Moving along to India, we have Odissi. Odissi is one of the 8 styles of Indian classical dance. It originates from Eastern India and it is one of India's earliest dance forms, typically performed by women in offering for Lord Jagganath, a form of Vishnu. It wasn't until the 1950's that it became widely known throughout India and the world, however. As this style is so old, there is quite a bit of history to it as time passed. One part this rich history is how women who dance Odissi, would have to claim devotion to Jagganath, often through a ritual (these people are called maharis, or devadasi). Much like if you were to become a monk or nun in devotion to the church, these women would then live in the temple as they were seen as "married to Jagganath." To read more about the dance style, see this link!

And here is an example of this dance! 

Lastly, we have the nagaswaram (sometimes spelled as nadaswaram) from southern India. This instrument is a "conical double reed aerophone," that is often used in the southern "carnatic" traditional style. This instrument is typically used to keep a continuous melody going, whether that included the player using "circular breathing" or have several players at once alternating on a melody line. This, to me, is kind of similar to how in a western classical string section, in order to have a sustained sound on a note that is several measures long, each player will softly change bow directions at different time so it sounds uninterrupted. To read more about this instrument, see here. In the video below, it is a little hard to hear, but the "notes" are still akin to that of swaras.

And here is a little bit of a better picture of the instrument! In it, you can see that any extra reeds are actually tied onto the instrument.

Big Blog No. 1: Appalachian Folk

 

Hello all! In today's blog post I’m going to be talking about Appalachian folk music. As the name suggests, this style of music originates from the Appalachian mountains, which runs all along the east coast. This genre is actually quite syncretic due to its origins, despite it being so isolated to the region.

Much similar to the origin of the blues, the roots of Appalachian folk music originated from the immigrants of the British Isles and from African-Americans. Specifically, contributing factors into this style include “fiddle music derived from the Scottish and Irish and African-American blues and religious hymns.” While there are other groups that have immigrated to this area, such as French Huguenots, Germans, and Eastern Europeans, these are the major influences. Common instruments include the fiddle and banjo, as we know, but also mandolin, guitar, and of course, there is singing. When it comes to music of this area of the country, the Appalachian mountains, you find a lot of overlap with other genres, and for this folk music, the closest you can find is bluegrass, the biggest distinction here being that bluegrass is more upbeat. These are often grouped together when talking about each genre, almost becoming synonymous. This is because each of these genres, for the most part, come from the same groups of people, with the same cultural ideals. This makes it a little difficult to define what actually is specifically Appalachian Folk music at times.

Many of these songs tend to go around themes like working, with lyrics talking about trains and working “in the coal mines,” which many immigrants at this time could relate to during this industrialization period. On the other hand, you also get many songs that tell wild stories, like murder or about love. It is similar to blues in the idea of singing about your day to day struggles, but in the form of work songs. Another common idea that runs here is that Appalachian folk is also passed down by rote, like many of these other genres. Many of these songs do sound similar to that of modal Irish or Celtic ballads in structure and melody. These songs, when brought over by settlers, started off as ballads, later adding instruments in.

In this video below you have a bit of a modernized version of an older tune. The women introduce the lyrics before they start and they also talk a little bit about what this kind of music means to them, being from southern Appalachia. When I first heard it, I couldn’t help think of Aaron Copland’s music, which much of it is inspired by this area (Appalachian Spring!) but what first came to mind was “Hoedown” from Rodeo because of all of the double stops that are typical of the fiddle style. We also here see different kinds of drums and a double bass to maintain this upbeat tempo!

While we often see mostly just the banjo and fiddle as primary instruments, another common one which originates from this region is called the dulcimer. The Appalachian dulcimer is what is called a fretted zither, with relation to the German zither, called the scheitholt. The “mountain dulcimer” is thought to have been created around the late 1700’s or early 1800’s and there are many different variations in the shape of this instrument, some being more common than others depending on the area of the region you are in. For a while, this instrument was starting to die off, especially when radios were introduced to the mountains giving people new exposure to other instruments and genres outside of what they know. In the video, the woman talks a little about her story and how she came across the dulcimer, followed by a demonstration. It is really interesting to me because unlike most other zithers, this is actually strum with a pick or quil of a feather, much like a reconstructed guitar. She also talks about how this music is ever changing and how while the instruments may continue, many of the styles and the culture around it are not as easily able to be preserved.

When talking about Appalachian folk music in this day and age, typically a lot of it revolves around the Appalachian revival. Originally, this folk music was very secluded to these communities and this region, with music like country being the more popularized genre, there was a “renaissance” of this old time music. Around the 1950’s and 1960’s, more and more college aged people had gained an interest in this kind of music as it started to spread across the country, especially with more “modern” songs in the style. With this genre growing, the traditional folk instruments started to travel as well and bled into other styles of music. For example, since the dulcimer was fairly easy to pick up and learn, people began to play all sorts of genres on the instrument trying to see how they could fit it in. In the revival, one of the most well known contributors was Jean Ritchie, also known as “The Mother of Folk”. She was a famous mountain dulcimer player and folk singer who has recorded over 35 different albums. Jean Ritchie has also written a few books and is known as a role model among people of Appalachia as she earnestly had shared their culture with the country and helped to preserve their music. Here is an example of one of her ballads. 

Below is another example by an all female band based out of Kentucky, the Coon Creek Girls. This folk band made their debut in 1937 and continued performing together for another 20 years. They performed through the mountains and eventually made it into the Kentucky music hall of fame for their contributions to Appalachian folk music and essentially establishing what would become Kentucky country music.

Gibson Dulcimers. “A Brief History of the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer.” Ron Gibson Mountain Dulcimers. Published 2016.  https://gibsondulcimers.com/dulcimer_history.htm.

 

Hall, Glenn. “Appalachian Mountain Music Documentary.” Published December 7, 2015. RadfordOnCamera, 4:32.tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYq3S1Ubv0. 

Kentucky County Music. “Who are the Coon Creek Girls?.” History/News. Published August 21, 2016. https://kentuckycountrymusic.com/2016/08/who-are-the-coon-creek-girls.html.

Library of Congress. “Appalachian Music.” Library of Congress. Accessed January 27, 20201. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152683/.

The North Carolina Arboretum. “Discovering the Roots of Appalachian Music.”  North Carolina Arboretum. Published June 22, 2016. https://www.ncarboretum.org/2016/06/22/discovering-roots-appalachian-music/ .

Cool Stuff: Sub-Saharan Africa!

Whilst going through our materials this past week "in Africa," I found myself very curious about griots and the kora. I really enjoyed listening to the kora and though that it was a very interesting instrument, especially when comparing it to other "harp-like" instruments, so I went searching for more background on griots and their music. While searching, I had come across a griot named Nomoucounda Cissoko from Senegal. Now, while he plays traditional instruments, like the kora and percussion, he incorporates hip-hop into his music. In the video below, he mentions how, while professionally trained on the kora, he draws a lot of inspiration from genres like salsa, house, and hip-hop. His ideas when it comes to modernizing his traditional music, I find, are very similar to Sona Jabarteh as he wants to incorporate modern genres as a way of preserving the kora and the stories of his people. 

It really interesting to me how he is still able to make his music sound traditional but still very modern at the same time, without one genre outweighing the other. Below is a link to one of his songs off his album "Faling."

Moving on, I also found myself curious about other the music of other parts of Africa that we did not get a chance to talk about. I had wondered how different music would be from the opposite side of Africa, so I looked towards Ethiopia. In my search I had found an instrument called the "masinko". I found that it is a very prominent instrument in Ethiopia, made from horse hairs and animal hide. What is interesting about it is that you can get a variety of melodies out of the instrument, despite there being only one string. This instrument was really interesting to me because at first it kind of reminded me of the chinese instrument called the "banhu," which I had come across while on youtube in the past, but when I listened to the masinko, the timbre of the instrument was much more similar to the fiddle that we know. It was also really cool to me because it was pretty much the first bowed instrument I had come across in this class, other than the violins in the Andes! You can read more about it here!

Here is a demonstration of the masinko!

And here is what the banhu looks like for comparison.

Lastly, I found myself interested with another instrument from Western Africa: the balafon. While it was clear that the instrument worked similar to that of a marimba, I thought it was quite interesting how they utilized gourds underneath each "key" for resonance and tone. While doing more research on this instrument, I found that it can be dated back as far as the 13th century, and similar to the Native American flute, it has many different stories that are shared as its' origin story. One of these included a balafon player who had become so "one" with the instrument that he could do nothing but play it all day. The balafon's are made of kiln-baked wood (usually rosewood) and tied together by a piece of cord. What I had found interesting that I did not realize, is that each gourd that was to go under the keys had to be cut and "tuned" to its designated key. It was also interesting to read about how people are modernizing these instruments, like many others do around the world, by using materials like glue and plastic to aid them when building. See this link to read more about it!

Music and Gender

 In my experience over the years, while participating in different orchestras, I have noticed that there is definitely some sort of gender divide in music, especially when it comes to expectations from society on who can play what kinds of instruments. I noticed this as early as my beginning orchestra class, but it was much more prominent when I had gotten to the high school level. However, early on I did see much of it from the "band world" as I had friends in the school band as well. All of my friends who had decided to play in the band almost exclusively played flute or clarinet (all of them being girls), save for one who had chosen trumpet despite the section being almost completely boys. I clearly remember being given a sheet where I would select my top 3 instrument choices- viola, clarinet, and then alto saxophone- and being completely told against playing the saxophone, without being given much reason other than it's too "boyish."

I have also seen this kind of divide when it comes to popular music and discussions around popular music. In my personal experience, I've found that women are expected to listen to music like pop, country, or ballad-like songs, while men are to solely listen to anything of the rock, hip hop, or jazz style. I believe a lot of this has to do with the culture around toxic masculinity. This is because these songs that women are expected to like tend to be about love or romantic relationships, while rock tends to follow the typical tropes of being a rockstar (traditionally, at least). Because of this, this cultural divide can be found in discussions around music as these pop songs have lyrics that can often be highly emotional, while men are expected to not partake in liking things like sappy songs as a fear of being over emotional because society believes men to be "not emotionally invested" and assertive. I have definitely seen and experienced this growing up, as there was a period of time where I solely listened to rock music and I did have a quite a few people close to me tell me that this music is not for girls, or that they did not even believe me when I said I enjoyed this music, as if it wasn't possible.

Overall, I think in this newer, younger generation, a lot of these ideas that are pushed by society are being broken as you see more people playing instruments that they stereotypically would not have played, and a lot of people are becoming more confident in expressing themselves and the kinds of music that they enjoy, going against the backlash.

Cool Stuff: Music of the Americas!

While learning about Native American Music, I found myself curious about the Native American flute's origins and uses. I found that the flute is much more diverse than I had thought; it can very in many ways. I found that you can make them out of very different materials and you can create many different ranges with different sizes as well. I found it interesting that even the history of the flute has many different stories. Some include a young man hearing birdsongs in the woods while hunting for elk, and some are about a hunter "hoping to gain the affections from a beautiful women." In the website linked, they go over many aspects of the flute, from origins, characteristics and to how it has changed overtime.

https://www.powwows.com/native-american-flutes-from-history-to-how-to/

I was also really interested in the culture of the Andes, specifically about textiles. I found that things like trading were very necessary and that things like weaving were at the forefront. In the video, I found it interesting how she had mentioned that these traditions that have been passed down since the Incas are starting become a little lost within the new generation, as many are choosing to go to school instead. This is creating a large gap because with schooling, these children start to move away and kind of miss out on learning from their community, but many eventually move back. It was also interesting to see that there were different methods when it came to weaving as well.

Lastly, I was very interested in the panpipes, or siku from the Andes. I thought it was really interesting how diverse these instruments could be. I found that they could be made of pretty much anything, from metal to bone, and that they can be in a variety of sizes. Like the referenced article suggests, these instruments have a very breathy quality to them, akin to the sound of wind. They can be used in a variety of ceremonies, like funerals and religious celebrations, but also in everyday life! What is most interesting to me is how you can be able to play two different melodies at once, due to the two layers of pipes.

https://www.savacations.com/siku-panflutes-bring-home-the-sound-of-the-andes/