Irish music seems to have permeated all levels and aspects of society. Music was used to accompany everything from wars, to weddings, to worship services. I think the following excerpt may sum it best. Here's part I:
“Music is an integral part of Irish culture and has been as potent a force in the lives of the Irish people. The ancient Celts had an oral culture, where religion, legend, and history were passed from one generation to the next by way of epic poems, stories and songs. The closest Ireland has come to a national composer is Turlough O'Carolan. O’Carolan was a blind harpist and poet who was born in 1670. He transversed the country and wrote reels, airs and odes to men and women that are considered to be canonical Irish music, and was considered an innovator in that he wrote his music first and then added lyrics. Over 200 of his songs survive and Ireland hosts an annual harp festival in his honor.
After being conquered by the English, and forbidden to speak their own language, the Irish turned to music to help them remember important events and hold on to their heritage and history. “Rebel Music” has existed for as long as the conflicts in Ireland have existed. Various rebellions have inspired story songs recounting the lives of individual fighters, such as Sean South of Garryowen or Roddy McCorley, were used to rouse passions and are still sung today.
As serious and heartfelt as such music can be, there is as vital a traditional of street ballads, popular songs with lighter themes. “Molly Malone” from the 1750’s is the story of a comely fishmonger who died and whose ghost is said to haunt the market. The song is considered the unofficial anthem of the city of Dublin, and a statue of the girl was erected to celebrate Dublin’s Millennium. “Finnegan’s Wake,” a comic story song about a man who died in an accident but was revived when one of the brawlers at his wake accidentally spilled whiskey on the corpse. The song has been perennially popular and also inspired James Joyce’s notoriously difficult masterpiece, Finnegans Wake. Many street ballads are devoted to tales of drinking, and these, too, have stood the test of time. From the unrepentant declaration of “The Moonshiner,” to the winking reprobate “The Wild Rover” to the man whose faithless girlfriend convinces him that his only dependable companion is “Whiskey in the Jar,” the Irish drinking song is usually much more of a celebration than a cautionary tale. Many of these songs were introduced to a wider audience during the folk revival of the 1960’s, when Irish musicians such as the Clancy Brothers, the Chieftains and the Dubliners gained popularity throughout the world.
And Irish artists have also had a huge impact on popular music beyond the traditional. In the latter half of the 20th century, the Irish proved themselves to be anyone’s equal in producing popular music. Belfast-born Van Morrison has been making compelling music in different genres for over thirty years now. The punk movement of the late 1970’s inspired as many young Irish musicians as it did English. Two bands from Northern Ireland, Stiff Little Fingers and the Undertones were enormously popular. And it was the Dublin punk scene that produced one of the best known and most beloved of Irish musical exports—U2. The Cranberries and the Corrs have also had huge international success with their gentler pop music.
Several groups have achieved success by combining traditional elements with modern styles to revitalize Irish music and introduce it to new audiences. Glam rock’s Thin Lizzy first found success came with a metal version of the standard “Whisky in the Jar,” and the London-based Pogues, made up of 1st-generation and immigrant musicians arranged traditional songs in a punk style that garnered huge popularity. New age musicians have also found inspiration in Ireland’s traditions, notably Enya, who is the most successful female artist in Irish history.
The diversity of styles and tastes means that there is something for everyone to be found in Irish music. And whether artists are charting new territories or keeping traditions alive, music will continue to be a vital part of Irish culture."
The cd I was waiting for has been shipped, but has not arrived yet. And the compiler of that cd was unable to find me Darrell Wixon Dunn’s contact info. I still intend to follow up, probably by mail, with Dunn in the future to coordinate something for my own classroom, but for now I am left trying to piece together what MIGHT be cultural answers to a song I really know very little about. Following Dr. Baxter’s recommendation, I have been looking at some of Bruno Nettl’s findings on Native American music. His work appears to be primarily with the Blackfoot Tribe. It is hard to say how many similarities there might be between the Blackfoot and the Wampanoag.
Something interesting to me about Blackfoot music is that singing is considered to have very little to do with speaking. It is a different act - there is no real concept of sing-speaking as we have in everyday speech. Many songs don’t contain words at all. I’ve listened to a handful of blackfoot songs, and really they sound totally distinct from the Wampanoag song that I am studying. There is much more vocal ornamentation and much less text in the Blackfoot recordings. But the relationship between singing and speaking points to the importance singing has. It occupies its own societal role quite separate from other vocalization.
While it's difficult to know how much there is in common between Blackfoot and Wampanoag music, there seem to be some interesting parallels:
Blackfoot song and drumming almost always occur together. The drum accompaniment to songs is rhythmically independent of the singing but in perfect unison, "slightly off the beat", and "often related roughly by the proportion of 2:3," to the vocal pulse or beat level.
The beat relation to the song has proved the most challenging component of my transcription. Now having read that I am rethinking again how I am conceiving of the drum pattern in the song I am working with.
Plains Indians, such as the Blackfoot, tend to use “vocables” - generally the emphasize W, Y, H, and vowels. They avoid harder consonants like N, C, TS. My text is “Way o Hey o Hey,” which matches with the Blackfoot practice. That being said, upon listening to some Blackfoot examples, I would argue that the articulation of those sounds is totally different between the two tribes. I wonder if the Wampanoag text is influenced at all by English sounds - Way O Hey O sounds so much like a British sea chantie text to me.
As for acquisition, Nettl discusses how songs are given to the singers either in dreams or in visions. There are different categories of song “ownership” (that’s my term, not Nettl’s). Some songs belong to one person, some to a group, some songs to one person but may be sung by others, some songs are sung only at very specific times by specific people. And some songs are aurally identical, but because they might have been given to different people in different contexts are actually considered different songs. More than this, though, most songs are learned through great trial - under duress or torture. The songs themselves are often in a very difficult vocal range and so represent the heroic and difficult in Blackfoot life. They are often war songs, though there appear also to be lullabies and laments, though very few game songs.
I would suppose (again, danger!) that the culture of the particular tribe and its relationship to neighboring tribes would influence the role of music. While the Blackfoot had three or four tribes with which they warred regularly and many Blackfoot songs are war songs, I believe that, except for the conflict with the settlers, the Wampanoags had a fairly peaceful, agrarian/fishing/hunting existence.
As I mentioned earlier, music is valued in Senegal and plays a very important role in their culture. There are two forms of traditional music. The one with poly rhythmic drum music and the other one is the gentler traditional folk music using string instrument, Kora, which I’m researching more on now. The kora is a 21-string harp-lute instrument and it mainly played by the people in West Africa. The sound of a kora resembles of a harp. The eleven strings played by the left hand and ten by the right hand. Listen to this.
If you saw the videos, then you can see that the Kora can handle melody and accompaniment. It is a very beautiful sounding and complex instrument. This is the instrument that every ‘griot’ (the elder community leader and oral historian I mentioned before) must master. While I was searching for the background of Senegal music, I also found out about the famous Senegal pop singer Youssou N'Dour. He is one of Africa's most important performers. He is well known as a social artist. I found his work and music really fascinating after I watched this clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0n-UUoMOzM
It turns out Youssou also comes from a griot family from his mother’s side. So in summary, music, used to communicate oral history and only by ‘griots’, is very integral part of society in Senegal and West Africa.
Youssou mentioned that most of West African speaks Wolof, so I’m mostly sure that the “Senegal’s Call” is sung in Wolof. I already wrote all my lyrics in Korean and but now I’m trying to put it in English. Some of pronunciations, it’s tricky because some of sounds are hard to express in English.
Besides the info I found out earlier and posted under the first questions, I was told by the American Kurdish Information Network that music in Kurdistan is mainly performed for entertainment. One of the most famous Kurdish artists is Sivan Perwer. The folklore songs are still performed at gatherings in small villages, but are considered "old-fashioned". They are purely sung a cappella. There are several types of songs in Kurdish music for different occations, among them the Lawiks and the Heyran. Lawiks are heroic ballads that tell the story of Kurdish heroes. Heyran are love ballads that sing of unfulfilled love and separation. Therefore I can conclude - by the sound of the melody and the title of the song, that the Barzan Tribal Love Song falls under the Heyran category.
I have discovered that the piece that I am working on is part of the classical tradition and has a relationship with traditional poetry. One influences the other etc. http://www.akdn.org/tajikistan_culture.asp this also tells a bit about the relationship between culture/music etc while they have one of the best resources that Ive found on the web- they still havent gotten back to my email!
The Nazis came to power in Germany during the 1930s, and many musicians fled the country. During the 1950’s, many musicians were struggling with economical and cultural issues.
I found the following information in wikipedia: "The first half of 20th century saw a split between German and Austrian music. In Vienna, Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils Alban Berg and Anton Webern moved along an increasingly avant-garde path, pioneering atonal music in 1909 and twelve-tone music in 1923. Meanwhile, composers in Berlin took a more populist route, from the cabaret-like socialist operas of Kurt Weill to the Gebrauchsmusik of Paul Hindemith. In Munich there was also Carl Orff, whose "Carmina Burana" was and remains hugely popular. Many composers emigrated to the United States when the Nazi Party came to power, including Schoenberg, Hindemith, and Erich Korngold. During this period, the Nazi Party embarked on a campaign to rid Germany of so-called degenerate art, which became a catch-all phrase that included music with any link to Jews, Communists, jazz, and anything else thought to be dangerous. Some figures such as Karl Amadeus Hartmann remained defiantly in Germany during the years of Nazi dominance, continually watchful of how their output might be interpreted by the authorities”
The musicians in Europe under highly political power. They supposed to represent political nature on their composition. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Germany
Posts
Irish music seems to have permeated all levels and aspects of society. Music was used to accompany everything from wars, to weddings, to worship services. I think the following excerpt may sum it best. Here's part I:
ReplyDelete“Music is an integral part of Irish culture and has been as potent a force in the lives of the Irish people. The ancient Celts had an oral culture, where religion, legend, and history were passed from one generation to the next by way of epic poems, stories and songs. The closest Ireland has come to a national composer is Turlough O'Carolan. O’Carolan was a blind harpist and poet who was born in 1670. He transversed the country and wrote reels, airs and odes to men and women that are considered to be canonical Irish music, and was considered an innovator in that he wrote his music first and then added lyrics. Over 200 of his songs survive and Ireland hosts an annual harp festival in his honor.
After being conquered by the English, and forbidden to speak their own language, the Irish turned to music to help them remember important events and hold on to their heritage and history. “Rebel Music” has existed for as long as the conflicts in Ireland have existed. Various rebellions have inspired story songs recounting the lives of individual fighters, such as Sean South of Garryowen or Roddy McCorley, were used to rouse passions and are still sung today.
As serious and heartfelt as such music can be, there is as vital a traditional of street ballads, popular songs with lighter themes. “Molly Malone” from the 1750’s is the story of a comely fishmonger who died and whose ghost is said to haunt the market. The song is considered the unofficial anthem of the city of Dublin, and a statue of the girl was erected to celebrate Dublin’s Millennium. “Finnegan’s Wake,” a comic story song about a man who died in an accident but was revived when one of the brawlers at his wake accidentally spilled whiskey on the corpse. The song has been perennially popular and also inspired James Joyce’s notoriously difficult masterpiece, Finnegans Wake. Many street ballads are devoted to tales of drinking, and these, too, have stood the test of time. From the unrepentant declaration of “The Moonshiner,” to the winking reprobate “The Wild Rover” to the man whose faithless girlfriend convinces him that his only dependable companion is “Whiskey in the Jar,” the Irish drinking song is usually much more of a celebration than a cautionary tale. Many of these songs were introduced to a wider audience during the folk revival of the 1960’s, when Irish musicians such as the Clancy Brothers, the Chieftains and the Dubliners gained popularity throughout the world.
Part II...
ReplyDeleteAnd Irish artists have also had a huge impact on popular music beyond the traditional. In the latter half of the 20th century, the Irish proved themselves to be anyone’s equal in producing popular music. Belfast-born Van Morrison has been making compelling music in different genres for over thirty years now. The punk movement of the late 1970’s inspired as many young Irish musicians as it did English. Two bands from Northern Ireland, Stiff Little Fingers and the Undertones were enormously popular. And it was the Dublin punk scene that produced one of the best known and most beloved of Irish musical exports—U2. The Cranberries and the Corrs have also had huge international success with their gentler pop music.
Several groups have achieved success by combining traditional elements with modern styles to revitalize Irish music and introduce it to new audiences. Glam rock’s Thin Lizzy first found success came with a metal version of the standard “Whisky in the Jar,” and the London-based Pogues, made up of 1st-generation and immigrant musicians arranged traditional songs in a punk style that garnered huge popularity. New age musicians have also found inspiration in Ireland’s traditions, notably Enya, who is the most successful female artist in Irish history.
The diversity of styles and tastes means that there is something for everyone to be found in Irish music. And whether artists are charting new territories or keeping traditions alive, music will continue to be a vital part of Irish culture."
July 21, 2009
ReplyDeleteThe cd I was waiting for has been shipped, but has not arrived yet. And the compiler of that cd was unable to find me Darrell Wixon Dunn’s contact info. I still intend to follow up, probably by mail, with Dunn in the future to coordinate something for my own classroom, but for now I am left trying to piece together what MIGHT be cultural answers to a song I really know very little about. Following Dr. Baxter’s recommendation, I have been looking at some of Bruno Nettl’s findings on Native American music. His work appears to be primarily with the Blackfoot Tribe. It is hard to say how many similarities there might be between the Blackfoot and the Wampanoag.
Something interesting to me about Blackfoot music is that singing is considered to have very little to do with speaking. It is a different act - there is no real concept of sing-speaking as we have in everyday speech. Many songs don’t contain words at all. I’ve listened to a handful of blackfoot songs, and really they sound totally distinct from the Wampanoag song that I am studying. There is much more vocal ornamentation and much less text in the Blackfoot recordings. But the relationship between singing and speaking points to the importance singing has. It occupies its own societal role quite separate from other vocalization.
While it's difficult to know how much there is in common between Blackfoot and Wampanoag music, there seem to be some interesting parallels:
Blackfoot song and drumming almost always occur together. The drum accompaniment to songs is rhythmically independent of the singing but in perfect unison, "slightly off the beat", and "often related roughly by the proportion of 2:3," to the vocal pulse or beat level.
The beat relation to the song has proved the most challenging component of my transcription. Now having read that I am rethinking again how I am conceiving of the drum pattern in the song I am working with.
Plains Indians, such as the Blackfoot, tend to use “vocables” - generally the emphasize W, Y, H, and vowels. They avoid harder consonants like N, C, TS. My text is “Way o Hey o Hey,” which matches with the Blackfoot practice. That being said, upon listening to some Blackfoot examples, I would argue that the articulation of those sounds is totally different between the two tribes. I wonder if the Wampanoag text is influenced at all by English sounds - Way O Hey O sounds so much like a British sea chantie text to me.
As for acquisition, Nettl discusses how songs are given to the singers either in dreams or in visions. There are different categories of song “ownership” (that’s my term, not Nettl’s). Some songs belong to one person, some to a group, some songs to one person but may be sung by others, some songs are sung only at very specific times by specific people. And some songs are aurally identical, but because they might have been given to different people in different contexts are actually considered different songs. More than this, though, most songs are learned through great trial - under duress or torture. The songs themselves are often in a very difficult vocal range and so represent the heroic and difficult in Blackfoot life. They are often war songs, though there appear also to be lullabies and laments, though very few game songs.
I would suppose (again, danger!) that the culture of the particular tribe and its relationship to neighboring tribes would influence the role of music. While the Blackfoot had three or four tribes with which they warred regularly and many Blackfoot songs are war songs, I believe that, except for the conflict with the settlers, the Wampanoags had a fairly peaceful, agrarian/fishing/hunting existence.
As I mentioned earlier, music is valued in Senegal and plays a very important role in their culture. There are two forms of traditional music. The one with poly rhythmic drum music and the other one is the gentler traditional folk music using string instrument, Kora, which I’m researching more on now. The kora is a 21-string harp-lute instrument and it mainly played by the people in West Africa. The sound of a kora resembles of a harp. The eleven strings played by the left hand and ten by the right hand. Listen to this.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8luhdxS2KuM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOMZ6HWtvUs&feature=related
If you saw the videos, then you can see that the Kora can handle melody and accompaniment. It is a very beautiful sounding and complex instrument. This is the instrument that every ‘griot’ (the elder community leader and oral historian I mentioned before) must master. While I was searching for the background of Senegal music, I also found out about the famous Senegal pop singer Youssou N'Dour. He is one of Africa's most important performers. He is well known as a social artist. I found his work and music really fascinating after I watched this clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0n-UUoMOzM
It turns out Youssou also comes from a griot family from his mother’s side. So in summary, music, used to communicate oral history and only by ‘griots’, is very integral part of society in Senegal and West Africa.
Youssou mentioned that most of West African speaks Wolof, so I’m mostly sure that the “Senegal’s Call” is sung in Wolof. I already wrote all my lyrics in Korean and but now I’m trying to put it in English. Some of pronunciations, it’s tricky because some of sounds are hard to express in English.
Besides the info I found out earlier and posted under the first questions, I was told by the American Kurdish Information Network that music in Kurdistan is mainly performed for entertainment. One of the most famous Kurdish artists is Sivan Perwer. The folklore songs are still performed at gatherings in small villages, but are considered "old-fashioned". They are purely sung a cappella.
ReplyDeleteThere are several types of songs in Kurdish music for different occations, among them the Lawiks and the Heyran. Lawiks are heroic ballads that tell the story of Kurdish heroes. Heyran are love ballads that sing of unfulfilled love and separation.
Therefore I can conclude - by the sound of the melody and the title of the song, that the Barzan Tribal Love Song falls under the Heyran category.
I have discovered that the piece that I am working on is part of the classical tradition and has a relationship with traditional poetry. One influences the other etc.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.akdn.org/tajikistan_culture.asp this also tells a bit about the relationship between culture/music etc while they have one of the best resources that Ive found on the web- they still havent gotten back to my email!
The Nazis came to power in Germany during the 1930s, and many musicians fled the country. During the 1950’s, many musicians were struggling with economical and cultural issues.
ReplyDeleteI found the following information in wikipedia:
"The first half of 20th century saw a split between German and Austrian music. In Vienna, Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils Alban Berg and Anton Webern moved along an increasingly avant-garde path, pioneering atonal music in 1909 and twelve-tone music in 1923. Meanwhile, composers in Berlin took a more populist route, from the cabaret-like socialist operas of Kurt Weill to the Gebrauchsmusik of Paul Hindemith. In Munich there was also Carl Orff, whose "Carmina Burana" was and remains hugely popular. Many composers emigrated to the United States when the Nazi Party came to power, including Schoenberg, Hindemith, and Erich Korngold. During this period, the Nazi Party embarked on a campaign to rid Germany of so-called degenerate art, which became a catch-all phrase that included music with any link to Jews, Communists, jazz, and anything else thought to be dangerous. Some figures such as Karl Amadeus Hartmann remained defiantly in Germany during the years of Nazi dominance, continually watchful of how their output might be interpreted by the authorities”
The musicians in Europe under highly political power. They supposed to represent political nature on their composition.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Germany