Wrap-Up

1)  I'm very glad that I was able to take this class again.  As I stated, one thing that I took away from taking it the first time was the fact that the same music (or simply sounds, really) can signify something completely different over culture barriers.  One thing that I only this semester realized, though, is that other cultures perform or do a task that seems to make music to our ears, but does not to theirs.  Case in point: the reading of the Quarn.  When Muslims read it, we hear them signing it, but to them, it is simply a chant.  The post office workers in Africa was another great example.

2)  What I realized about our own culture is exactly how diverse IT is and how much of it we seem to ignore.  There are people who care about these other aspects, though, and they are likely begging to be seen.  Everything's there, we just have to go out and find it.

3)  The course rekindled my interest in the blues.  I had found a lot of those old recordings a couple of years ago but hadn't listened to them in awhile.  I stumbled across the mystery that is Henry Sloan.  It also made me want to look into more Scandinavian music.  I found the viking song very intriguing.  Also, my favorite band, Opeth, is Swedish.

Cool Stuff #3

Coolest pop song EVER -  ਤੁਨਕ ਤੁਨਕ ਤੁਨ (Tunak Tunak Tun) by ਦਲੇਰ ਮਹਿੰਦੀ (Daler Mehndi).  The music video for the song is practically as famous as the song itself; however, as is the case with many music videos, the song is

shortened.  So, I will post it twice. 

Here's the entire song:

And here's the awesome music video, albiet a shortened version of the song:

I only had to hear it once and I was hooked.  It's crazy-infectious, not to mention refreshing!



When I think of sitars in pop music, the first song that comes to my mind is this one:

What it there to say about The Rolling Stones's "Paint It Black" except CLASSIC?



Finally, a song by Sting and شاب مامي‎ (Cheb Mami), a famous راي (raï - folk music of the Bedouin shepherds) singer - Desert Rose.  Beautiful and eclectic.  It was overplayed back in its hayday, but has always been a very nice listen.  It's wonderful to hear to completely different worlds of music fitting togeather like two pieces of a puzzle.  I realize how cliché that statement sounds, but I've got nothing else.  Sorry.

Anna and I both thought of this song, but she let me post it.  Thanks, Anna.  :-)

Interview With Anita Bruhnke (Excerpts)

Jason: When were you first aware of music...?
Anita: ...I remember being little, like, not even in kindergarten yet and my mother had a favorite song.  It was “Alley Cat”.  …it’s by a jazz pianist guy.  …she would listen to it regularly and so… I’d make her play it over and over again and dance to it.  …when I was, like, elementary age I had…Sleeping Beauty on a record, and so my friends and I, we’d listen to that…
Jason: Sleeping Beauty?  The, uh, Disney…?
Anita: No…no, no, no...! (in a whispered, laughing manner)
Jason: That’s all I could think of! (laughing)
Anita: …Sleeping Beauty by, is it Tchaikovsky?  …[it was] a ballet.
Jason: Now you know I don’t know much about ballet! (laughing)
Anita: And then, of course, we had Tubby The Tuba that went through all four of us kids. …music was pretty big for my parents as well, so we always had music going on.
Jason: Were your parents musicians at all?
Anita: No.
Jason: No?
Anita: ...my father tried, but...
Jason: …what did he…?
Anita: Well, now, he sung. …he did sing, like, barbershop and stuff like that.  And then when my mother was in college, she and some friends, they used to have these booths at record stores where you could cut an album yourself…it was a little 75, and, I think it played actually from the inside out…the sang, um, “Mr. Sandman…” …and my father liked, uh, big band, country and western…(opens mouth and points inside of it in disgust; Jason laughs ) and uh, barbershop.  So, and, lots of times when we were driving in the car we would sing and we’d, like, go through the alphabet…when it was your turn, you had to sing a song that started with that letter…
Jason: And how far’d you all get? To “x”?
Anita: We might-a cheated. (both laugh)…music’s always been there. … In church, I was always in the choir. …since I was, like, seven or so.
Jason: Have you taken…formal voice lessons…?
Anita: No…
Jason: You said your dad was…into the jazzy stuff?
Anita: Yeah.  Now, my mother was more, um, she liked musicals. Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris was one of her favorites, …“Timid Frieda”… And then she liked…the “Alley Cat” one…
Jason: Bent Fabric…played “Alley Cat.”
Anita: …and this was back in the…mid ‘60s.  So, and then, my brothers were big into, um, [The] Mothers of Invention.
Jason: …Frank Zappa?
Anita: Mmm-hmm, and, um…Marianne Faithfull…I don’t remember them listening to The Beatles at all.  I don’t…care for it.  …then they moved to Maine, and Maine had, like, four radio stations: one was…easy rock, light rock or whatever…
Jason: Sure.
Anita: …but that was the “popular” station.  Then they had country and western, they had classical, and then they had a station that you could get the TV…the music scene in Maine was pretty pitiful.  So, that’s when I went, like, totally classical music ‘cause I couldn’t stand, um, Elton John and…Captain & Tennille…
Jason: Mmm-hmm.
Anita: ABBA, stuff like that, so I went classical…until…I moved to Durham, North Carolina and discovered New Wave.
Jason: Can you elaborate on that…?
Anita: …loved, you know, [The] B-52s and Blondie…I lived with my brother…we would listen to…a radio station…out of UNC Chapel Hill, and there was a fellow that he always made sure to listen to that had, like, a…two or three hour thing that he would do once a week. …he had a lotta, you know, like, ah, Laurie Anderson…
Jason: Doesn’t ring a bell…
Anita: She had some really weird, out there…music…’90s…grunge…that’s when I kinda started getting away from listening to the radio ‘cause it was either…grunge...or…
Jason: Nirvana just came and killed everything! (both laugh)
Anita: Um, well, oh, who’s that woman, I can see her plain as day? … Shoot!  And she has this really big, loud voice and her aunt is Dionne Warrick.
Jason: Not ringing a bell.
Anita: She’s married to somebody Brown, Bobby Brown.
Jason: (laughs) Whitney Houston.
Anita: Yes.  So, then, EVERYBODY had to have all this, you know, [does a psuedo-imitation of pop soul/r&b vocal ornamentation] in their…songs…it drove me crazy, so I stopped listening.  And then when the boys got to junior high, they wanted to listen to the radio again and I heard, what was that song by System of a Down?
Jason: (excitedly) …when they first came out?
Anita: Um, no, it was a…little bit later.
Jason: Let’s see.  I’m a big System fan.
Anita: It was on…war…the…rich…only the poor fight the war…
Jason: “Why do they always send the poor?” “B.Y.O.B.”
Anita: …that song came on and I LOVED it.  …so, then I started getting into that…and stuff…  I like Linkin Park…Muse…course, when John and I got married, (Jason laughs) he is folk music…(opens mouth and points inside of it in disgust; both laugh)…and, um…jazz.  And…I was not a big…I like The Andrews Sisters…and, um, Benny Goodman…he was more, like, the ‘50s and ‘60s jazz…only jazz pianist that I like is, um, Bud Powell…Paul Gonsalves for saxophone…anyways… he helped broaden my horizons a little bit…
Jason: What kind of equipment did you listen to the music on, back in the day?
Anita: …my parents had a stereo, and  it was one where the…turntable would fold up, and then the speakers would attach to the sides.  It was a portable! (both laugh)…it was about the size of a suitcase.  But, by the time I got it…when I was, like, 12, it was 25 years old, 30 years old, something like that.  And, if I wanted to listen to any music I’d have to turn it on a half an hour ahead of time in order for the tubes or something to warm up.
Jason: Oh, wow! (both laugh)
Anita: So it would spin fast enough for the…song.  …my father, course bought an 8-track player, which, we know how well that lasted for, and then I had, uh…cassettes in my car, cause I didn’t like the music that they had on radio…but, I love CDs.  …John and I have a difference of opinion as to, he likes music live, you know, he wants all the goofs …and all the people and the noise and that distracts me.
Jason: Did you use …headphones…?
Anita:  …you had to have ‘em plugged in and you had this huge, long, spiral thing, like they used to have chords on…phones…
Jason: Once you started listening to music you discovered on your own, um, how did the…figures with authority in your life like it…?
Anita: I was listening to classical; they couldn’t really complain.  … I can’t imagine not having music.  I like it too much.

Cool Stuff #2 (Cool Folk Song/A Memory/A Favorite/World's Longest Band Name...?)

NOT the version I wanted, but still good...

"El Payandé" is a Clombian-Perúvian folk song describing the life and feelings of a black slave in Perú.  The slave was born on the beach and now must wear chains and serve a cruel master.  It is now a standard for the Perú Negro, but was ironically composed by a couple of upper class White Criollos (most of this info was taken from a book by Heidi Carolyn Feldman). 

I'm disappointed that I do not know how to upload the version of this song that I would like to.  Every year, the ethnomusicologist at ECU puts together a volunteer Afro-Andean ensemble and they perform a concert.  In 2009, they performed this song.  I thought it was VERY cool and it became a favorite of mine.  Perhaps I'll get to share it with you all...?

Anyway, I found two versions that I particularly enjoyed -
the first is a rendition by Lucha Reyes (not to be confused with the Mexican singer of the same name):

she is to Perú what Édith Piaf is to France.  Her life was brutal, tragic and short
(she was only 37 when she died of a combination of illness and drug abuse)...yes, one of those artists.  She is still loved by many, though.  And talk about an incredible voice...wow!

Now HERE's a real find: I would wager that this recording of the song is the earliest.  It will be 100 years old this year!  It's by the duo Montes y Manrique and is wonderful (their harmony is so tight)!!!

The duo was among (if not) the first folk singers of their country to be recorded.  It seems that their lives are shrouded in mystery.


I took Spanish up through my junior year of high school.  One day that year, our teacher played this song for us:  "El Reloj Cucú" by Maná.

It's a sad but pretty song about a young boy who's father left the family for what seemed like no reason (or perhaps he died...guess it's open to interpretation).


Just to have three different songs, I'll throw this one in: "Put Your Lights On" by Santana and Everlast:

Anyone remember when the album from which this track is taken (Supernatural) SWEPT the Grammys in 2000?  I'd call it one of the most eclectic rock albums ever.

Finally, I will just mention something that I find interesting: there is a Mexican deathgrind band (I won't include any of its music, it's far too obscene...in several ways) with what is, as far as I know, the longest name that a band has ever had...

Its name is...are you ready?  I promise, I am NOT making it up:

PARACOCCIDIOIDOMICOSISPROCTITISSARCOMUCOSIS. 

It's a combination of medical names of several diseases about which I don't care to ever think.

Music & Gender

I never really thought about it in my younger days, but the gender of a person does seem to affect the role in music that he or she plays.  From a classical perspective, almost all of the flute players I have ever known are female (Dr. Chris Vaneman being one of the rare exceptions) – the same with harpists - while most of the percussion players are male.  I would comment on singers, but to me, the stereotypes and behaviors are rooted more in voice type rather than gender.  Look at popular music: how many 3, 4, 5 or even more piece rock bands (I’ve seen as many as 9) are all female?  Not very many (granted, there are a number of bands of mixed gender).  Rap/hip-hop artists?  Again, they seem to be mostly men.

In 1998/1999, I was in the 6^th grade and Brittany Spears had just burst onto the scene.  I remember taking a trip by bus to a choral festival.  Someone had her CD was playing it what seemed like non-stop.  People behind be kept singing “Baby One More Time”.  It aggravated me to no end.  I realized that most of the voices I heard were of girls.  The only thing the guys seemed to like about her was her looks.  Exactly what the girls liked about Brittany, I don’t know.  I do know that it was about this time that I was introduced to bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit.  With only a handful of exceptions, their audience was (white) male.  They were loud, vulgar, and in our faces…EVERYWHERE we looked.  And I loved them.  Most of the girls seemed to find them disgusting, a joke, or both.

Several years later (mid 2000s), most of the girls I knew seemed to be into either Dave Matthews Band or Jack Johnson.  I found them both okay, but they were not aggressive enough for me.  The circle of people that I hung out with in high school who were into the same music that I was consisted almost exclusively of guys.  In my mind, the girls just didn’t seem to get it.  What they liked to listen to was, to me, mindless bubblegum.  The music sounded it like it took all of five minutes to write (both the lyrics and the melody).  Having a good time and love were two subjects that just didn’t click with me.  They were here one minute and gone the next.  I was sort of lonely and felt rejected, and heavy metal was my outlet.  While there were girls who also like it, it wasn’t quite as obvious and they weren’t as numerous and the guys.  The guys sported the t-shirts and the conversations openly.  Even the bands with females were regarded as “softer” and kind of put off as “lame.”  More emo oriented bands that seemed to wine out their emotions in their music and wear tight clothes were also looked down upon.  But hey, things can and do change.

Cool Stuff #1

The Lion Sleeps Tonight...right?

Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds were a singing group from South Africa in the late '30s/early '40s.  Solomon composed the song "Mbube" or "Lion", which they recorded.  Since his time, their recording has been largely forgotten as Western interpretation ("bastardization", really) of it came into popularity.  Only recently was his family finally given awarded royalties after a long, painful legal battle.


"Lipian Conjuring" by Tool

Tool has been one of my favorite bands for about a decade.  This track, off of their most recent album to date, 2006's "10,000 Days" is supposedly a song from the Lipian Apache natives from the Texas/New Mexico/Colorado area.  There is some debate.  The singer lends his screaming/scrtchy rock vocals to the mix.


"Julia" by The Very Best

I was blindsided by this song.  I was watching my favorite late night talk show (which may also be my favorite show in general...The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and this group was the musical guest.  I was blindsided.  It's catchy and fun: a UK producer with a musician from Malawim known as "The Very Best".  The song "Julia' is about a girl with whom the singer falls in love, but he treats her wrong and she runs away (on a side note, the line of samples from previous songs up to this one is unreal).  The moral is to be careful with love.

Music & Religion

It’s a classic chicken and egg example of which came first, but the two are inseparable.  In our own Western culture, the very earliest music we consider to be significant is religion based (I’m speaking of the Epitaph of Seikilos or  Επιτάφιος του Σεῖκιλου – my nerdy side in print).  Through the middle ages and the Renaissance, sacred vocal music virtually reigned supreme (middle ages = plainchant, yes?).  

Music and religion have always seemed to co-exist.  In the video we watched, one of the Native American speakers talked about the language of the spirits being song; they spoke to each other about creating the world in song.  The bible contains the book of Psalms: 150 songs praising God…an entire BOOK of songs!  There are countless other instances through out the Bible in which people are singing praises to God or playing instruments.  In our culture, many, MANY of the musical pieces that we hold with highest regard are sacred, such as J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass (he did not give the work an official title, so I’ll leave this one as is).

When I think of music of non-Western cultures, religion is one of the first subjects that I associate with it.  I picture a huge bonfire surrounded by dancing people, full of joy and thanking their gods and creator.

I think the most obvious example of the association of music and religion is a funeral.  I’ve read and heard of many instances of Native Americans singing a death song as they are about to die, telling their creator that they are about to see him or her.  When people are buried, it seems to almost always be accompanied by a ceremony of some kind, almost always including music.  It can be slow and solemn, as it is in many instances in the West, or it can be enough to make people dance, such as in Indonesia or some African countries.  I can’t think of a better way to bring people together in a trying time than with music; an entire community united in song.

Universities and colleges offer degrees in sacred music.

From personal experience, at least half if not more of the songs I have learned to sing since beginning my study of music have been sacred.

Religion moves people.  Music moves people.  They want to express their joy and happiness (or lack there of) with others.  Even if it’s with nothing more than a steady ostinato or synchronized shouting and grunting, music works like nothing else.

Musical Autobiography

Prior to my final semester as an undergraduate music major in voice performance, my contact and experience with music outside of Western Culture was, I’ll go out on a limb here, probably only about as frequent as most Americans would have.  Apart from the occasional movie or National Geographic documentary, it simply wasn’t around me.  I was never compelled to seek it out, as I was and continue to discover variations of music on Western Culture.  It was something that was beyond me; not meant for me; was not me.  Before I took the class (known as “Music of the World’s People”) for the first time, the only characteristic I was fully aware of in non-Western music was the use of microtones.  It seemed a rather odd concept, but I accepted it.  I knew that all of the many, many societies on Earth were different and held unique characteristics in their music, but this concept was beyond what I had imagined.  As I stated today in class, what has stuck with me the most from the class is the idea that a melodic line in a particular mode (for what I’m sure are obvious reasons, I mean major and minor) can conjure up completely different – in fact, opposite – emotions from one culture to another.  What sounds like the most tragic of funerals to us represents the most happy and joyous of occasions to other cultures, and vice versa.  I was blindsided.  Another simple but significant fact is that what one society views as ugly another views as beautiful and desirable.

It ended up being one of the most enjoyable music classes that I have yet taken.  The material was intriguing and the professor was absolutely terrific.  One day that I will always remember will be the day the class held a jam session playing music from a particular African country (I do not recall exactly which one) on authentic instruments (the professor’s office was filled with ethnic musical instruments from all over the world; some hanging on the wall, others on the floor either off to the side or in one of the room’s corners).  I played a percussion instrument similar to a maraca; I held my opposite hand above my knee and beat a pattern of six, starting on my knee and alternating between it and my hand.  The professor also enjoyed playing recordings of the music being taught, and was not the least bit afraid to give it healthy amounts of volume.  Professors in other classrooms of the building  (it was not in the music building) had complained numerous times several years in a row that the music was too loud, but it seemed nothing more than a matter of brushing dust off of the shoulders to my professor; a fact I found humorous.  I’m excited to be able to reacquaint myself with the material this semester!