The World of Wonderful Music in a Nut-shell!

For the sake of convenience, let’s first categorize the world’s music into ten

geographical groupings. This will enable us to understand the nuances in music,

based on the cultural history of a particular region. This will also familiarize us with

certain genres of music which stand apart from others. The ten broad grouping of

the world will be discussed in the following order;

1. The African Beats: Rhythms of Life

2. The South American Songs: Setting the Spirit on Fire!

3 The North American and Canadian Melodies: The Magical Blend

4. The South East Asian Overtones: The Works of Wonder

5. The South Asian Magic: The Ragas of Rapture

6. The Middle Eastern Tones: A Tapestry of Trance

7. The East Asian Chinoiserie: Call the Tune!

8. The European Accent: Striking the Right Chord!

9. The Australian Music:

10. The ‘Pacific’ Music:

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1. The African Beats: Rhythms of Life

Music has been and is highly functional all through in the ethnic lives of the Dark

Continent. Music has been inseparably linked with almost all phases of human life:

right from childbirth to hunting, to marriage and to funeral ceremonies. With the

dawn of independence, we find music is now being used even for political activities.

Because of its vastness, variation, beauty and of course, mystery, the music born in

the African sub-continent virtually possesses all these qualities.

The continent’s many regions, nations and ethnic groups have all contributed

immensely to the evolution of this music.

Though there is no distinct pan-African music, there are common forms of musical

expressions, especially within regions.

Some genres of music from north and north east Africa and also the islands of East

Africa share not only the traditional African music heritage, but are also influenced

by the music of Middle East.

Music and dance has successfully sustained the African Diaspora despite all odds,

despite the tumult and trauma of slavery and the policies of apartheid. There is no

exaggeration in saying that it is the indulgence in music and dance by the people of

Africa which has helped them overcome the adversities with courage and confidence.

Africa is thus a living example to show how involvement with music could help

people overcoming their adverse times and situations.

Musically too Africa’s contribution to the world music is enormous. Many varieties of

Caribbean, Latin American, more particularly the famous samba and salsa as well as

African American music of the 20th century - all trace their roots to the Dark

Continent. Along with the slaves, the musical culture had also spread its wings to

serve the humanity to this day.

Integration of Music and Dance

For Africans, "music" and "dance" are not separate art forms, as Europeans would

view them. In many African languages there are no corresponding terms even to

distinguish the two! For example, in many Bantu languages, there is one term that

might be translated as "song" and another that covers both the semantic fields of the

European concepts of "music" and "dance". So there is only one word for both music

and dance.

Different cultures interpret music differently. For example, in Kiswahili, the word

"ngoma" is be translated as "drum", "dance", "dance event", "dance celebration" or

"music", depending on the context. Each of these translations is however,

incomplete.

Therefore, it should be borne in mind that when we talk of African music, we cannot

simply ignore African dance. The classification of the phenomena of this area of

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culture into "music" and "dance" is foreign and incomprehensible to many African

cultures.

Music and Language: The Close Links

We find that many African languages are tonal languages, leading to a close

connection between music and language in many African cultures. It is interesting

that while singing, the tonal pattern or the text interferes with the melody and puts

some constraints on it. At the same time, on listening to an instrumental music, a

native speaker of a language can easily perceive the text in the music. The same

effect is also derived as the drums play. The drum language emanates from talking

drums. In tribal communities, the distant communication was effective and perfect

by employing such drums. A long chain of drummers, positioned in different strategic

areas, could thus effectively communicate messages to their tribal population

occupying over a vast area of impenetrable forests.

Traditional African Music

In Africa, it is largely the professional musicians who have played a role in the

performance of traditional music. This genre of music is distinguishable from the folk

music – being ‘court music’. Further, it is not performed outside of their intended

social contexts.

As regards folk music, every part of Africa has something to boast of. The rich

varieties also include work songs, ceremonial or religious music, with distinguishable

elements.

Voice: The Most Primitive of all Musical instruments: Voice

Voice finds its centre-stage in African music. Voice training and development is

systematized to use several techniques. (melisma and yodel). Apart from the use of

voice, a wide array of musical instruments (drums, double bells, rattles, slit gongs

etc) take care of the rhythmic needs, which is basic in African musical experience. A

huge variety of string instruments (harps and harp-like instruments like the Kora,

fiddles, musical bows, many types of xylophone and lamellophone (such as mbira)

and wind instruments (flutes and trumpets) provide support to the powerful rhythms

through their resonance and timbre.

Drums which bring out the essential rhythm-oriented characters of African music are

varied. West African drums such as tama talking drums, bougarabou and djembe,

water drums of the Central Africa and the different types of ngoma drums

(pronounced by some as ‘engoma’) of southern and Central Africa are some of the

famous drums which have added the typical African touch to one’s rhythmic

experience..

Other percussion instruments (many forms of rattles and shakers, such as the

kosika, rainstick, bells and woodsticks) have also added pep and freshness.

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Many African cultures have employed songs and dance as a healthy way of living.

They were also believed to help not only in warding off the evil spirits, but also to

pay homage to their departed forefathers.

African Elements in American Music

Africans who reached the American soil carried with them not only their muscle-

power, but also the treasures of their rich musical heritage. With the inclusion of

African rhythms, a new style of music referred to as African American music has

come to stay as a new dimension in world music. This has come to play a major role

in the shaping of what we know today as blues and jazz. The rise of rock’n’roll music

in America is also credited as having begun with 1940’s blue music, from which so

many styles have mushroomed: heavy metal, punk rock, pop music - to mention

just a few. We cannot therefore ignore the tremendous role played by the African

music traditions in shaping up today’s music.

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2. The South American Songs: Setting the Soul on Fire!

The Andes regions of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile have developed a

wide variety of sound traditions.Huayno is the name given to the traditional music of

the Andes and is famous for the use of panflutes.

While there has been a long-standing tradition of musical heritage in the Andes,

today's music is influenced by the Native South Americans, the Spanish, and last but

not least, the Africans who were brought as slaves and who eventually ended in

conquering the whole world with their music! The Roman Catholicism has also

musically influenced this region in shaping up the South American music we enjoy

today.

Music caters to one and all and to all human activities which include agricultural

labor, house building, funeral services, marketing of cattle, sheep and goats... to

name a few.

As in Africa, in South America too many traditional musical pieces could be

inseparably linked to a vast array of traditional dance songs.

Lyrics of the songs are either in Spanish and Quechua. The themes of the songs

address the earth, the seasons, harvest time, love, family, children, and the stars.

Types of instruments include, pan pipes, flutes, rattles, the guitar (introduced by the

Spanish), a native guitar called the charango, and the drum. The African influence is

evident in the richness of its rhythms: polyrhythm, for example, a Pre-Columbian

feature. .

In Peruvian music, valses (waltzes) are quite popular. While it is true that they trace

their roots to Europe, valses have evolved into a unique form in Peru. Salsa music,

which is ‘Music No. 1’ in many South American countries, is also quite popular on the

coasts of Peru.

Salsa is considered as a Cuban form. Carmen Miranda, the Bossa Nova, and the

Lambada are other popular South American dances and dance songs.

Soca is a form of music popular in the Caribbean area. Soca music is dance music,

with a rhythmic one-two beat. It is a blend of soul and calypso. Soca is sung in

English. A form of dance similar to Soca but more popular in the south is the

merengue. The words to this song are sung in Spanish or a different Latin American

language. The dances and the rhythms are however identical.

Coming to Argentina, we have the great traditions of Tango. Tango is the most

popular dance and song, which originated in the mid 19th century among a social

class formed by immigrants from the interiors of Argentina, Europe and porteños. In

a way, Tango is a cultural mixture from all these people and helped the people to

remain united in harmony their new-found home. Tango is thus more than just

music; it represents a particular language, certain usages and customs, and a

distinct philosophy.

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South American Instruments

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the main instruments used in the Andes were wind

instruments, especially flutes and drums. The biggest Spanish influence on musical

instruments is in the form of guitar-based instruments. Along with guitars, the

Spanish brought instruments such as harps, mandolins, violins, transverse flutes,

pipes-and-tabors, and oboes to South America. The most popular instruments today

are the kena, siku, charango, guitar, and bombo. These instrument all originated in

southern Peru or Bolivia. However, the actual music played is a mixture of Native

South American, Spanish, and African styles.

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3. The North American and Canadian Melodies: The Magical

Blend

Music of the United States of America

Native Americans, the earliest inhabitants of North America had played its first

music. From the 17th century the influx of immigrants from the British Isles, Spain

and France brought in their respective music cultures in the form of styles and

musical instruments. African slaves brought in their lively rhythms, which

empowered the later versions of American music: Rock and Roll, country, rhythm

and blues, jazz, pop, techno, hip hop and whatnot.

The United States, which has been the economic superpower of the world, has also

the world's largest music industry and its music is heard around the world with awe

and reverences the wealthy draw in from the impoverished. Ever since the beginning

of the 20th century USA has dominated the world with American popular music,

which has become a sort of fad or status symbol among the elite of the Third World.

Much of modern popular music is drawn from the African American blues of the 19th

century. The growth of gospel music in the 1920’s can also be attributed to it.

The African American basis for popular music has used elements and styles derived

from Europe too.

The United States has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music

produced in various ethnic styles: Hispanic, Irish, Jewish, Polish, Scottish and

Ukrainian.

There are regional music styles which have been quite vibrant as in along the

musical centers of Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville and New York.

Even much smaller cities have produced distinctive styles: The Hawaiian folk styles,

the bluegrass and old-time music of South eastern states, the Cajun and Creole

traditions in Louisianan music come under this category.

Folk music

Folk music in the United States is rich and varied; The Native American tribes each

play their own varieties of folk music, most of it spiritual in nature. Some universal

commonalities here are: lack of harmony and polyphony and the use of vocables and

the descending melodic figures.

African American music of the 19th century which later included blues and gospel

with West African hues and European styles brought in certain rejuvenation.

By the early 20th century, the United States had become a major center for folk

music from around the world, including polka, Polish fiddling, Ukrainian, and several

kinds of Latin music.

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Spirituals, Gospel Music and Blues

In the mid to late 19th century, spirituals spread out of the U.S. South. Spirituals are

basically expressions of religious faith, sung by slaves on southern plantations.

In 1871, the Jubilee Singers, a pioneering group popularized spirituals across the

country. In imitation of this group, gospel quartets arose, followed by increasing

diversification with the early 20th-century rise of jackleg and singing preachers, from

whence came the popular style of gospel music.

Blues is a combination of African work songs, field hollers and shouts. It developed in

the rural South in the first decade of the 20th century. It has got this name because

of its use of the blue scale, with a flatted or indeterminate third, as well as the

typically lamenting lyrics.

Classical music

The European classical music tradition provided the central norms for many. Many

American composers of the 19th century. When Antonín Dvořák, a prominent Czech

composer, visited the United States from 1892 to 1895, he iterated the idea that

American classical music needed its own models instead of imitating European

composers. He could to a great extent inspire the subsequent composers to make a

distinctly American style of classical music. By the beginning of 20th century, many

American composers (like William Billings, Supply Belcher and Justin Morgan) known

as the ‘First New England School” developed a style independed of European models.

Some composers incorporated disparate elements into their work, ranging from jazz

and blues to Native American music. Among them. Billings was popular as the

“founder of the American church choir, as the first musician to use a pitch-pipe and

as the first to introduce a violoncello into church service".

20th Century Music

In the early 20th century, American musical theater was the major source popular

songs. Most of these songs were influenced by blues, jazz, country, and other extant

styles. New York City was the main-center of development of this style, where the

Broadway was among the most renowned venues in the city.

Theatrical composers and lyricists like the brothers George and Ira Gershwain

created a typical American style which used vernacular speech as well as music.

The musicals featured popular songs and fast-paced plots that often revolved around

love and romance

George Gershwin, started as a songwriter with the Broadway, is known for his

musical compositions, greatly influenced by jazz. He was responsible for making

American classical music attractive to non-American audience.

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Following Gershwin, the first major composer was Aaron Copland of Brooklyn, who

used elements of American folk music. He also produced ballet and then serial music.

Charles Ives was yet another classical composer whose music was mostly unknown

until after his death in 1954.

Many of the later 20th-century composers, such as John Cage, Steve Reich and John

Corigliano used modernist and minimalist techniques; Reich’s technique called

‘phasing’ showed simultaneous beginning of two musical activities, their repetition

and their gradual drifting out of sync, creating a natural sense of development. As

Reich’s interest was focused on non-Western music, he incorporated African rhythms

in his compositions.

Recent composers have been strongly influenced by the minimalist works of Philip

Glass and Meredith Monk.

Popular music

The United States has produced many popular musicians and composers in the

modern world. American performers all through have continued to lead the field of

popular music, which out of "all the contributions made by Americans to world

culture... has been taken to heart by the entire world"

Early popular songs

The patriotic songs of the American Revolution are the first kind of mainstream

popular music. These included "The Liberty Tree", by Thomas Paine. Cheaply printed

as “broadsheets”, these songs traveled around the colonies and were performed at

home and at public meetings.

Fife songs were especially celebrated, and were performed on fields of battle during

the American Revolution. The longest lasting of these fife songs is “Yankee Doodle”,

still heard today.

This melody dates back to 1755 and was sung by both American and British troops.

Usually Patriotic songs were based on English melodies, with new lyrics added to

denounce British colonialism. Others used tunes from Ireland, Scotland or elsewhere,

or did not utilize a familiar melody.

During the Civil War, when soldiers from across the country came together, the

American music became a combination, a process aided by the railroad and other

technological innovations which cut down the travel time.

Army men came from different regions, which rapidly traded tunes, instruments and

techniques. The most popular songs of the Civil War era included “Dixie”, written by

Dan Emmett. Originally titled "Dixie's Land", the song was made for the closing of a

minstrel show; it reached New Orleans first, where it became "one of the great song

successes of the pre-Civil War period".

In addition to popular patriotic songs, the Civil War era also influenced the

production of a wealth of brass band pieces.

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Following the Civil War, minstrel shows became a typical American form of music

expression. The minstrel show was an indigenous form of American entertainment. It

consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, usually performed by

white people in blackface.

Minstrel shows used African American elements in musical performances; they

produced the first well-remembered popular songwriters in American music history:

Thomas D Rice, Dan Emmett, and, more popular, Stephen Foster.

After minstrel shows' popularity faded, a similar phenomenon, coon songs came to

occupy the musical scenario.

John Philip Sousa, an ex-bandmaster of the United States Marine Band was

associated with the most popular trend in American popular music. He is known for

his ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’, and other military marches.

Blues, Gospel, Ragtime

The blues is a genre of African American folk music, passionately created by slaves

and their descendents. Early forms of the blues evolved in and around the Mississippi

Delta in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were usually ‘call-and-response’

vocal music. They didn’t have any accompaniments. There was no formal structure in

blues which lacked harmony. Blues became a part of American popular music in the

1920s, as classic female blue singer, Bessie Smith ruled the mike. Record companies

too at this time, launched the field of race music, which was mostly blues targeted at

African American audiences. The most famous of these acts went on to inspire much

of the later popular development of the blues and blues-derived genres, such as elta

blues, piedmont blues etc. The blues genre experienced major revivals in the 1950s

with Chicago blues and in the 1960’s with the rediscovery of country bluesmen

Mississippi John Hurt and Rev. Gary Davis

Gospels are the blends. When blended with the spiritual songs of the African

American churches, blues became gospels. Gospels originated in their modern forms

in 1920s. Thomas A Dorsey is well-known for his gospels.

Ragtime was a piano-centric style of music. It used syncopated rhythms and

chromaticism. Essentially a dance-music, it was generally composed in sonata form.

It is thus sophisticated and heady, having evolved from a variety of musical forms:

African American cakewalk dance, European marches and popular dance songs

played by large African American bands in northern cities during the end of the 19th

century. The most famous ragtime performer and composer was Scott Joplin whose

works such as "Maple Leaf Rag" became instant hits in the States.

Jazz

Jazz is well-known form, known for its swung and blue notes, call-and-response

vocals, polyrhythm and a scintillating improvisation.

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Though originated as a form of dance music, jazz has remained a major part of

popular music, besides being a major element of Western classical music. Jazz has

roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African American music

traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music.

Early jazz resembled ragtime, with which it could be distinguished by the use of

more intricate rhythmic improvisation. The earliest jazz bands adopted much of the

vocabulary of the blues, including bent and blue notes and instrumental "growls" and

smears otherwise never common with European instruments. Jazz's roots come from

the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, populated by Cajuns and black Creoles, who

combined the French-Canadian culture of the Cajuns with their own styles of music

in the 19th century. Large Creole bands that played for funerals and parades also

paved way for the evolution of early jazz, which traveled from New Orleans to

Chicago and there from other northern urban centers.

Though jazz was popular, it was Louis Armstrong, who became one of the first

popular stars and his pianist-friend Earl Hines who took it to greater heights by

creating variations on a single melody.

Scat singing

Scat singing popularized by Armstrong was an improvisational vocal technique in

which nonsensical syllables called ‘vocables’ were sung.

Swing

Swing, which is characterized by a strong rhythm action (often with double bass and

drums) usually, includes drums and double bass, in medium to fast tempo. it used

bigger bands. It has rhythmic devices like the swung note, which is common to

most jazz. Swing is primarily a fusion of 1930s jazz with elements of the blues. It

also discouraged improvisation, previously a staple diet for jazz musicians. It came

to be accompanied by the popular swing dance.

Country music

Country music is basically a fusion of African American blues and spirituals with

Appalachian folk music. In the 1920’s it started becoming popular. Fiddle of the

European origin and the banjo of the African invention were used in the earliest

country music. Later on guitar was also added.

String instruments such as ukulele and steel guitar also came to sound with the

growing popularity of Hawaiian musical groups in the early 20th century.

After World War II, till 1980’s there was increased interest in specialty styles like

country music, producing a few major pop stars: Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Wynn

Stewart, Buck Owens, Marl Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Dwight Yoakam

etc. In the 1980s the alternative country performers like Uncle Tupelo became

popular.

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R&B, the Rhythm and Blues

R&B, an abbreviation for rhythm and blues, is a style that arose in the 1930s and

1940s. Early R&B consisted of large rhythm units "smashing away behind screaming

blues singers (who) had to shout to be heard above the clanging and strumming of

the various electrified instruments and the churning rhythm sections".

R&B was not extensively recorded and promoted because record companies felt that

it was not suited for most audiences, especially middle-class whites, because of the

suggestive lyrics and driving rhythms.

Bandleaders like Louis Jordan had several hits performed in the rollicking style by the

end of the 1940’s.

By the end of the 1950s, however, there was a wave of popular black blues-rock and

country-influenced R&B performers like Chuck Berry became quite popular.

Soul Music and Contemporary R&B

Soul music, a combination of rhythm and blues and gospel began in the late 1950s

with hits from Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and James Brown. The music characterized

by its use of gospel-music devices. There is emphasis on vocalists and the use of

secular themes. By the late 1960s, Aretha Franklin became a popular female soul

star. Also by this time, soul had splintered into several genres, influenced by

psychedelic rock and other styles.

During the '70s some highly slick and commercial bands achieved mainstream

success with styles like blue-eyed sould and Philly sould.

By the end of the '70s, soul, funk, rock and most other genres were dominated by

tracks influenced by disco, kind of popular dance music. Soul music became less raw

and more slickly produced, resulting in a genre of music that was once again called

R&B, usually distinguished from the earlier rhythm and blues by identifying it as

contemporary R&B. In the 2000s contemporary R&B has produced many of the

country's biggest pop stars: Usher, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.

Rock, metal, punk and hardcore punk

The exact origin and early influences of Rock and roll, an urban style have been hotly

debated; it is a kind of popular music, developed out of country, blues and R&B. It

had drawn elements from Latin as well as Afro-Caribbean musical techniques. Black-

performed rock and roll had previously had limited mainstream success, but it was

the white performer Elvis Presley, who first appealed to mainstream audiences with a

black style of music, became the throb across the world.

The 1960s saw several important changes in popular music, especially in rock n roll.

Many of these changes took place through the British invasion: The Beatles, The

Who, The Rolling Stones and later Led Zeppelin.

In the 1970s, rock and roll evolved into a catchall category called simply rock music,

which included diverse styles: punk rock and heavy metal.

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Beginning in the later 1970s, the rock singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen

became a major star, with anthemic songs and dense lyrics that worshipped the poor

and working class.

Punk which was simple, aggressive and loud was a rebellious rock.

It began as a reaction against the popular music of the period (disco and arena rock)

American bands (The Ramones and Talking Heads) were closely associated with punk

before evolving into mainstream New Wave.

In the 1980s some punk fans and bands became disillusioned with the growing

popularity of the style, resulting in an even more aggressive style called hardcore

punk, which began in metropolis like Washington DC. .Hardcore consisted of short,

rapid and intense songs played by the influential bands (Bad Brains and the Dead

Kennedys).

Hardcore, punk, and garage rock were the roots of alternate rock, a diverse grouping

of rock subgenres, opposed to mainstream music. In the United States, many cities

developed local alternative rock scenes, including Minneapolis and Seattle. Seattle's

local scene produced grunge music, a dark and brooding style inspired by hardcore,

psychedelia and alternative rock. With the addition of a more melodic element to the

sound of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, grunge became quite popular in the

United States in 1990’s.

Heavy Metal

Heavy metal is characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms with guitar whose

sounds are amplified and distorted.

Heavy metal's origins lie in the hard rock bands that took blues and rock and created

a heavy sound centered on the guitar and drums. Most of the pioneers in the field

were British; the first major American bands came in the early 1970s, like Blue

Oyster Cult and Aerosmith. Heavy metal remained, however, a largely underground

phenomenon.

During the 1980s the first major pop-metal style arose and dominated. Bands such

as Motley Crue and Ratt were popular. Glam metal, a hard rock and pop fusion with

a raucous spirit and a glam-influenced visual aesthetic attracted the youth.

Some of these bands like Bon Javibecame international stars. The band Guns and

Roses rose to fame with an image that was a reaction against the glam metal

aesthetic. By the mid-1980s heavy metal had branched in so many different

directions: thrash metal, for example, innovated by bands like Anthrax, Mega death,

Slayer and Metallica.

Hip hop

Hiphop is a cultural movement which arose in the early 1970’s in the Bronx, New

York City. Music is composed of two parts: rapping (the delivery of swift, highly

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rhythmic and lyrical vocals) and D/Jing and/or producing musical sounds through

vocalized tones.

Jamaican immigrant DJ Kool Herc, regarded as the progenitor of hip hop had brought

with him from Jamaica the practice of toasting over the rhythms of popular songs.

Emcees originally arose to introduce the soul, funk and R&B songs that the DJs

played, and to keep the crowd excited and dancing; over time, the DJs began

isolating the percussion break of songs (when the rhythm climaxes), producing a

repeated beat that the emcees rapped over. By the beginning of the 1980s, there

were popular hip hop songs, and the celebrities of the scene, like LL Cool J became

famous.

Other performers experimented with politicized lyrics and social awareness, or fused

hip hop with jazz, heavy metal, techno, funk and soul. New styles appeared in the

latter part of the 1980s, like alternative hip hop and jazz rap fusion, pioneered by

rappers like De La Soul.

Gangsta rap, a kind of hip hop, most importantly characterized by a lyrical focus on

macho sexuality, physicality and a dangerous criminal image became popular.

Though the origins of gangsta rap can be traced back to the mid-1980s style of

Philadelphia's Schooly D and the West Coast's Ice-T broadened and came to be

applied in several regions.

Other niche styles

Latin music in the United States

The single largest niche industry in USA is based on Latin music. Latin music has

long influenced American popular music, and was an especially crucial part of the

development of jazz. Modern pop Latin styles include a wide array of genres

imported from across Latin America, including Colombian cumbia, Puerto Rican

reggae ton, and the Mexican Corrido.

Latin popular music in the United States began with a wave of dance bands in the

1930s and '50s. The most popular styles included the conga, rumba and mambo. In

the ‘50s cha-cha-cha was a craze.

The most famous American form of Latin music, however, is salsa. It incorporates

many styles and variations; the term can be used to describe most forms of popular

Cuban-derived genres.

The United States has also played a large role in the development of electronic dance

music (house music and techno).

Music of the Other immigrant groups

Known for its numerous ethnic groups, who had kept alive the folk traditions of their

homeland, have produced distinctively American styles of foreign music. Some

nationalities have produced local versions in their clusters. Ukrainian and Italian

music in New York City, Armenian music in California and Cape Verdian music in New

England are the examples. The city of New Orleans and Louisiana, being a major port

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has harboured a diverse and sycretic set of styles of Cajun (Francophones arrived

from Canada) and Creole (a community with varied non-Anglo ancestry) music.

Spain and subsequently Mexico controlled much of what is now the western United

States. This was till the Mexican-American war. After Texas became part of the

United States, the native Tejanos living there evolved in to a culturally distinct group

distinct from other Texans. Central to the evolution of early Tejano music was the

blend of traditional Mexican forms such as mariachi and the corrido, besides the

European style introduced by the Czech and German settlers in the late 19th

century. The accordion came to be adopted from the Tejano folk musicians and

became popular for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico.

Broad Characteristics of American Music

The music of the United States is characterized by the use of asymmetrical rhythm

and syncopation. It is also known for its long, irregular melodies – representing the

vast stretches of the land mass. According to some musicologists, they also convey

the sense of personal freedom, characteristic of the American life. However, some

distinct features in American music (e.g., call-and-response-format) could be derived

from the African elements and instruments.

Music intertwines with aspects of American social and cultural identity, including

through race, social class, ethnicity, religion, language, gender and sexuality.

The relationship between music and race is perhaps the most potent determiner of

musical meaning in the United States. The development of an African American

musical identity in the 19th century has undertaken a desperate but successful task

of combining elements from Africa and Europe. Little documentation exists of

colonial-era of this form of music, when songs, styles and instruments from West

Africa served the slaves as a mechanism to cope up with the drudgery of slavery.

As African American musical techniques, instruments and images developed in the

mid-19th century, they became a part of mainstream American music through

spirituals, minstrels as well as slave songs. These musical styles became an integral

part of American popular music through blues, jazz, rhythms and blues and later,

rock and roll, soul and hip hop. Country music, on the other hand, though derives

from both African and European, its elements from Native American and Hawaiian

traditions has made it as a form of ‘white’ music.

Economic and social classes have separated American music by developing a creation

and consumption pattern. The rich patronage of symphony by the elite and the

generally poor performance of rural and ethnic folk music are the results of a money-

based value system. Though musical divisions based on class are not absolute, they

are often perceived as actual.

Popular American country music, for example, is a commercial genre designed to

"appeal to a working-class identity, whether or not its listeners are actually working

class". Country music also bears a geographic identity, and is specifically rural in

origin and function. Other genres, like R&B and hip hop, represent an urban tinge.

Some popular music include female performers as well, often in a niche appealing

primarily to women; these include gangsta trap and heavy metal

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Music of Canada

From early British-style patriotic songs and the folk traditions of the many founding

cultures, music of Canada has given expression to a Canadian identity.

The country's tradition of folk music, with its basis in every region and cluster of

communities has brought out by several artistes: artistes like country singer Hank

Snow in the 1950s, to the hard rock of bands like Rush and The Guess Who in 1960s

and 1970s, to worldwide pop stars like Bryan Adams, Céline Dion, Shania Twain in

the 1980s and 1990s. Current wave of the Canadian sound is typified by performers

as diverse as the Arcade Fire, Billy Talent, k-os, Avril Lavigne and Alexisonfire.

Popular music of Canada

The movement started in the 1950s produced several notable stars. Bea Lillie of the

World War I era, songwriter Shelton Brooks, doo wop group The Four Lads,

bandleader Guy Lombardo, pop stars Gisele MacKenzie and Robert Goulet, jazz

virtuosos Maynard Ferguson, Moe Koffman, and Oscar Peterson, and pop-country

stars Wilf Carter and Hank Snow were all well-known.

After Elvis Presley's rockabilly style reached Canadian shores in 1955, The Four Lads

became one of the most prominent groups of the Canadian white R&B scene, which

also included The Diamonds and The Crew Cuts. Crooner Paul Anka was to become

the first major pop star.

Canadian Country music

The country music evolved in Appalachian region of the USA reached parts ofOntario,

British Columbia and the Maritime provinces, which had shared some traditional links

with the Appalachian region.

Fiddlers like George Wade and Don Messer (1920s) paved way for its popularity, to

be developed by Wilf Carter, Hank Snow and Earl Heywood who used a less nasal

and more distinctly pronounced vocal style than its American counterpart. They stuck

with more traditional ballads and narratives while American country began to use

more songs about bars and lovers quarrels. This style of country music became very

popular in Canada over the next couple decades. Later stars were Stompin’ Tom

Connors to Shania Twain.

Canadian Jazz

Jazz, a genre of African American music, with notable influences from French

impressionism also found its way to Canada in 1910s and 1920’s. Jelly Roll Morton

was a legendary New Orleans pianist. Canadian groups such as Winnipeg Jazz

Babies and Montreal’s Westmount Jazz band also brought in the ‘Canadian touch’ to

jazz.

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The swing boom of the late 1930s and early 1940s produced bandleaders such as

Bert Niosi, Ellis McLintock, Jimmy Davidson, Stan Wood, Sandy De Santis and Mart

Kenney. Peterson was a widely-respected Canadian jazz musician. During the 1970s

and 80s, Uzeb and the Jazz Fusion received international attention.Since 2000, a

brand new list of Canadian jazz artists have come to limelight: Diana Krall, Michael

Buble, Matt Dusk and Molly Johnson.

Canadian Blues

We have seen that the blues, a vocal and instrumental form of music using ‘blue

notes’ , often with a repetitive twelve-bar structure had evolved in the United States

in the communities of former African slaves. Canadian blues refers to the blues and

blues-related music (e.g. blues-rock, folk blues, etc.) performed by hundreds of

blues bands and performers in Canada. Regional blues societies, blues radio shows,

and blues festivals have also added to the popularity of this genre of music. A small

number of Canadian blues bands and artists (Ronnie Hawkins, The Downchild Blues

Band and Norman “Dutch” Mason, David Wilcox, The Powder Blues, Jeff Healey, Colin

James, Jack de Keyzer, Sue Floey) have come to prominence locally as well as

internationally for their work.

Electronica

Internationally-renowned electronic artists from Canada include pioneering Aaron

Funk, a.k.a Venetian Snares, indie-electronica group Junior Boys and quirky sound-

artist Vitaminsforyou.Albertan electronica musicians include Mark Templeton,

Escapist Opportunities and Electronic music Calgary.

Chansonniers

Chansonniers are the singer-songwriters from Quebec from the 1950s and 60s. They

sang simple, poetic songs with a social conscience.La Bolduc, Raymond Lévesque

and Félix Leclerc were well-known chansonniers. Les Bozos, formed in 1959, made

them a major part of the Québécois music scene. Les Bozos was an informal

collective of chansonniers, including Lévesque, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Claude Léveillée,

Clémence Desrochers, Talon Starsdawn, and Jacques Blanchet.

The Chansonnier tradition has continued with artists who have been carrying on

since the 1970s to the present. One good example is Diane Dufresne who also is

prolific in the area of cabaret or theatre-rock.

Canadian Rock

Ronnie Hawkins was a prominent rockabilly singer in 1958, which popularized the

hard rock. Often however, Canadian records reflected the American or British pop

hits.

1970s: The Golden Age of Canadian Music

In 1970, the Canadian government introduced new Canadian content, regulations,

requiring AM radio stations to devote 30 per cent of their musical selections to

Canadian content. Although this was (and still is) controversial, it quite clearly

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contributed to the development of a nascent Canadian pop star system. The Juno

Awards were first held in 1971, partially as an attempt to revitalize the Canadian pop

industry.

The most immediate effect of the Canadian content regulations was the sudden rise

to fame of Anne Murray, whose 1970 "Snowbird" was a multi-million selling record.

Led by The Guess Who, Murray, Lighthouse, the Poppy Family and The Irish Rovers,

the early 1970s were a golden age for Canadian music.

Canadian pop music evolved with the times, reflecting worldwide trends. In the late

1970s, as disco and punk rock ruled the landscape, Canadian punkers such as The

Diodes, D.O.A.., The Viletones, The Forgotten Rebels, Pointed Sticks, Rough Trade,

Teenage Head, The Demics, and The Young Canadians were there, along with disco

divas like Patsy Gallant, Lisa Dalbello, France Joli, and Claudja Barry.

The Canadian music industry was still nascent, however, with little independent

music media and a limited distribution infrastructure.

Diversification in the late 1970s

Canadian cultural critics have noted that in general, the late 1970s were a lesser era

for Canadian music. Many of the acts who had defined the earlier half of the decade

were no longer recording, and the new artists emerging in this era simply didn't

seem to be able to capture the audience in the same way. Many of them, in fact,

were referred to as “one hit wonders”.

Canadian Folk music

Some of Canada's most influential folk artists also emerged in this era, notably Stan

Rogers, Ferron, Murray McLauchlan, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle.

Joni Mitchell, one of the most influential folk and popular music singer songwriters of

the 20th Century is also Canadian, born in Alberta.

1980s: Mainstream Pop-rockers

The 1980s produced mainstream pop-rockers such as Bryan Adams, Tom Cochrane,

Platinum Blonde, Glass Tiger, Honeymoon Suite, Coney Hatch, Headpins, Helix,

Toronto, Sheriff and Corey Hart. In the late 1980s, the Canadian recording industry

continued to produce popular acts. However, alternative rocks also emerged as an

influential genre, with independent artists such as 54-40, The Tragically Hip, Sarah

McLachlan, Spirit of the West, The Waltons, Cowboy Junkies, The Pursuit of

Happiness, and The Grapes of Wrath all gaining their first widespread attention. Also

notable is Canadian progressive thrash metal band Voivod, who were widely-known

in the metal community.

1990s: Alternative Bands

While the alternative revolution of the 1990s was kicked off in the United States by

Nirvana and in the United Kingdom by The Stone Roses, in Canada it was ignited by

an unassuming demo tape by the Barenaked Ladies. After The Yellow Tape became

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the hottest item in Canadian record stores in the fall of 1991, Barenaked-mania took

the country by storm — in turn, paving the way for an explosion of Canadian bands

to rule the airwaves.

The roster of artists emerging in this decade includes The Tea Party, Matthew Good

Band, Sloan, The Gandharvas, Change of Heart, Skydiggers, Eric's Trip, the

Doughboys, Crash Test Dummies, The Lowest of the Low, 13 Engines, Odds, The

Killjoys, I Mother Earth, Age of Electric, The Rankin Family, Alanis Morissette,

Rheostatics, Ashley MacIsaac, Susan Aglukark, Our Lady Peace, The Philosopher

Kings, Junkhouse, Treble Charger, Deborah Cox, Jann Arden, Ron Sexsmith, Hayden,

Céline Dion, Rufus Wainwright, Crash Vegas, Loreena McKennitt, and Shania Twain.

The Barenaked Ladies didn't just clear the way for alternative bands, but for a whole

new Canadian pop landscape, defined by a national pride and self-confident

distinctiveness that had never been seen before in Canadian music.

Canadian Hip hop

Canadian hip hop developed much more slowly as compared to the rock scene.

Though many American hip-hop bands were popular in Canada, but for Canadian

hip-hoppers, by and large the door remained closed. In 2000, CBC Television created

and aired Drop the Beat, a television series about hip hop music and culture. Finally,

in 2001, Milestone's CFXJ (Flow 93.5) debuted as Canada's first urban music station.

Urban stations quickly followed in several other Canadian cities, as well, and for the

first time, Canadian hip-hop artists had a network of radio outlets to express their

music. Swollen Members, Nelly Furtado, k-os, Buck 65, Sixtoo, Jully Black, Jarvis

Church, Shawn Desman, Glenn Lewis, Remy Shand, Eternia, and Toya Alexis were

among the rap and R&B acts to benefit from these developments.

Canadian Metal

Canada has proved to have quite a thriving underground metal scene. Bands like

Voivod emerged from the 1980s. Extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad with his

lead singer Devin Townsend created waves. In the 2000s Canadian metal has been

put on the map by Vancouver band 3 Inches of Blood and Regina band Into Eternity.

James Labrie lead singer of Dream Theater is Canadian born. Through the 1980s

Helix created a large fan following. The best known and best selling Canadian metal

band is progressive metal band Rush. Canada has a very strong underground metal

scene in cities such as Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City.

Canada is also home to the highly influential technical death metal band, Cryptopsy.

In recent years it has spawned notable deathcore acts such as Despised Icon,

Beneath the Massacre, and Ion Dissonance.

2000s: The Stars are Born!

The 2000s have provided a number of new Canadian pop stars as well, with such

acts as Skye Sweetnam, Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne, Sam Roberts, Nickelback,

Shawn Desman, Simple Plan, Jacynthe, Hawksley Workman, Melissa Auf der Maur,

Jarvis Church, Hot Hot Heat, Sarah Harmer, Prozzak, Sum 41, Pilate, The Trews,

Billy Talent, Marie-Mai, Alexisonfire, Extreme metal group Strapping Young Lad,

Bedouin Soundclash and Kathleen Edwards emerging during this era. Canadian hip-

hop, which is discussed more extensively in a previous section, also finally made its

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mainstream breakthrough with the 2001 debut of Flow 93.5, Canada's first urban

music radio station, in Toronto.

The decade has also been notable for indie rock albums by bands such as Tegan and

Sara, The New Pornographers, Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, The Hidden

Cameras, The Dears, Constantines, Metric, The Weakerthans, Godspeed You! Black

Emperor, Stars, Death from Above 1979, Feist, Wolf Parade, The Stills, Final

Fantasy, The Unicorns, Royal City, Cuff the Duke, Black Mountain, Wax Mannequin,

Chad VanGaalen, The Meligrove Band, Jim Guthrie, Veda Hille, Tokyo Police Club,

Islands and Sunset Rubdown. The Canadian indie rock scene has been the focus of

national and international attention.

French-Canadian music

French settlers brought their music all the way to Quebec and other areas along with

their baguettes and fromages. There was some intermixing with the Celtic music of

Anglo-Canada, which produced new dimensions. French-Canadian folk music was

usually performed to accompany dances (the jig, jeux dansé, ronde, cotillion, and

quadrille). The fiddle, the most popular instrument, played by virtuosos like Jean

Carignan, Jos Bouchard, and Joseph Allard found new expressions. Other

instruments included the German diatonic accordion, played by the likes of Philippe

Bruneau and Alfred Montmarquette, spoons, bones, and Jew's harps.

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4. The South East Asian Overtones: The Works of Wonder

Southeast Asian music include the musical traditions of the sub-region, conssting of

eleven countries, namely, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,

Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Each country has its own

musical way of expression and aesthetic norms. For convenience sake however, we

will deal only with Afghanistan, Indonesia and Thailand which show distinct

aesthetics and musical expressions within this region.

Music of Afghanistan

The Afghan concept of music has a pre-eminent place for musical instruments. The

religious music without such instruments is not considered as music. Koran recitation

is an important traditional kind of performance, unaccompanied with instruments.

The ecstatic Zikr ritual of the Sufis however uses songs called na't, and the Shi'a solo

and group singing styles like mursia, manqasat, nowheh and rowzeh. Music of the

Chishti Sufi sect of Kabul (known as gaza-yeh) is an exception in that instruments

like the rubab, tabla and armonia find their way in the worship. The post-Soviet and

Taliban governments of the 1990s had banned music and music-making, by rounding

up and arresting singers and musicians and destroying musical instruments. Kabul,

had however remained for long as the cultural capital and its music remained closely

related to Iranian music. Musical lyrics were composed typically in Pashto and

Persian languages.

Afghan Pop Music

In 1925, radio came to Afghanistan and the radio station was destroyed in 1929.

Broadcasting did not resume till 1940, when Radio Kabul opened. As the radio

reached homes, popular music became a favourite. Modern popular music did not

see the light of the day till the 1950s when radio became commonplace in the

country. They used orchestras featuring both Afghan and Indian instruments, as well

as European clarinets, guitars and violins. In 1951, Parwin became the first Afghan

woman to sing live in Radio. Farida Mahwash, one of the most notable of pop singers

gained the title of Ustad (Master) for her major hit ("O bacheh" in 1977).

The 1970s could be termed as the golden age of Afghanistan's music industry.

Popular music also included Indian and Pakistani cinema film, besides music

imported from Iran, Tajikistan and elsewhere.

Afghan music was encouraged in the neighboring Pakistan whose recording centres ,

primarily located in the cities of Peshawer, Karachi and the capital city, Islamabad

helped in preserving the traditions, despite the political upheavals in the region.

By holding concerts for Afghan performers, Pakistan had contributed immensely for

the preservation of the rich Afghan music traditions. Afghan performers are also

included in many television programs in Programmes and their concerts entertain the

estimated 3-4 millions living there.

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Since the 2001 US intervention in Afghanistan and the removal of the Taliban, the

music scene has started to stand on its feet once again. Some groups, like the Kabul

Ensemble, have emerged as the forerunners. The traditional Pashtun music

(especially in the southeast of the country) has also regained its lost territories.

According to a prominent spokesperson of Afghan Ministry of Interior (Lutfullah

Mashal), the traditional music has ushered in to a “golden age” now.

Classical music in Afghanistan

The classical musical form of Afghanistan, called klasik, includes both instruments,

vocal ragas, as well as Tarana and Ghazals, as many of its Ustads (professional

musicians), have undergone serious training in Hindustani (North Indian) Classical

Music in India, and some of them were also Indian descendants who moved from

India in search of green pastures in the royal court in Kabul sometime in the 1860s.

They have maintained their cultural and personal links with India -- through

discipleship, inter-marriage etc. These musicians use the Hindustani musical

theories, grammar and terminology. No doubt the klasik is woven around raga

(melodic form) and tala (rhythmic cycle) system. However, there are certain

elements in klasik, which impart the local flavour. Afghan ragas, for instance are in

contrast to Indian ones, tend to be sub-servient to rhythm, usually played with tabla

(or the local zerbaghali, dayra or dohol) - all percussive instruments. Other Afghan

classical instruments include the dutar, sorna, sitar, dilruba, tambur, ghichak, and

Rubab. The most famous Afghan Classical singer is Ustad Mohammad Hussain

Sarahang.Other classical singers are Ustad Qasim, Ustad Rahim Bakhsh, and Ustad

Nato.

Afghan Hip-Hop

Afghan Hip-Hop is a popular type of music in Afghanistan with youngsters and

teenagers from the immigrant community. Though it inherits much of the style of

traditional Hip-Hop, it also shows an emphasis on rare cultural sounds. Sung mostly

in Dari (Persian), Pushto, and English, it has brought fresh breeze to the musical

landscape of Afghanistan. Some popular artistes are: DJ Besho (Bezhan Zafarmal)

from Kabul, and the group called by the name of Da Jokerz.

Music of Indonesia

Indonesia is culturally diverse with its 18,000-odd islands each having its own social,

cultural and artistic history and character. As a result hundreds of different forms of

music thrive here- mostly accompanied with dance and theater traditions. Though

the music of Java, Sumatra, Bali, Flores and other islands have been well-

documented, outsiders have little access to the minor islands. We will therefore be

able to deal with just a few of its rich musical heritage here.

Tembang sunda (Cianjuran)

Tembang sunda (also called seni mamaos cianjuran, or just cianjuran) is a form of

sung poetry which was piopular in the colonial-era. As an ‘aristocratic art form’ the

poetry-singing was also taken to by the royals: one of the cianjuran composers was

R.A.A. Kusumahningrat (Dalem Pancaniti), ruler of Cianjur (1834 - 1862). The

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instruments of Cianjuran are kacapi Indung, kacapi rincik and suling or bamboo

flute, and rebab for salendro compositions. The lyrics were originally in free verse,

but a more modern version, panambih, is however, metrical.

Kecapi suling

Kecapi suling is a type of instrumental music. It is highly improvisational in

character. It is popular in parts of Java.

Gamelan

Gamelan is the well-known Indonesian musical form, an ensemble of tuned

percussion instruments that include metallophones, drums, gongs and spike fiddles

along with bamboo flutes. Gamelan is an off-shoot from the traditions of the two

great religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, which flourished before the arrival of Islam

in the 15th century.

Central gamelan is an intricate and meticulously laid out system. The central melody

is played on a metallophone, located in the center of the orchestra. The front section

plays elaboration and ornamentation of the central melody, and, at the back, the

gongs slowly and beautifully punctuate the music. Unlike Western music, there is no

standard tuning system here. The two tuning systems employed are : the 5-tone

slendro scale and the 7-tone pelog scale. Each Gamelan is tuned to itself, and the

intervals between their notes on the scale vary between ensembles. The

metallophones can cover four octaves, thus heightening one’s music experience

beyond limitation. The soul of the gamelan is however, believed to reside in the large

gong (‘gong ageng’). Other gongs are tuned to each note of the scale and include

ketuk, kenong and kempul. The front section of the orchestra is diverse, and includes

rebab, suling, siter, bonang and gambang. Male choruses (gerong) and female

(pesindhen) solo vocalists are also a common feature.

Pop and folk music

Indonesian pop and folk is as diverse as its islands. Music could embrace rock,

house, hip hop and whatnot, while maintaining its distinctly Indonesian form. Its

"ethnic" pop music is generally clustered together under the category Pop Daerah

(regional pop). It includes Pop Sunda, Pop Minang, Pop Batak, and many other

varieties.

The regional pop music uses only local languages, while there is a blend of western

and regional style music and instruments.

Kroncong

Kroncong (alternative spelling: Keroncong) is a form which has evolved from the day

the Portuguese arrived, bringing with them not only their guns but also some

European musical instruments. By the early 1900s, this music was looked down upon

as a “low-class” urban music. The attitude was however changed by the thirties,

when the nascent Indonesian film industry adopted kroncong with open arms. In the

late 1940s, this form of music was even associated with the struggle for

independence. The most famous song written in the kroncong style (about the

Bengawan Solo river) by Gesang Martohartono, a Solonese musician became an

instant success. Written during the time when the Japanese Imperial Army had

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occupied the island (World War II), the song written on the longest and the most

important of the Indonesian river kindled initially the feelings of the Javanese, and

later came to rise to the national level.

The song also became quite popular with the Japanese soldiers, who when they

returned to Japan took back its re-recordings along with war memories. Over the

years it has been re-released many times by different artists, thus giving it a status

of a “typical” Indonesian music.

Gesang remains the most renowned exponent of the style. Although it is seen now

as a somewhat starchy and "dated" form, it is still popular among large segments of

the population, particularly the senior generation.

Dangdut

Dangdut is a form of dance music, remaining popular since the mid-1970s. The

singers and stars included even the King and Queen of Dangdut (Rhoma Irama and

Elvy Sukaesih) and commoners like Inul Daratista, Evie Tamala, Mansyur S., A.

Rafiq, and Fahmy Shahab – all having become idols.

Jaipongan

Jaipongan is a very complex rhythmic dance music from Sunda. The swift change in

its rhythm is challenging as it makes dancing more difficult for novices. Its

instruments are totally indigenous as they are deliberately drawn from the native

soil: Sunda.

This musical form was pioneered by artists like Gugum Gumbira after Sukarno

prohibited rock and roll and other western genres.

Qasidah modern

Qasidah (an ancient Arabic word meaning religious poetry) is accompanied by

chanting and percussion. Qasidah modern also adapts this for pop audiences.

Gambus

Gambus (or oud) refers to a type of lute. Now it has come to be equated with a type

of orchestra and the music it plays. Believed to be introduced by the Muslim settlers

from Yemen, the popularity of this music has been somewhat confined to its region

only.

Tapanuli ogong

From Tapanuli, tapanuli ogong is a form of dance music. It is played with a type of

lute, trumpet and flute.

Music of Thailand

Thai music is influenced by its geographic location, intersecting with China, India,

Indonesia and Cambodia, besides the ancient trade routes that have led to Persia,

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Africa, Greece and Rome. All these cultures have commingled to evolve a distinct

Thai experience.

Thai musical instruments are varied and reflect all such ‘foreign’ influence in various

degrees. Klong Thap and Khim (Persian origin) Jakae (Indian origin), Klong Jin

(Chinese origin) and Klong Kaek (Indonesian origin) - to cite a few examples.

Western Musical Colonization

Though Thailand was never colonized, there seems to be a ‘musical colonization’. by

the Western musical power: pop music and other forms of European and American

music have seeped irretrievably into its very musical culture. Apart from the

Western influence in music of Thais, ethnic minorities such as the Lao, Lawa,

Hmong, Akha, Khmer, Lisu, Karen and Lahu peoples have also made impressive

contributions through their traditional musical forms. The two most popular styles of

traditional Thai music are luk thung and mor lam; the latter in particular has close

affinities with the Music of Laos.

Thai Classical music

Thai classical music is over 800 year old. Greatly influenced by tow cultures namely,

that of Khmer and India, the music depicts soft and beautiful Thai sentiments and

expressions as well. There are three primary classical ensembles, the Piphat,

Khruang Sai and Mahori which show an affinity in so far as basic instrumentation and

theory go. Each employ the small ching hand cymbals and the krap wooden sticks to

mark the primary beat reference. Several varieties of small drums (klong) find their

way in these ensembles and unction to outline the basic rhythmic structure (natab),

punctuated at the end by the striking of a suspended gong (mong). The classical

Thai orchestras resembles the Cambodian (Khmer) pin peat and mahori ensembles,

and structurally similar to other orchestras found within the wide-spread Southeast

Asian gong-chime musical culture, such as the large gamelan of Bali and Java. The

traditional Thai classical repertoire is handed down from one generation to the other

through an oral tradition.

In most cases none knows the names of composers of music. However it is not so

with the later day musicians and composers. In modern Bangkok period, composers'

names are prominently mentioned. While the composer Luang Pradit Phairau (1881–

1954) used localized forms of cipher (number) notation, other composers such as

Montri Tramote (1908–1995) used standard western staff notation. Some members

of the Thai royal family have also been deeply involved in composition: King

Prajatipok (Rama VII, 1883–1941) and King Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927–), whose

compositions have been used more often for jazz bands than for classical Thai

ensembles.

Classical Thai music is heterophonic - the instruments either play the melody or

mark the form. There are no harmony instruments. Instrumentalists improvise

idiomatically around a central melody - rhythmically and metrically Thai music is

steady in tempo, regular in pulse, divisive, in simple duple meter, without swing,

with little syncopation. There is an emphasis on the final beat of a measure or group

of pulses and phrase , unlike in the European-influenced music which emphasizes the

first beat.

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The Thai scale includes seven tempered notes, instead of a mixture of tones and

semitones.

Piphat

Piphat, the Thai classical ensembleincludes two xylophones (ranat), an oboe (pi),

barrel drums (klong) and two circular sets of tuned horizontal gong-chimes (kong

wong). Piphat can be performed in either a loud (outdoor ) style using hard mallets

or in an indoor style using padded hammers. There are several types of piphat

ensembles each being associated with specific ceremonial purposes. The highly

decorated piphat ensemble that features the ornately carved and painted

semicircular vertical gong-chime is traditionally associated with the death and funeral

rites of the Mon ethnic group. Different versions of the piphat ensemble are

employed to accompany specific forms of traditional Thai drama such as the large

shadow puppet theater (nang yai) and the khon dance drama.

Khruang Sai

The Khruang Sai orchestra combines some of the percussion and wind instruments of

the piphat with an expanded string section including the so duang (a high-pitched

two-string bowed lute), the lower pitched solaw (bowed lute) and the three-string

jhakhe (a plucked zither). In addition to these instruments are the klhui (vertical

fipple flute) in several sizes and ranges, a goblet drum (than) and, occasionally, a

small hammered Chinese dulcimer (khim). The khruang sai ensemble is primarily

used for instrumental indoor performances and for accompanying the Thai hoon

grabok (stick-puppet theater), a genre deeply influenced by Chinese puppetry styles.

Mahori

The third major Thai classical ensemble is the Mahori, used to be traditionally played

by women in the courts of both Central Thailand and Cambodia. The ensemble

included lighter and tinier instruments, suited to the size and build of Tahi women

performers. However, currently the ensemble employs regular sized instruments—a

combination of instruments from both the Khruang Sai and Piphat. However the loud

and shrill oboe is not part of this. The ensemble, which is performed in three sizes—

small, medium and large—includes the three-string so sam sai fiddle, a delicate-

sounding, middle-range bowed lute with silk strings. Within the context of the Mahori

ensemble, the so sam sai accompanies the vocalist, who plays a prominent role.

While Thai classical music was somewhat sidelined by the emrgence of aggressively

nationalistic modernization policies in the mid 20th century, it has managed to

survive with the state aid and support.

Folk and Traditional Music of Thailand

Luk thung

Luk thung, or Thai country music was developed in the mid-20th century to reflect

daily trials and tribulations of rural Thais. Ponsri Woranut and Suraphol

Sombatcharoen, the genre's first big stars, incorporated its aesthetic ideas.

Mor lam

Mor lam is the dominant folk music of Thailand's north-eastern Isan region, which

has a mainly Lao population. It has much in common with luk thung, since it also

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focuses on the life of the common rural poor. It is characterized by rapid-fire,

rhythmic vocals and a funk feel to the percussion. The lead singer, also called a mor

lam, is most often accompanied by the khaen. There are now several modern

versions which have come under the crucibles of conservative critics.

Kantrum

The people of Isan are also known for kantrum, which is played by Khmer living near

the border with Cambodia. It is a swift dance music. In its purest form, cho-kantrum,

singers, percussion and tro (a type of fiddle) dominate the sound. A more modern

form using electric instrumentation arose in the mid-1980s. Darkie became the

genre's biggest star, in the late 1990s.

Pop and rock

We have seen that by the 1930s, Western classical music, showtunes, jazz and tango

became popular in Thasiland. Jazz came to dominate the popular music scenario.

Khru Eua Sunthornsanan soon set up the first Thai jazz band. Thai melodies and

Western music fused together to evolve into luk grung, a romantic music that

became popular with the elite audience. King Bhumibol has been an accomplished

jazz musician and composer.

Pleng phua cheewit

By the 1960s, Western rock became popular as Thai artists began to imitate bands

like Cliff Richard and the Shadows. This music came to be known as wong shadow,

and it soon evolved into a form of Thai pop called string. Among the groups that

emerged from this period was The Impossibles. The '70s saw Rewat Buddhinan

beginning to use the Thai language in rock music. There was a rise of protest songs

called pleng phua cheewit (songs for life) at this time. The earliest pleng phua

cheewit band, called Caravan, was the forerunner of the democratic movement.

When police and the right wing activists attacked students at Thammasat University

in 1976, Caravan, along with other bands took refuge in the rural hills, where they

continued to play music for the local farmers. Their most famous song was "Khon

Gap Kwaii".

In the 1980s, pleng phua cheewit returned to the mainstream with a grant of

amnesty to dissidents. Bands like Carabao became best-sellers and incorporated

sternly nationalistic elements in their lyrics. By the 1990s, pleng phua cheewit had

fallen from the top of the Thai charts, though artists like Pongsit Kamphee continued

to command a large audience.

String

String pop took over mainstream listeners in Thailand in the 90s, and stars like Tata

Young, Bird Thongchai McIntyre and Asanee-Wasan became idols. Simultaneously,

Britpop influenced alternative rock artists like Modern Dog, Loso, Crub and Proud in

late 1990s. Currently Clash, Big Ass, Bodyslam and Silly Fools are some of the best

rock bands in Thailand.

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5. The South Asian Magic: Ragas of Rapture

The Indian sub-continent has a musical history as old as its civilization. Like its flora

and fauna, known for its varieties and colours, its music too is quite diverse.

Indian sub-continent has been a meeting-point of races (black, white, brown and

yellow), cultures, linguistic, religious and ethnic groups, quite different from each

other. Yet it is a working model which promises the possibility of co-existence of

opposing views and concepts within a humanitarian framework.

Therefore, music of this region had to be special. Obviously, it has accommodated a

wide diversity and multiplicity of elements and characters, bringing out an underlying

unity (often referred to by the art-historians as “Indianness”).

Thus it is no surprise that musical genres such as folk, tribal, traditional, classical,

semi-classical, light, popular, pop and jazz have all found their way in to the hearts

of its people. It also found its reverential place in the ancient religious and spiritual

systems that arose from the ancient tantras, yoga and Vedic systems. The sub-

continent has been historically in constant turmoil (such as inundation, drought,

invasions, aggressions, immigration, emigration, colonization, freedom struggle,

globalization, land reforms, etc)had also recognized the value of sound and music

In the ancient days, sound vibrations were used as a medium for transporting one’s

consciousness –especially in traditions of yoga. The practice of singing based on

notes (swear) came to be in vogue even in the Vedic times. The hymns in Sama

Veda were clothed with tones and melodies (raga) , and were sung as Samagana –

not just chanted. The inclusion of music has greatly helped in the preservation of

these ancient texts even to this date. It is a burning example how with music one

could enhance memory-retention and retrieval even after several generations!

Classical Music of India

From the ancient treatises in Sanskrit and the several epigraphically inscriptional

evidences, the history of classical musical traditions in India could be traced back to

some 2500 years.

The two distinguishable systems of classical music prevalent now are Carnatic music

(found in the peninsular South India) and Hindustani (found in the northern and

central parts). Both the systems, however claim the common vedic stock. According

to some historians, the ‘divide’ from a common music system took place sometime in

the 13th century due to the increasing influence of the islamic rulers and aristocrats

Hindustani

We have seen that Hindustani music is born, thanks to the inter-cultural influences of

the 13th century India from the existing religious and folk music. Developing a

strong and diverse tradition over several centuries, it has contemporary traditions

established not only in India, but also in Pakistan and Bangla Desh.

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In contrast to Carnatic music, the other main Indian classical music tradition

originating from the South, Hindustani has been influenced by several music

traditions/streams: Vedic, Hindu, Folk and also the Persian.

Carnatic (or Karnatak)

Carnatic or karnatak music, as in its present format, is shaped by the events in

history, which could be traced back to the 15th century.

The system is melodic as in all ancient forms of music. Voice predominates musical

instruments since all compositions are written to be sung. Even when played on

instruments, they are meant to be performed in a singing style (known as gāyaki).

Both carnatic and Hindustani rests on two pillars: raga (the mode or melodic

formula) and tala (the rhythmic cycle).

Folk Music

India is a treasure house of a variety of folk music traditions, which is yet to be

tapped. A few examples are: Bhavageete (the self-effacing singing style from the

Karnataka); Bhangra, the loud and masculine style from the Punjab; Lavani, the

sensuous and feminine dance-oriented music of Maharashtra; Dandiya, the assertive

dance-oriented folk music, using small sticks;

Both Bhangra and Dandiya have now become a pop-sensation in the UK and USA. It

is interesting that Dandiya traces its origin to the days of Lord Krishna, who migrated

from Mathura to Dwaraka in legendary times. It is thus an age-old aggressive

martial art form in which knife and weapons were used instead of sticks, now being

used. With change in time however, this musical form has now emerged as an

excellent aesthetic experience, though its functionality originally intended seems to

have been sacrificed.

Music of Rajasthan

The rich heritage of folk music of Rajasthan, which is a cultural amalgam of musician

castes (such as langas, saperas, bhopas, jogi and manganiyars) has contributed a

variety through their haunting melodies and rhythms arising from their traditional

stringed instruments (sarangi, rawanhattha, kamayacha, morsing and ektara) and

percussion instruments (from the huge nagaras and dhols to tiny hand-held

damrus). Flutes and bagpipers come in local flavours such as shehnai, poongi,

algoza,tarpi, been and bankia. The essence of Rajasthani Music is derived from the

creative symphony of string instruments, percussion instruments and wind

instruments accompanied by melodious renditions of folk singers. It enjoys a

respectable presence in the contemporary films too.

Music of Bauls

Te Bengali Bauls are a mystical order of musicians dating back to the 18th century

India They play a form of music using a khamak, ektara and dotara. The word Baul

traces to the Sanskrit word, batul meaning divinely inspired insanity. As its name

implies, they form a group of mystic minstrels and are influenced both by the Hindu

tantric sect of the Kartabhajas as well as by Sufis. They travel the length and

breadth of the nation in search of the internal ideal, Maner Manush (Man of the

Heart).

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Rabindra Sangeet

A towering Indian literary genius Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, who has created a

library of over 2,000 songs in the last century has contribuited signigicantly to the

indian musical experience. Known as ‘Rabindra sangeet’, this form is influenced by

various schools of indian music: Hindustani classical, light-classicals, Carnatic,

Western, bauls, bhatiyali and other folk songs of India belonging to several regions.

For instance, the national anthem of India and the national song of Bangladesh trace

their roots to Rabindra Sangeet.

Qawwali

Qawwali is a Sufi form of devotional music following the Hindustani grammar. It is

performed usually with one or two lead singers, accompanied by several chorus

singers, who clap their hands to impart vigor to the words. They also use

instruments such as harmonium, tabla and dholak.

Pop music

The most popular of the pop comes from Indian films which invariably have several

songs to ensure box office success. The Film industry of India is broad-minded and

liberal as may be seen from the gyrations of the artistes while the song is played.

From devotional or classical music to profane street music – all forms of music come

to be tackled in accoradance with the story-line of the movie.

Music composers like C. Ramchandra, Salil Chowdhary, S.D. Burman, Vasant Desai,

Shankar Jaikishan, Viswanthan-Ramamurthy, K V Mahadevan. AR Rahman

employed the principles of harmony while retaining either a classical or a folk base.

Reputed names in the domain of Indian classical music like Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad

Vilayat Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pt. Ramnarayan have also experimented with

their wares here.

Fusion History

The late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed the permeation of rock’n’roll into Indian

music scenario after the performance of Ali Akbhar Khan in 1955 in the US. Jazz

pioneers (John Coltrane , for example) embraced this fusion in his ‘India’ (1963). In

1965, George Harrison of the Beatles brought in sitar for his "Norwegian Wood (This

Bird Has Flown)".

In 1968, Miles Davis, the Jazz inventor, reecorded and performed with musicians like

Khalil Balakrishna, Bihari Sharma, and Badal Roy in his electric ensembles. Other

Western artists like the Grateful Dead, Incredible String Band, the Rolling Stones,

the Move and Traffic soon incorporated Indian ethos by adding the instruments and

performers from india.

Though the Indian music craze soon died down, some diehard fans and immigrants

continued the trend. In the late 1980s, Indian-British artists fused Indian and

Western traditions to make the Asian underground. Since the 90's, Canadian born

musician Nadaka has been creating music that is an acoustic fusion of Classical

Indian music with a contemporary sound.

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The new millennium has witnessed the arrival of American hip-hop, who has featured

Indian Filmi and Bhangra. Mainstream hip-hop artists too have sampled songs from

Bollywood movies.

Rock & Metal music

The rock music, originated in sixties in india has however not been as much popular

as the ‘filmi’ or fusion ones. Raga Rock a collaborative form of Pandit Ravi Shankar

and Zakir Hussain and the beatles was a short-lived experience. Nevertheless rock

music has come to stay in the horizon in recent years.

However Indian Rock Bands have come to gain prominence. The pioneering rock

band ‘Indus creed’ came to the international notice with its hits like Rock N Roll

Renegade. Other bands quickly followed. As of now, the rock music scene in India is

slowly but steadily growing day. With the introduction of MTV in the early 1990s,

Indians began to be exposed to various forms of rock such as grunge and speed

metal. This influence can be clearly seen in many Indian bands today. The cities of

Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore throb with rock and metal enthusiasts.

‘Filmi’ Music

India is the largest producer of films in the world. Invariably every film must contain

five to six songs which are based either on classical Indian music or light music. It

also contains devotional songs. The First formula for a box office hit lies in the

success of a film song.

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6. The Middle Eastern Tones: Tapestry of Trance

Arabic music (or Musiqa Arabiyya) has a long history of interaction with many other

regional musical styles and genres. It dates back even to the Pre-Islamic period,

when the female slave singers used to entertain the rulers and aristocrats.

It is known for its famed virtuoso singers, who sing long, elaborately ornamented,

melismatic tunes, and are known for driving audiences into ecstasy.

The Arab poets of the 5th – 6th century AD, called as ‘Jahili poets’ (meaning, ‘the

poets of the period of ignorance’) had developed an art of reciting poems with high

musical rhythms and tone.

During this time, women with beautiful voices (Al-Khansa) were entrusted with

singing songs. They had also developed skill to play popular instruments such as

lute, drum, oud, rebab etc.respecting the poetic metre of the songs.

The compositions of the time were all simple and straight. A singer would sing in a

single ‘maqam’. Among the notable songs of the period were the "huda" from which

the ‘ghina' derived, the nasb, sanad, and rukbani. Music at that time was also used

as a tool in the hands of the exorcists and the magicians.It was believed that Jinns

revealed poems to poets and music to musicians.

Arabic music, as we know today, is an amalgam of the music of the Arabs in the

Arabian Peninsula and the music of all the peoples that make the Arab world today.

It is influenced by its neighbours. Several ancient systems of Africa (Swahili),

Assyria, Egypt, Europe (Flamenco), Greece, India, Kurdish, Nort Africa (Berber),

Persia, and Turkey have contributed to its form and beauty.

Arabian traders had functioned as an important link in such musical exchanges.

Characteristics of Arabic Music

Much Arabic music, is characterized by an emphasis on melody and rhythm rather

than harmony. Though some genres of Arabic which are polyphonic, typically, Arabic

music is homophonic.

The following "five components" characterize Arabic music:

1. The Arab tonal system which relies on specific intervals as invented in the

10th century by al-Farabi

2. Rich variety of rhythmic patterns (awzan or ‘weight’) which are used to

accompany metered vocal and instrumental genres to accent or give them

form

3. Use of Arabic instruments which represent a standaridized tone system

4. Specific social contexts that produce sub-categories of Arabic music: urban or

rural or Bedouin (music of the desert inhabitants)

5. An Arab musical mentality, "responsible for the aesthetic homogeneity of the

tonal-spatial and rhythmic-temporal structures irespective of their genres.

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Maqam system

The basis of Arabic music is maqam (pl. maqamat) which looks like the mode, but is

not quite the same.the tonic note, dominant note and ending note are generally

determined by the maqam used.

Arabic maqam theory as ascribed in literature over the ages names between 90 and

110 maqams, that are grouped into larger categories known as fasilah. Fasilah are

groupings of maqams whose first four primary pitches are shared in common.

The maqam consists of at least two jins (scale segments). In practice, a jins (pl.

ajnas) can be a trichord (three notes), tetrachord (four notes) or pentachord (five

notes)

The maqam usually covers only one octave (usually two jins), but can cover more.

Like the melodic minor scale, some maqamat use different ajnas, and thus note

progressions, when descending and ascending.

Due to continuous innovation and the emergence of new jins, and because most

music scholars have not reached consensus on the subject, it is difficult to provide a

solid figure for the total number of jins in use. Nonetheless, in practice most

musicians would agree there are at least eight major ajnas: Rast, Bayat, Sikah,

Hijaz, Saba, Kurd, Nahawand, and Ajam - and their commonly used variants such as

the Nakriz, Athar Kurd, Sikah Beladi, Saba Zamzama. Mukhalif is a rare jins used

almost exclusively in Iraq, and it is not used in combination with other ajnas.

More notes used than in Western scale

The main difference between the Western chromatic scale and the Arabic scales is

the existence of many in-between notes, which are called quarter tones

Arabic Musicology

Arabic influence had penetrated deep in the European musical terms as may be seen

in the table:

Arabic (origin) English words

Oud Lute

Rabab Rebec

Qitara Guitar

Urghun Organ

Naqara Naker

Around the 11th century, Spain became the centre for the manufacture of musical

instruments, which through France reached other parts of Europe.

The Arabs invented the art of composing love-songs (Ghazal), a common feature in

Arabic music, which also reached the northern parts of India and which remains quite

popular there to this date.

Al-Ghazali (1059 - 1111) wrote a treatise on music declaring the following: "Ecstasy

means the state that comes from listening to music".

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The Slave Music

Around the 16th century, Bartol Gyurgieuvits (1506-1566), a slave in the Ottoman

empire for 13 years and who escaped to Amsterdam in 1544 published an

authoritative book on music in islamic society (De Turvarum ritu et caermoniis ).

Music and Belly-dance

The origins of the ‘belly dance’ are somewhat obscure. It is speculated to have

originated in the harems of Persia or Turkey. Zills (finger cymbals) are the essental

feature of belly-dancing. Examples of the dancers have been found in the

excavations from 200 BC, suggesting a psssible pre-Islamic origin. Based on the

finds of a dancing girl from the Indus valley sites, this author views that that belly-

dancing could have probably originated in the Indian sub-continent and could have

traveled along with its gypsies who had spread over the Moorish Spain and had

reached even the Northern Europe over centuries of caravan journey in search of

pastures as nomads.

Arabic and Persian Influence on India

The Mughal emperor Akbar (1542 - 1605) had a team of at least fifty musicians,

many of them drawn from Islamic world and whose influence paved way in the

development of Hindustani music, bringing new avenues for expression to the

ancient Indian raga system.

The Slave Music

Slavery was once widespread around the world. Just as in the Roman empire, slaves

were often brought into the Arab world from Africa. Great contributions have been

made to music by the slaves who were brought in from Zanzibar, and who were in

great demand for the quality of their music and dance.. The "Epistle on Singing

Girls", written in Baghdad in 9 CE satirizes the excessive money that could be made

by these singers. There is a mention of an Abyssinian girl, who fetched 120,000

dinars at an auction - far more than what even a thousand slaves could fetch. .

20th Century Egypt in Musical Map

In the 20th century after 2000 years of foreign rule, Egypt became independent and

there was a sudden emergence of nationalism. Cairo also became a centre for

secular musical innovation. Umm Kulthum and Fairuz who took a secular approach

came to be known as

‘Arabic music legends’.

Musical regions

The world of modern Arabic music has long been dominated by musical trends that

have emerged from Cairo, the Egyptian city generally considered a cultural hub of

the Arab world.

Innovations in popular music via the influence of other regional styles have also

abounded from Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

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Beirut is identified with the development of Arabic pop music.

Arabic Pop

During the 1950s and the 1960s Arabic music began to take on a more Western tone

with artists like Dalida. By the 1970s several other singers had followed suit. Arabic

pop is made of Western styled songs with Arabic instruments and lyrics. Melodies are

often a mix between Eastern and Western. Arabic Pop has been extremely popular

not only in the Arab world but also in parts of Europe like France, where huge expat

communities live.

Franco-Arabic

Popular form of East meets West style was popularized by artists like Dalida.

Arabic R&B, Reggae, and Hip Hop

Though it is not a widespread genre, there has been a rise of their influence of Arabic

music in the past few years. This usually involves a rapper featured in a song (such

as Ishtar in her song 'Habibi Sawah'). However certain artists have taken to using

full R&B and reggae beats and styling such as Darine.

Arabic jazz

Another popular form Arabic Jazz is also popular, with many songs using jazz

instruments in their background.

Arabic rock

Many Arabic rock bands have started fusing the sound of hard rock with traditional

Arabic instruments to bring out new musical dimensions. Lebanon revels in rock

music with bands such as meen and dabke.

Sacred music

Arabic religious music includes Jewish, Christian, and Islamic music. However,

Islamic music, including the Tajwid (recitation of Qur’an readings) is structurally

equivalent to Arabic secular music, on the other hand, Christian Arab music has been

influenced by the church music.

Instruments and ensembles

The prototypical Arabic music ensemble in Egypt and Syria is known as the takht,

which included instruments such as the oud, qanun, rabab, ney, riq, dumbek and

violin. (Violin was introduced in the mid-19th century)

In Iraq, the traditional ensemble, known as the chalghi, includes only two melodic

instruments - the jowza (similar to the rabab but with four strings) and santur –

accompanied by riq and dumbek.

The Arab world has now incorporated instruments from the West: cello, double bass,

electric guitar and oboe along with the arrival of jazz.

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7. The East Asian Chinoiserie: Call the Tune!

According to historians, a well-developed musical culture was in place in China as

early as the Zhou dynasty (1122-256 BC).

There was a system of official recognition and selection of appropriate musical forms.

The Imperial Music Bureau, (221 BC) was charged with supervising court music and

military music and determined which folk music could be officially recognized. Almost

every emperor took folk songs seriously, sending officers to collect songs to inspect

the popular will. One of the Confucianist Classics, Shi Jing (poets), contained many

folk songs dating from 800 BC to 300 BC..

The oldest written music in China is Youlan (or the Solitary Orchid) attributed to

Confucius. The first major well-documented flowering of Chinese music was for the

qin during the Tang Dynasty.

In ancient China the position of musicians was much lower than that of painters,

though music was recognized as central to the harmony and longevity of the state.

The subsequent developments however, were strongly influenced by foreign music,

especially that of Central Asia.

European Influence in Music of China

In 1601 AD, Matteo Racci, a Jesuit priest was the first European to visit China and

present a harpsichord to the Ming Imperial court. He also trained four eunuchs how

to play the instrument.

Traditional music

Traditional music in China is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of

plucked and bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and

drums. The musical sacle has five notes (pentatonic) Qin and Bamboo pipes are the

oldest known instrements of China. Instruments are traditionally divided into

categories based on their material of composition: skin, gourd, bamboo, wood, silk,

earth/clay, metal and stone. Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of bowed strings

(erhu, dahu, banhu etc) woodwinds and percussion (sheng, dizi, gong, guan, bells,

cymbals etc) , and plucked and struck strings (guqin, sanxian, ruan, pipa, zhu etc).

Chinese vocal music was traditionally sung in a thin, non-resonant voice or in

falsetto.

All traditional Chinese music is melodic rather than harmonic.

Chinese Opera

Chinese opera has been hugely popular for centuries. The music is often guttural

with high-pitched vocals, as no amplifier facilities were available in olden times. The

opera music is usually accompanied by instruments such as suona, jinghu and other

string instruments and percussion. There are various forms of opera: clapper opera,

Pingju, Cantonese opera, ritual masked opera, Qinqiang etc.

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Folk music

Han folk music is popular at weddings and funerals. It includes suona, a Chinese

oboe. The other instruments used are mouthorgan (sheng), flutes (dizi), and

percussion instruments (especially yunluo gongs).

The music is diverse, sometimes joyful sometimes melancholic as the occasion

demands.

Republic of China era (1912 - 1949)

The New Culture Movement of the 1910’s and 1920s evoked a great deal of interest

in Western music. A number of Chinese musicians returned from studying abroad to

perform Western classical music, composing work based on Western musical notation

system. However, the cultural philosophers of the time like Xiao Youmei preferred to

see Chinese music adopted to the best standard possible.

Symphony orchestras became popular in many cities. They performed to a wide

audience in radio and in concert halls. They also added jazz influences to traditional

music, by adding instruments such as saxophones, xylophones, violins etc.

After the 1942 there was a large-scale campaign to adapt folk music in creating

songs of revolution.

Intended mainly to educate the largely illiterate rural population on party goals,

these folk songs could reach the heart of the comrades. However, those traditional

musical forms considered superstitious or anti-revolutionary were repressed, and

harmonies and bass lines were added to some traditional songs to change their

character.

One example is The East is Red, a folksong from northern Shaanxi. This was adapted

into a nationalist hymn.

Patriotic / Revolutionary

During the height of the Cultural Revolution, musical composition and performance

were greatly restricted. A form of soft, harmonic, generic, pan-Chinese music called

guoyue was artificially created to be performed at conservatories. Guoyue are

basically music performed on some grand presentation to encourage national pride.

Since 1949, it has been by far the most government-promoted genre. Compared to

other forms of music, symphonic national music flourished throughout the country.

After the Cultural Revolution, musical institutions were reinstated and musical

composition and performance revived. At the height of the Mao Zedong era, the

music accelerated at the political level into "Revolutionary Music" leaning toward cult

status and becoming mainstream under pro-Communist ideology.

People's Republic of China era (1949 - 1990s)

Maoists however, considered pop music as a decline to the art form in the mainland.

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As a result, revolutionary songs came to be heavily promoted by the state. They

overshadowed other genres and almost defined what mainland music is.

After the Tiananmen Square protest (1989), a new fast tempo Northwest Wind style

was launched by the people to counter the government. The music would progress

into Chinese rock, which was popular in the 1990s. However, music in China is very

much state-owned as the TV, media, and major concert halls were all controlled by

the Communist party. The government mainly chose not to support Chinese rock by

limiting its exposure and airtime. As a result, the genre never reached the

mainstream in its entirety.

Current Scenario

China has a high piracy rate along with issues of intellectual property.

As a result, most albums are released in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Annual events such as the Beijing festival help in keeping music culture alive. There

was also the "Snow Mountain Music Festival" in Yunnan province (2002). The term

"Chinese Woodstock" has been thrown around by Western media for these two

events.

Though both drew a sizable crowd, the Chinese rock movement could not become

popular due to the cold-shouldering of the state. Rock music is thus centered on

almost exclusively in Beijing and Shanghai, and has very limited influence over

Chinese society. It points to a significant cultural, political and social divide that exist

between China, the West, or even different parts within China.

Modern music

Today’s music in China continues to lean on its rich heritage, while going ahead with

its contemporary trends. Though the more diverse and sophisticated genres of music

exist in the mainland china, Hong Kong and Taiwan represents its commercial

centres.

C-pop originally began in the mainland, with Western jazz influences. In 1970’s

cantopop in Hong Kong became popular; and later mandopop in Taiwan. The

mainland remained on the sideline for decades with minimal degree of penetration.

Only in recent years did the youth in mainland resume as a consumer for the Taiwan

mandopop market.

The mainland censorship continues tobe strict on popular music. When Hong Kong's

icon Anita Mui performed the song "Bad Girl" during the 1990s in China, she was

banned from returning to the concert for showing a rebellious attitude.

By Western standards, the performance was no more rebellious than say, Madonna

for example; since Mui based a lot of her dance moves on Madonna's style.

Many mainland artists often try to start their commercial success in Hong Kong or

Taiwan first, and then re-import into the mainland.

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Rock and heavy metal

The widely-acknowledged father of Chinese rock is Cui Jian. In the late 1980s he

played the first Chinese rock song called: "I Have Nothing" ("Yi wu suo you"). It was

the first time an electric guitar came to be used in China. He became the most

famous performer of the time.

However, his socially critical lyrics earned the wrath of the government and many of

his concerts were banned or cancelled. After the Tiananmen Square protests, he

used to play with a red blindfold around his head. .

In the mid nineties, the first thrash metal band, Chao Zai (Oveload) came into

existence.

Punk rock

Mid-nineties also witnessed the arrival of punk-rock in Beijing. Many were inspired by

Western bands such as Korn.China would have their own with Yaksa, AK47,

Overhead tank etc.

Regional music

China has many ethnic groups besides concentrated in the southeast and northwest.

These include Tibetans, Russians, Uyghurs, Manchus, Zhuang, Dai, Naxi, Miao, Wa,

Yi, Lisu and Mongols. Each group has its own genre of music. Here we will see the

culturally and ethnically different area in the south western China- Tibet

Music of Tibet

There are significant minorities of Tibetans in India, Bhutan, Kham and Nepal.

The music of the community forms an integral part of Tibetan Buddhism. The most

specialized form of chanting is called yang, which is without metrical timing and is

dominated by resonant drums and sustained, low syllables. Other forms of chanting

are unique to Tantra as well as the four main monastic schools of Tibet (Gelugpa,

Kagyupa, Nyingmapa and Sakyapa).

Of these schools, Gelugpa is considered a more a restrained, classical form, while

Nyingmapa is widely described as romantic and dramatic. Gelugpa is perhaps the

most popular.

Apart from popular chanting, complex and lively forms of music are also widespread.

Monks use music to recite various sacred texts and to memorize them so that they

could be retrieved at any time. Festivals are also celebrated with music.

Secular Tibetan music survived the Cultural Revolution more intact than spiritual

music, especially due to the efforts made by the Dalai Lama

Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts founded by him originally specialized in the

operatic lhamo form, which is since modernized with the addition of western

elements.

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Other secular genres include nangma and toshe, accompanied by a variety of

instruments designed for highly-rhythmic dance music.

Nangma karaoke is quite popular in modern Lhasa.

A classical form called gar is also popular. It is distinguished by ornate, elegant and

ceremonial music honoring dignitaries or other respected persons.

Tibetan folk music includes a capella lu songs, distinctively high in pitch with glottal

vibrations.

Influence of Tibetan Music

Tibetan music has greatly influenced the pioneering compositions of Philip Glass and

Henry Eichheim.

New Age fusions by pioneers Nancy Hennings and Henry Wolff who collaborated on

Tibetan Bells the first fusion of New Age and Tibetan influences, in 1971 has been

well-recived.

The popularity of Westerners adapting Buddhism in recnet years has also kindled

interest in Tibetan music.

Other forms of imported pop music in tibetan music include Indian filmi and ghazals,

popular across the Himalayas and in Tibetan communities worldwide.

42

8. The European Accent: Striking the Right Chord!

Music of Europe is as vast as the continent . It is difficult to cover the whole in a

short span of space and time. However we make an attempt her to deal with a few

characteristics of music of Spain, Italy and of course a note on Western music.

Spanish music

Music in Spain is born out of a confluence of cultures. The cultural streams poured

down from outside in first centuries of the Christian era were divers: Romans who

brought along with it the ideas of music from the ancient Greece; the Visgoths, an

East Germanic tribe, who overran the Iberian peninsula in the 5th century AD; Jews

of the diaspora with their associated music and ritual and eventually the Moors (as

the group of Arabs used to be referred to). It is difficult now to say which culture

brought in which elements although the stew which has come out as Spanish music

is per se a musical nectar!

Isidore of Seville who lived in the 6th century has recorded a first information report

on the early music of the Christian church. In the 8th century musical notation

developed in Spain to notate the chants and the church music.

Renaissance and Baroque

Polyphonic vocal style developed in Spain in the 16th Century was closely related to

the style of the Franco-Flemish composers.

The great Spanish composers of the Renaissance included Francisco Guerrero and de

Morales, both of them spent a significant portion of their careers in Rome.

18th to 20th centuries

By the end of the 17th century the "classical" musical culture of Spain was in decline,

and was to remain that way until the 19th century.Classicism in Spain, when it

arrived, was inspired on Italian models. Some outstanding Italian composers were

appointed at the Madrid court.

Musical creativity mainly moved into areas of folk and popular music until the

nationalist revival of the late Romantic era.

Pop Music

Spanish pop radio flourished at the end of Francisco Franco’s regime. By the late

1950’s, American and British music, especially rock’n’roll started rocking Spanish

audience.

Many of the major Spanish pop stars of the era rose to fame through these music

festivals, launched to promote tourism. With the arrival of tourists, yet more musical

styles too came to add flavour to the Spanish music experience.

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Ye-Yé, the Uptempo Pop Music

ye-yé the French-coined term came to be in vogue in Spanish language to refer to

uptempo pop music. It mainly consisted of a fusion of American rock from the early

60s (such as twist)and British beat music. Concha Velasco, a movie star and singer,

launched the scene with her hit "La Chica Ye-Yé" (1965). Though the early forms

imitated the French pop, there were occasions when Flamenco rhythms showed their

heads. Rosalia’s ‘Flamenco’ (1965) thus made the sound experience distinctively

Spanish.

Music of Italy

Music has held a pre-eminent position as a cultural representative of Italy.

It ranges across a broad spectrum of musical forms: opera, instrumental classical

music, traditional and folk music and also a body of popular music drawn from both

native and foreign sources.

Italian innovation in harmony, musical scales, notation, and theatre not only enabled

the development of opera in the late 16th century but also paved way for the

development of modern European classical music, particularly symphony and

concerto.

Characteristics of Italian Music

Italian music, like other elements of Italian culture is generally eclectic. No parochial

protectionist movement has ever attempted to keep Italian music pure and free from

foreign influence, except briefly under the Fascist regime of the 1920s and 30s.

As a result, Italian music has kept elements of the many peoples that have

dominated or influenced the country: Arabs, French, Germanic tribes, Greeks and

Spanish.

It is the Italian peninsula, which has contributed to important innovations in music

including the development of Gregorian chant and musical notation.

Folk Music

Most folk music are highly localized, unique to a small region or city.

Immigrant populations from around the Mediterranean, (e.g., the Balkans, Greece,

and the North Africa), living in the southern peninsula over the last thousand years

have brought in their musical skills and sensibilities. As a result, folk music of Sicily

and the southern Italian mainland display features typical of elsewhere in the

Mediterranean. These include an excessive nasality in the voice and an extremely

ornamental approach adopted towards sounding pitch.

Lomax's description of southern Italian singing is interesting : "A voice as pinched

and strangulated and high-pitched as any in Europe. The singing expression is one of

true agony, the throat is distended and flushed with strain, the brow knotted with a

painful expression. Many tunes are long and highly ornamented in Oriental style."

Classical music

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Italy has been a center for European classical music. By the beginning of the 20th

century, Italian classical music had forged a distinct national identity of sound that

was decidedly Romantic and melodic. As typified by the operas of Verdi, it was music

in which "...The vocal lines always dominate the tonal complex and are never

overshadowed by the instrumental accompaniments..."

Italian classical music had resisted the "German harmonic juggernaut"—that is, the

dense harmonies of Wagner, Mahler and Strauss. Italian music also had little in

common with the French reaction to that German music—the impressionism of

Debussy, for example, in which melodic development is largely abandoned for the

creation of mood and ambience through the sounds of individual chords. For Italians,

melody has been important , even at the cost of lyrics and harmonic complexity. This

is true in opera, popular music and even, to some extent, in modern text-centered

styles such as Italian hop.

Experimental music

Experimental music is a broad, loosely-defined field encompassing music created by

abandoning traditional classical concepts of melody and harmony, and by using the

new technology of electronics to create hitherto impossible sounds. In Italy, one of

the first to devote his attention to experimental music was Busoni (1907) whose

publication, Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music, discussed the use of electrical and

other new sounds in future music. He spoke of his dissatisfaction with the constraints

of traditional music:

“We have divided the octave into twelve equidistant degrees...and have constructed

our instruments in such as way that we can never get in above or below or between

them...our ears are no longer capable of hearing anything else...yet Nature created

an infinite gradation—infinite! Who still knows it nowadays?”

In modern Italy, one important organization that fosters research in avant-garde and

electronic music is CEMAT (the Federation of Italian Electro acoustic Music Centers).

This was founded in 1996 in Rome.

Instrumentation

Italian folk instruments can be divided into string, wind and percussion categories.

Common instruments include the organetto, an accordion most closely associated

with the saltarello;the diatonic button organetto is most common in central Italy,

while chromatic accordions prevail in the north. Many municipalities are home to

brass bands, , which perform with roots revival groups; these ensembles are based

around the clarinet, accordion, violin and small drums, adorned with bells.

There are several instruments that retain older forms even while newer models have

become widespread elsewhere in Europe. Many Italian instruments are tied to certain

rituals or occasions, such as the zampogna bagpipe, sounded only during Christmas.

Italy's wind instruments include most prominently a variety of folk flutes, which

include duct, globular and transverse flutes, as well as various variations of the pan

flute.

45

Double flutes are most common in Campania, Calabria and Sicily A ceramic pitcher

called the quartara is also used as a wind instrument, by blowing across an opening

in the narrow bottle neck; it is found in eastern Sicily and Campania. Single-

(ciaramella) and double-reed (piffero) pipes are commonly played in groups of two

or three. Several folk bagpipes are well-known, including central Italy's zampogna;

dialect names for the bagpipe vary throughout Italy.

The percussion instruments include bells, castanets, drums and wood blocks.

Several regions have their own distinct form of rattle.

String instruments such as harp, guitar, fiddle etc vary widely depending on locality.

Popular music

Opera was the earliest Italian popular music in the 19th century. Opera has had a

lasting impact on Italy's folk, classical and popular musics.

Imported styles have also become an important part of Italian popular music,

beginning with the French Café-chantant (1890’s) and then the arrival of Jazz

(1910’s) with a bang from America.

American dance music was quite popular till 1930s, when Italian Fascism became

allergic to any kind of foreign influences.

However in the 1950’s American styles again became more prominent, particularly

in the form of rock.Later in the 1960s, the Italian rock scene soon diversified into

progressive, punk, funk and folk-styles.

The Western System of Music – A note

The term ‘Western music’ could be defined as the genres of music, originating in the

western world (i.e. Europe and its former colonies). It includes Western classical

music, American Jazz, Country and Western, pop music and rock’n’roll. The word

Western may be misleading as the definition of the western world has changed over

time and because of the inclusion of Western influenced genres.

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9. The Australian Music:

The music of Australia ranges across a broad spectrum of styles and genres. Whilst

modern Australian music incorporates trends from the United States or United

Kingdom, traditional (indigenous) music is as old as its prehistory. .

Rock music in Australia first became popular in the 1950s , with artists including

Johnny O'Keefe and topping charts around the world. This tradition was continued

into the 1960s, by groups such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, The Easy beats, and

The Bee Gees. Throughout this time, Indigenous Australian music and Australian jazz

too had retained their popularity. .

Pub rock became quite popular in the 1980s, and the era was typified by Mental As

Anything, Midnight Oil, The Angels, Cold Chisel and Icehouse. INXS and Men at Work

also achieved fame worldwide, and the song "Down Under" became an unofficial

anthem for Australia. Australian hip hop began in the early 1980s, primarily

influenced by overseas works, but by the 1990s a distinctive local style had

emerged, with groups such as the Hilltop Hoods achieving international acclaim for

their work.

The 90s saw an increase in the popularity of indie rock in Australia. AC/DC and INXS

continued to achieve commercial success in the United States, whilst a multitude of

local bands, including Regurgitator, You Am I, Powderfinger, Silverchair and

Something for Kate, were popular throughout the country. A small electronic music

scene emerged around Sydney and Melbourne, with Severed Heads, Ollie Olsen's No,

and Foil all peaking in the 90s.

Australian music experienced a revival of rock in the 2000s with groups such as The

Vines, Jet and Wolfmother charting internationally. Hilltop Hoods were the first

Australian hip-hop group.

Indigenous Australian music

Traditional Aboriginal instrument, the Didgeridoo

Australia is known for the great music traditions of its indigenous people.

Music was an integral part of the social, cultural and ceremonial observances of these

peoples, and is estimated to be there for over 40,000 years. The music is best

characterized by the didgeridoo, considered by some to be the world's oldest musical

instrument, only after the human voice! Archaeological studies of rock art in the

Northern Territory suggest people of the Kakadu region had been playing the

instrument some 15,000 years ago.

Contemporary Indigenous Australian music has covered numerous styles, including

rock and roll, country, hip hop, and reggae. Jimmy Little is regarded as the first

Aboriginal performer to achieve mainstream success, with his debut 1964 song "The

Royal Telephone" highly popular and successful. In 2005, Little was presented with

an honorary doctorate in music by the University of Sydney.

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From the 1970s onwards, groups such as Coloured Stone, Warumpi Band, and No

Fixed Address came to play the music.

Classical music

The earliest western musical influences started from the first free settlers who

brought with them the European classical music tradition. Along with this, a large

body of convicts and sailors too brought with them, the traditional folk music of

England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

The establishment of both Choral Societies (circa. 1850) and Symphony Orchestras

(circa. 1890) led to increased compositional activity, although many Australian

classical composers did not want to budge from the European norms and models. A

lot of works leading up to the first part of the 20th Century were heavily influenced

by folk music (Percy Grainger’s “English Country Garden” of 1908 being a good

example of this) and a very conservative British orchestral tradition.

In the war and post-war eras, there were pressures for asserting a National Identity

against the strong influences of the super power of America and the “motherland”

England. This resulted in deliberate incorporation of native music and musical

instruments. Peter Sculthorpe derived his music from elements of Aboriginal music,

and Richard Meale looked towards the musical experience of south-east Asia

(notably, the harmonics of the Balinese Gamelan).

By the beginning of the 1960s Australian composers like Don Banks, Don Kay,

Malcolm Williamson and Colin Brumby started using a wide musical horizong: form

Aboriginal and south-east Asian music and instruments, to American Jazz and Blues.

Australian Jazz

The history of jazz in Australia dates back to the 19th century. During the gold rush

era of the 1850s American, British and locally formed 'blackface' (white actor-

musicians in blackface) minstrel troupes began to tour Australia, touring not only the

capital cities but also many of the booming regional towns like Ballarat and Bendigo.

Minstrel orchestra music featured jazz-like musical characteristics including

improvisatory embellishment and polyrhythm in the banjo playing and clever

percussion breaks.

A more jazz-like form of minstrelsy reached Australia in the late 1890s in the form of

improvisatory and syncopated coon song and cake-walk music, two early forms of

ragtime. The next two decades brought ensemble, piano and vocal ragtime and

leading (mostly white) American ragtime artists like Ben Harney, 'Emperor of

Ragtime' Gene Greene and pianist Charlie Straight. Some of these visitors influenced

Australian singers by demonstrating to them how to 'rag' (improvise unsyncopated

popular music into ragtime-style music).

By the mid 1920s, phonograph machines, increased contact with American popular

music and visiting white American dance musicians had dominated the jazz scenario.

The first recordings of jazz on disc in Australia started around 1925, first in

Melbourne and soon thereafter in Sydney.

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Soon after World War 2, jazz in Australia diverged into two strands: "dixieland" or

traditional jazz. And the other so-called modernist stream was based around big

band swing, small band progressive swing, boogie woogie, and, by 1947, watered

down version of bebop. By the 1950s American bop, itself, was dividing into so-called

'cool' and 'hard' bop schools, the latter being more polyrhythmic and aggressive.

This division reached Australia on a small scale by the end of the 1950s. From the

mid-1950s rock and roll began to draw young audiences and social dancers away

from jazz. British-style dixieland, called Trad, became popular in the early 1960s.

Most modern players stuck with the 'cool' (often called West Coast) style, but some

experimented with free jazz, modal jazz, experiment with 'Eastern' influences, art

music and visual art concept, electronic and jazz-rock fusions.

The 1970s brought continuing innovation and diversification in jazz. By the late

1980s, it included world music fusion and contemporary classical and jazz

crossovers.

Mainstream modern jazz and dixieland still have the strongest following in Australia.

The famous mainstream artists who have been around for decades, such as One

Night Stand players Dugald Shaw and Blair Jordan, reeds player Don Burrows and

trumpeter James Morrison and, sometimes, the famous pioneer of traditional jazz in

Australia, Graeme Bell.

Country music

Australia has a long tradition of country music. Its style is quite distinct from its U.S.

counterpart. Early roots of Australian Country are related to folk traditions of Ireland,

England, Scotland and many diverse nations. "Botany Bay" from the late 1800s is

one example. Waltzing Matilda, often regarded by foreigners as Australia's unofficial

National anthem, is a quintessential Australian country song, influenced more by

Celtic folk ballads than by American Country and Western music. This strain of

Australian country music, with lyrics focusing on strictly Australian subjects, is

generally known as "bush music" or "bush band music." The most successful

Australian bush band is Melbourne's Bushwackers, active since the early 1970s.

Another, more Americanized form of Australian country music was pioneered in the

1930s by such recording artists as Tex Morton, and later popularized by Slim Dusty,

best remembered for his 1957 song "A Pub With No Beer". In recent years local

contemporary country music, featuring much crossover with popular music, has

enjoyed considerable popularity. Notable musicians of this genre include Beccy Cole,

Gina Jeffreys, Lee Kernaghan and sister Tania Kernaghan, Sara Storer, Felicity

Urquhart, and the hugely successful Kasey Chambers, John Butler Trio, Keith Urban

and Shannon Noll.

Rock and popular music

Australia is known for its wide variety of popular and rock music. Many musicians

and bands (some notable examples include the 1960s successes of The Easybeats

and the folk-pop group The Seekers, through the heavy rock of AC/DC, and the slick

pop of INXS and more recently Savage Garden) have had considerable international

49

success. The most striking common characteristic of Australian music, (as in many

other Australian art forms), is the dry, often self-deprecating humor surfacing in the

lyrics. Rock music has remained the mainstay of Australian music culture and group

releases. Dance music and to an extent, hip hop, has only recently gained some

nationwide acceptance and airplay.

The taste of Australian rock

In the mid-1950s, American rock and roll spread across the world. Sydney's

independent record label Festival Records was the first to get on the bandwagon in

Australia, releasing Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" in 1956. It

became the biggest-selling Australian single ever.

American-born entrepreneur Lee Gordon, who arrived in Australia in 1953, played a

key role in establishing the popularity of rock & roll with his famous "Big Show"

tours, which brought to Australia many leading American rock'n'roll acts including Bill

Haley & His Comets, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Buddy

Holly & The Crickets and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Gordon was also instrumental in launching the career of Johnny O'Keefe, the first

Australian rock star, who rose to fame by imitating Americans like Elvis Presley and

Little Richard. O'Keefe and other "first wave" bands were popular until about 1961.

Though mainstream audiences in the early sixties preferred a clean-cut style --

epitomised by the acts that appeared on the Nine Network pop show Bandstand --

there were a number of 'grungier' guitar-oriented bands in major cities like Sydney

and Melbourne, who were inspired by American and British instrumental and surf

acts like Britain's The Shadows -- who exerted an enormous influence on Australian

and New Zealand music prior to the emergence of The Beatles -- and American acts

like guitar legend Dick Dale and The Surfaris.

Jazz was yet another important influence on the first wave of Australian rock. Unlike

the musicians in bands such as The Comets, or Elvis Presley's backing band, who had

rockabilly or country music backgrounds, many musicians in Australian rock'n'roll

bands -- such as Johnny O'Keefe's famous backing group The Dee Jays -- had a solid

background in jazz.

The Second wave of Australian rock

The "second wave" of Australian rock is said to have begun in about 1964, after the

impact of The Beatles. Beat groups like Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs and Ray Brown &

The Whispers were followed by The Easybeats, the Bee Gees, The Masters

Apprentices, The Loved Ones and cult acts like The Throb. A wave of acts also came

from New Zealand, including Ray Columbus & The Invaders, Max Merritt & The

Meteors, Dinah Lee and The La De Das.

The Third wave of Australian rock

The "third wave" began in about 1970. Few acts from this era got major international

success, and it was even difficult to remain popular in Australia.

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However, hard rock band AC/DC and harmony rock group Little River Band found a

major overseas success in the late 70s and early 80s, touring all over the world,

while a score of Australian expatriates solo performers like Helen Reddy, Olivia

Newton-John and Peter Allen became stars in the USA.

This period also saw bands like Skyhooks moving towards New Wave music, and

punk rock bands like The Saints, as well as electronic musical groups, such as

Cybotron, Severed Heads and Essendon Airport. .Perhaps most influential of the

'underground' scenes, however, was Australian pub rock, which began in Adelaide in

the early 1970s with bands like Cold Chisel and The Angels and in Sydney Midnight

Oil.

From the post-punk music scene that sprung up in Melbourne, The Boys Next Door

featured Nick Cave. The Boys Next Door would eventually become The Birthday

Party.

In 1970 the first ever outdoor music festival modelled on Woodstock was held at

Ourimbah near Sydney, and several other followed over the next two years, but

most were a financial failure.

1980s: rock that rocked Australia

In the 1980s, numerous innovative Australian rock bands such as Hunters &

Collectors, The Church, TISM, Divinyls, Hoodoo Gurus, Mondo Rock, The Sunnyboys,

Men at Work, The Go-Betweens and The Triffids arose. They began to reflect their

urban environment in songs dealing with day to day experiences of inner-city life

e.g. Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls perhaps best exemplified in his songs "From St.

Kilda to Kings Cross" and "Leaps & Bounds", John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong in

songs such us "King Street" and The Mexican Spitfires in tracks like "Sydney Town"

and "Town Hall Steps." This decade also saw the rise of world music groups like Dead

Can Dance; of special importance is Yothu Yindi, who helped found the field of

Aboriginal rock.

1990s: indie rock and alternative rock

The 1990s saw continued overseas success from groups such as AC/DC, INXS, Men

at Work, Midnight Oil, The Bad Seeds, and Crowded House, and a new indie rock

scene develop locally. Sydney-based Ratcat were the first new band to achieve a

mainstream following.

Alternative rock began to gain popularity midway through the 90s, with grunge and

Britpop styles especially popular, resulting in a new wave of Australian bands. Some,

such as Savage Garden and Silverchair, also gained quick success in the United

States, while Something for Kate and Powderfinger gained more success locally.

Bands such as Regurgitator, You Am I, and Spiderbait were hit heavily by the post-

grunge backlash, losing in sales and critical acclaim.

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1990s: Electronic music

Electronic music in Australia emerged in the 1990s, but takes elements from funk,

house, techno, and numerous other genres. Early innovators of the genre in Australia

include Severed Heads, who formed in 1979 and were the first electronic group to

play the Big Day Out.

The genre has developed a wide following, to the point the University of Adelaide

offers an Electronic Music Unit, teaching studio production and music technology.

Traditional rock bands such as Regurgitator have developed an original sound by

combining heavy guitars and electronic influences, and rock-electro groups, most

notably Rogue Traders, have become popular with mainstream audiences. The genre

is considered to be most popular in Melbourne, with multiple music festivals held

nationally in the city.

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10. The ‘Pacific’ Music : The Body Percussion

The Pacific Ocean, which envelopes a third of the earth's surface and which contains

the deepest waters in the world is also a region with deep musical traditions. Regular

influx of colonists and explorers have influenced its musical content. The music

ranges from the ancestral navigational chants and glorious polyphonic singing to

laments about nuclear tests. The ethnic cultures of the Pacific, divided into three

main areas - Melanesia, lying mostly south of the equator, Micronesia, north of the

equator above it, and Polynesia, spread over a huge area to the east has distinct

musical cultures in the region.

Melanesia

The people of Melanesia (from the Greek word melas - black, and nesos - island),

which includes Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji, are very

dark skinned with Afro hair and are thought to have migrated by canoe from East

Africa across the Indian Ocean via Indonesia.

Our knowledge of Melanesian music stems primarily from a few early twentieth-

century German studies in the Caroline Islands plus isolated German and American

efforts before and after World War 2. These materials reveal a predominant vocal

tradition. It emphasizes the heightened speech or the litany chant styles. Melanesian

dances are sitting dances as people make much of the dance movement only from

the upper portions of the body. The island choreography is thus principally the

movement of the arms and hands, which is quite different from African forms which

emphasize on the movement of the feet.

Most singing is integrated with gesture, whether the music be a lament, an

invocation, or a serenade. A great deal of the music is used to accompany dance.

Melanesia has the widest diversity of instruments in the region - all types of drums,

slit-log gongs, a great variety of flutes and pipes - but no stringed instruments apart

from the guitar and ukelele brought in by the Europeans.

Micronesia

Micronesia (from mikros - small) is a group of small islands - including Yap, Truk, the

Marshall and Gilbert islands (Kiribati) - east of the Philippines and north of Melanesia.

The indigenous people are thought to be south-east Asian descent who may share

some music elements with that region. The music is very voice oriented with

chanting, stamping and body percussion. Their songs tell of legendary histories,

genealogies and navigational tales of the islands.

The musical instruments of Micronesia are few. The shell trumpet and nose flute are

the most common, though standard flutes and jews harps are also found. A common

idiophone in Micronesia is a stick that is carried by men in certain dances. The

performers strike each others sticks in the course of the choreography.

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Polynesia

Polynesia comes from the Greek Poly - many; and stretches in a huge triangle from

New Zealand in the south-west to Easter Island 8,000 kilometres away in the south-

east and as far again to Hawaii at its northern apex. The Polynesians are generally

taller, lighter skinned and - it is believed - originated in South-East Asia, migrated to

Fiji and then fanning out over a vast territory from there.

As you head east into Polynesia from Melanesia, the Melanesian flutes disappear and

the instruments become more sparse, but the passion of the music becomes greater

- particular the harmonic content which comes straight from the heart. The "gospel

choirs" of Tahiti are particularly well-known.

Instruments of the Pacific Nations

Broadly speaking, the highland people have more instruments because they have

more wood and other raw materials to access; the atoll people have shells and

coconut trees to make instruments; and the island people have traditionally few

instruments because they didn't carry them in their canoes.

Classification Instrument Country

Slit drums

nafa - Samoa

lali - Fiji

pate - Rarotonga

Sounding

boards

(pulotu)

Common throughout the Pacific

Stamping

tubes Oceania

Jew's harp

(utete) Papua New Guinea

Fala Oceania

Idiophones

Miscellaneous

Half coconut

shell

Hand drum

Handclaps

Body slaps

Polynesia

Melanesia

Micronesia

Aerophones Conch trumpet

Most locations in Polynesia use the conch shell as a

signalling device rather than as a musical

instrument; however they are sometimes used

whenever a group feel high, like at a wedding, a

successful hunt or upon the arrival of important

visitors. The shells used for a trumpet include the

conch and triton.

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Nose flute Papua New Guinea

Polynesia

Pan pipes

Polynesia

Melanesia

Micronesia