The Music Studio http://www.themusicstudio.ca [email protected] 416.234.9268 World Music Reference Welcome to The Music Studio’s World Music Reference! This is meant to be a brief introduction to the greater world of musical styles found in cultures around the globe. This is only the smallest sampling of the incredible forms of music that can be found once you leave the comfort of your own playlist! Dive in, explore, and find a style of music that speaks to you in a way might never have heard otherwise! North America Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-KluFB9A8M The Blues is a genre and form of music that started out in the Deep South of the United States sometime around the 1870s. It was created by African Americans from roots in African musical traditions, African American work songs, and spirituals – an oral tradition that imparted Christian values while also describing the terrible hardships of slavery. Early blues often took the form of a loose story or narrative, usually relating to the discrimination and other hardships African Americans faced. The Blues form, which is now found throughout jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, is characterized by a call-and-response pattern, the blues scales, and specific song structure – of which, the 12-bar blues has become the most common. The Blues is also characterized by its lamenting lyrics, distinctive bass lines, and unique instrumentation. The earliest traditional blues verses used a single line repeated four times. It wouldn’t be until the early part of the 20th century that the most common blues structure currently used became standard: the AAB pattern. This pattern is made up of a line sung over the first four bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last four bars. Learn more about the Blues here. Hip-Hop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM As one of the most undeniably popular genres of music in North America, hip-hop is a cultural and artistic movement that was created by African, Latino, and Caribbean Americans in the Bronx, New York City in the early to mid-1970s. The scene originally rose from neighbourhood block parties thrown by the Black Spades, a group of African Americans who were sometimes described as a gang, a club, or a musical group. While the term “hip-hop” is usually used to refer to hip-hop music (which can include rap, depending on the definition), hip-hop is generally made up of nine key elements, only four of which are essential to understanding the musical aspects of hip-hop. Those four main pillars of hip-hop culture include: • Emceeing, or rapping, a rhythmic vocal rhyming style. • DJing, or turntablism, which is making music using record players and DJ mixers. • B-boying/b-girling/breakdancing, a distinct form of movement and dance. • Graffiti. The other five elements of hip-hop include knowledge of the movement, beatboxing, which is a percussive vocal style, street entrepreneurship, hip-hop language or slang, and hip-hop fashion and style, among others. Sometimes, though there is often a great deal of debate, street knowledge, fashion, and beatboxing are all considered a fifth pillar of hip-hop. Learn more about hip-hop here. South America Bossa Nova https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5ALPzS0QfQ Developed and popularized in the 1950s and 1960s, bossa nova has become one of the best- known Brazilian music styles. The name bossa nova literally translates into “new trend” or “new wave,” and featured a lyrical fusion of samba and jazz. At its core, bossa nova has a rhythm based on samba. Samba features the combination of rhythmic patterns and feel that originated in former African slave communities. Samba uses an emphasis on the second beat, which is carried through to bossa nova. That said, unlike the samba, bossa nova doesn’t have any particular dance steps to accompany it. When it comes to vocals, bossa nova brought a new style of singing to Brazil. Before bossa nova’s rise Brazilian singers used a brassy, almost operatic style. But once bossa nova’s popularity spiked, the characteristic naval voice production that is a particular trait of the caboclo folk tradition found in northeastern Brazil become popular. The themes found in bossa nova lyrics usually include women, longing, homesickness, and nature. Bossa nova was typically apolitical, and the musical lyrics of the late 1950s showed off the easy life of the middle to upper-class of Brazil – despite the majority of the population belonging to the working class. Learn more about bossa nova here. Tango https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW71-sVyMzM Originating among the European immigrants in Argentina and Uruguay, tango music and dance have become popular across the globe. Utilizing a 2/4 or 4/4 time signature, tango is traditionally played on a solo guitar, guitar duo, or an ensemble called the orquesta típica, which is made up of at least two violins, a flute, piano, double bass, and at least two bandoneons, a traditional instrument similar to an accordion. Sometimes guitars and a clarinet are invited to join the ensemble, and tango can feature lyrics, or be purely instrumental. In addition to European influences, early tango was influenced by the locally by the payada, a competitive composing and singing of verses, the milonga, a lively Argentinian and Uruguayan musical genre, and candombe, a style of music and dance that was brought to Uruguay by enslaved Africans. Tango reached the world, beginning in France, around 1920, with superstars of the genre bringing it to new audiences, especially in the United States thanks to the sensuality of the dance moves. Across Europe and the US, tango moved out of the lower-class clubs, and became the respectable form of music and dance we know it to be today. This led to the golden age of tango from around 1935 to 1952, when tango was performed with ensembles with over a dozen performers. Learn more about tango here. Europe Flamenco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNhfV_53W7A Strictly speaking, flamenco is actually an art form that is based on a variety of musical traditions found in southern Spain. Speaking more broadly, flamenco is often used to refer to a variety of Spanish musical styles. The exact origin of what we all flamenco today is unknown, and the subject of much debate. The most widespread and accepted belief is that flamenco was developed through the cross- cultural exchanges between the Romani people of Spain during the 16th century, and primarily credits the Spanish Romani as the direct creators of the style. Manuel Ríos Ruiz noted that the development of flamenco is well known: “the theatre movement of sainetes (one-act plays) and tonadillas, popular song books and song sheets, customs, studies of dances, and toques, perfection, newspapers, graphic documents in paintings and engravings....in continuous evolution together with rhythm, the poetic stanzas, and the ambiance." Since then, flamenco has become popular around the world, including the United States, and in particular, Japan, where there are now more flamenco academies than there are in Spain. Thanks to this global popularity, on November 16, 2010, UNESCO declared flamenco one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Learn more about flamenco here. Polka https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j11MOncimNQ Originally a genre of music and dance to go with it from the Czech Republic, polka has become familiar throughout all of Europe and the Americas. Originating in the middle 1800s in Bohemia, now a part of the Czech Republic, today the polka remains a popular form of folk music in many European and American countries and is performed by countless folk artists (and at least one popular parody musician!) The rise in popularity for polka and its dance is generally attributed to a young woman named Anna Slezáková. Her dance teacher, Josef Neruda, noticed her dancing oddly to a local folk song in 1830. Legend has it she named the dance Maděra, or “Madeira wine,” because of its liveliness and energy. Neruda then took her dance, put the song to paper, and went on to teach it to others. By 1835, the polka had made its way to the ballrooms of Prague, and then on to Vienna by 1839. And finally, in 1840 it was introduced to Paris by a Prague dance teacher named Raab. There, is was so popular there was a bit of “polkamania” that help spread the genre and dance to London and then the Americas. It remained a popular ballroom dance up until the latter part of the 19th century, when it was replaced by the two-step and the newer ragtime dances. Learn more about polka here. Africa Kwela https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHjkFZcZ9ik A pennywhistle-based form of street music, kwela is characterized by jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive beat. Evolving out of marabi, another South African musical style, kwela brought South African music to the international stage in the 1950s. With roots in southern Africa, kwela has influenced and been influenced by western music. This fusion has helped to give modern South African music, especially jazz, a lot of its distinctive and swinging strut. As for why its performers use the pennywhistle so prominently, one simple answer is the low cost and portability of the instrument. The pennywhistle is also great for both solos and as a part of an ensemble. What’s more, the popularity of the pennywhistle may simply be an evolution of the fact that flutes of different kinds have been traditional instruments among the people of South Africa for centuries.