Japanese Noh Theatre

Here is list of examples that you expect to find in Japanese Noh Theatre.

- Noh served ,in a way, as a emblem to preserve their Buddhist and traditional values during the late fourteenth century and early fifteenth century.

- Most noh music is nonpulsatile.

- The musicians did not rehearse their music at all, but they try pick up after each other to keep up.

- The hayahsi is a musical ensemble that is made of four instruments: The aerophonic instrument called the nohkan bamboo flute, and three membranophone instruments called the ko-tsuzumi. the taiko cylindrical drum, and the o-tsukumi drum.

- The ko-tsuzumi is considered the most important drum in the hayashi because they are able to control the pitch with the strings attached to the drums.

- Nohkan bamboo flute produces a floaty tone through overblowing.

- Drummers play separate distinctive beats throughout the play.

- The singin style of noh is related to Buddhist chants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quqqc1shAtU

Hindustani: North Indian Classical music

Hindustani has several elements familiar to many music cultures around the world. Though the piece may sound Arabic or even Iranian to some, the nature of the song sounds different with the use of synthesized beats. You can hear a steady beat throughout the song or sometimes the drummers can take over the beat. The song is clearly homophony due to how there is lead male singer, and a lead female singer accompanied with what I believe sounds like a sitar and bansuri playing along.

There is a bansuri solo played between the lead parts of the singers, but the roles in this piece does not change much at all. The singer have these long, noticeable cadences in the song create some sort ambient mood around it. The drones, a string instrument, ornaments the piece while the aerophones and drums are played in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBHyZd2qr3k

Googoosh? Why yes...

As we further explore deeper into the music culture of of various countries, Googoosh's music uses several instruments that I find surprising to hear as well as her peculiar style. Googoosh sounds like she was influenced by bit swing and jazz in some of the songs due to number of well-known aerophones used throughout her work like the french horn. From the videos of her performances, I assume she trying to convey a story about love through her usage of the rasa and interweaves them with the jazzy sound to create a rather familiar blend know to westerners.

Her music style was homophonic. She manages to sustain a candence pitch in one of her pieces, but I'm having trouble if its whether samvadid or plain vadi due to lack any proper knowledge of the Indian music culture. The gamak is present throughout the piece and creates a rather alluring sound to reach in grab the audience's anticipation. The large absence of her singing in certain periods of the song help create the anticipation of the audience. It doesn't try to be exotic in any way, but it achieves in creating an atmosphere of remorse for the lover in the song. The french horns give off the sounds of panic and distress through this piece while her singing seem to be rather guidance. Exploring the Iranian music culture made me think how much western music has influenced other countries and how they seem to welcome it.

Edit: I just realized that I categorize this type of music as Indian when it is clearly Iranian. Well, there are some common Arabic sounds throughout her music to fool people into believing it was done by them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x36bTfKOLIE&feature=related

40th Anniversary of UT Dallas Concert

The UT Dallas Music Faculty Concert pulled off a thrilling performance last Friday night. Though the weather was a bit chilly, that did not stop some students from attending. The students seemed to have enjoyed it as well based upon how frantic their applause were. There was a wide variety sounds that I never would of expected to come from Latin music. Ranging from the eerie distortions from The All-Purpose Rag to the smooth sound of How Insensitive.
The Tango di Tango was the last piece they performed for the night. Before they played the tune, they informed us how this type of music consider a taboo for some religions many years ago. From what I heard that night, I can see how someone feel "dirty" listening to this form of music. The song felt like the violin had the main lead and the piano supported the melody while the accordion kept up with a slow, monotonous pitch throughout the piece. Most of the song was loose and kept the violin player from overthrowing the piano piece.
The students remained stiff throughout each piece that played until the violinist got off stage and plucked the string into some random student's face during the Jig. Everyone had a hearty laugh afterward and swiftly reverted back to their natural state. I like that they portrayed well their love for music and as well in their enthusiastic audience.