Music and Us - Our New Playlist

 

For this blog I was really excited to do since there was a few countries I was sad that we could not get to in class. Here is my new playlist with the music I was able to research!

The first culture I decided to dive into was the Inuit culture which is located in North America. 

I picked this because I thought it was interesting how they don't need to use lyrics to be able to make music! This is throat singing which is also called Katajjaq. What I thought was interesting from this culture compared to the others we've learned in class is the group who would preform this would actually be the women instead of the men. This is because men were normally out hunting so the women developed Katajjaq to be able to entertain themselves!

 

 

A modern example of Inuit culture would be an artist by the name Aasiva. She is a young Inuit singer and songwriter from Panniqtuuq, Nunavut, Canada. She combines traditional Inuit style of throat singing and lyrics with indie folk.  In the beginning of her singing you can see that she utilizes the throat singing! She even combines a ukulele into her music which traditionally wouldn't be used. Inuit style of what they write about is community and relations. In her song, Niriunniq, she brings these values to life! She does also sing in English about the same themes and in the same style.

Another culture I was interested in was Russia which is located in both Europe and Asia.  I decided to research traditional music from here. I have always been interested in Russian culture so I thought it would be fun to research it! Traditional Russian music had a fast paced tempo and used a traditional instrument such as the balalaika. This music was used mostly for weddings and harvest festivals. They would often dance to music in regalia. These dances include Barynya and the most popular being the Trepak. For the song is chose is what I thought of when you think of traditional russian music. I can definitely see people doing a ‘squat and leg pop’ out to this song.

For my last piece of music, I decided to research traditional Vietnamese music, which is located in Asia. More specifically the Quan Ho singing. The Quan Ho is where men and women alternate singing with each group singing from a different village. It is used to express spirit, philosophy and identities of  surrounding communities and to make friends as well! The Quan Ho been traditionally associated with festivals. This type of music has been around forever. It was first introduced in the 13th century. It is still used today and has its own regalia for when performing. It usually consists of a layered dress and a big hat.

Conclusion: I learned a lot from doing this blog and enjoyed it very much! I so wish we were able to cover cultures such as Russia!