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Ethnomusicology 20A: Musical Cultures of the World, Europe and the Americas

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Listening Assignment 1

Listening Assignment 2

Listening Assignment 3

Listening Assignment 4

Listening Assignment Form

Special Events for Ethnography Assignment

Performance Assignment

Book Review Instructions

Musical Ethnography List

Week Four Reading Assignment Change

Midterm Study Guide

Extra Credit Assignment

Ethnomusicology 20A Listening Assignment #2 Using the forms you used for the first listening assignment, listen to and make comments on the following ten examples. Five of them come from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and are available through the permanent URLs. The other five are on the online listening digital course reserves. If you have any trouble understanding the assignment, please consult your TA. 1."Di Shvartse Khasene (The Black Wedding)" Khevrisa: European Klezmer Music. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 40486 track 10. Permanent URL: http://uclosangeles2.classical.com/permalink/recording/2147539854/ Beginning in the 17th century, Jews in Eastern Europe used Yiddish term Klezmer (pl. klezmorim) for a professional musician, derived from the Hebrew for musical instruments. Professional klezmorim formed an occupational cast, intermarrying at times with families of the wedding jesters. Klezmer ensembles were exclusively male and featured no vocal genres except for the wedding rhymes and songs of the wedding jesters. This track was played in the cemetery as an invitation for the dead parents of an orphan bride or groom to join with the living in celebrating the wedding. The original melody is based on prayer motifs in C minor, with modulations into F Minor, C freygish, and E flat minor. One historical performance of this piece was at a wedding held in a town called Glinyany in 1915 on the occasion of the outbreak of cholera during World War I. An orphan girl was married off by the community to a poor laborer. The klezmorim donated their services, and the good deed of the community was supposed to ward off further death and catastrophe. (Adapted from the liner notes to the album by Dr. Walter Zev Feldman). 1. "Freylach in D" performed by Klezmer Juice. From Klezmer Juice, Actions Speak Louder than Words, track 3. CD produced by Gustavo Bulgach, Los Angeles, 2003. Gustavo Bulgach, clarinet; Michael Barsimanto, drums and percussion; Marco Tulio, nylon string guitar; Oliver Steinberg, upright bass; Michael Bolger, accordion, mellophone and muted trumpet (from album notes, not all instruments necessarily appear in this track). Online listening example. Klezmer dance melody played in concerts and at wedding dances in the USA and Argentina (the principal player had just returned from Argentina when he played for the class). This is a Freylach, or happy and fast piece, of the type played by Klezmer Juice at the end of their performance on January 29th. I believe Gustavo Bulgach called it "Klezmer Punk"-wild, untamed, inflaming. Listen for the virtuoso lead instrument, the song structure, and the characteristic spaces between the notes. Dance! 3. "Mi nino curro (Rondena)"Live in America by Paco de Lucia, track 1. This is in the online listening. This piece was discussed by Juben Rabbani in his talk on Flamenco on January 31, 2007. Listen for the elements described in class. It is a long piece-8 minutes-so get comfortable. 4. "Mariena Del Alcor" in Antologia Inedita by Camaron de la isla, track 5. This is available on the online course reserve listening for this course. This is another example of Flamenco, also discussed on January 31st. Here you get brilliant guitar playing, the percussive beats on the floor, and also singing, which is an important part of the tradition. 5. Carnival Bells and Bagpipes from Bulgaria (through online reserve) From Timothy Rice, Music in Bulgaria, Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. Oxford University Press 2004. CD accompanying the book, track 17. Online listening example. This music is performed during Carnival-a time of merrymaking before the beginning of Lent. Professor Rice described the dancing and performances using these bells in his talk for the class. This is specifically a parade for Mardi Gras, or Carnival, in the days before the beginning of Lent. 6. "Surdo Vadio," Rio de Janeiro Carnaval Samba Percussion, from Bateria Nota 10, Batucada. Compass Rose 3003 714 track 2. (Online listening example) A bateria is a Brazilian percussion orchestra, and a batucada is a percussion piece. This one begins with the big drum, the surdo. Then other instruments come in, one after another, until the full percussion orchestra creates a samba rhythm, associated with Rio de Janeiro's carnaval. Listen for the way the rhythms of the different instruments are combined to create a dance groove together. This example is particularly clear as they come in one after the other. Listen for how the band is controlled. The Rio de Janeiro samba parade bands are restricted to percussion instruments, and as a result the "samba schools" parade with huge percussion bands. For live feeds from Brazil during carnaval in Rio de Janeiro (February 2-5), check out http://redeglobo.globo.com/ 7. "Sew, Sew, Sew" performed by the White Cloud Hunters Mardi Gras Indians. Charles Taylor, lead vocals; Debra Taylor, tambourine and vocals; Johnny Cool, tambourine and vocals; Mosquito Augusta, vocals; Lionel Oubichon, paint-bucket drums; Darryl Johnson, bass drum; Traynelle Mitchel, vocals. From the album Blues Routes: Heroes & Tricksters, Blues & Jazz, Worksongs & Street Music. SFW 40118 track 13. Permanent URL: http://uclosangeles2.classical.com/permalink/recording/2147539191/ From the liner notes for this track: Mardi Gras in New Orleans conjures up images of tourism, drunken crowds, and floats peopled by mock royalty, but the European pre-Christian tradition also has an African presence-the Mardi Gras Indians-among the strongest musical links to Afro-Caribbean, South America, and African tradition to be found in the United States. The hierarchical groups of Black men parade on foot through the city on Mardi Gras day dressed in stylized Plains Indians costumes of their own design and construction, featuring elaborate patterns and figures of feathers, beads, and sequins. Group names such as Creole Wild West, Wild Tchouptoulas, and Golden Eagles derived from turn-of-the-century group names and show respect for the American Indians' resistance to colonial domination as well as a fascination with Wild West Show costumery and images. Each of these "tribes" includes a "Big Chief," "Wild Man," "Spy Boy," and "Flag Man." As they dance and chant along their neighborhood route, the "Indians" confront other tribes. Historically, fights for turf control and individual self esteem were played out at these encounters, but today most of the battling is done with costume and song. The title, "Sew, Sew, Sew" refers to the intense work men proudly do on their elaborate costumes in the time leading up to Mardi Gras. They are ornamented with beads, sequins, and colored plumage. (descriptive notes adapted from Nicholas Spitzer's liner notes to this track (13) in the CD booklet (no page numbers given). 7. "The Parade of the Krewe of Momus, When the Saints Go Marching In / Margie / South Rampart Street Parade" (medley). From Music of New Orleans, Vol. 1: Music of the Streets: Music of Mardi Gras. Folkways Records FW02461, published 1958. Permanent URL: http://uclosangeles2.classical.com/permalink/recording/2147507779/ This is a 50-year old street recording of a Mardi Gras parade held the day before Lent began in 1958 in New Orleans. Listen to the ambient sounds and the brass band. Brass bands are a long-standing New Orleans tradition. They were influential in the emergence of jazz in the early 20th century. Brass bands music was one of the early globalized musical genres, spreading with military units during the 16th-20th centuries. Bands are to be found in many parts of Europe and the Americas. They are often made up of members of a particular locality-a neighborhood, a school, a workplace, a town or city, or a military group. 8. "Rhythm for Iansã" (toque para iansã). Alabês e Ogãs do Terreiro do Gantois. From Música do Brasil. Abril Entretenimento, CD number 3, track 3. Online listening examples. Brazilian Candomblé is a religion whose principal beliefs, rituals, song language can be traced to roots in West Africa. This track is a Brazilian Candomblé rhythm from Salvador, Bahia. It is performed by the Alabês e Ogãs do Terreiro do Gantois. In Candomblé, Iansã is the goddess (Portuguese orixá, Spanish Oricha, Haitian lwa) of the wind and storms. The first wife of Xangô, Iansã is often combined with the figure of a Catholic saint- Santa Barbara in Brazil and Our Lady of Candelaria in Cuba. Each orixá has its own dance and its own distinctive rhythm. These are played by the Candomblé ensemble, which is largely comprised of a metal bell (agogó) and three drums that are themselves treated as divinities. In the church (terreiro) of Gantois the leadership of the drums passes from generation to generation. 9. "Bosou Djo Eya; (Mayi Rhythm). Sociètè Jour M'alongè Fòc Nan Point Dieu Devant, Carrefour 1987. Recorded by David Yi. From Rhythms of Rapture: Sacred Musics of Haitian Vodou, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 40464, track 3. Permanent URL: http://uclosangeles2.classical.com/permalink/recording/2147534592/ If you click on the "liner notes" button you will get a very good introduction to Haitian Vodou and its music written by Elizabeth McAlister, David Yih, and Gerdès Fleurant. Music is a form of direct communication with the spirits in Haitian Vodou. When the priestess raises her rattle-and-bell to shake it, the drummers have their cue to roll back and forth louder and louder and "heat up" the space. Singing and drumming are a form of devotion and are considered spiritual "work" in Haiti. (adapted from Elizabeth McAlister, liner notes p. 2-3) This performance by the musicians of the Sociètè Jour M'alongè Fòc Nan Point Dieu Devant is under the direction of Cèlitè Estimè (songleader) and Ynold Colin (lead drummer). In addition to the three Port-au-Prince Rada drums, this group uses four low-pitched frame drums called bas and an iron idiophone. You can also hear Cèlinè's rattle and handbell (the sacred ason and klòch). This is a typical instrumentation for groups in the active Vodou scene of the Carrefour neighborhood of Port-au-Prince (David Yih, notes to track, p 11 of liner notes). 10. Oru Para Todos los Santos (Part 2): Elegguá/Oggún/Ochosi/Inle San Cristóbal de Regla gourd ensemble. From Sacred Rhythms of Cuban Santeria. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 40419 track 19. Click the permanent URL: http://uclosangeles2.classical.com/permalink/recording/2147541473/ In Cuba, as in Brazil and Haiti, specific drum patterns are associated with specific sacred entities. This example, from the archives of the Center for Investigation of Cuban Music in Havana, is a recording of the drumming rhythms associated with four different saints in Cuban Santeria: Elegguá, Oggún, Ochosi, and Inle. The CD page below describes the ensemble (you are only listening to the first four saints). It is written by Olavo Alén, Director of the Center and is taken from the liner notes to the CD. You may view all the liner notes by clicking on the "liner notes" button for this track.

UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicology 20A: Musical Cultures of the World, Europe and the Americas

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