Music and Gender

 

Hello! I hope everyone is having a good week so far. For this week's blog, we are going to be discussing the effect gender has on music preferences. 

In your playlist, have you noticed there is one gender that you listen to more than the other? I have more male artists in my playlists, and they sing songs about being successful, break ups, promiscuity, and being in love. If you have more male artists in your playlist, you may be wondering why. Look in the music industry, and you will see the males dominating in most genres. Also, in each of these genres, you will see most of the songs are about love. I am not an expert on love and relationships, but it seems to me that music is a way for guys to attract their love interests. As I look through my playlists, most of the older songs are about love. One of my favorite songs, "All I Do Is Think of You" by Troop, is about how the singer has a crush on a girl at school. As I listen to the song, I feel as though I am the girl that he is trying to get. 

R&B is a genre that mainly has songs about love and heartbreaks. This is my favorite genre because it makes me feel like I am the person the artist is singing to just like in the song "All I Do Is Think of You." It seems like more women like listening to R&B and Pop genres, and men seem to listen to more Rap and Rock songs. At my high school, I remember overhearing a conversation a group was having about what type of music they listen to. One of the girls in the group said that she listened to a rap artist that the guys liked. The guys were very shocked.

Stereotypes about different gender listening to certain genres also affect women in the music industry. Usually, women in the music industry are singers in the Pop and R&B genres. A few years ago, it was rare to see women in the Rap industry, but now, you will see that women rappers are becoming more common. Unfortunately, women in the rap industry do not get the same respect as men.

 

The music industry is an industry that is dominated by males, but women are slowly creeping behind them. I believe that more women will be in the industry and they may dominate the males in the future.

What are some of your favorite songs and how what do you think about music and gender?

I will see you guys next week!

Cool Stuff: South America

 

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic week. This week in class, we learned about the Andean Natives that live in South America. I enjoyed learning about their culture and I thought it would be fun to explore musical aspects in South America. I have always wanted to visit and enjoy the southern side of the Latin American culture. The first stop that we are making today is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Carnival is a well-known festival that happens every year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a fun festival with parades and dancing that many people celebrate. Carnival was originally a food festival in the Catholic faith, and it was brought over from Portugal. It was a festival that signaled the start of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting. The first Carnival festivals were elegant balls that were hosted in Portuguese elites’ houses. They looked down upon the lower classes and African descendants and Carnival was segregated for many years. It was until the 20^th century when Carnival was desegregated, and the people celebrated together. Many of the Carnival festival that we know today is influenced by African culture. The parades were to ward off evil spirits and the feathered costumes symbolized rebirth and the rise of the spirits. Here is a video that goes into a little bit more about the origin story of Carnival if you are interested.

Our next stop we will be taking this week is Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Tango has a African, European and native Argentinean influence. It was a very popular dance in the the late 1880's among poor immigrants in Buenos Aires. The Tango was influenced by the emotion of young immigrant men who missed their families and wanted a better life for themselves. It is believed that Tango developed from African-Argentine dance venues, like bars and dance halls, from young immigrant men called compadritos. Tango was looked down upon in the upper class and they tried to keep it confined with in the lower class community. Now, Tango is a dance that is know and appreciated by many countries around the world.

Our last stop for the week is Medellin,Colombia. One artist who I am starting to like is Karol G. She is from Colombia and is a very versatile Latin American artist. Karol G always was passionate about music. She started off as a reggaeton artist and came out with her first single at the age of 16. She gained more popularity when she competed in El Factor X which is the Colombian version of The X Factor. She has collaborated with other Latin American artists like Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Nicky Jam, Bad Bunny Ozuna and J Balvin and also Hip Hop/Rap artists like Nicki Minaj and Pop Smoke. She won the 2019 Best Song at the Premio ASCAP ceremony and was nominated for three Billboard Latin Music Awards. Here are a couple of songs that are sings. Also, beware of Tusa because it is explicit.

Well that's all for this weeks blog. I hope you enjoyed visiting South America and let me know what do you think?

Sources:

Argentine Tango -- A Brief History, www.tejastango.com/tango_history.html.

“Brazilian Musical Instruments " Natal.” Natal, 28 June 2019, www.natalriograndedonorte.com/brazilian-musical-instruments/.

Brown, Sarah. “How Did Brazil's Carnival Start?” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 4 Jan. 2018, theculturetrip.com/south-america/brazil/articles/how-did-brazils-carnival-start/.

“Carnival History: Brazil Carnival.” Carnival History | Brazil Carnival |RioCarnaval.org, www.riocarnaval.org/brazil-carnival/carnival-history.

Collar, Matt. “Karol G: Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/karol-g-mn0003495582/biography.

“Tango History - Origin and Characteristics of Tango.” History of Tango - Origin and Characteristics of Tango, www.dancefacts.net/tango/history-of-tango/.

“Who Is Karol G? Everything You Need to Know.” Karol G (Carolina Giraldo Navarro) - Bio, Facts, Family Life of Colombian Singer, www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/karol-g-43626.php.

Music and Religion

Hello everyone! This week we are going to talk about my experience with music and religion. Growing up in a Southern Black Baptist Church the belief of God and Jesus has been instilled in me ever since I was a child. If you come to our church, you will see that music is an essential part of our worship. We believe that God gives everyone talents or gifts that are meant for us to use to worship and praise Him. Music is one aspect that brings many gifts together to create a joint worship with musicians and people with talents that are not musical.

https://www.quotemaster.org/religion+of+music#&gid=1&pid=7

During our church service, you will hear at least five or six different songs. Some songs we sing together as a congregation, some songs would be sung by the choir and other songs are instrumentals.  Even though there are different types, all songs are meant to bring us closer to God spiritually through the lyrics. Songwriters compose their songs based off of scriptures from our Holy book called the Bible. We believe that Bible gives us God’s spoken word and lessons. One song called “They That Wait” by Fred Hammond is a song based off the scripture Isaiah 40:31 KJV. It is an upbeat song that encourages people to keep pushing through their problems. It references this scripture the whole song as it tells its listeners to wait for the Lord because he will give you the strength to endure when you feel like you cannot push through.

The next video is a clip from the Mount Zion Baptist Church Choir. In this video you will see the whole church singing a hymn called “How to Reach the Masses”. In the last song, the congregation would be sitting down listening to the choir sing but in this video, everyone is standing up singing. You will see a man standing in front of the choir in the front facing the audience conducting his hands to the music. He is called the choir director and he directors both choirs and the whole church when they sing hymns. You will also hear instruments that are different from the first video. In Baptist churches, the most common instruments you will see are pianos, organs and drums, but it is not rare to see other instruments. We believe that any instrument can be used if it will please God.

There are also slow songs too. One of my favorite song is called “Imagine Me” by Kirk Franklin. In this video, you will see the choir director playing the piano and most of the congregation is sitting down. Sometimes, people will stand up clapping and the choir director will try to engage the audience to sing with the choir.

I hope that you all enjoyed this week’s blog. I am very interested to see what you think about this musical culture. I am also interested to see how music is influential in your religion and if you do not have one how it is influential in your life. I will see you guys next week!

Cool Stuff: Native American Culture

Native Americans are people who appreciate life and community. They express this with their music and their clothing. After learning a little bit about Native American music, I knew that I had to learn more about their unique culture. A few of the things that interested me were drums, dancing and their clothing.

Drums

Drums are the heartbeat of Mother Nature that brings Native tribes together. Native Americans use drums during ceremonies to connect their people from the physical world to the spirit world. Drums bring balance to the Native's lives, and the circle shape represents the circle of life. There are many different types of drums, and they all make different sounds. Many Native American drums are made from animal hides and wood. Natives believe that animal hides give drums a unique spirit from the animal they hunted. They are usually big, between 2-3 feet, and have more than one drummer striking during ceremonies. One ceremony Native take apart in is Round Dancing.

Round Dancing

Dancing is an essential part of Native American culture. The Round Dance is a dance of community and connection to Mother Nature. It is a dance that takes place during ceremonies and social events for celebration, healing, and acknowledgment. The Cree tribe, the tribe that is known for this dance, usually hold the dance celebration during the winter months at night. It starts at night at around eight o'clock to after midnight. The dance participants dance in a circle while holding hands with other participants with the drummers in the center.  While the dancers are dancing, the drummers are striking the drums in unison and singing. The video below gives more information about round dancing and how to do it.

Regalia

If you ever go to a Pow Wow, you will see many people dressed in bright colors, feathers, and face paint. These "costumes" are Regalia. Regalia is a form of self-expression that Natives create to express themselves and feel connected to their ancestors. It is a bridge between modern-day and ancestral wear that reflects their personality. Native Americans make their Regalia out of valuable things like family heirlooms or simple materials like T-Shirts and cheap moccasins. Regalia wore by dance participants have to make sure that none of the pieces of their outfits fall off because they have to have a spiritual cleansing to make sure their dance is not imbalanced.

Sources:

http://native-dance.ca/en/renewal/cree-round-dances/

https://www.sktcorp.com/round-dancing-a-tribal-tradition-at-powwows/

https://prairieedge.com/tribe-scribe/pow-wow-regalia/

https://folklife.si.edu/online-exhibitions/american-indian-powwows/regalia/smithsonian#:~:text=Powwow%20regalia%20is%20a%20powerful,%2C%20interests%2C%20and%20family%20background.

https://drummingreview.com/native-american-drums/

http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8913#:~:text=Just%20like%20many%20things%20in,it%20to%20play%20and%20sing.