Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well and had a
fantastic week. I am very excited to talk about this week’s topic! Music is very
important to me and my family. It has been a part of my family for many years.
I could probably tell you a century’s worth of history of how music relates to
my family, but that would take too long to type, and I know that you all have
other things to do than read my blog. This week’s blog will be how my family’s
influence on me sparked my interest in music and an interview from one of the
people who had the most influence on my interest in music.
I am not sure if this was clear or if I mentioned it before,
but I grew up in a Black Southern Baptist Church. I had a lot of family members
who went to my church. My dad would always point out who was my kin and how
they were my kin every time he spotted someone in the congregation and on the
choir.
Every Sunday after Sunday School, my friends and I would
find a pew to sit in the sanctuary. I would always get excited to hear what
the choir was going to sing. I was mesmerized by how the lead singers would
take charge and move the whole sanctuary by their voices. It meant even more to
me that most of the lead singers were related to me and it made me want to be
just like them. When I was on the choir, I secretly crossed my fingers every
time our choir director said she needed someone to take the lead. I was always
scared because I never thought that my singing voice could ever be as good as my
cousins who led songs all the time.
One person who I always get excited to hear sing is my
grandfather, Beattie Robinson. I chose to interview him because he has a lot of
wisdom and experience in a lot of things. He used to be in a singing group with
his brothers and continues to sing at our church on the choir. Unfortunately, I
did not get him to sing in the interview, but that is because you have to hear him
sing in person. He talks about how music has changed and how music is supposed to give you a feeling instead of being for fame.
I hope you all enjoyed this week's blog. I will see you guys next week!
Hello everyone! I’m backkkkk and I am so excited to share
what this blog is about this weekend. Today, I will be dedicating this whole
blog to the music genre Salsa.
Salsa is a lively Latin music genre that has influences from
Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States. It fuses the Cuban genre Son, Puerto
Rican genre Bomba y Plena and Jazz and R&B American genres. In the 1940s
and the 1950s, Cuban artists would come to the United States to record their music
which was around the same time R&B was becoming popular. In 1959 when Fidel
Castro took control over Cuba, travel between the United States and Cuba was
banned. Cuban musicians could no longer record their music in New York, but
their influences still remained. The Puerto Ricans who lived in New York
combined the styles the Cubans left with the American music styles. This was
the birth of Salsa.
Salsa Music
Cuban Son
and Bomba y Plena
Before I go more into detail about the genre of Salsa, I would
like to break down Son, Bomba, and Plena. Son originated from the Eastern region
of Cuba. In this genre, they use bongos, marimbula, guijad, timbales criollos, cowbells,
botijuela, and claves. Son is also one of the first genres where the clave rhythm
was played in public. According to Master Class, “a clave is a set of repeating
rhythmic accents that are emphasized on top of the groove of a song.” If you
listen to Son and Salsa you will hear that the beats are asymmetrical compared
to other genres like hip hop or rock.
Bomba is a genre that is popular in Puerto Rico and it is
believed to have originated in the 17th century in Loiza. Both Bomba
and Son have influence from West Africa. African slaves created this genre as a
way of worship since they were forbidden to worship their own gods. The lyrics
expressed their anger and sadness for the way they were treated, but the music created
community and moved them to dance and celebrate life. Plena is a genre that developed
out of Bomba. These songs create a narrative and often express how they feel
about topics in the world. You can hear the elements of all of these genres in Salsa.
Son
Bomba y Plena
Lyrics and Instruments
The instruments used in Salsa are pretty much the same
instruments used in Son. According to Salsanet, the instruments used are the
congas, timbales, cowbells, bongos, maracas, claves, marimba, botijuela and other
instruments. Bongos and Congas are the drums that you hear in the Salsa music.
The bongos are a pair of two round drums fastened together in the middle. Musicians
place these instruments in between the knees and play them. Congas are big
drums that produce a deeper sound. Claves are instruments that are a pair of
short wooden cylinders that has a distinct sound. It can be heard amongst all
of the other instruments.
This instrument is really influenced from Cuban Son.
The marimbula is an instrument that reminds me of the mbira from Africa. The
marimbula is a finger piano with circular sound holes and it originated from
French black from Santo Domingo.
Timbales are another drum pair, but it is very
shallow. These drums are made of metal compared to congas and bongos. Botijuela
is an instrument that is created from a potbellied jar that is usually used for
storing oil or milk. This instrument has a hole carved on the side where
musicians blow into the jar to create a sound.
As you can see all of these instruments have influences from
Son, Bomba y Plena and African culture. The lyrics of Salsa music tells a
narrative just like Plena. According to an article on Medium, Salsa music in
the 70s was used to tell stories about different topics. In some songs they
talk about relationship and in others they talk about issues like how poorly
other races are being treated. Down below are two songs with two different meanings by Willie Colon.
Plantacion adentro is a song about the poor treatment of Indians in the
colonial times and La mora is a song about celebrating a beautiful woman.
Artists
Salsa music would not have had a big impact on the world if
it were not for the Fania label. The Fania label was the Motown of Salsa music.
It was founded by Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci in 1964. This record label
produced songs by Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Ruben Blade and Hector Lavoe.
This label helped Salsa become more popularized in New York and with the help
of the Fania All-Star, it became even more well known. The Fania All-Stars
performed at various places and even had concerts sold out in Puerto Rico,
Panama and Chicago.
Salsa is a genre that took over the world. Its lively music
makes everyone happy and gets everyone dancing. After researching this
information, I am moved to listen to more Salsa and maybe take a dance lesson
or two.
I hope you all enjoyed this weeks blog and I will see you
all later
Sources:
Bache, Brendan, et al. “An Introduction to Latin Music:
Salsa History.” Liberty Park Music, 17 Feb. 2020,
www.libertyparkmusic.com/latin-music-salsa-history/.
Bush, John. “Fania All-Stars: Biography & History.”
AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/fania-all-stars-mn0000795130/biography.
Delgado, Abel. “Salsa Is Not About Gritty Barrio Stories.”
Medium, Medium, 24 June 2016, medium.com/@abeladelgado1/salsa-is-not-about-gritty-barrio-stories-6c85d7fe67ca.
“History and Development of the Cuban Son ~ Salsa Music
History, Styles and Rhythmic Patterns ~ Www.justsalsa.com.” Just Salsa,
www.justsalsa.com/salsa/music/son/.
“History of Salsa Music & Dance.” SalsaGente, 11 May
2019, www.salsagente.com/history-of-salsa-music-dance/.
MasterClass. “Learn About Music: Clave Rhythm Definition and
Examples - 2020.” MasterClass, MasterClass, 2 Oct. 2020,
www.masterclass.com/articles/learn-about-music-clave-rhythm-definition-and-examples.
Pethick, Kris. “How Bomba Became Puerto Rico's Most Popular
Genre.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 15 Feb. 2018,
theculturetrip.com/caribbean/puerto-rico/articles/bomba-in-puerto-rico-what-is-so-interesting-and-captivating-about-it/.
Hello everyone! I hope your week was fantastic, and you did phenomenal on your midterm exams if you had them. This week in class we explored the music and culture of some countries in Africa. As we were talking in class, there were some things that I wanted to explore further and share with you guys!
One very interesting instrument that played in West Africa is the Kora. The Kora is an instrument that is played by Griots or Jali, and they use them to tell stories about the past. The Kora originates in small Mandinka areas in the 1700s. It is now a very popular instrument in the Gambia River Vallery amongst the Mali people. This instrument is mainly used by males as most males are Griots, and it is an instrument that has an amazing structure. It is an instrument that is bilateral and it has a bunch of string. It has a very long neck, and it looks like it could be played like a guitar. The Kora is played in an upright position and both hands are used. The thumbs and the index fingers are used to pluck the strings and the other hands are used as support. Down below is a pretty cool song that has the Kora playing with a guitar.
Griots are another aspect of the West African culture that I was really interested in. Griots are the storytellers, musicians, and oral historians in society. They have been around since the 13th century from the Mali Empire. These historians keep the traditions and history alive and train all of their lives to uphold a big responsibility. Griots were responsible for keeping a record of births, deaths, and marriages within the village. Not anyone can become a Griot. You have to be born into the position and train for many years. Griots use instruments like the Kora to tell the history of their people. Once a person who is training to be a Griot master many songs about their heritage, they are given their own instrument. The balafon and the ngoni are two other instruments used during the Griots storytelling, and they also sing too.
Griots are not the only people who sing in this culture. The Isicathamiya choirs are a choir made of 10-25 males who put on amazing performances. It is an a capella genre that originated in South Africa through the Zulu culture. This genre has been existence at least since 1890 when it was mentioned in a newspaper article from the Ilanga Lase Natal. Isicathamiya was mainly prominent among Migrant Workers during the Apartheid era. Now, Isicathamiya choirs have become so popular that they have competitions. They have amazing performances and they sound so lovely. Please enjoy this video of an Isicathamiya competition below and if you want to skip to the performance, please skip to 1:50.
I hope that you found these as interesting as I did. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. I hope that you all will have a great week next week and I'll see you soon!
