It's been fun in this class to learn more about what music in different cultures sound like, and but also to see their similarities and differences. It definitely made me have more of an open mind after taking this class and now every time I listen to music, I pay more attention to it and I am able to enjoy it more. This "playlist" was so exciting to make and I hope you enjoy listening to!
For this first culture that I picked, I am going to talk about Brazil (shocker) for one last time. Brazil is located in South America, but its songs has nothing to do with the other South American countries that we learned about it in class (it's better of course). In the modern world, Brazilians like to take songs and remix them into a Funk beat. This type of songs are played a lot in clubs and in the night out in general, and there's no instruments to it, it's mainly the beats made by the DJs equipment. This kind of song is definitely not what I used to on a daily day to day normal life, but something I will always listen to when I want to get hyped up! "Pump it" by DJ GBR is a little "older" but it's still so good and it's one style of song I love to show it to my friends in the US.
Next up, the country that I pick is Jamaica. This country is located in the Caribbean Sea and West Indies and it's filled with mountains, and beautiful beaches. Jamaica is the birth place of reggae music, so of course I am going to talk about Bob Marley. Marley started of playing the ska, which is one of the traditional instruments, along with mento. The reggae has a "chill" and I tend to listen to it sometimes when I'm very overwhelmed and need to calm down. Along with reggae, dancehall is another thing important in the Jamaican culture, with energetic performances and a street level voice to the international stage. Hawaiians listen to a lot of reggae songs, and this song by Bob Marley reminds me so much of Hawaii.
This next country I picked is South Korea. This country is located in Asia, and its know for having heavy military boarders, specially the boarder with North Korea. South Korea however, is know for its k- pop, which is a dynamic industry with pop, hip-hop, R&B and electronic styles. The boy band BTS is very famous and they have been breaking Korean music out for other countries. Traditional South Korea music is known as gugak, a rich expression of the country's history, emotions and natural beauty. It includes Pansori- a dramatic story telling, samulnori- an energetic percussion ensemble featuring four traditional instruments. I attached bellow a video of a woman singing where she includes the Pansori- so her singing is a story telling!
For my last country I chose Greece. TRaditional Greek music is rooted in ancient history, with instruments such as bouzouki, lyra, and santouri, and styles such as ratiko, a soulful urban fold genre. Fold dances like syrtaki and kalamatianos often accompany lively melodies. In modern days, Greek music fuses these traditional sounds with global genres, and have famous artists like Sakis Rouvas, and Helena Paparizou. For this example, I chose a song that also brought a lot of the traditional dance as well as traditional music.
Like I said, it's fun to see how similar and different at the same time the songs from different cultures are. I think the Greek music might be similar to some Italian songs and also mentioned how the Jamaican music are just like the Hawaiian songs. It's fun to see how unique they are at the same time, Koreans traditional songs are filled with emotion and very interesting to see!
Since my dad plays instruments at home and is always playing Samba with his friends, he becomes a big reference for me when it comes to music. However, I decided to interview my mom for this assignment because she listens to more of a diverse music genres, my dad only listen to Samba and the Beatles, so it would be no fun to interview him. My mom was born in 1965 in the south of Brazil, and the moved to the Southeast, which is where I was born.
Interview
Me: What did you listen to when you were my age?
Mom: A lot of Nacional rock like Titans, Barao Vermelho,
Cazuza, Legiao Urbana, and international would be Queen. Also, a lot of the songs that
played at nightclubs from the 70/80s like Tina Turner, and I loved to dance to
these songs.
Me: Do you still listen to those kinds of songs?
Mom: I rarely listen to music now but when I do is normally Christian
music, I really like the ones from Padre Marcelo.
Me: How would you describe your relationship with music?
Mom: In my adolescence music was never really that big of a
deal for me, but I’ve always liked to dance. Dance was the most fun part for
me. I now listen to Christian music because I am on the choir in my church. I
only started listening to samba after a met your father.
Me: If you could listen to only one artist who would you
listen to?
Mom: If could only pick ONE artist? Oh that’s a hard one. I
think I would pick Tim Maia. This is a hard question, I’m saying Tim Maia but I
like a lot of different artists too.
Me: What about songs in movies
Mom: Whichever song from Saturday Night fever, I LOVE IT!! I
still want to go out dancing to these songs to this day.
Me: I thought you were going to say Mamma Mia.
Mom: Oh I also love Mamma Mia, see it’s so hard to only say just
one there are so many options.
Me: What do you think of the songs I listen to now?
Mom: I think you can listen to a lot of nice songs, that
Samba playlist that you have is so good and I love it, but the American rap
songs that you listen are so boring and I hate it. I also hate the Brazilian Funk
songs that you listen to; they are so dirty. But besides that, you listen to
some good songs.
Me: How does music in general makes you feel?
Mom: Happy. Every time there’s music I dance, and I love to
dance so that makes me happy.
Me: Is there any particular music genre that you like to
dance?
Mom: Umm I don’t really have a favorite one but I like to
dance music from the 80s. I also love to dance Samba, not by myself though because
I can’t “sambar” by myself, but I like to dance it with your father.
Me: How do you think music connects you to your community?
Mom: Recently is more of the choir song, because everyone
that is in there has the same purpose, it’s similar connections with God,
everyone gets emotional sometimes and it really is just amazing to me.
Me: What’s your memory of music when you were a kid?
Mom: My parents weren’t really music people, so I would just
listen to kids songs whenever we were playing with friends.
Me: How did you connect me with music when I was a kid?
Mom: I used to sing you the same songs that my mom used to
sing it for me. “Alecrim Dourado,” you used to love that song, so it was
Brazilian kids’ song of the time that I would sing for you. Your dad is more of
a “music person” so the music in you life comes more from your father, when we
would take you to his Batucadas.
Me: Is there any song in your wedding day that was special to
you?
Mom: To be honest I don’t really remember the songs that played
in my wedding, but one song that will always stay with me is “Jesus Alegria dos
Homens”, because it is the song your sister walked in at her wedding, and it
also played at my wedding when we were signing the papers.
Me: Did you every wish you played any instrument?
Mom: Today no, but when I was younger I really wanted to
play the flute but I stopped taking classes because of money. I was really young;
I was like 15 years old.
If you know me, you probably know that I am from Brazil, and during this course, I will try my best to show it to you guys some of the music of my country! This week, it's Carnaval in Brazil. Carnaval is the biggest holiday in Brazil that always happens on the days leading up to Ash Wednesday, usually resolving in late February/ early March, and this year is from Feb 27 till March 4 (yes it is a long holiday). People normally joke saying that the year only starts after Carnaval, and people usually go all for it! Have you ever seen the movie Rio? Assuming your answer is yes (I am sad for you if you've never seen it) you might have realized that this movie happens during Carnaval, and the big parade is one of the festivities to celebrate the holiday, which is called Desfile de Samba, where Samba schools perform a show with HUGE floats (carros alegoricos) that reach 26 to 50 feet in high and 65 feet in length. Along with floats, there are many people dancing, singing and playing instruments, and they normally always try to send a message with their parades. Now if you've read my "Music and Me" blog, you remember what Samba is, and noticided that I used the same word earlier in this text. Well, Samba is the genre of music we listen to during Carnaval, this first video linked below, will show what the Desfiles de Samba looks like, and you will also be able to hear the Samba in back. The second video linked below is from the movie Rio, and notice how similar it is from the reality (you can also hear samba songs in the movie)!
During the month of June in Brazil, there are a lot of typical parties called Festa Junina, which translates to June Party. In these festivities, it is celebrated the rural life, and saints like Sao Joao (Saint John), along with music, dances, decorations and lots of traditional food. Schools throws parties like this every year, and each class grade do a dance for the parents (and everyone else) to watch! I would say that this style of song is what the equivalent of Country would be in Brazil. There is a lot of "Forro" during the June Parties, which is a music genre from the northeast of Brazil, and the songs usually combines accordion, zabumba (type of drum), and a metal triangle. I chose this song because I feel like when I listen to this song, I can close my eyes and picture myself in a Festa Junina. This is a very famous song that plays every year at every party, and I can assure you that every single Brazilian has heard this song before or have had to dance to this song.
This is a very traditional party- the first picture is me in 2011 wearing a very common dress of June Party and the next picture is my little cousin wearing a similar typical dress in June of 2024. Also in the first picture, this is what the June Party looked at my school!
Hi everyone! My name is Nono and I am a transfer junior here at Converse! I am from Brazil and I moved to the US for college as I lived in Iowa for the past two years, and then transferred to South Carolina for my last two years of school.
I've been playing volleyball ever since I was 8 years old. Volleyball is the reason why I moved to the US and I love how many opportunities, people, and achievements this sport has brought me, along with shaping the person I am today.
I love to spend time with my family and friends, my favorite thing to do with my family is to play cards, or watch movies and I love to hang out and do fun activities with my friends. Being from Brazil, the experiences I've had, the places I've been and the people I've met has brough me a lot of understandings about different cultures , which is why I'm looking forward for this class!
1. Music is so important to me, I switch up on different kinds of music depending on my mood, but one artists that no matter what mood I'm in I'm always listening to is SZA. I didn't start listening to her until I moved to the US in 2022, but she is my go-to artist, my #1 artist on Spotify, and I like her so much because I find most of her songs very relatable and her voice is so peaceful, as well as calm rhythms. I do listen to a bunch of different music genres, and artists everyday, some that come and go but SZA will do it everyday. She has recently dropped a new album called LANA, but the song I listen to it the most everyday is probably Drew Barrymore.
2. My dad only listens to two things: Samba and The Beatles. Samba is a Brazilian music genre that involves a combination of instruments such as surdo, cuíca (my favorite one), pandeiro, and cavaquinho. My dad has a group of friends that comes together and play samba on what we call "Batucada," which is when a group of people play samba together. So growing up I would always go to their Batucada (they had barbecue there) but I remember I used to hate it. Now that I'm older, I love listening to it, I love to watch them play it, and I love when my dad write me and my siblings songs for us. There are so many songs that I could name, but Conselho is a Brazilian classic that I remember listening to it music classes when I was little, and my dad and his friends love to play it.
3. When it comes to music, I try to keep an open mind about it, and I mostly do as I listen to a bunch of different genres, but one that I don't really connect to is Billie Ellish. I do like her famous songs, and I find it so calming and relaxing, but it's not something that sticks out for me a lot, I don't normally listen to it or have any of her songs on any of my playlists, but when I do listen to it I can enjoy it, it's just not something I would want to listen to. Again I listen to different kinds of songs depending on my mood, and she would be the kind of artist I'd listen to when I feel sad. I like listening to more faster songs and most of her songs are very slow, which is why I don't listen to her, but that also explains why my favorite song of her is Birds of a Feather, since it has a more faster beat.
