Japanese Noh

For this blog I listened to a Japanaese Noh performance at the Tokyo Sendagaya Hatomori Shrine. The hayashi, or musical ensemble that accompanied the noh drama, consisted of three men playing membranophones and one man playing an idiophone in the background. The idiophone is most likely to be the nohkan. There were a few other people to the right the seemed to be just bowing down to a man dressed up in a white mask and colorful robes. Although at first the music seems to have a beat, the drumming patterns constantly change and do not have any real beat. It makes it very hard to listen for just one of the drums because it's beat is always changing and sometimes another drum will take its place. Each of the musicians movements are very subtle. While watching you notice that the drummers hit their instruments the same exact way every time very distinctly. The singer seems to be shouting and chanting instead of saying any real words also known as kakegoe which is usually done by the drummers. The men that are bowing on the side are actually singing together and it makes a type of harmony for the piece.

Pandit Jasraj

Today for my Understanding World Music blog about Hindustani music I listened to Pandit Jasraj's Bhajan. The most prominent sound is an idiophone and the harmony which is played by an membranophone. The idiophone and the singer share the melody by singing at different times which leads me to believe it would be classified as a polyrhythm. The song instantly starts to speed up at about two minutes and thirty seconds in. This is called tans and causes everything to be happening much faster than it seems. The first time I listened to the song it almost startled me because I was not expecting it. These scalar runs usually happens in the vocal genre, khyal, which is very prominent in Hindustani culture according to the Music of the People of the World textbook. Another very intresting thing is how long some of these songs last. Some of these songs will last up to thirty minutes such as Govind Damodar Madhavati, another song by Pandit Jasraj. Each song seems to focus mainly on the lyrics while there is a simple harmony and the background. The idiophone in this song seems to take over the melody whenever Pandit Jasraj runs out of breath.

Googoosh

Today, I watched the Youtube video of Googoosh's Do Panjereh. The first instruments are all chordophones. Then an idiophone holds the rhythm. All the instruments seem to be native to the Persian culture besides for the second insturment to come in, which seemed to be a violin. The music seems to be heterophony with multiple instruments playing one melody while others play the harmony. Her singing almost becomes a yell at some points in the song. The Irani music that this song most likely sounds like is tasnif. Faegheh Atashin was the soloist. Her words seemed very poetic which made me think of this kind of Irainian music. There was a definite meter mainly made by the idiophone.

The hardships the Faegheh Atashin are amazing. Although I agree with the author, Nilofaar Mina, that it was right for Faegheh to stay in Iran even after the 1979 revolution. Being able to stay in Iran helped her keep in tact with her culture. Her earliest work was most likely in sync with her Irainian culture. She would do arcrobatic tricks along side her father.

After listing to this music I find it very pleasing and have to say I like it more than the African music.

Music Faculty Concert

Last Friday I went to the Fortieth Anniversary Concert in the Conference Center. My favorite piece was La Mento. The music was very upbeat and exciting with a jazzy guitar. A pulsatile beat was made from the drums. The guitar played the melody while the piano played the harmony. The motion of the melody was conjunct motion. Unlike many rock concerts were musicians focus on the crowd, the performers of the night seemed very concentrated on their instruments as if the crowd was not event there. The audience was very engaged in the music and very courteous of the musicians. It was almost as if I was at a movie theater with people making sure not to distract from the film. The atmosphere of the conference center was very relaxing and cool. Even in the back rows I was able to see every movement and hear every note the musicians played. The pieces of the first musicians seemed to switch from making a song feel much longer than it really was, to hectic violin playing that made everything feel as if it were happening at extremely fast speeds. The pieces from the next musicians was very fast pace and made time to go by much faster.