Japenese Noh Theater

The following YouTube video shows a very famous type of Japenese theater: noh theater. From the YouTube video, a drama criticism on Japanese noh theater, and our music textbook, we can deduce elements that embody this type of musical expression.

The first thing I noticed in the video was that there are only a few people on stage. In this particular video, there seems to be one principal actor, and a small group of musicians in the back. This setup of noh theater, is actually quite standardized. According to the textbook, there are generally “two or three principle actors, a small male chorus, and a small ensemble consisting of a single flute and two or three drums.”

As I delved deeper into the performance I noticed the type of music itself. The chorus sings in a very free style that is not constrained to a particular beat or meter. Within this very free style of music, there are many long pauses of silence. Occasionally the flute will play in these long measures of rest, but nevertheless the silence is still very important in the theater. The silence helps to create a feeling of timelessness through the performance.

The noh theater is not just a form of musical expression, but of an entire art form. As the article expresses, noh theater is a “highly aesthetic and ritualized stage performance”. In the video, the principle actor wears a very colorful costume, which helps to bring the specific character to life in the context of the story embodied in the performance. The elaborate outfits and pantomime actions of the character help to reflect the story being told, which is usually trying to portray a specific atmosphere or mood of an ancient Japenese narrative

The Japenese noh theater is such a rich artistic performance, that I was not able to come close to describing all of the elements, but nevertheless you now have a taste of what noh theater is like.

Portuguese Music

So, long story short, my friend Elder, gave me some Portuguese music and I figured I would post it here. I really like the music, and the fact that the musical style is similar to those found in the United States, yet in a different language.

The first song is called Rara calma by Rosa de Saron and it is a Christian worship song in Portuguese. It could most likely be compared to something like Casting Crowns, an English Christian worship band. And a friend of mine was actually so kind as to translate the lyrics for me.

Abro o coração.
Coloco-me aos seus pés.
Noite escura agora é manhã.
E falo com rara calma:
Sou o que sou, sem ti sou fraco,
mas sempre tive Você aqui perto de mim.

I open my heart
I surrender on your feet
Dark night is not morning
I talk with a rare calm
I'm what I am, without you i'm weak,
but i always had you, here, near me

The second song he gave me was more of a pop song, with lyrics in both English and Portuguese. This song is called Back to One by Brian McNight and Ivete Sangalo

These songs just helped to reveal to me a type of music that I don't think I ever would have encountered if it were not for my friend, and it proves one of the aspects of this class; that sometimes you might like music that is not normal American popular music.

Hindustani Music

The first thing I notice in this specific Hindustani song is the use of chordophones. The chordophones act primarily as a background to the singing, and in a sense feel almost like a drone behind the singer. In specific, the chordophones appear to be sitars – an instrument typical of traditional Indian music.

The singer’s voice then “floats” over this background music and draws attention to itself by utilizing a similar tone, but contrasting style. While both the singer and the instruments utilize conjunct motion, the chordophones stay on the tonal center the majority of the time, while the singer plays around the tonal center much more. In a sense, the singer is imitating the sounds of the instruments, yet varying the melody through the frequent changes of pitch. It is important to note that although the singer is varying the melody, she is improvising the variations she sings – she is not reading off sheet music or reciting a specific song. It is also important to note that there is only one singer performing, acting as the soloist for the performance. This is an important aspect of this performance, because soloists are frequently found in all Hindustani music.

While the sitars and the soloist are the most prominent in the piece, if you listen closely to the piece you can hear a membranophone – most likely a tabla. The tabla works closely in conjunction with the soloist to compliment the soloists improvisations and at times to bring a sense of meter to the song.

All in all, the performers of this Hindustani piece work closely together to bring all of the musical elements of this song together – the drone, the soloist, and the tabla – and to improvise upon a basic melody and to bring to life classical Hindustani music.

Chinese Student Troupe Music Culture Exchange

The Chinese Student Art Troupe visited our campus last Thursday and engaged the American audience in a very engaging discussion about the Chinese music culture. From, Chinese operas, to Chinese rap, to Chinese folk music, the Chinese students were able to exemplify the diversity of their native music culture. The most fascinating characteristic of the students was the fact that none of the students were pursuing a degree in music, but rather were able to discuss the various music cultures of China through their actual involvement.

The first type of Chinese music portrayed was the Chinese opera, often known as the jingxi theater. One of the students was able to portray, from his actual involvement in the opera, how although generally all parts in operas are played by males, there are different inflections of the voice to designate which part is supposed to portray a female character and what part was supposed to portray a male character.

Secondly, there was a girl in the group who was able to present traditional Chinese music, both a solo and a duet performance to engage the audience in another facet of the Chinese music culture.

However, the most entertaining song for me, was the song that was performed by the main student leading the discussion for the Chinese troupe. He performed a song that would be categorized as a folk song. His song was specific to his specific region of China and displayed how although there may be music that is enjoyed by the country of China as a whole, there are still many, many distinct groups within China who hold onto very different music cultures. Overall, though, the Chinese student troupe successfully enhanced our classes knowledge and insight of the vast spectrum of music cultures that can be found in China.

Googoosh's Hamseda Medly

I watched the Hamseda Medly by Googoosh. In this music video, one of the biggest things I noticed was the use ornamentation in her voice. When she would sing, she would frequently use the musical technique known as melisma, in which her melody would often contain many notes to one syllable. Googoosh’s talent would allow her to improvise off the basic melody and experiment with the ornamentation.

The second aspect of this video that I noticed was the supporting instrumental harmony to her voice. The heterophonic instrumental music maintained a similar style throughout the entire piece, and like Googoosh would often venture off from the basic harmony to make the piece more interesting.

Googoosh’s music definitely falls into the musical styles of other Middle Eastern countries, while standing out as being uniquely Iranian pop. Specifically, her song seems to carry similar melodies to Egyptian music. The instrumentation of Googoosh sounds like it uses many of the same instruments as stereotypical Egyptian music, especially similar sounding chordophones, as can be seen in Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum’s video, as well as even in Youssou N’Dour’s Egypt album. Also, when watching Umm Kulthum’s video you can hear the same aspect of melisma, that is frequently used in Googoosh’s music.

Through the unique combination of Middle Eastern elements (melismas, heterophonic melodies, and improvisations) and pop elements (generally upbeat melodies, and music that has the feeling of a dance beat of some kind), Googoosh’s performance of Hamseda Medley represents the expertly crafted musical style that has made Googoosh so widely known.