Blues and Jazz

Blues: Old Blues: As sung on the front porch of the family dwelling.

Note the Traditional signature blues chord progression of I, I, IV, I, V, IV, I.

More modern blues.

Knopfler & Clapton - Same old blues [Music for Montserrat -97

Big Band music was popular during a time when the world was at war. The music of swing and jazz was often heard on the radio and was available worldwide...at least to some. Below is a comment posted on this video by one who lived through this time.

siolaaduob I love all the big band music, and Glenn Miller's is my favorite. When I was a small boy, I loved to listen to it in radio, but my father always turned it off and disciplined me, because it was too dangerous. We lived in a Nazi occupied country and listening to so called enemy radio could cost one's life! So I had to catch up pretty later, as after liberation from Nazism the communists came, and again, all from US was banned. But now at last we are free, and are happy with the beautiful music.

Chattanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller & The Nicholas Brothers

Vtzao — September 11, 2008 — This video, from the film "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941), depicts the complete Glenn Miller Orchestra's and Nicholas Brothers' performances for "Chattanooga Choo Choo". Who's the best? You decide. Also featuring Tex Beneke, Paula Kelly and The Modernaires.

Rythm and Blues & Be-Bop.

Modern recording technology had a major impact on music of the 20th century. The Big Band Jazz Swing/croon era of the 20's into the 50's; the birth of Rock & Roll and Be-Bop of the 50's and 60,s evolving branching into the more elctronic Rock of the 70, 80, 90,s and beyond.

Certainly, pivitol to the whole processs was the melting pot of Rhythm and Blues. Black blues and Gospel combined with white "pop" dance to produce a style so popular it ruled the charts for decades. The record business flurished. Teens avidly bought records. A new "top 40" listing of songs would be published weekly.

Music can be a vehicle for voicing social statements and opinion. It can also be a source for fun and light entertainment. "Rap" is a form that has traditionally been used to express ghetto frustration and injustice. Much of it can seem distasteful to a white anglosaxon Christian audience. Yet Rap itself is only a tool. As a music form it can express whatever message the song writer wishes it to say.

An observation about "Rap" is the focus on rythmic poetic rendition of the lyrics. The music melody itself, such as heard in the accompaniment, is rather repetitive. Yet this very repetitiveness contrasts with the complex rhythm and accents of the singer/speaker allowing the talents of the vocalist to be heard, understood and appreciated.

The following is a fun filled song about wishing for, pricing, selecting and buying a video gaming system. I was laughing all the way through.

Buy Mii a Wii (T-Pain Parody) - OFFICIAL Black Nerd Music Video  BlackNerdComedy — October 23, 2007 — NOTE: THIS IS THE ORIGINAL POST!
Song spoof of T-Pain's "Buy U a Drank" about the greatest video game system... the Nintendo Wii! BTW, that's my roommate that walks in. http://www.blacknerdcomedy.com

Rap is a type of music that is deeply personal. It is a product and voice of frustraion and a vehicle of statement. Often woes of racism, substandard living and/or political statements are heard. Outcry against injustice and pleas for equal rights lie at the heart of Rap.

This being the case, many listeners not personally involved in the dynamics of Rap my find it vulgar and distasteful. Expression of generations old bitterness does not lend itself to socially excepted pleasantries and "niceness" of content.

Yet, Rap is surely a form of music in its own right. It showcases what we do to ourselves; and bring on to ourselves.

The music form is of interest. The voice is prominant while the instruments provide a constant repeating backdrop. Highly articulated vocal inflection, recitation and complex syncopation  contrast sharply with the simple 4/4 beat style of the accompaniment.

Lyrics and text are of central importance. The whole purpose of the music is to set the stage whereby the emotion, color and flavor of the message may be captured and implemented.

Both selections to the right are good examples of rap used both as a political tool and as an outlet for personal expression.

Rap is a form of music that stemmed from hip-hop culture. Hip hop is a lifestyle with its own lingo, dress code, etc. In the words of KRS-One, "hip-hop is something you live, rap is something you do."

Hip-Hop Defined:

Hip-hop is a form of popular music that's comprised mainly of emceeing and deejaying. The other two components that complete the four elements of hip-hop are graffiti and breakdancing. As hip-hop evolves into big business, the four elements (emceeing, deejaying, graffiti, and breakdancing) are constantly being merged with others like clothing trends, slang, and general mindset.

Hip-Hop Started in the Bronx:

A product of cross-cultural integration, rap is deeply rooted within ancient African culture and oral tradition. Hip-hop is believed to have originated in the Bronx by a Jamaican DJ named Kool Herc. Herc's style of deejaying involved reciting rhymes over instrumentals. At house parties, Herc would rap with the microphone, using a myriad of in-house references. Duplicates of Herc's house parties soon drifted through Brooklyn, Manhattan. Herc and other block party DJs helped spread the message of hip-hop around town and spawned tons of followers.

Hip-Hop As a Melting Pot:

Hip-hop as a musical melting pot is still evolving. It has become more eclectic, borrowing from soul, jazz and live instrumentations with the likes of De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and most recently Kanye West championing the ‘soulful rap’ movement. http://rap.about.com/od/rootsofraphiphop/p/RootsOfRap.htm

Fear - 'Hate' (a Hip-Hop classic from '95) - new version!!!
Samples Special Ed "cause i'm coming with a hate only made from what it made me" from Crooklyn Dodgers' Crooklyn Dodgers, 1994.

juma4 — September 07, 2008 — Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki by X Plastaz
This is East African / Tanzanian Hip Hop. Last video of the late mc Faza Nelly from X Plastaz, Tanzania's most well known hip hop crew who merge Swahili rap and traditional Maasai music. This video to the song 'Nini dhambi kwa mwenye dhiki?' about poverty in Tanzania was partly recorded on top of Ol Doinyo Lengai, a remote, active volcano and the Maasai's 'Mountain of God' which had its 1st major eruption in years the day after Nelly died.

For a complete English translation of this song click on this link: http://www.xplastaz.com/archive/v2/ninidhambi-eng.html

Note: This site on "Global Music Appreciation" is a work in progress. Thie main purpose of being online at this point of development is to allow collaborators and friends to view the progress, make suggestions and provide comments.

You may find "scratch notes" concerning future implementaion of goals. Pages will still be partially complete or even blank.

Yet, there is still an ever-evolving growing selection of music from around the world linked too in this site. You are welcome to look, play and experience music as performed from around the world.

Sincerely

David