Global Voices » Music

Trinidad & Tobago: Seeing Siparia

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:24:12 +0000

MEP Publishers visits Siparia, a vibrant community that has had a fascinating part to play in the island's history.

Armenia: Eurovision Hopefuls

Onnik Krikorian — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:12:24 +0000

Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts the video and lyrics of a song by Armenian rock band Dorians. One of the three most likely contenders to enter this year's Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, the blog says that the group is also his favorite to represent Armenia in the international music competition.

Jamaica, St. Vincent: Happy Earth Day, Mr. Marley

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:52:05 +0000

Geoffrey Philp and Abeni both pay tribute to the late reggae icon Bob Marley on his birthday.

Mozambique: All Aboard the Musical Marrabenta Train!

Janet Gunter — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:04 +0000

After a season of elections and cyclones in Mozambique, the country was owed some entertainment and good news. One of the highlights of Mozambique's cultural calendar, the Marrabenta Festival (celebrating its fifth year), came just in time.

The Festival consists of musical events in the capital Maputo, with the highlight being an acoustic musical train trip to Marracuene. The train picks up music fans for free along the way, taking them to the Festival's finale, a lively outdoor concert that lasts until dawn.

In Marracuene last year, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

The train trip this year was documented by YouTube user Charline Van Deth:

Website MozambiqueTV shared a clip from private television station STV on the platform of Maputo's historic train station before the train departed. The clip features an interview with a smiling producer of the Festival, Lito, with Logaritmo Productions:

Marrabenta is a genre of music closely linked to African urban life and modernity, making the train trip a delightful match. Marrabenta arose in the south in the 1930s and 1940s, the word coming from the verb rebentar (to break) which is a way people describe dancing. One urban theory is that the word originally described cheap guitar strings breaking with the energetic playing of musicians.

The genre was a mix of traditional Mozambican rhythms and new guitar arrangements inspired by that period's global explosion of popular music fuelled by radio. Pioneering artists such as Dilon Djindji, Fany Mpfumo, and Wazimbo (and the Orchestra Marrabenta Star) made an ever-lasting mark on Mozambican music.

Guitar is a key feature of Marrabenta, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

Ever since its beginnings in colonial Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), writes nostalgic website Xirico [pt]:

A música é um dos atributos culturais mais marcantes do povo moçambicano. O primeiro acorde provoca o primeiro movimento que ninguém ensinou. Depois não há força para resistir ao chicuembo da marrabenta. O requebro sincopado das ancas, uma mão na nuca outra atrás das costas, movimentos sensuais…

The music is one of the most distinguishing cultural features of the Mozambican people. The first chord provokes the first movement that nobody taught. Then, nobody can resist the chicuembo [a kind of invocation to the ancestors] of marrabenta. The syncopated ‘breaking' by the hips, one hand of the nape of the neck, the other behind the back, sensual movements…

Performers on the mainstage last year, photo courtesy of D J Clark (www.djclark.com)

Photographer DJ Clark captured the essence of the festival last year in a stunning photo album. This video from the Marrabenta Festival in 2010 by YouTube user TheMarrabenta shows how the Festival is living proof of the power of marrabenta to enchant generation after generation:

The Festival is a breath of fresh air in Mozambique and crucial to maintaining roots music, as critics such as Fortunato of the Matapa blog pull no punches in relation to contemporary music

Local music does get its share of airplay here, but the thing, is, most of the current Mozambican (popular) music is nowhere near as interesting as the echos from its past. On Radio Maputo, you can hear a lot of local classics from the 70ies: they sound totally amazing, a diverse and experimental blend of tradition with pop influences. But nowadays about half of the musicians seem busy vocalizing the fact that Mozambican musicians need to find their own style. The other half seems more than happy selling whatever suits the mobile phone operators or the governing party.

In clear contrast to this kind of music were the headliners this year, the South African group the Mahotella Queens, celebrating their thirtieth anniversary. They just reinforced the links between popular South African music and Mozambican music, which have been intermingling since well before the railroads linked Johannesburg with Mozambique's then capital Lourenço Marques. Language groups transcends colonial borders, and the musical languages of neighboring South Africa and southern Mozambique have a great deal in common.

This year, @Verdade newspaper reported that more and more foreigners take time out and travel to Mozambique for this unique musical moment. But the Festival has an economic impact in Marracuene irrespective of foreign visitors, with informal bars and food stalls set up to sell palm wine, grilled chicken and fried fish, where visitors from Maputo infuse cash into the town's economy.

Azerbaijan: Qubanin Ag Almasi and Eurovision

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:58:26 +0000

Gultekin Garadaghly posts a rendition of Qubanin Ag Almasi, an Azerbaijani folk song. The YouTube channel of the young musical video blogger from Baku also features a cover of Drip Drop, her country's 2010 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as last year's winning Running Scared. Azerbaijan host the international music competition in May.

Cuba: Sad Songs

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:37:44 +0000

Two bits of sad news from Havana Times: the first about the death of a Nueva Trova pioneer, and the second about a domestic dispute that ended in murder.

United States: The Art of the Occupy Movement

Gina Cardenas — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:14:52 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

The creative cadre of the Occupy Wall Street movement envisions a world where people are free to express their ideas of freedom, equality, and outrage at the system of greed interlocking corporate interests and government. Actors, artists, writers and musicians pay homage to the #Occupy muse and are calling for an international day of creative action on February 12, 2012.

Occupy Visual Arts

The Los Angeles Occupy movement erected a mural depicting a monstrous octopus representing the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States with tentacles reaching into people's lives and homes. The tentacles are so long, they reach across global borders. No one's home can escape its grasp.

'Fed Monster Mural' in Los Angeles. Photo by Mikey Wally on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND)

While the actual encampment has met its end and is prohibited from occupying public space, the mural has gained the protection of Los Angeles city officials, including the mayor, who have designated the mural as a historical artifact. There is currently a bidding process to find a new public viewing space for the mural through the sponsorship of a cultural organization.

Feeding of the 320 Million: The Revolution Will Not be Privatized by Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung.

Occuprint.org is archiving posters created for the different occupy camps across the nation and the world.Artist Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung’s interpretation of the movement (see right) includes “Feeding of the 320 Million: The Revolution Will Not Be Privatized” and is available for download from his website.

The vivid language of the poster is a chaotic amalgamation of American icons. Lady Liberty walks forward ready to face any challenge. The systems of all-consuming power do not hold her back. She is thankfully wearing comfortable shoes, since it may be a long journey!

Artist Paul-Felix Montez is campaigning online to build a 40-foot monument in New York's Zucotti Park based on his own Occupyface design that he has reproduced in posters, masks, sculptures and paintings.

Occupy Literature

The People’s Library is a collective, public, open library coordinated by OWS. They posted an online poetry anthology (PDF) which contains written impressions by the movement’s supporters in no particular hierarchy or arrangement. Among the works in their most recent anthology is Lost Highway by author Masha Tupytsin. The author speaks about the movement in a more subtle and nuanced tone: two lovers in a world where it's OK to express emotion without fear of judgement.

In sleep, in love, we dozed in and out of each other, in and out of the world, lanes criss-crossing, like characters in Lost Highway, except I wasn’t the dark playing off the light, or the the dark playing off the blonde (you). And for the last forty minutes, after the coast was clear, when all the bullies were finally gone, we cruised along the asphalt and held hands under the music. The astral road was stripped of cars, lit up and silver, like the path in the Redwood forests of E.T. or the moon over Elliott’s levitating bike, and it was just us, a punk-rock version of Adam and Eve, us against everything, us there first, or last, except I didn’t come from you or any garden.

Occupy Music

A compilation of musicians supporting Occupy Wall Street is available through the Music for Occupy site. One of the bands, Aeroplane Pageant, sings about greed symbolized as the “Little Bad Wolf.” The band My Pet Dragon sings a “Love Anthem” as an antidote to class warfare. They also feature the work of singer songwriter Jackson Browne who performed in Washington, D.C. last December. His interpretation of the song “I Am a Patriot” is featured on YouTube.

Occupy tunes browsing is also available on the @OccupyMusic Twitter feed where independent musicians post links to their edgy lyrics and recordings on an ongoing basis.

Occupy Theater

Independent theater groups and performance artists staged a 24-hour demonstration on Friday, December 2, 2011 in New York City’s Paramount Plaza (a.k.a. the “People’s Performance Plaza”) located in the Broadway theater district. The video Occupy Broadway by GammaBlog, a blog on New York politics, architecture and street art, offers a glimpse of the thespian dissent.

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

Jamaica: Bleached

Janine Mendes-Franco — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:12:58 +0000

Annie Paul posts an article she wrote about Vybz Kartel and the skin bleaching phenomenon.

Azerbaijan: #LightYourFire Eurovision Meme

Onnik Krikorian — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:03:29 +0000

Ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Baku in May, a new Internet Meme has appeared on Twitter. With Azerbaijan known as the Land of Fire, the hashtag for the international singing contest is the same as this year's official motto, #LightYourFire.

US, Russia: The Flying Balalaika Brothers Bridge Cultural Gaps in Texas

Donna Welles — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:58:37 +0000

Like many of their compatriots, musicians Zhenya Kolykhanov and Sergey Vaschenko emigrated from Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. They have since established themselves in Texas, USA, and through the formation of a band called the Flying Balalaika Brothers and a non-profit called Musical Connections, they work to bridge cultural gaps by exposing Texans to international art.

Along with providing readers with a daily calendar of performances, music videos, and sound bites, the group's official website elaborates on how the Flying Balalaika Brothers got established in Austin, Texas:

The Original Flying Balalaika Brothers were formed in Los Angeles in 1995 by Zhenya Kolykhanov (a.k.a. Z Rock), the former lead guitarist of the Russian surf/rockabilly group Red Elvises. The group started as a street band and later transformed into the group Red Elvises; which had a large history of performing for clubs, motion pictures, and tv shows in California.

After Zhenya set up shop in Austin TX, he reestablished The Flying Balalaika Brothers. The band represents a blend of traditional world music and original musical pieces. The group has found a home in the musically rich culture in Austin TX.

NowPlayingAustin Blog, an affiliate of a 35-year-old non-profit devoted to promoting the arts in Central Texas, assessed the Flying Balalaika Brothers' style in an announcement of an upcoming performance:

Russian, Roma Gypsy, Ukrainian and foot stomping original songs get hands clapping and feet dancing in a crazy blend of rock, bluegrass and traditional folk music from around the world. Now front man for the Flying Balalaika Brothers, Zhenya Rock was a founding member of the Red Elvises and penned some of their biggest hits including “Red Lips Red Eyes Red Stockings,” the full soundtrack for Six String Samarai and the full album “Bedroom Boogie.” William Michael Smith recently wrote in the Houston Press, “Austin's Flying Balalaika Brothers are to Russian folk music what Béla Fleck is to bluegrass: Outside-the-box, no-boundaries, take-no-prisoners innovators. The FBBs combine jaw-dropping virtuosity with a masterful sense of mixing up genres ranging from rock to Russian folk to bluegrass; if that sounds weird, it's also cool as hell.”

In May 2011, The Flying Balalaika Brothers appeared on 90.5 FM KUT, an Austin-based radio station. The Daily Grackle Blog posted a video of their live performance:

Coastal Bend College Blog discussed Mr. Kolykhanov's and Mr. Vaschenko's educational and professional backgrounds, including Mr. Vaschenko's eligibility for Grammy Awards in 2003 and 2008:

Kolykhanov graduated from Tchaikovsky Music College in Vologda, Russia, in 1984. He later came to the United States to study critical thinking, reading and fine arts at the University of Delaware. In addition to the balalaika, Kolykhanov plays guitar, composes songs for television, and creates art for commercials.

Sergey Vaschenko earned a bachelor’s degree in conducting and balalaika from Lysenko State Music College in Poltava, Ukraine, in 1980 and a master’s in orchestral conducting, teaching and balalaika performance from the Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatory in Sverdlovsk, Russia, in 1985. Vaschenko’s experience includes: Dean of the Faculty of Arts for Perm State Institute of Culture in Perm, Russia; guest soloist for the Latvian Chamber Orchestra in 1989; music educator in Russia, Latvia, Spain, Dallas and Austin; and guest conductor for the Houston Balalaika Society. He won an international award at the music festival in Segovia, Spain, and was a contender for a 2003 and 2008 Grammy award in the world music category.

The post went on to elaborate on the group's outreach efforts in area schools:

In addition to touring and performing, they began successfully presenting educational programs in three languages (English, Spanish and Russian) to students of Texas public and private schools, celebrating the arts in all its diversity by providing a unique approach to studying both the profound similarities and distinctive differences of people throughout history and around the world.

Mr. Kolykhanov and Mr. Vaschenko have formed a non-profit organisation called Musical Connections in order to fund and facilitate educational opportunities for young people. Musical Connections and The Flying Balalaika Brothers have a symbiotic relationship in that the non-profit provides an administrative foundation for the band's artistic objectives, while the band personifies the non-profit. The non-profit's official website articulates its mission:

Musical Connections is a Texas domestic nonprofit corporation, organized to promote a greater understanding of the music of the world through performances, cultural exchanges, musical history and heritage, and by educating the public about the multitude of music produced by cultures around the world. The founders believe that many people in this country fail to appreciate the great variety of music produced in the world today principally because they have not been educated about that music, or have not had chance to hear it performed.

Russian pianist Valeri Grohovski performed in Austin on January 20, as part of a Musical Connections concert series, playing jazz interpretations of works by Bach and Mozart.

Russian pianist Valery Grohovski played jazz interpretations of Bach and Mozart in Austin, Texas, on January 20, 2012. Photo by Donna Welles.

Jamaica: Gully versus Gaza

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:30:51 +0000

Jamaica Salt considers “how Jamaican music superstars, Vybz Kartel and Mavado have taken their different paths”, suggesting: “Kartel [is] more real in a way but when it comes to survival in this life, he maybe has something to learn from the Gully God.”

Azerbaijan: Eurovision as an Opportunity for Change in the Caucasus

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:10:01 +0000

Commonspace comments on news that Armenia will participate in this year's Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Despite a still unresolved conflict between the two countries, the site says Azerbaijan should welcome Armenians at the international music competition and Armenians should respond in the same manner.

Chile: 15 Songs from 2011

Silvia Viñas — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:52:48 +0000

Roberto Carreño recommends [es] 15 Chilean songs released during 2011.

Video Highlights: Music, Indigenous Initiatives, Indignation and Wonder

Juliana Rincón Parra — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:44:07 +0000

This section aims to showcase interesting and recent posts in Global Voices that show the many ways in which videos are helping people tell stories all around the world. You can follow the activity by regions in our YouTube channel or by clicking on the regional header links.

Music and Indigenous Initiatives

Latin America

Brazil: Cultural Debate as ‘Oh if I Catch You' Song Goes Global

Music has spurred an ongoing debate in Brazil, as netizens realize they have a new cultural ambassador which they may not have chosen themselves. In this case, it is Michel Teló's song ‘Ai se eu te pego‘ which not only became the rhythm played over and over during the end of the year festivities, but has also crossed borders, even getting its own versions in English, Polish and Dutch.

Peru: Cápac Raymi, The Andean Christmas

In Peru, the Incan culture is still alive in most of the Andean region, and Christmas is a time when they have united their pre-Columbian traditions with the later Christian festivities. The festival of Capac Raymi takes place in December coinciding with the Winter Solstice and honors the Sun. Although the holiday is no longer observed as it was during the reign of the Incas, it has transformed into an Andean Christmas, where Christmas choirs sing in Quechua with Andean musical instruments and dances:

Another strong cultural group in Peru is the Afro-Peruvian community and they have also left their mark in how Peruvians celebrate Christmas:

Peru: Afro-Peruvian Christmas Music

The song “Black Christmas” by Cesar Calvo is a lament, where they sing to Baby Jesus who was born in a manger, but with a slight difference, he is black as the people surrounding him:

Washed by the night
Just like you and me
Born among blacks
the Baby Jesus.

Don't come down, Baby,
from your altar,
lest the master
has you whipped.

Venezuela: The Essence of African Music in Videos

African heritage in Venezuela has also strongly influenced the music, and online video is being used to spread the knowledge of the African Diaspora and Afro-Venezuelan Caribbean culture.

From Canada comes a video journalist with a project: To visit one country per week and to record the stories of under-reported minorities.

Video: One Year, One World and 52 Different Stories

So far she is still raising funds for this one year journey where she would be recording, editing and producing short documentaries from the road. A short video of her visit with the Embera indigenous communities in Panama gives us a promising look into the type of content she'd be delivering once her project takes off:

Video: Online Media by and for Indigenous People

Check out the list of 12 recommended films on indigenous issues that Indigenous Cry shared.

Indignation

In Guatemala, indignation has overwhelmed citizens after investigative journalism uncovered that the President of the Chamber of Agriculture of that country had children under 14 years of age working in his sugar cane fields. Cane cutting is considered very physically demanding even for adults, and the conditions under which the cane cutters work contrast with the growth of the sugar industry.

Guatemala: Child Labor in the Sugar Cane Fields

The video, made under the guise of a photographic project to make portraits using an old fashioned camera shows the workers, including children who work long days without even making minimum wage:

In Brazil, the indignation has been caused by the violent forced evictions in what is being called a massacre:

Brazil: “Massacre of Pinheirinho” Causes an Uproar

Urbanist and UN Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik reported:

Thousands of men, women, children and elderly residents of the Pinheirinho occupation are surprised by a siege consisting of helicopters, armored vehicles and more than 1,800 armed men of the military police. In addition to the exits of the occupation being blocked, the water, electricity and telephone were cut, and the order was for families to gather to begin the process of retreat. Determined to resist - as the repossession had been suspended on Friday - the residents did not accept the command, initiating a dramatically violent situation that lasted all day and that has resulted in homeless families, people injured, arrests and rumors, including of the existence of fatalities.

East Asia

Hong Kong residents are becoming outraged: the cultural clashes have citizens and bloggers in a tense situation where any event is cause for fury:

China and Hong Kong: Train Scuffle Ignites Cross-Border Fury

Hong Kong Rethinks its Relationship with Mainland China

While bloggers in Hong Kong complain about their stretched resources and bubble economy, seeing the mainlanders as the intruders and sharing music videos where Mainland Chinese are compared to locusts, others such as Grey Reporter see both parties as victims of the system:

Actually, Hong Kongers and mainlanders share the same destiny – to end the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party and the collusion between the rich and the powerful.

Wonder

Middle East & North Africa

Jordan: Let it Snow

Snow in Jordan had people whipping out their mobile phones and documenting the long awaited snow fall, even if it didn't stick.

But in case you are in a place where the snow does stick, what about checking out the video tutorial on how to build an igloo with just snow and a knife?

Eastern and Central Europe

CEE: A “Safe House” and an Igloo

Sierra Leone: Top 5 Revolutionary Election Songs

Ndesanjo Macha — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:54:56 +0000

This is Switmot's list of Sierra Leone’s top 5 revolutionary election songs: “In 10 months Sierra Leoneans will head to the polls to exercise their right to vote…In the last elections, music played an important role in creating political awareness and also to mobilize supporters for the SLPP, and the APC. The songs of popular musicians became the soundtrack for political rallies and marches.”