Music and Us: Our New Playlist

     I am excited to do this Blog because I am interested in learning about new music from different cultures. It took me a while to figure out which cultures and styles of music I wanted to do. I tried to pick music from cultures that sound very different from each other so you can really see the variety of styles shown in each music piece.

    The first piece of music I want to introduce is from Jamaica (North America) and the artist is Bob Marley. My dad was a huge fan of his music so I grew up with it. Reggae music makes me feel so free and happy when I listen to it. I love so many songs by him. I loved how much he adored his culture and included it in his music. The song I picked is called Stir It Up by Bob Marley and The Wailers. I chose to go the modern route this one because I can relate more to this style of music.

    The next country that I am going to do is music from the Dominican Republic(North America). I visited this place once about every 2 years because my dad has family there. I learned a lot of dances here such as their salsa and bachata dances. I chose to go the traditional route with this country because their music is so rich. I am going to include a dance called the Merengue. I am also going to include a sample of music called Salves which is a call-and-response style of music and used mainly in ceremonies or religious matters.

    The next piece of music is a mix of traditional and modern Morrocan(Asia)music. I never really heard anything like this when I first clicked on the piece. The band I am using is called HobaHoba Spirt. They mix rock/punk styles with traditional Morrocan rhythms. I feel like their music is very catchy and fast-paced pace which is what I like when it comes to music. The song that I am going to be using is an example of the mix because it is in Arabic but the style is rock. This is definitely opposite of what I normally listen to but I still had a feel for it.

The next country I am going to be talking about is Japan( Asia). I really liked the culture of this so I am going to be going the traditional route and talking about music and theatrical dramas as well. The type of drama that I will be talking about is Kabuki (歌舞伎) which is a  Japanese theatre known for its highly stylized dancing and singing as well as the elaborate make-up worn by the predominately all-male cast. The music I will be including is called Gagaku which is known as court music and is the oldest traditional style of music. The piece of music will be an instrumental piece of Gagaku

I hope you learned something new or found some of the music interesting enough to do some more digging. I learned a lot in the hour that it took me to complete this blog. This assignment definitely broadened my horizons after covering music from Japan, Morocco, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica.