This video features the great blues guitar legend Big Bill Broonzy (born as William Lee Conley Broonzy) performing the tune Hey Hey. Even though Big Bill Broonzy is not very well known, he has recorded about 350 songs! The guitar player and singer gained a certain popularity with his small band as one of the first blues singers who included a bass and drums in his performances. The band was called Big Bill and his Chicago Five.
Big Bill Broonzy was born in the state of Missisipi in 1893 or 95 and lived until 1958. When he moved to Chicago, he began to play the guitar and soon began playing clubs and participating in recording sessions. His playing is in the folk blues tradition and despite the fact that in the 40s he had begun to experiment with the electric guitar, he returned to his classical picking style and singing, mostly because his audience wanted so because it seemed more authentic to them.
Big Bill Broonzy has recorded with musicians like Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Brownie Mcghee and Sonny Terry, among others. He has been a source of inspiration to other blues giants as Muddy Waters and Memphis Slim.
In this video Big Bil Broonzy shows his personal picking style that the mostly white audiences wanted him to play.
Blues Legend Big Bill Broonzy Performing Hey Hey
Traditional Chinelo Music and Dance from the Mexican State of Morelos
This video clip shows some traditional dance music from the central mexican state of Morelos, about 80 km south of Mexico City. The music is played by marching bands and consists of short phrases which are played over and over again while the dancers walk jumping through the streets. At a certain moment, the flow of the music will be interrupted by a long note usually played by the trumpets. At the end of the long note, another frenetic melody starts and is played again and again until the next long note on the trumpets.
This scheme will be performed for hours and is a challenge for dancers and musicians. It can lead to a state of trance. Consider that the parades usually happen under the burning sun of central Mexico and that the costumes of the dancers are of heavy fabric. The participants sure need to drink a lot of beer during the parades …
Los Tigres del Norte Performing the Corrido Camelia la Tejana
This video clips features the mexican group Los Tigres del Norte (The Tigers of the North) with one of their most successfull hits: Camelia la tejana (Camelia, the girl from Texas).
Los tigres del Norte are a group that plays in the tradition of the Northern Mexico music style.
This tune forms part of the origins of a modern kind of mexican folk music called the narcocorrido (somehting like ‘narcotics song’) which is musically based on the traditional corrido while the lyrics here are foccussing on drug dealers and mafias smuggling drugs, being presented as somehow positive or heroic characters which resulted in the later prohibition of performances with this kind of contents. At preesent time the prohibition has not yet gathered a general acceptation among the mexican population, specially among the lower class and rural people, or maybe the prohibition was voided later. If you have any more precise information, we would apreciate your comments.
For those of you who speak a little spanish we offer the lyrics of the tune:
Salieron de San Isidro procedentes de Tijuana
traían las llantas del carro repletas de yerba mala.
Eran Emilio Varela y Camelia La Texana.
Al pasar por San Clemente los paró la Emigración,
les pidió sus documentos, les dijo: – ¿de dónde son?
Ella era de San Antonio, una hembra de corazón.
Cuando una hembra quiere a un hombre por él puede dar la vida,
pero hay que tener cuidado si esa hembra se siente herida;
la traición y el contrabando son cosas incompartidas.
A Los Angeles llegaron, a Hollywood se pasaron;
en un callejón obscuro las cuatro llantas cambiaron.
ahí entregaron la yerba, ahí también les pagaron.
Emilio dice a Camelia:
-hoy te das por despedida, con la parte que te toca
ya puedes rehacer tu vida.
Yo me voy pa’ San Francisco con la dueña de mi vida.
Sonaron siete balazos, Camelia a Emilio mataba.
La policía sólo halló una pistola tirada.
Del dinero y de Camelia nunca más se supo nada.
Kongar-ol Ondar Performing Throat Singing together with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
This video clip shows an amazing singer from Mongolia called Kongar-ol Ondar who is performing some incredible vocal music: in some parts of the tune he sings three notes together. And there are no overdubs or playback! He is performing together with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, but on this particular song he is singing a capella (which means vocal music or singing without accompaniment). Kongar-ol Ondar doesn’t need any accompaniment because he acompanies himself with his other voices. lol.
This technique is called throat singing and originally comes from the russian republic of Tuva, the technique is also practised by the people from Mongolia. It seems to be difficult to learn it, teachers say that it takes about 10 minutes to explain it and lots of hours of practice.
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones have been playing for over 14 years now, performing shows in genres like bluegrass, jazz and fusion. Bela Fleck himself plays the electric banjo and the group likes to be creative. They never play the same show twice in a row and like to bring in new elements like they do here with the throat singing of Kongar-ol Ondar.
If you like to listen to more throat singing and vocal music videos, feel free to visit this page with more examples.
Javier Nandayapa Trio Performing Jugando en la lluvia and Autismo
Check this video clip of the Javier Nandayapa Trio performing the songs Jugando en la lluvia (Playing in the rain) and Autismo (Autism). Javier Nandayapa is playing the marimba and is also the bandleader while the compositions or arrangements are by Jesús Martínez who is playing the piano.
Javier Nandayapa was born in the state of Chiapas in Southern Mexico as a son of a traditional marimba playing family. The marimba is the most popular instrument in this mexican state and every village has its own marimba orchestra, sometimes several marimba orchestras. The groups are playing on different marimbas or they are using one giant marimba which they play all together.
In this concert, the Javier Nandayapa Trio performs compositions that clearly show the influence of the traditional southern mexican folk music as well as jazz and serial music influences. Javier Nandayapa performs solo concerts as well as he is playing in different groups. One of these groups is Marimba Nandayapa which is a group with some family members dedicated mostly to traditional mexican music but also counting with tunes from other areas like The Fly of the Bumblebee or the Huapango by the famous mexican composer Moncayo.
If you like to listen to some more video clips with traditional and modern marimba music feel free to visit the page at fiesta-musical.com .
The Day of Silence and Other New Years Day Celebrations from around the World
All over the globe there are celebrations when a year ends and a new cycle begins. The change dosn’t necessarily happen on december 31 / January 1, as in the western world. In Ubud, Bali (Indonesia), the celebrations take place in march, when the new year for the hindus begins.
Bali is a country full of music. It is a society where music is always present: when the fields are harvested, there is a music group of the town playing while other members of the community cut the fruits or whatever they are harvesting. The same thing happens when the community plants the seeds for the new agricultural cycle and in general terms there is no event in the life of the people from Bali where there wouldn’t be a musical group playing.
At the last day of the year, the people from Bali bring out giant paper monsters that symbolize the evil in multiple presentations and forms. In the night, the paper monsters are brought back to where they were built and remain there for one day. This day is the day of silence and there is absolutely no action on the streets or in the houses. People meditate and rest, stying home since no traffic is allowed on the streets. No cars, no motorcycles and not even pedestrians.
The idea behind this tradition is that on this day the evil spirits will visit the island and when they see the paper monsters and the empty streets they will think that the monsters already have taken over the island and that there are no persons left. So, they will go back to where they came from and will let the land in peace for another year.
That would be a nice tradition to introduce in the western world!
Latin Music Lesson by Rebeca Mauleon Teaching the Clave Concept
Rebeca Mauleon is dedicated to music and teaching it, giving private lessons as well as clinics and master classes. She specially likes afro-carribbean music and has been teaching about it in many universities and colleges around the world. She is a writer too and her “critically acclaimed books on Latin music have been adopted into the programs of such prestigious institutions as the Berklee College of Music in Boston and Stanford University”.
In this video, Rebeca talks about and demonstrates the clave concept which is present in all latin music styles. It is played originally by the instrument with the same name, clave, which consists of two wood sticks, one hitting the other, in a very basic pattern. This pattern counts with two bars, having two beats in one bar and three beats in the second bar (or the other way around). Notice that the time is 4/4, not 5/4!
Sarangi – A Musical Instrument with Strings from Nepal and India
Watch this video with several musicians playing an ancient nepalese instrument, the sarangi. It is similar to the western violin in the sense of being a string instrument which is played with a bow. However, the standard tuning of the strings is quite different so that the pentatonic and other oriental scales can be played with relative ease.
In Nepal it is played frequently as a solo instrument and the melodies and sound produced by the instrument are very relaxing. Nevertheless, people from Nepal and from around the world say it is pretty difficult to learn to play the sarangi.
The music itself sounds much like music from India and Pakistan. Nepal is an idependent state and does not belong to China, however it has a border with India so it’s only natural that the music of Northern India and Nepal sound similar or are the same. Whatever, if you are familiar with indian music, you know that the sarangi is a typical instrument for performing ragas, as a solo instrument or together with tablas and other oriental music instruments.
For those of you who like to listen to more eastern music here is a page with videos of indian music with sarangi and other traditional instruments.
Music and Video Guide 