BI on Music Theory Print

Bian lian

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Face-changing, or “bian lian” in Chinese, is an important part of Chinese Sichuan opera. Sichuan opera is one of the Han Chinese operas, popular in eastern and central Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou Province, and Yunnan Province. Sichuan Opera masks are the important part of the Sichuan Opera performing; they are treasures that the ancient opera artists work together to create and pass down. The secret of the face change has been passed down from one generation to the next within families. Traditionally only males were permitted to learn Bian Lian, the theory being that women did not stay within the family and would marry out, increasing the risk the secret would be passed to another family. Another female performer is Du Li Min, who teaches a workshop in Kuala Lumpur with her husband Bian Jiang. In 2003, Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau allegedly offered to pay Bian Lian master Peng Denghuai 3,000,000 yuan (ca. US$360,000) in order to learn the techniques. Although Lau did learn the techniques from Peng, both deny any money changed hands. Knowing the secret does not make it easy and thus far, Andy Lau has learned only how the masks are changed so quickly, but has not yet mastered the technique. Historically, Bian Lian had rarely been seen outside of China because non-Chinese were not permitted to learn the art form, but since the mid-2000s it has been performed occasionally in international mass media and at Chinese themed events. Juliana Chen performed on The World’s Greatest Magic television special with a brief black-light performance of Bian Lian. Michael Stroud, (as The Magique Bazaar) performed Bian Lian on America’s Got Talent. Bian Lian was also featured on Penn & Teller’s Magic and Mystery Tour. Since the cultural basis of the opera are not well known outside of China, international performers have been making efforts to inform and increase the entertainment value for Westerners who do not know the context and meaning of the different faces.

Bicinium

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

- Didactic two-part compositions of the Renaissance and the Baroque A large site dedicated to bicinia, includes lists of composers and works, scores and an extensive bibliography.

Big beat

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Style#

Big beat features heavy and distorted drum beats at tempos between 100 and 140 beats per minute, Roland TB-303 synthesizer lines resembling those of acid house, and heavy loops from 1960s and 1970s funk, soul, jazz, and rock songs. They are often punctuated with punk-style vocals or rappers and driven by intense, distorted synthesizer basslines with conventional pop, house and techno song structures. Big beat tracks have a sound that includes crescendos, builds, drops, extended drum rolls, and sounds such as spoken word samples, dialogues from film and TV, additional instruments such as Middle Eastern strings or sitars, explosions, air horns, sirens (usually police sirens) and gunshots. As with several other dance genres at the time, the use of effects such as filters, phasing, and flanging was common in the genre. Celebrated pioneers of the genre such as Fatboy Slim tend to feature heavily compressed loud breakbeats in their songs, which are used to define the music as much as any melodic hooks and sampled sounds. Based on the primary use of loud, heavy breakbeats and basslines, big beat shares attributes with jungle and drum and bass, but has a significantly slower tempo.

Big Drum

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origin#

All big drum celebration is accompanied by the boula drum. The word boula can refer to at least four different drums played in the Caribbean music area. The Guadeloupean boula is a hand drum, similar to the tambou bèlè, and is used in gwo ka and special occasions likes wakes, wrestling matches and Carnival celebrations. It is a hand drum that plays low-pitched sounds and is played single-handed and transversally. The boula of Carriacou is also a hand drum, now most often made of rum casks. It is also called the tambou dibas, and is used in the Big Drum tradition. The boula of Trinidad and Tobago accompanies the stick-fighting dance called kalenda, and is a double-headed barrel drum, played open-handed.

Big room house

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

By the fall of 2012, the popularity of Electronic dance music (EDM) had exploded. EDM-only festivals began to pop up all over the United States with headline bills featuring internationally touring talents like acts like Skrillex, Tiësto, and Armin van Buuren. No longer restricted to underground raves and soft-ticketed club nights, EDM continued to grow as festivals for progressive house, dubstep, electro house, trance and drum and bass all took place together. DJs began to recognize the need to make music suited for the larger venues and arenas they had begun to play and would play for years to come. As multi-genre EDM festivals like Ultra Music Festival, Electric Zoo and HARD Summer and Swedish House Mafia-like arena tours quickly became the norm in all of electronic dance music, DJs began focusing on making music specifically to be played in these new ‘big’, commercially-driven spaces. The backlash from other DJs, industry insiders and long-time ravers became predictable as the direct tie-in to commercial viability and music’s relative simplistic composition made it an easy target. Unlike trance’s richly programmed arpeggios or house music’s culturally important samples, big room house didn’t have any inborne unique or virtuoso qualities to it; instead much more reliant on the context in which its deployed. Though there are numerous classic big room house songs now, “Animals” remains among the most important. The song’s emergence and subsequent coverage was the first to even make mention of the term “big room” and is responsible for the phenomenon’s explosion. In 2016, Beatport added the Big Room genre, putting producers such as Deadmau5 and Wolfgang Gartner under the category.

Big-beat (Eastern Bloc)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Genres of American origin, such as jazz, twist, and especially rock and roll were banned or at least hardly tolerated in Eastern Bloc countries in the mid-20th century. Such music was considered to be an element of American imperialism. Despite the official attitude, a number of jazz bands formed in the Eastern Bloc. In the 1950s, these bands included rock and roll elements in their performances. The first Polish band that played rock and roll was , formed in 1959, and they were forced by the authorities to disband a year later. The manager of Rhythm and Blues, Franciszek Walicki, to avoid the term rock and roll, coined the term “big-beat” to refer to the band’s music. In Walicki’s intention, it was a pure synonym of rock and roll, but the name became widely used in reference to any popular music with a strong rhythm and a simple melodic structure, such as rhythm and blues, madison, or twist. Walicki went on to form new bands, including Czerwono-Czarni and Niebiesko-Czarni, and rock and roll under the name “big-beat” became popular in Poland from the early 1960s. In Czechoslovakia and Hungary, it happened in the middle of that decade. The first rock and roll concert in the Soviet Union was performed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966. However, in the USSR, rock was performed without a specific genre name, and rock groups were called “vocal and instrumental bands” (VIA). In Poland and Czechoslovakia, the term “big beat” or “bigbit” was mostly used,

Biguine

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Two main types of French antillean biguine can be identified based on the instrumentation in contemporary musical practice, called the drum biguine and the orchestrated biguine. Each of these refers to characteristics of a specific origin. The drum biguine, or bidgin bèlè in Creole, comes from a series of bèlè dances performed since early colonial times by the slaves who inhabited the great sugar plantations. Musically, the bidgin bèlè can be distinguished from the orchestrated biguine in the following ways: its instrumentation (cylindrical single-membraned drum (bèlè) and the rhythm sticks (tibwa); the call-and-response singing style; the soloist’s improvisation, and the nasal voice quality. According to a study by Rosemain (1988), the biguine figured in fertility rituals practiced in West Africa, but its ritual significance has since disappeared in Martinique.

Bigwala

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Brief history#

Bigwala is music and dance from the Basoga who are a Bantu speaking community from the southeastern region of Uganda. The Basoga are neighbors to various communities such as Baganda, Bagwere, Basamia, Banyoli and Banyoro. The Basoga, like most other communities, have various folk music and dance forms including Tamenhaibuga (do not break the gourd) dance, Nalufuka (the dance that pours) dance, Irongo (twin ritual) dance and Mayebe (leg rattles) dance. Bigwala is a Lusoga (language of the Basoga) term that refers to the set of five monotone gourd trumpets of different sizes. The Bigwala dance was named after these trumpets since they are played during the dance and are an indispensable part of the dance. The basics of this dance are Bigwala playing, drumming, singing and processional dancing A number of theories have emerged attempting to explain the origin of the Bigwala. Some scholars state that they originated from Egypt and were adopted by the Basoga through migration of other communities to modern day Uganda. However, one theory that is believed to be true by most is, Kintu, the first Muganda (Baganda man) brought the Bigwala to Buganda from the slopes of Mt.Elgon in Eastern Uganda. Thereafter, they spread to other communities like the Bunyoro, Busoga and Toro. Many believe that the spreading of the Bigwala was not coincidental but a result of some immigrants moving to Busoga region from Buganda in the 16th century led by Kintu himself. There is evidence to back this up such as the fact that there is significant resemblance between the Bigwala of the Busonga and Buganda kingdom. Additionally, the Basoga have clans bearing Kintu’s name.

Biker metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Biker metal has been described as being influenced by punk rock, rock and roll, heavy metal and blues. Sleazegrinder, a writer at Classic Rock, described biker metal as “glam metal gone Mad Max”. Biker metal is characterized by its mid-tempo approach to metal, its “gritty and American” sound, and its alignment with biker culture as a whole. The genre has been contrasted with slower and more operatic forms of metal, such as Judas Priest’s work in the early 2000s. Similarly, biker metal eschews the speed and virtuosity that rose to prominence in the 1980s. Bands such as Black Moth, Orange Goblin, The Obsessed, Earthride and Black Label Society have been described as fusing the style with doom metal, whereas Clutch have been described as merging elements of biker metal and Southern rock into their stoner rock sound. Black Sabbath’s song “Paranoid” has been considered a classic of the genre. Biker metal has proven influential to genres ranging from speed metal to hardcore punk and crust punk, and was integral to the development of extreme metal.

Bikutsi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology#

The word ‘bikutsi’ literally means ‘beat the earth’ or ’let’s beat the earth’ (bi- indicates a plural, -kut- means ’to beat’ and -chi means ’earth’.) The name indicates a dance that is accompanied by stomping the feet on the ground.

Description#

Bikutsi is characterised by an intense rhythm (3+3, with a strong “two” feel), though it is occasionally Triple metre

History#

Popular bikutsi first appeared in the 1940s with the recording of Anne-Marie Nzié. Some twenty years later, the style was electrified with the addition of keyboards and guitars. The most popular performer of this period was Messi Me Nkonda Martin, frontman for Los Camaroes and known as “the father of modern bikutsi music”. In an effort to translate the sound and spirit of traditional bikutsi music to more modern terms, Messi incorporated the sound of a balafon into the electric guitar by linking together the guitar strings with lengths of cotton cord. Played in this way, the electric guitar sounded similar to the balafon. The music itself, then, was only slightly altered, while the image and outside perception of bikutsi music was changed enormously. Other bands during this time, such as Les Vétérans, were also popular. International acclaim began in 1987 with the formation of Les Têtes Brûlées by Jean Marie Ahanda. The late guitarist of Les Têtes Brulées, Zanzibar, invented the trick of damping the strings of his guitar with a strip of foam rubber to produce the music’s characteristic balafon-like thunk. (The balafon is a marimba-like instrument that is widely used in African folk music.) More modern performers include Jimmy Mvondo Mvelé and Mbarga Soukous. Present-day bikutsi as performed by artists like Lady Ponce, K-Tino, Racine Sagath and Natascha Bizo is sometimes regarded as controversial. It has been criticised for the perceived sexual content of its lyrics and dancing style. In this respect bikutsi resembles mapouka from Côte d’Ivoire, which is also considered indecent by many Africans. The main difference is that present day bikutsi is still often performed by female artists who use it as a means of self-expression in a traditionally male-dominated society. Thus a singer like K-Tino, self-styled femme du peuple (woman of the people) sees herself as having an important part to play in the emancipation and liberation of the women of Cameroon. Among the current crop of artists are Patou Bass and Ovasho Bens, the promoter of a dance and philosophy called “zig zag”. His first album is composed not only of Cameroonian traditional rhythms but also West Indian zouk and Jamaican-style reggae. Bikutsi has influenced Western musicians such as Paul Simon on his 1990 album The Rhythm of the Saints.

Biomusic

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Biophony#

At the 2014 Cheltenham Music Festival (UK), “The Great Animal Orchestra Symphony for Orchestra and Wild Soundscapes,” composed by Bernie Krause and Oxford (Balliol College) former composer-in-residence, Richard Blackford, premiered, and was performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. This composition is the first symphony based on ecological themes and the first to perform, live, with whole natural soundscapes informing the orchestral form and themes, just as biophonies and geophonies inspired music (rhythm, melody, organization of sound, timbre, and dynamic) at the dawn of cultural time. Commissioned by the Alonzo King LINES Ballet, an international corps based in San Francisco, the score for Biophony, composed by Bernie Krause and Richard Blackford, consists almost entirely of biophonies and geophonies and premiered in 2015. It has since been performed worldwide.

Biraha

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Biraha is believed to have originated among peasant and pastoral groups in North India during the Mughal period. Until the 1880s, it was mostly confined to villages and was sung while grazing cattle, for leisure at night, and at social ceremonies such as weddings and engagements. In the early 20th century, Bihari Lal Yadav played a pivotal role in transforming Biraha into an urban musical genre, particularly in Varanasi, where it was performed at temple festivals and annual religious celebrations.

Birmingham sound

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bitpop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Among systems used include the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Amiga. The sounds produced from these systems can be combined to any degree with traditional instruments, such as guitar and drums, modern synthesizers and drum machines, or vocals and sound effects. Bitpop uses a mixture of old and new equipment often resulting in a sound which is unlike chiptune although containing 8-bit sourced sounds. For example, a bitpop production may be composed almost entirely of 8-bit sounds but with a live vocal or overlaid live guitars. Conversely, a bitpop production may be composed almost entirely of live vocals and instruments but feature a bassline or lead melody provided by an 8-bit device.

BI on Music Theory Print

Bian lian

History#

Bicinium

Further reading#

External links#

Big beat

Style#

Big Drum

Origin#

Big room house

History#

Big-beat (Eastern Bloc)

Background#

Biguine

History#

Bigwala

Brief history#

Biker metal

Characteristics#

Bikutsi

Etymology#

Description#

History#

Biomusic

Biophony#

Biraha

History#

Birmingham sound

Bitpop

Characteristics#