CH on Music Theory Print

Cha-cha-chá (music)

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

Origin#

The creation of cha-cha-chá has been traditionally attributed to Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín, who began his career playing for the charanga band Orquesta América. According to the testimony of Enrique Jorrín, he composed some danzones in which musicians of the orchestra had to sing short refrains, and this style was very successful. In the danzón “Constancia”, he introduced some montunos and the audience was motivated to join in singing the refrains. Jorrín also asked the members of the orchestra to sing in unison so the lyrics might be heard more clearly and achieve a greater impact in the audience. That way of singing also helped to mask the poor singing skills of the orchestra members. In 1948, Jorrín changed the style of a Mexican song by Guty Cárdenas, called “Nunca”, composing a separate part for the trio or montuno of danzón; and in 1951 he composed a signature cha-cha-chá, “La engañadora”. Jorrín noticed that most of the dancers had some trouble with highly syncopated rhythms and therefore he simplified the musical texture of his pieces, using as little syncopation as possible. The novel cha-cha-chá style was born from melodies that were very easy to dance.

Chaabi (Algeria)

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

The best known chaabi singers#

The best known chaabi singers are as follows: * El Hadj M’Hamed El Anka * Hadj M’rizek * Amar Ezzahi * El Hachemi Guerouabi * Boudjemaâ El Ankis * Kamel Messaoudi * Abdelkader Chaou * Dahmane El Harrachi * Lounès Matoub

Features of Chaabi#

What distinguishes this Algerian Chaabi are the sounds and poems, which represent sad memories of times gone by, heart-warming and/or romantic emotions, time spent with friends, and other memories, set against a beautiful background of Algeria. It is music that describes the reality of life and even includes tales and stories such as the stories of the prophet Mohamed and the religious. The words create wonderful pictures. Today, hundreds of singers are inspired by Rai music which can be heard all over the world.

Chaabi (Morocco)

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

Chabad niggunim

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

The Chabad style of niggun#

Chabad niggunim are admired across Hasidism for their intellectual content, expressing the aim in Chabad to investigate Hasidic philosophy using the mind as the route to the heart. The second Rebbe, Dovber Schneuri, distinguished between mainstream Hasidic emotional “enthusiasm” in worship, that is fostered outwards, and the Chabad ideal of inwardly created “ecstasy”. His “Tract on Ecstasy”, an unusually personal mystical account in Judaism, guides the follower in the meditative stages of the Chabad approach to Dveikus (fervour). In this ideal, ecstasy is an inner emotional expression, and can remain concealed in the warmth of the heart. In Chabad terminology, the aim of this is to reach “Pnimius” (inward Ohr) over “Hitzonius” (outward light). The fundamental Chabad text, the Tanya, articulates this method in Jewish meditation of “hisbonenus” (contemplative understanding). In classic Chabad thought, externally inspired emotional worship is considered a distracting path from deeper content, though this idealistic aim requires time to contemplate that may not always be available. In the present generation, more emphasis has been given in Chabad to outreach, though the classic ideal is venerated in legendary accounts of Hasidim, told in Farbrengen gatherings. Chabad Rebbes told of two characteristic categories of follower, the “Oveid” who seeks practical Divine “service” from their mystical inspiration, and the “Maskil” whose first aim is deeper understanding of Hasidic thought. The average person can combine both archetypes in their daily life. Some Chabad niggunim are more suited to moments of inward contemplation, and others celebrate and inspire outward fulfillment. One renowned story both cautions against mixing the two necessary aspects, and also playfully recommends not to be overly concerned by their overlap: A well known Hasid was filling out the company accounts at work. In the final tally, he answered the question of total outcome with the Hasidic aphorism that “Ein Od Milvado”! This means, “There is nothing outside of God”, as in Chabad Divine Unity means only God truly exists. His fellow Hasid reprimanded his mixing of Hasidic and secular life. He replied that in prayer, people are not usually upset by their minds being diverted in secular thoughts. So, he concluded, it isn’t so bad for holy thoughts to intrude in Worldly matters! In Hasidic terminology, meditative dveikus niggunim correspond to “Lower Teshuvah” (Lower Return to God), and celebratory joyful niggunim to “Higher Teshuvah” (Higher Return). In Hasidic philosophy, such as explained in the third section of the Tanya, Teshuvah does not only involve repentance and rectification of previous spiritual faults. Rather, as the Baal Shem Tov taught, even perfectly righteous Tzadikim should return to God, in the higher Teshuvah of continual ascent in holiness. According to Kabbalistic exegesis of the Hebrew word “Teshuvah” (תשובה), it means “Returning the letter hei” (תשוב-ה). The Tetragrammaton Divine name has two letters “hei”, the second one corresponding to the lower revealed levels of the Four Worlds, and the first one corresponding to the higher concealed realms. Lower teshuvah returns the second hei in rectification, higher teshuvah redeems the higher hei in holy ascent. The seventh Rebbe of Chabad taught that the main focus of our generation is in the “Higher Teshuvah”. Accordingly, while the main niggunim of the previous Chabad Rebbes were meditative, many of the niggunim of the seventh Rebbe are joyful outward expressions.

Chacarera

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

Chacarera music#

While much of the Chacarera repertoire can be traced to the 1920s sheet music of Andrés Chazarreta (Chazarreta 1947 1916 ), the contemporary Chacarera style described in this article was standardized by the recordings of the 1950s folk group Los Hermanos Ábalos (Ábalos 1952). Today, this style is ubiquitous throughout Argentina, with important variants appearing in the provinces of Santiago del Estero and Salta.

Melody and harmony#

Contemporary Chacareras generally utilize descending, minor-mode melodies within an octave range. They are not harmonically distinctive, relying predominantly on tonic and dominant accompaniment, and the occasional shift to the relative major. Some modern Chacarera musicians use major-seventh and other altered chords in their arrangements.

Chaconne

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

History#

Though it originally emerged during the late sixteenth century in Spanish culture, having reputedly been introduced from the New World, as a quick dance-song characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts, the chaconne by the early eighteenth century had evolved into a slow triple meter instrumental form. Alex Ross describes the origins of the chacona as actually having been a sexily swirling dance that appeared in South America at the end of the sixteenth century and quickly spread to Europe. The dance became popular both in the elite courts and in the general population. “Un sarao de la chacona” is one of the earliest known examples of a “chacona”, written down by Spanish musician Juan Arañés. Outstanding examples of early baroque chaconnes are Monteverdi’s “Zefiro torna” and “Es steh Gott auf” by Heinrich Schütz. One of the best known and most masterful and expressive examples of the chaconne is the final movement from the Violin Partita in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. This 256-measure chaconne takes a plaintive four-bar phrase through a continuous kaleidoscope of musical expression in both major and minor modes. However, recently it has been proposed that Bach’s “Ciaccona” (he used the Italian form of the name, rather than the French “Chaconne”) is really cast in the form of a French theatrical dance known as the “passacaille”, although it also incorporates Italian and German style features as well. After the Baroque period, the chaconne fell into decline during the 19th century, though Beethoven’s 32 Variations in C minor suggest its continuing influence. However, the form saw a very substantial revival during the 20th century, with more than two dozen composers contributing examples (see below).

Chaiti

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

Origin and cultural context#

Chaiti songs emerged from the folk traditions of the Bhojpur region encompassing Northern Jharkhand and Southern – western Bihar. The genre derives its name from the Hindu month of Chaitra (March-April), which marks the arrival of spring and is considered auspicious in Hindu tradition. This period coincides with several important festivals, particularly Ram Navami, celebrating the birth of Lord Rama, which explains the predominance of devotional themes in Chaiti compositions. The songs reflect the agricultural calendar and the joy associated with spring harvest. In rural areas, Chaiti was traditionally performed by folk singers during community gatherings, weddings, and religious festivals. Over time, the genre was adopted and refined by classical musicians, transforming it into a semi-classical form while retaining its folk essence.

Chalga

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

Etymology#

The name Chalga is derived from the Turkish word Çalgı, meaning “musical instrument”.

History#

Although it originated in parallel with ex-Yugoslav turbofolk in the 1960s and 70s, contemporary Chalga music first emerged in 1989 after the collapse of the communist regime of Bulgaria, which persecuted musicians who played western or western influenced-styles. The political freedom that came with the fall of the Iron Curtain thus enabled Chalga to emerge and enjoy commercial success as a genre. Many conservative-minded figures in Bulgaria have criticized Chalga for its lyrical themes, often revolving around sexual liberation, youth culture, and glorification of wealth and capitalism, which critics considered morally corrupt. However, in the modern day, most Bulgarians have embraced Chlaga due to its liberal attitudes and alternative subculture, viewing it as an important piece of modern Bulgarian culture. Throughout the Balkans, folk traditions have seen a process of modernization. Chalga has similarities with Greek Laiko and Turkish Arabesque music, a style with similar pop elements, incorporating Turkish music elements and lyrics, mixed with Arab influences due to religious and cultural similarities to between Turkey and the Arab world.

Chamamé

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

External links#

Fundacionmemoriadelchamame.com (La Pagina Oficial de La Fundación Memoria del Chamamé)
Chamame.tv (La Pagina Oficial de La Fiesta Nacional del Chamamé, Argentina)
Chamigos.com (Chamame Social Network)
SiempreChamame.com.ar (Chamamé site and online radio)
Corrientes Chamamé

Chamarrita

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

Azorean Chamarrita#

The chamarrita from the Azores is a dance to a rhythm traditionally played on the fiddle with or without accompaniment. Instruments often include the guitar, harmonica and accordion. Dancers, usually in pairs, wear authentic gaucho clothes reflecting Azorean culture. The dance itself is a lively dance done in a circle. There is a caller who sings out directions to all the dancers. The pairs of dancers gather in opposite rows, approaching and moving away as the music progresses. The following is an example of a Chamaritta verse with the English translation. A moda da Chamarrita Nã tem nada que aprender, E andar comum pé no ar E outro no chão a bater Quero cantar e bailar Com a moça mais bonita Bater o pé no terreiro Dar voltas a Chamarrita The old Chamarrita dance Is really easy to learn Just lift a foot in the air And stamp the other on the floor I want to sing and dance With the prettiest gal Stamp my foot on the ground In a Chamarrita round

Chamber jazz

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

Notable musicians linked to chamber jazz music#

The following have sources describing them as musicians who have performed chamber jazz. In some cases it is unclear if they agree with that description. Further many or most of these musicians are primarily known for other genres of jazz or other genres of music. * Billy Childs * Eddie Daniels * Dave Douglas * Mark Feldman * Jimmy Giuffre * Chico Hamilton – An early proponent. * Mark Isham * John Kirby - perhaps the first chamber jazz musician. * Brad Mehldau * Meg Okura – She has been dubbed “The Queen of Chamber Jazz.” * Peter Sprague * Russel Walder

Chamber music

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

History#

From its earliest beginnings in the Medieval period to the present, chamber music has been a reflection of the changes in the technology and the society that produced it.

Early beginnings#

During the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, instruments were used primarily as accompaniment for singers. String players would play along with the melody line sung by the singer. There were also purely instrumental ensembles, often of stringed precursors of the violin family, called consorts. Some analysts consider the origin of classical instrumental ensembles to be the sonata da camera (chamber sonata) and the sonata da chiesa (church sonata). These were compositions for one to five or more instruments. The sonata da camera was a suite of slow and fast movements, interspersed with dance tunes; the sonata da chiesa was the same, but the dances were omitted. These forms gradually developed into the trio sonata of the Baroque – two treble instruments and a bass instrument, often with a keyboard or other chording instrument (harpsichord, organ, harp or lute, for example) filling in the harmony. Both the bass instrument and the chordal instrument would play the basso continuo part. During the Baroque period, chamber music as a genre was not clearly defined. Often, works could be played on any variety of instruments, in orchestral or chamber ensembles. The Art of Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach, for example, can be played on a keyboard instrument (harpsichord or organ) or by a string quartet or a string orchestra. The instrumentation of trio sonatas was also often flexibly specified; some of Handel’s sonatas are scored for “German flute, Hoboy oboe or Violin” Bass lines could be played by violone, cello, theorbo, or bassoon, and sometimes three or four instruments would join in the bass line in unison. Sometimes composers mixed movements for chamber ensembles with orchestral movements. Telemann’s ‘Tafelmusik’ (1733), for example, has five sets of movements for various combinations of instruments, ending with a full orchestral section. Baroque chamber music was often contrapuntal; that is, each instrument played the same melodic materials at different times, creating a complex, interwoven fabric of sound. Because each instrument was playing essentially the same melodies, all the instruments were equal. In the trio sonata, there is often no ascendent or solo instrument, but all three instruments share equal importance. The harmonic role played by the keyboard or other chording instrument was subsidiary, and usually the keyboard part was not even written out; rather, the chordal structure of the piece was specified by numeric codes over the bass line, called figured bass. In the second half of the 18th century, tastes began to change: many composers preferred a new, lighter Galant style, with “thinner texture, … and clearly defined melody and bass” to the complexities of counterpoint. Now a new custom arose that gave birth to a new form of chamber music: the serenade. Patrons invited street musicians to play evening concerts below the balconies of their homes, their friends and their lovers. Patrons and musicians commissioned composers to write suitable suites of dances and tunes, for groups of two to five or six players. These works were called serenades, nocturnes, divertimenti, or cassations (from gasse=street). The young Joseph Haydn was commissioned to write several of these.

Chamber pop

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

Definition and etymology#

The combination of string sections and rock music has been called “symphonic pop”, “chamber pop”, and orchestral pop (or “ork-pop” for short). The first use of strings in R&B or rock music was in the 1959 song “There Goes My Baby” by The Drifters, produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with string arrangement by Stan Applebaum. The following year, the Shirelles song “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, written by Carole King and featuring a string section, was released to critical acclaim and rose to #1 on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 chart. The Beatles began implementing string arrangements in their music, starting with the 1965 song “Yesterday,” and further expanded upon the use of horns and strings on their 1966 album Revolver. The Beach Boys would develop their response to The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul with their own 1966 studio album Pet Sounds, which would further explore the use of strings in rock music and define the baroque pop genre. Ork-pop refers to a branch of underground rock musicians who shared an affinity with the Pet Sounds album, such as the High Llamas and bands from the Elephant 6 collective. According to CMJs David Jerman, the name was the creation of rock critics, “encompassing everyone from fans of the Beach Boys to fans of Bacharach and Mancini”. Chamber pop is stylistically diverse. while cultural writers Joseph Fisher and Brian Flota call it the “heir” to baroque pop. Strongly influenced by the rich orchestrations of Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson, and Lee Hazlewood, chamber pop artists once again focused on melody and texture. Newsmakers believes that the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds helped define chamber pop as “intimate, precisely arranged songs with rock’s sweep but without its bluesy clamor.” Following the album was the group’s unfinished 1966–67 work Smile, a collaboration between Brian Wilson and lyricist Van Dyke Parks that also heavily influenced the genre. Author Carl Wilson (no relation) says that Brian’s “pained vulnerability”, “uses of offbeat instruments”, “intricate harmonies”, and “the Smile saga itself” became a common reference point for chamber pop bands. Just as ork-pop acts shared a love for Wilson, they also held an admiration for one another’s work. blending the terms pop and chamber music, the latter referring to classical music played with a small number of musicians rather than with a full orchestra. In the late 1980s, the majority of Louis Phillipe’s productions for él Records also made sophisticated use of orchestras and voices that embodied and defined the chamber pop style. Chamber pop was part of a larger trend which involved musicians who rejected traditional rock conventions, such as Tortoise and Stereolab, although those specific bands are not considered ork-pop. The genre’s orchestration is typically more complex than rock music, making extensive use of brass and strings. It drew from the 1990s lounge music revival but avoided any influence from other contemporary styles like grunge, electronica, or alternative music, particularly the lo-fi hiss and distortion of the last. Although modern rock groups like Smashing Pumpkins, the Verve, Oasis, and R.E.M. occasionally used strings, their approach was considerably less intricate. The High Llamas were one of the first to anticipate the easy-listening fad with their 1993 album Gideon Gaye. O’Hagan felt that “There is this whole misconception that American college rock with twisted baseball hats and checked shirts is adventurous, but it’s the most conformist, corporate thing out there.” with Eric Matthews adding “All these bands sound like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. It’s a shame that it couldn’t be discovered from the get-go for what it is. A lot of it is just very simple dumb-guy rock.”

Champeta

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

Musical characteristics#

In champeta music, the rhythmic base dominates over the melodic and harmonic lines, producing a music easy to dance to and marked by its strength and plasticity. The instruments used include the voice, percussion, electric guitar, bass, conga drums, and the synthesiser, which contributes rhythmic effects. This musical form is characterised by a division into three sequential parts: the introductory music, the chorus, and , marked by powerful repetitive rhythms and usually accompanied by , interruptions counter to the rhythm. Song lyrics often display the rebellious attitude of Cartagena people of African descent, challenging social and economic exclusion or relating their dreams of change and progress.

Change ringing

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

Technique and physics#

Today, some towers have as many as sixteen bells that can be rung together, though six or eight bells are more common. The highest pitch bell is known as the treble, and the lowest is the tenor. In some towers, a bell larger than a tenor that is present would be called a bourdon. The bourdon is not part of the change ringing peal; it is hung from a pivoted beam. For convenience, the bells are referred to by number, with the treble being number 1 and the other bells numbered by their pitch—2, 3, 4, etc.—sequentially down the scale. (This system often seems counter-intuitive to musicians, who are used to a numbering that ascends with pitch.) The bells are usually tuned to a diatonic major scale, with the tenor bell being the tonic (or key) note of the scale. Some towers contain additional bells so that different subsets of the full number can be rung, still to a diatonic scale. For instance, many 12-bell towers have a flat sixth, which if rung instead of the normal number 6 bell allows 2 to 9 to be rung as light diatonic octave; other variations are also possible. The bells in a tower reside in the bell chamber or belfry usually with louvred windows to enable the sound to escape. The bells are mounted within a bellframe of steel or wood. Each bell is suspended from a headstock fitted on trunnions (plain or non-friction bearings) mounted to the belfry framework so that the bell assembly can rotate. When stationary in the down position, the centre of mass of the bell and clapper is appreciably below the centreline of the trunnion supports, giving a pendulous effect to the assembly, and this dynamic is controlled by the ringer’s rope. The headstock is fitted with a wooden stay, which, in conjunction with a slider, limits maximum rotational movement to a little less than 370 degrees. To the headstock a large wooden wheel is fitted and to which a rope is attached. The rope wraps and unwraps on the rim of the wheel as the bell rotates backwards and forwards. This is full circle ringing and quite different from fixed or limited motion bells, which chime. Within the bell the clapper is constrained to swing in the direction that the bell swings. The clapper is a rigid steel or wrought iron bar with a large ball to strike the bell. The thickest part of the mouth of bell is called the soundbow and it is against this that the ball strikes. Beyond the ball is a flight, which controls the speed of the clapper. In very small bells this can be nearly as long as the rest of the clapper. Below the bell chamber there may be one or more sound chambers, (one of which is likely to house the clock mechanism if the church has one) and through which the rope passes before it drops into the ringing chamber or room. Typically, the rope’s length is such that it falls close to or on to the floor of the ringing chamber. About 5 ft m from the floor, the rope has a woollen grip called the sally (usually around 4 ft m long) while the lower end of the rope is doubled over to form an easily held tail-end. Unattended bells are normally left hanging in the normal (“down”) position, but prior to being rung, the bells are rung up. In the down position, the bells are safe if a person touches them or pulls a rope. A bell that is up is dangerous to be near, and only expert ringers should ever contemplate entering a bell chamber or touching a rope when the bells are up. To raise a bell, the ringer pulls on the rope and starts the bell swinging. Each time the bell swings the ringer adds a little more energy to the system, similar to pushing a child’s swing. Eventually there is enough energy for the bell to swing right up and be left over-centre just beyond the balance point with the stay resting against the slider to hold the bell in position, ready to be rung. Bellringers typically stand in a circle around the ringing chamber, each managing one rope. Bells and their attendant ropes are so mounted that the ropes are pulled in a circular sequence, usually clockwise, starting with the lightest (treble) bell and descending to the heaviest (tenor). To ring the bell, the ringer first pulls the sally towards the floor, upsetting the bell’s balance and swinging it on its bearings. As the bell swings downwards the rope unwinds from the wheel and the ringer adds enough pull to counteract friction and air resistance. The bell winds the rope back onto the other side of the wheel as it rises and the ringer can slow (or check) the rise of the bell if required. The rope is attached to one side of the wheel so that a different amount of rope is wound on and off as it swings to and fro. The first stroke is the handstroke with a small amount of rope on the wheel. The ringer pulls on the sally and when the bell swings up it draws up more rope onto the wheel and the sally rises to, or beyond, the ceiling. The ringer keeps hold of the tail-end of the rope to control the bell. After a controlled pause with the bell, on or close to its balancing point, the ringer rings the backstroke by pulling the tail-end, causing the bell to swing back towards its starting position. As the sally rises, the ringer catches it to pause the bell at its balance position. In English-style ringing the bell is rung up such that the clapper is resting on the lower edge of the bell when the bell is on the stay. During each swing, the clapper travels faster than the bell, eventually striking the soundbow and making the bell sound. The bell speaks roughly when horizontal as it rises, thus projecting the sound outwards. The clapper rebounds very slightly, allowing the bell to ring. At the balance point, the clapper passes over the top and rests against the soundbow. In change ringing where the order the bells are struck in is constantly altered, it is necessary to time the swing so that this strike occurs with precise positioning within the overall pattern. Precision of striking is important at all times. To ring quickly, the bell must not complete the full 360 degrees before swinging back in the opposite direction; while ringing slowly, the ringer waits with the bell held at the balance, before allowing it to swing back. To achieve this, the ringer must work with the bell’s momentum, applying just the right amount of effort during the pull that the bell swings as far as required and no further. This allows two adjacent bells to reverse positions, the quicker bell passing the slower bell to establish a new pattern. Although ringing up certainly involves some physical exertion, actual ringing should rely more on practised skill than mere brute force. Even the smallest bell in a tower is much heavier than the person ringing it. The heaviest bell hung for full-circle ringing is in Liverpool Cathedral and weighs . Despite this colossal weight, it can be safely rung by one (experienced) ringer. (Whilst heavier bells exist – for example Big Ben – they are generally only chimed, either by swinging the bell slightly or having the bell hung dead and using a mechanical hammer.)

Changgeuk

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

History and Evolution#

During the 17th century, Korea became increasingly isolationist and transformed into a hermit kingdom, cut off from the rest of the world. This era of isolationism, sometimes referred to as the “Closed Door Policy,” lasted until the turn of the 20th century. After Korea opened its doors to foreign countries, new forms of entertainment - such as Japanese shinpa, or new wave, theater, and modern Western drama - were introduced and started to gain popularity, meanwhile the popularity of traditional pansori began to decline. Subsequently, changgeuk emerged. 1908 officially marked the beginning of modern Korean musical theater with the first changgeuk performance, a work titled “The Silver World” (“Eunsegye”). When it was first introduced, however, changgeuk failed to flourish due to a lack of creative materials, among other reasons, and it languished in obscurity for a long time. In the past few years, some notable changes have occurred which has led to the revival of changgeuk. At the center of this renaissance is the National Changgeuk Company of Korea, established in 1962 as a troupe of the National Theater of Korea. The Company has produced a series of creative works featuring fresh interpretations and stylish stage settings that has catapulted changgeuk into the national spotlight. The Company operates around three key initiatives: first, recreating the five surviving stories of pansori (including Shimcheong-ga, Chunhyang-ga, Heungbo-ga, Sugung-ga, and Jeokbyeok-ga) into changgeuk; second, updating the seven pansori classics that have been partially handed down (e.g., Byeon Gangsoe Taryeong, Baebijang Taryeong, Byeongangsoe-ga) into changgeuk; and third, adapting foreign classical plays into changgeuk. The Company also launched the “Changgeuk of World Master’s Choice” program, which invited prominent theater directors from overseas to reinterpret changgeuk works in new ways. The Company’s efforts have been successful and received enthusiastic responses from contemporary audiences.

Chanson

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

Chanson de geste#

The earliest chansons were the epic poems performed to simple monophonic melodies by a professional class of jongleurs or ménestrels. These usually recounted the famous deeds (geste) of past heroes, legendary and semi-historical. The Song of Roland is the most famous of these, but in general the chansons de geste are studied as literature since very little of their music survives.

Chanson courtoise#

The chanson courtoise or grand chant was an early form of monophonic chanson, the chief lyric poetic genre of the trouvères. It was an adaptation to Old French of the Occitan canso. It was practised in the 12th and 13th centuries. Thematically, as its name implies, it was a song of courtly love, written usually by a man to his noble lover. Some later chansons were polyphonic and some had refrains and were called chansons avec des refrains.

Chanson franco-orientale

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

History#

The genre emerged in early 20th centuries, as French artists began to integrate musical elements inspired by the different cultures of the French colonial empire. Early examples, categorized under the label chanson arabe, include Haia by Paul Lack, and La Bédouine et le Tuba by Charlus (1909). In the 1930s, several artists associated with chanson réaliste, such as Marie Dubas and Nitta Jo, contributed significantly to the genre’s development. Chanson franco-orientale reached a peak of popularity in the late 1950s before gradually declining in visibility in subsequent decades.

Chanson réaliste

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

Origins and influences#

Chanson réaliste grew out of the cafés-concerts and cabarets of the Montmartre district of Paris during the 1880s. Although chanson réaliste was a musical genre dominated by female vocalists, one of its earliest performers—and credited by some as “the creator” or “the father” of genre —was cabaret singer and comedian Aristide Bruant. Bruant began a career at Le Chat Noir in 1885 and his vaudeville-inspired mix of song, satire and entertainment became very popular with the bourgeoisie slumming in the poorer Montmartre district. His compositions were novel for the time because they included the everyday language and slang used by the commoners. Borrowing elements of the comédie en vaudeville, the chanteuses réalistes (realist singers female ) often wore black dresses, red lipstick and white face makeup—their faces highlighted with stark lighting, set against a modest, almost bare backdrop—all done to draw audiences’ attention to the singers’ emotive facial expressions. In contrast to the picturesque chanson which was popular in post-World War II France—with its songs of love, cobbled Parisian streets, and the sound of the accordion—the chanteuses réalistes sang songs of loss, hopelessness and abandonment; their songs dealt with life in the poorer Parisian faubourgs, and the thugs, pimps, prostitutes, and orphans who called them home; its themes of poverty and the criminal underworld, as well as its sociopolitical commentary, were influenced by the works of such literary realists and naturalist writers as Émile Zola, Jean Richepin and Paul Bourget.

Chant

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

Chant as a spiritual practice#

Chanting (e.g., mantra, sacred text, the name of God/Spirit, etc.) is a commonly used spiritual practice. Like prayer, chanting may be a component of either personal or group practice. Diverse spiritual traditions consider chant a route to spiritual development. Some examples include chant in African, Hawaiian (mele), Native American, Assyrian and Australian Aboriginal cultures, Gregorian chant, Vedic chant, Quran reading, Islamic Dhikr, Baháʼí chants, various Buddhist chants, various mantras, Jewish cantillation, Epicurean repetition of the Kyriai Doxai, and the chanting of psalms and prayers especially in Roman Catholic (see Gregorian chant or Taizé Community), Eastern Orthodox (see Byzantine chant or Znamenny chant, for examples), Lutheran, and Anglican churches (see Anglican Chant). Historical or mythological examples include chant in Germanic paganism. Chant practices vary. In the Theravada tradition, chanting is usually done in Pali, and mainly from Pāli Canon. Tibetan Buddhist chant involves throat singing, where multiple pitches are produced by each performer. The concept of chanting mantras is of particular significance in many Hindu traditions and other closely related Indian religions. India’s bhakti devotional tradition centers on kirtan, which has a following in many countries and traditions such as Ananda Marga. The Hare Krishna movement is based especially on the chanting of Sanskrit Names of God in the Vaishnava tradition and is sung from the Dan tien (or lower abdomen)—the locus of power in Eastern traditions.

Chanté mas

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

The French#

The French were known to have celebrated this ‘freedom of the flesh’ prior to the Lenten season since the 4th Century. The Africans however, being enslaved in the Caribbean, were known to have carnival since emancipation in 1838. It is no wonder people have argued whether the festival is of historical or religious origin. Truth is though, this festival, as celebrated in Dominica, is a combination of both history and religion. The Europeans, most of whom were Roman Catholics, had celebrated carnival as the day before they would stay away from meat, as well as all fleshly desires.

Chap hop

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

History#

Two leading exponents of the genre are Professor Elemental and Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer, who belong to the steampunk and Chappist factions of chap hop respectively. Other notable artists are Poplock Holmes & DJ WattsOn, and Sir Reginald Pikedevant, Esquire. In March 2013, UK Education Secretary Michael Gove said he was a fan of the genre. Mr. B noted the irony of this, since his music often pokes at members of the establishment, commenting: “As a non-Etonian and thus an outcast within the cabinet, this is perhaps a little snook cocked at his colleagues.”

Character piece

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

History#

The first appearance of the term “character piece” is in the avertissement (preface) to Marin Marais’s fifth book of viola da gamba music published in 1725. He writes that pièces de caractère are now received favorably by the public, so he has decided to insert many of them. Marais’s pieces such as “La Petite Badinage” and “Dialogue” have descriptive, literary titles, as opposed to the ordinary titles of stylized dances such as the allemande and courante. In German, the term Charakterstück was originally used to denote a broad range of 19th-century piano music based on a single idea or program, although attempts to use musical effects to describe nonmusical subjects are “probably as old as music itself.” Character pieces are a staple of Romantic music, and are essential to that movement’s interest in the evocation of particular moods or moments. What distinguishes character pieces is the specificity of the idea they invoke. Along with invoking these ideas, composers such as Robert Schumann use romantic irony to enhance the depth of their works, creating powerful illusions, “ Music is an evidently art which lifts mankind above life”. Some of these illusions through romantic irony are broken, “this technique exposes an illusion the view that the composition in question came into existence purely spontaneously”, adding color and individuality into the classical mainstream. Many character pieces are composed in ternary form, but that form is not universal in the genre. A common feature is a title expressive of the character intended, such as Stephen Heller’s Voyage autour de ma chambre (“Voyage around my room”), an early example of the genre, or Bruckner’s Abendklänge (“Evening harmonies”). Many character pieces have titles based on literature (Schumann’s Kreisleriana, 1838) or personal experiences (Schumann’s Kinderszenen, 1838). Other character pieces have titles suggesting brevity and singularity of concept, such as Beethoven’s Bagatelles, or Debussy’s Préludes, or casual construction: the title Impromptu is common. Many 19th-century nocturnes and intermezzi are character pieces as well, including those of Chopin and Brahms, respectively. Large sets of many individual character pieces, intended to be played as a single piece of music, were not uncommon; Schumann’s many works of this form (including Kreisleriana and Carnaval) are the best known examples. In the late 19th and twentieth centuries, as piano music became ambitious and larger in scale, the scope of what a character piece could reference grew as well. The New Grove cites Smetana’s “Festival of the Gypsy Peasants” and Sibelius’s “The Oarsman” as examples of this later trend.

Chastushka

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

Metre#

Most chastushki use a single metre, trochaic tetrameter, making it easy to combine the verses and share the refrain, the syllables within the lines of a typical four-line verse are arranged as 8+7+8+7. Typical song consists of one four-lined couplet, full of humor, satire or irony.

Form#

The name originates from the Russian word “часто” (“chasto”) – “frequently”, or from “частить” (“chastit”), meaning “to do something with high frequency” and probably refers to the high beat frequency of chastushki. The basic form is a simple four-line verse making use of an \mathrm ABAB , \mathrm ABCB , or \mathrm AABB rhyme scheme. Usually humorous, satirical, or ironic in nature, chastushki are often put to music as well, usually with balalaika or accordion accompaniment. The rigid, short structure (and, to a lesser degree, the type of humor used) parallels the poetic genre of limericks in British culture. Sometimes several chastushki are delivered in sequence to form a song. After each chastushka, there is a full musical refrain without lyrics to give the listeners a chance to laugh without missing the next one. Originally chastushki were a form of folk entertainment, not intended to be performed on stage. Often they are sung in turns by a group of people. Sometimes they are used as a medium for a back-and-forth mocking contest. Improvisation is highly valued during chastushka singing.

Chầu văn

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

External links#

*Additional information

Chazezesa Challengers

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

Music style#

The group successfully mixed elements of sungura, jazz, South African mbaqanga and traditional sounds, creating an appealing and popular blend. The Chazezesa Challengers produced a string of hit albums in the mid-to-late 1990s; their debut, Rudo Tsika Nemagariro, sold more than 20,000 copies, while Mutunhu Unemago topped 30,000. Some of their top songs include Anodyiwa Haature, Kaserura Ndizvo, Smoko, Ndiridze Mhere, Ukarambwa Usacheme, and Vaforomani. System Tazvida is known for stressing that he liked better playing for rural crowds who he said liked and appreciated his music by singing along and dancing to it spiritedly when he did live shows. The Challengers were known for their humorous love lyrics and satirical subjects. The band also toured in Mozambique, where they were popular.

Chèo

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

History#

Hoa Lư – Ninh Bình is considered as the homeland of the Chèo, and its founder, Phạm Thị Trân, was a talented dancer in the royal palace during the Đinh dynasty of the tenth century. However, Chèo officially appears from the Lý dynasty (around the 11th century), flourished in the Trần dynasty (13th century). The development of Chèo has its origins when a Mongolian soldier was captured in Vietnam in the 14th century. Chèo’s performance only included speaking and reciting folk songs prior to this period but influenced by the captured soldier, Chèo now is sung. In the 15th century, Emperor Lê Thánh Tông did not allow Chèo to be performed in the royal court. Chèo was only performed by peasants as a usual musical entertainment activity up to the present-day in the villages. Chèo derives from folk music and dance, especially parody since the tenth century. Gradually, people developed various short stories based on these parodies into the longer, completed plays. Chèo was usually written by famous Confucian scholars, for example Vũ Trinh. From loyal area’s performance only, Chèo has been expanded to the North Delta and the North Central Coast (to Nghệ An province) and the Red River delta is the cradle of Vietnamese rice civilization. Whenever the crop is harvested, they organize festivals to entertain and thank the Gods for the harvest. From the first millennium BC, ancestors performed the first Chèo in the Đình yard in their village.

Chicago blues

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

Origins and Influences#

Chicago blues evolved from rural Delta blues following the Great Migration, or the Great Northern Drive, which was both forced and voluntary at times, of African Americans from the southern U.S. to the industrial cities of the north, such as Chicago. Big Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters directly joined that migration, like many others, escaping the harsher southern Jim Crow laws and in search of better jobs and a more promising life in the North. Bruce Iglauer, founder of Alligator Records stated that, “Chicago blues is the music of the industrial city, and has an industrial sense about it.” Additionally, recognizing the shift in blues, Chicago blues singer and guitarist Kevin Moore expressed the blues transition stating, “You have to put some new life into it, new blood, new perspectives. You can’t keep talking about mules, workin’ on the levee.” Chicago blues was heavily influenced by Mississippi bluesmen who traveled to Chicago in the early 1940s. Moving from the rural, agrarian South to the urban, industrial North, the country style of Delta blues was no longer suited to the metropolitan culture of Chicago or the modern, working-class African American audiences. Thus, the formation of a new sound in the Chicago blues was a direct product of the Great Migration.

Chicago hardcore

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

Origins (1980s)#

Naked Raygun, Big Black and the Effigies were popular at the emerging of the hardcore scene. These acts have also been seen as important to the development of the post-hardcore genre, as well as for fusing the hardcore sound with influences from the late 1970s and early 1980s British post-punk scene During the 1980s, the majority of Chicago hardcore shows were held at Medusa’s, at 3275 North Sheffield Avenue. Many of these events were organized by promoter Sean Duffy, who employed physically abusive security and inflated prices. At a Duffy organised event headlined by a number of Revelation Records in the Summer of 1989, the bands were paid insufficiently. After word spread of this, many touring bands refrained from playing the city. In reaction, Ben Weasel started booking shows at Durty Nelly’s in Palatine which instead became the centre of the local scene. By the end of the decade, touring bands began playing the area again, instead playing Mcgregor’s in Elmhurst.

Chicago house

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

Disco edits#

Following Chicago’s Disco Demolition Night in mid-1979, disco music’s mainstream popularity fell into decline. In the early 1980s, fewer and fewer disco records were being released, but the genre remained popular in some Chicago nightclubs and on at least one radio station, WBMX-FM. In this era, Chicago radio jocks The Hot Mix 5, and club DJs Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles played various styles of dance music, including older disco records, newer Italo disco, electro, EBM tracks, B-boy hip hop music by Man Parrish, Jellybean Benitez, Arthur Baker and John Robie as well as electronic pop music by Kraftwerk, Telex and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Some of these DJs also made and played their own edits of their favorite songs on reel-to-reel tape, focusing on the portions of songs which worked well on the dancefloor. Some even mixed in effects, drum machines, and other rhythmic electronic instrumentation in an effort to give songs more appeal. These edits and remixes were rarely released to the public, and even then were available only on privately pressed vinyl records or on mixtapes.

Chicago no wave

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

History#

In the early-to-mid-1990s, Weasel Walter began to describe his bands and the bands they played with as “Chicago no wave.” These acts formed the growing Wicker Park underground rock scene and included Walter’s own band the Flying Luttenbachers, Scissor Girls, Trenchmouth, and Quintron. Milk of Burgundy, According to Walter, the beginning of the Chicago no wave era was marked by a well-attended concert at the Czar Bar in Chicago on the 29th of January 1993. The concert featured the Flying Luttenbachers, Scissor Girls, and Trenchmouth. It was attended by 800 people. and Weasel Walter. In the mid-1990s, an audio documentary about the Chicago no wave scene was produced by Burke Patten. It was later remastered and edited by Weasel Walter in 2012. The documentary featured speakers like Walter, Bobby Conn, James Marlon Magas, Kelly Kuvo, and Kevin Drumm and music by artists like Bobby Conn, the Flying Luttenbachers, Math, Duotron, Scissor Girls, and others. In the documentary, Weasel Walter stated:

Chicago soul

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

Notable labels#

A variety of labels in the city during the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the Chicago soul sound, most notably Vee-Jay, Constellation Records, Chess Records, Mercury Records, OKeh, ABC-Paramount, One-derful, Brunswick and its Dakar Records subsidiary, and Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom label.

Vee-Jay#

Vee-Jay Records was Chicago’s pioneer soul label. In 1958 it produced the first recognized soul hit in Chicago, Jerry Butler and The Impressions’ “For Your Precious Love.” The company, before it went bankrupt in 1966, produced under A&R director Calvin Carter, many notable soul acts in the Chicago soft soul idiom, notably Butler (best known for “He Will Break Your Heart”), Betty Everett (“The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)”), Dee Clark (“Raindrops”), and Gene Chandler (“Duke of Earl”). Vee Jay was also the first American record label to sign and record The Beatles in the U.S in 1962. The label released several singles but were unsuccessful in scoring a major hit. In 1964 Vee-Jay released The Beatles’ first U.S. album titled Introducing… The Beatles. After having management issues at the label and a shortage of funds, the label could not promote the record and give it the push that was needed. So the label was forced to release the group.

Chicano protest music

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

Origins#

Chicano protest music does not refer to a single style of music, but rather was derived from combinations of classic Mexican music such as Tejano, corridos, and rancheras, with American genres including folk music, rock and roll, jazz, and blues . Figures like Agustín Lira and his ensemble Alma were pioneers of this style, combining American, Mexican, and Latin American elements into a unique Chicano sound, with songs sang in English, Spanish, and Caló. The blending of these musical traditions was a reflection of the mixed cultural influence of both Anglo and non-Anglo experiences of the Mexican Americans living in what is the current day United States. In its infancy, Chicano protest music was predominantly associated with male artists in the rock and roll or doo-wop genres. Originally forming out of the barrios of East Los Angeles, it later began to expand into the broader Los Angeles music scene. As the music of the movement evolved, the lyrics increasingly reflected more political and social topics. Some songs, like “No Nos Moverán” (“We Shall Not Be Moved”), took preexisting strike and protest songs and adapted them to the Spanish language and to the Chicano movement, connecting the music of El Movimiento to the music of sympathetic social justice movements such as the African American Civil Rights Movement and the Cuban Revolution. Music was instrumental in relaying messages of redefining identity, political agendas, and social injustices to the greater Mexican American community. The Chicano movement arose during the 1960s when labor movements, civil rights activism, and other broader social movements began to take place. Although the ideology of Chicanismo is often associated with leadership figures such as César Chávez and the UFW, the movement’s success was largely grounded in the collective nature of participants working behind the scenes. It was the central role of grassroots organizers such as Dolores Huerta, whose strategic negotiations formed the foundation of its achievements. Other notable Chicano groups include the Marxist-Leninist Brown Berets and the Crusade for Justice. As these groups and El Movimiento began to gain traction, the music associated the movement also began to grow in popularity.

Chicano rap

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

Origins#

Chicano Rap originated during the late 1980s and early 1990s within Mexican-American communities in Los Angeles and later expanded on to other Chicano communities across the United States. As a result, artists began to create lyrics that shared the stories of the many realities and experiences Chicanos faced throughout the United States. Many Chicano rap songs focused on themes such as discrimination, poverty, gang violence, immigration, police surveillance, barrio life, and cultural pride. Chicano rappers used bilingual lyricism to share stories of the Chicano communities and experiences. (Mcfarland, 2006; Mausfeld, 2019).

Chicano rock

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

History#

In places such as San Antonio, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, and Dallas and Houston, Texas, the African-American audience was very important to aspiring Latino musicians, and this kept their music wedded to authentic R&B. DJ Dick Hugg (aka Huggie Boy) and radio station KRLA 1110 played a big role in promoting this music. Chicano rock music was also influenced by the Doo-wop genre, an example being the song “Angel Baby” by the Chicana fronted group Rosie and the Originals. Don Tosti’s Pachuco Boogie, recorded in 1948, was the first Chicano million-selling record, a swing tune featuring Spanish lyrics, using hipster slang called Calo. Lalo Guerrero arrived in Los Angeles in the late 1930s and found that L.A. was “bursting with ambition”. Lalo and his friend captured their spirit in music by mixing swing and boogie-woogie in a cross-cultural, dialogue between African American, Anglo, and Mexican American influences. The 1950s brought rhythm and blues and the roots of rock ’n’ roll. The Mexican Americans were among the first to catch the beat and introduced a Latin flair to early rock music. The 1958 hit song “Tequila!” was written and sung by the saxophone player Danny Flores (not to be confused with Danny David Flores, a former member of Renegade) and performed by The Champs. Flores, who died in September 2006, was known as the “Godfather of Latino Rock.” In the early to mid-1960s, Latin music was most welcoming to the American audience in the United States because of the popularity in genres like bossa nova, bugalú, mambo. At the same time, artists did not fit neatly into the narrow confines of early rock. Trini Lopez, an artist who found success in the folk scene blended folk and pop influences. He scored a major hit with “If I Had a Hammer” in 1963. He later recorded the traditional Mexican song “Corazón de Melón”. In the mid-1960s, the British Invasion took over with bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones dominated charts and shifted public taste, and this is when Lopez’s upbeat music began to seem outdated. In the 60s, there was an explosion of Chicano rock bands in East Los Angeles and Texas. Sunny & the Sunglows produced several regional hits during the 1960s but is best remembered for its 1963 Number 11 Billboard hit “Talk to Me, Talk to Me”. They hold the distinction of being the first all-Mexican American group featured on American Bandstand. Their versions of “Rags to Riches” (Tony Bennett) and “Out of Sight-Out of Mind” (The Five Keys) also reached the Billboard Hot 100. Another group to appear on American Bandstand as well as open for The Rolling Stones, was The Premiers with their hit rendition of a Don and Dewey song called “Farmer John”. It featured the beat from the popular hit, Louie, Louie, which was in turn based on a Latino song, El Loco Cha Cha. Richard Berry, credited with writing Louie, Louie, drew inspiration to record the song after listening to an R&B rendition of El Loco Cha Cha performed by the Latin R&B group ‘Rhythm Rockers’ led by Mexican-Filipino American brothers, Rick and Barry Rillera. The Rillera brothers would go on to record and perform with The Righteous Brothers. The British Invasion challenged all American musicians, not just Chicanos. East Los Angeles witnessed a surge of creativity, and a renaissance of art, music and politics. Leading the way in music was the band Cannibal & the Headhunters, composed of five young men from the projects who recorded a national hit, “Land of a Thousand Dances”, and almost overnight found themselves opening for the Beatles on the British superstars’ 1965 tour. That same year, Thee Midniters hit the charts with “Whittier Blvd.”, an anthem to East L.A.’s most famous street, the home of a late-night cruising scene that expressed the California car culture that Mexican Americans were making their own. Also in 1965, the Chicano led Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs released the international hit “Wooly Bully” which would go on to sell three million copies. Penned by frontman Domingo “Sam” Samudio, it holds the distinction of being the first American record to sell a million copies during the British Invasion era. In 1966, the Mexican American garage band ? and the Mysterians scored a number one hit with the song “96 Tears”. The Sir Douglas Quintet is said to have made the most ‘English’ sounding American music of the Beatlemania period (actually since the English were playing music that was more rooted in R&B than many white Americans of that time, the Quintet were actually sounding ‘English’ by keeping to an all-American R&B/Country sound). Indeed, producer Huey P. Meaux put the Sir in the group’s name to emphasize the connection, but that was more a marketing change than a musical one. The Sir Douglas Quintet was from central Texas, and some of its members were Latinos. However, the group’s lead singer, Doug Sahm, was not of Mexican descent. Sahm was so thoroughly immersed in Tejano culture, that he later recorded an album under the name Doug Saldaña. Despite the musician’s efforts to make the group appear to have emerged from the British Invasion, scholars have noted that the group’s clear Tejano influences and accordion based slowed down polka rhythms give the band a Chicano rock title. In the late 1960s and 1970s, when civil rights and the Vietnam War were compelling issues, young Mexican American proudly called themselves Chicanos—which was once considered as a derogatory term—and many took to the streets to stand up for their rights. Chicano duo Cheech and Chong released novelty single “Basketball Jones” (1973) and hit “Earache My Eye” (1974). Bands like El Chicano, Malo, Azteca, Tierra, and Sapo (1974) created new music that “said something” about Chicano heritage and their struggles for equality and justice. The trend of Chicano rock mirrored what was happening on college campuses as well. The rise of Chicano Studies departments, which offered courses in Chicano literature, politics and culture, affected college students and musicians tremendously. Musicians rebelled against the “old world” and adopt the Mexican and Latin American styles in their own music. Linda Ronstadt is a versatile singer who traversed multiple genres. She gained national hits such as “You’re No Good” (1975), “It’s So Easy”, “Blue Bayou” (1977), “Back in the USA” (1978), and “Hurt So Bad” (1980) in the 1970s and ’80s. Ronstadt was nurtured by her Mexican American family whose musical roots run deep in the Mexican border region of Tucson, Arizona. Ronstadt holds dear the memory of childhood serenades by “The Father of Chicano Rock,” Lalo Guerrero, a close family friend. Ronstadt’s great-aunt Luisa Espinel gained international popularity interpreting Spanish and Mexican song and dance in the 1930s. Among the most popular female pop singers, Ronstadt has been described as an influential Chicana musician, with scholars noting her extensive discography and career spanning over forty years.

Chicken scratch

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

Children's music

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

Early published music#

Class singing became compulsory in England with the passing of the Education Act (1870). By the early 1900s, demand for choral works for educational use had resulted in more than 50 school operettas in the catalogue of Novello, England’s leading publisher of educational music. These were mostly modelled on the tuneful, humorous and morally safe operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. Gustav Holst’s Indra (1903) is an example, and other composers of reputation - such as Frederic Cowen, Arthur Somervell, Walford Davies and Percy Fletcher - also contributed to the genre. The growth of the popular music publishing industry, associated with New York’s Tin Pan Alley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to the creation of a number of songs aimed at children. These included ‘Ten little fingers and ten little toes’ by Ira Shuster and Edward G. Nelson and ‘School Days’ (1907) by Gus Edwards and Will Cobb. Perhaps the best remembered now is “Teddy Bears’ Picnic”, with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy in 1932 and the tune by British composer John William Bratton was from 1907.

Children's song

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

Categories#

Iona and Peter Opie, pioneers of the academic study of children’s culture, divided children’s songs into two classes: those taught to children by adults, which when part of a traditional culture they saw as nursery rhymes, and those that children taught to each other, which formed part of the independent culture of childhood. A further use of the term children’s song is for songs written for the entertainment or education of children, usually in the modern era. In practice none of these categories are entirely discrete, since, for example, children often reuse and adapt nursery rhymes, and many songs now considered as traditional were deliberately written by adults for commercial ends. The Opies further divided nursery rhymes into a number of groups, including * Amusements (including action songs) * Counting rhymes * Lullabies * Riddles Playground or children’s street rhymes they sub-divided into two major groups: those associated with games and those that were entertainments, with the second category including * Improper verses * Jingles * Joke rhymes * Nonsense verse * Macabre rhymes * Parodies * Popular songs * Slogans * Tongue-twisters In addition, since the advent of popular music publication in the 19th century, a large number of songs have been produced for and often adopted by children. Many of these imitate the form of nursery rhymes, and a number have come to be accepted as such. They can be seen to have arisen from a number of sources, including: * Film * Publishing * Recording

Chilean electronic music

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

History#

The origins of electronic music in Chile can be found as far back as 1958, when physicist Werner Meyer-Eppler visited Chile. As a result of his visit, experimentation with electronic music gained support from the scientific community and an electronic music laboratory was established. In 1959, Jose Vicente Asuar published a thesis entitled “Generación mecánica y electrónica del sonido musical” (Mechanical and Electronic Generation of Musical Sound), and to demonstrate his thesis he composed “Variaciones espectrales” (Spectral Variations), the first piece of electronic music in Chile. In 1966, at the Universidad Católica, Samuel Claro released his second electronic music album, Estudio N°1. Asuar released Estudio Aletorio in 1962 and Ambientes Sonoros in 1967. Both records were released in Germany (Karlsruhe) and Venezuela (Caracas). In 1968, Tomás Lefever composed 19 electronic tracks and released Klesis, a compilation album containing works by Amenábar and Asuar. It is not clear when exactly the electronic music movement as it is known today reached Chile. At the beginning of the 1990s a small underground movement had emerged, with DJs such as Cristian Vogel, Ricardo Villalobos, Matias Aguayo and Sergio Orrego, the opening of the specialist store Background, and small scale events like “Barracudas” in 1992, “Corriente Alterna” (1993), “Distrito Distinto” (1993), “Background” (1994), “Avanzada multimedia” (1994), “Frontera Final” (1995) and “Spandex Parties” taking place through the 1990s. However, most commentators see the true birth of electronica in Chile at the Alacran Peninsula in the city of Arica, in an event that took place during the solar eclipse of November 1994. The solar eclipse took place on November 3, 1994, with excellent views available in northern Chilean cities such as Arica, drawing astronomers from around the world to observe the rare phenomenon in the area’s uniquely clear skies. A group of electronica fans and DJs decided to use the eerie eclipse landscape as a backdrop to host Chile’s first rave. The event was sponsored by the German clothing manufacturer Pash and took place outdoors in the Scorpion Peninsula, opposite to the historic Morro de Arica. Ravers could observe the eclipse and wait for its shadow to pass, with electronic music as a soundtrack. DJs who took part in the rave included John Acquaviva, Richie Hawtin, Ricardo Villalobos, Derrick May, Pascal, Siddhartha and Adrian. Though it was a small event, the Alacran rave has gained near legendary status in Chile and has become a landmark in the country’s electronic scene. Since then, the scene has grown fast and massive events have taken place in many of Chile’s major cities, including “C C2 reamfields”, “Sensation White” (a spin-off from Amsterdam’s “Sensation”), and Ultra Music, an event that first appeared in Miami. In the last decade, techno and house music, mostly inspired by the movement in Berlin, has grown in Santiago. These underground scene has been recorded by labels like Comeme and Pirotecnia with stars from the scene like Alejandro Paz and Mamacita. The International Society for Chilean Music (SIMUC) has a podcast called MEC dedicated exclusively to Chilean electronic music. The first episode was aired on September 30, 2016.

Chilean rock

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

Early rock and roll and Nueva Ola (1955–1965)#

Rock and roll originated in the United States in the late 1940s and 1950s and expanded rapidly around the world. In the late 1950s, the first Chilean rock and roll bands emerged, largely imitating popular North American bands and performing rock and roll songs they were already hits in the U.S. Chile’s first solo rock and roll artists were Peter Rock, with his Elvis Presley cover Baby, I Don’t Care/Something Happened (1959), and Nadia Milton, with her single Scobidou/Un poco (1960). The twist was also very popular in the 1950s, imported to Chile by the band Los Twisters with the singles Penas juveniles, Caprichitos, Me recordarás, Sueña and Mi secreto. In 1963, Los Twisters were voted the most popular band in Chile. What began in the 1950s with imitations of American rock and roll soon developed into original music. La Orquesta Huambaly, with its roots in tropical music and jazz, were the first Chilean rock and roll band to compose original songs, including Huambaly rock (1957) and Rock del mono (Monkey Rock, 1958). However, the first real commercial success story of the Nueva Ola scene was Los Ramblers, with their El Rock del Mundial (World Cup Rock) album released in May 1962 for the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile. Los Ramblers opened the door to many other successful Nueva Ola artists. Some of the most well-known were: Peter Rock, Alan y sus Bates, Los Rockets, Buddy Richard, José Alfredo Fuentes, Antonio Prieto, Antonio Zabaleta, Cecilia Pantoja, Germán Casas, Ginette Acevedo, Gloria Benavides, Jorge Pedreros, Luis Dimas, Maitén Montenegro, Marcelo Hernández, Mirella Gilbert, Osvaldo Díaz, Germaín de la Fuente, Paolo Salvatore, Pat Henry, and Roberto Vicking Valdés. The Nueva Ola movement spread out of Santiago and throughout Chile, with bands like The New Demons forming in the northern city of Iquique, and The Blue Splendor, who formed – and still perform today – in Valparaíso. The success of the Chilean Nueva Ola lasted until the mid-1960s, led by a second generation of musicians characterized by their original compositions, such as Buddy Richard, Patricio Renán, Los Ángeles Negros, José Alfredo Fuentes and Cecilia, considered by some critics as the greatest teen star of the mid-1960s. The Nueva Ola has been criticized for foreignizing Chilean music because the style, lyrics and even names were heavily lifted from American and British culture. For some, the Nueva Ola movement is not considered the true origin of Chilean rock. They point instead to groups like Los Mac’s, Los Jockers and Los Vidrios Quebrados, who modelled themselves more on bands like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, and “were the first groupings who can really be identified as ‘rock made in Chile’, going further than the pop figures of the Nueva Ola.” Bands that followed them were Los Picapiedras, Los Beat 4, Los Lark’s and Los Sonny’s one of the bands of future Florcita Motuda.

Chill-out music

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

Origins and definition#

There is no exact definition of chill-out music. Chill-out typically has slow rhythms, sampling, a “trance-like nature”, “drop-out beats”, and a mixture of electronic instruments with acoustic instruments. In the “Ambient/Chill Out” chapter of Rick Snoman’s 2013 book Dance Music Manual, he writes, “it could be said that as long as the tempo remains below 120 BPM and it employs a laid-back groove, it could be classed as chill out.” The term originated from an area called “The White Room” at the Heaven nightclub in London in 1989. Its DJs were Jimmy Cauty and Alex Paterson, later of the Orb. They created ambient mixes from sources such as Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, Eagles (band), Mike Oldfield, 10cc, and War. The room’s purpose was to allow dancers a chance to “chill out” from the more emphatic and fast-tempo music played usually in the discos. This also coincided with the short-lived fad of ambient house, also known as “New Age house”. Cauty’s KLF subsequently released an album called Chill Out (February 1990), featuring uncredited contributions from Paterson. Ambient house declined after the mid-1990s due to market saturation. In the early 2000s, DJs in Ibiza’s Café del Mar began creating ambient house mixes that drew on jazz, classical, Hispanic, and new age sources. They called their product “chill-out music”, and it sparked a revived interest in ambient house from the public and record labels. The popularity of chill-out subsequently expanded to dedicated satellite radio channels, outdoor festivals, and the release of thousands of compilation albums offering ambient sounds and “muffled” beats. Consequently, the popular understanding of “chill-out music” shifted away from “ambient” into its own distinct genre. Music critics to that point were generally dismissive of the music.

Chillwave

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

Musical origins#

Chillwave has been classified as psychedelia, Boards of Canada, whom Abebe says pre-chillwave music was often compared to, The Paw Tracks record label, which distributed Pink’s albums, was run by Animal Collective, who signed Pink after being impressed by a CD of his home recordings, starting with The Doldrums (2000). Uncuts Sam Richard profiled Pink as “a lo-fi legend” whose “ghostly pop sound” proved influential to chillwave acts such as Ducktails and Toro y Moi. Critic Adam Harper disputed Pink’s “godfather of chillwave” status, writing that his influence on lo-fi scenes has been somewhat overstated, explaining that his music lacks “the mirror-shades-cool synth groove of chillwave … Pink’s albums are zany, personal, largely rock-based and dressed in awkward glam”. Discussing chillwave’s bedroom pop precursors, Allene Norton of Cellars opined that Pink is “definitely not chillwave but that kind of stuff influenced a lot of the artists making it, like Washed Out.” The album influenced a wide range of subsequent indie music, with its sound serving as the major inspiration for chillwave and a number of soundalikes. Animal Collective itself also contributed to the movement. Their album Merriweather Post Pavilion, released in January 2009, was particularly influential for its ambient sounds and repetitive melodies, but was not as tightly associated with the “hazy” psychedelia that chillwave was identified with. According to Flavorwires Tom Hawking, chillwave acts extrapolated “the sort of ill-defined pastoral nostalgia” from Animal Collective’s early work “and spun it into an entire genre.”

Chimurenga music

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

Origin#

The name “Chimurange music” is derived from the Shona-language word chimurenga, meaning “liberation”, which was commonly used during the 1964–1979 Rhodesian Bush War. The genre was created by the musician and political dissident Thomas Mapfumo.

Style#

An instrument commonly used in chimurenga music is the mbira, a type of “thumb piano” with a wooden body and metal tines that are plucked to produce a sound. Contemporary chimurenga incorporates electric instruments such as bass and electric guitars. It includes percussive elements like hosho shakers and various drums. The music typically builds melodies on top of folk tunes, with a danceable, fast-paced beat. The vocals tend to be emotional and can involve a call-and-response element.

Chinese heavy metal

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

Tang Dynasty (1988–1990)#

Chinese heavy metal had its origins in hard rock (硬摇滚音乐, Yìng yáogǔn yīnyuè) and Heavy Metal (重金属, Zhòngjīnshǔ) music genres, which had emerged and gained popularity around the 1980s in the western world. The genre of Chinese Heavy Metal music emerged with the formation of the Chinese band, Tang Dynasty as they were the first band to emerge in China with Heavy Metal oriented music. Following their formation in 1988 Tang Dynasty utilized both elements introduced in the new wave of British heavy metal as well as elements of classical Chinese music in the music they wrote. In 1990 Tang dynasty was hired to play at the, ‘Festival of modern music / 90’s Modern Music Concert’, where they were met with extremely positive responses from the crowd of nearly 18,000 spectators. The success gained from their performance eventually led to them obtaining a record contract with the Taiwanese record label, Magic Stone. In December 1992 Tang Dynasty released their debut album, titled A Dream Return to Tang Dynasty, marking the first release of a heavy metal album in China by a Chinese band.

Chinese hip-hop

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

History#

The first DJ in China who played hip hop music on a daily basis was a resident at the first Chinese nightclub Juliana’s in Beijing in 1984. At the time there were no other clubs in mainland China but Juliana’s, which was already receiving monthly deliveries of records from London featuring labels such as Sugarhill, Tommy Boy, and StreetSounds. In 1992, China hosted its first regular hip hop nights—held on Fridays and Saturdays—at the Kunlun Hotel’s Crystal Disco in Beijing. Yin Ts’ang (隐藏) released a full-length album, Serve The People (为人民服务) (2002). The album was co-produced and written by British DJ Mel “Herbie” Kent, while being entirely recorded in his home studio. The group was featured in full-length articles in the Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times. Adaptation of “Guests from Afar, Please Stay” (2001): Herbie collaborated with renowned Chinese composer Bian Liunian at the 2001 Beijing Summer Universiade closing ceremony with 73,000 people in attendance, performing an electronic-folk fusion featuring live turntable scratching and the erhu (the performance begins at the 2:15 mark on Bilibili). https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1ho4y1373b/ Chinese DJ V-Nutz (Gary Wang) claimed, " Chinese style is young, local kids really enjoy Western things right now. Then maybe after 10 or 15 years, maybe they can have their own style." ). Hip-hop is often performed in English and many believe Chinese is not suitable for the genre; “people said, straight up, you can’t rap in Chinese, Chinese does not work for rap… Chinese is not suitable for rap music because it’s tonal.” XIV of the rap group Yin Ts’ang put it clearly, “I can tell you about what we don’t rap about: gangbangin’, pushin’ drugs, or the government, that’s a good way to not continue your career (or your life).” Dana Burton, an American, started the Iron Mic competition, an annual rap battle which encouraged more free-styling and less karaoke-style performances, in 2001 (Foreign Policy, 2007). Burton recorded: “The few rappers I met initially were rapping in English. I’d say, ‘Let me hear you rap’, and they’d just do a karaoke thing, repeating a few lines of Eminem or Naughty by Nature. As an American that was so odd for me; you can’t say anyone else’s rhymes, you just don’t do that. But it’s the culture here. They like karaoke and doing someone else’s songs.” (Foreign Policy, 2007). One underground Chinese artist, Hu Xuan, recorded all of the tracks on his album in Kunminghua, the local dialect spoken in the area of Kunming. “One rapper spits out words in a distinctive Beijing accent, scolding the other for not speaking proper Mandarin. His opponent from Hong Kong snaps back to the beat in a trilingual torrent of Cantonese, English, and Mandarin, dissing the Beijing rapper for not representing the people.” Big Zoo became a popular Chinese hip hop group, but in 2008, one of the crew members, Mow left the team, and rapper Free-T released his song “Diary of Life,” signaling the return of Big Zoo. There is an official annual Chinese Hip-Hop Awards Show (中国嘻哈颁奖典礼). The 2017 show The Rap of China brought hip-hop to new levels of mainstream success, with billions of online views, From 2016, the Chinese Communist Party began supporting hip hop music as a new propaganda outlet. The Communist Youth League, a government-backed Communist youth movement, sponsored CD Rev, also known as Chengdu Revolution, a hip-hop group, released the song “This is China”, in June 2016, and “No THAAD” in May 2017. Hip-hop groups have expressed their patriotism in rap songs. Media scholar Sheng Zou wrote, “the state-centric ideology is aesthetically evoked by co-opting popular cultural formats, maneuvering grassroots nationalistic expressions and appropriating symbols of both tradition and modernity. Hip-hop is thus localized and sanitized as a cultural medium of propaganda.”

Chinese opera

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

Six dynasties to Tang#

An early form of Chinese drama is the Canjun Opera (參軍戲, or Adjutant Play) which originated from the Later Zhao Dynasty (319–351 AD). In its early form, it was a simple comic drama involving only two performers, where a corrupt officer, Canjun or the adjutant, was ridiculed by a jester named Grey Hawk (蒼鶻). Various song and dance dramas developed during the Six Dynasties period. During the Northern Qi Dynasty, a masked dance called the Big Face (大面, which can mean “mask”, alternatively daimian 代面, and it was also called The King of Lanling, 蘭陵王), was created in honour of Gao Changgong who went into battle wearing a mask. In The Dancing Singing Woman (踏謡娘), which relates the story of a wife battered by her drunken husband, the song and dance drama was initially performed by a man dressed as a woman. The stories told of in these song-and-dance dramas are simple, but they are thought to be the earliest pieces of musical theatre in China, and the precursors to the more sophisticated later forms of Chinese opera. These forms of early drama were popular in the Tang dynasty where they further developed. For example, by the end of the Tang Dynasty the Canjun Opera had evolved into a performance with more complex plot and dramatic twists, and it involved at least four performers. The early form of Chinese theatre became more organized in the Tang dynasty with Emperor Xuanzong (712–755), who founded the “Pear Garden” (梨园/梨園; líyuán), the first academy of music to train musicians, dancers and actors. The performers formed what may be considered the first known opera troupe in China, and they performed mostly for the emperors’ personal pleasure. To this day operatic professionals are still referred to as “Disciples of the Pear Garden” (梨园弟子 / 梨園弟子, líyuán dìzi).

Chinese rock

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

The Northwest Wind (1980s)#

The birth of Chinese rock was a rather unique phenomenon. The Asian country had closed its borders and didn’t allow anything Western that might cause disunity or cultural confusion to enter, so the government only promoted art with communist aims. They didn’t want anything Western within their walls, much less a musical genre like rock. The high command believed that this genre had an anti-revolutionary character that could easily infect the Chinese masses. A clear example is the Soviet Union, where a Chinese politician mentioned that the end of the USSR came “when children started listening to rock.” The dakou was one of the main causes of the yaogun phenomenon. Because the practice went beyond its literal meaning of “cutting” or “tearing,” young people found a form of mental escape through their ingenuity. At that time, China had a kind of vast continental landfill, where a lot of waste was transported, including music cassettes. Many people who worked in these garbage dumps salvaged tapes that had been discarded by Western countries because they were damaged. Many Chinese saw this as an opportunity, so some skilled young people, rebuilt the audio tapes so they would work again and then sold them on the underground circuit or simply listened to them with friends. Despite the entry of some films and their positive reception among young people, the Chinese communist government completely stigmatized Western music, especially rock, because they knew it was the sound of rebellion in the West. This stigma was partly due to a rather curious incident: a young rocker wanted to assassinate Mao Zhedong. In the early 1970s, Lin Liguo, nicknamed “the Tiger” (son of Lin Biao, a military officer and one of Mao’s main collaborators), planned to kill the founder of the People’s Republic of China because of the discontent and oppression his family suffered at the hands of Mao. He even once said, “One day I will let the Chinese people know that there is such wonderful music in the world!” His plan was later discovered, and he and his father fled to the USSR, but two hours later, their plane crashed, and they were burned to death. Thanks to their vision of rock and this precedent, they had logical reasons to prohibit the genre, or at least censor it. Rock music did not take hold in Mainland China until the end of the Cultural Revolution and the onset of the Reform and Opening. Peking All-Stars were a rock band formed in Beijing in 1979, by foreigners then resident in the Chinese capital. While the first rock band in China, they were not Chinese. The following year, Wan Xing, Li Shichao, Ma Xiaoyi, and Wang Xinbo formed their first rock band, Wanli Ma Wang, at Beijing Second Foreign Languages College (now Beijing Foreign Studies University), playing Western classic rock. Chinese rock had its origins in Northwest Wind style of music, which emerged as a main genre in Mainland China. The new style was triggered by two new songs, “Xintianyou” () and “Nothing To My Name” (), both of which drew heavily on the folk song traditions of northern Shaanxi. They combined this with a western-style fast tempo, strong beat and aggressive bass lines. In contrast to the contemporary mellow cantopop style, Northwest Wind songs were sung loudly and forcefully. It represented the musical branch of the large-scale root-seeking (, xungen) cultural movement that also manifested itself in literature and in film. Cui Jian’s Northwest Wind album Rock ‘N’ Roll on the New Long March, which included “Nothing To My Name”, has been called “China’s first rock album”. Many Northwest Wind songs were highly idealistic and heavily political, parodying or alluding to the revolutionary songs of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), such as “Nanniwan” and “The Internationale”. It is associated with a non-Communist national music perspective instead of CCP revolutionary fervor. The music reflected disillusionment among Chinese youth, as well as the growing influence of Western concepts such as individuality and self-empowerment. Both the music and lyrics articulated a sense of pride in the independence and power of the northwest’s peasantry. Songs such as “Sister Go Boldly Forward” () came to represent an earthy, virile masculine (Yang) image of Mainland China, as opposed to the soft (Yin), civilized, polished urban gangtai Hong Kong style.

Chinese traditional music

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

Instrumental ensemble#

Nanguan music
Zhihua Temple Music
Teochew string music
Jiangnan sizhu

Theatre#

Kunqu
Peking opera

Chiptune

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

Technology#

A waveform generator is a fundamental module in a sound synthesis system. A waveform generator usually produces a basic geometrical waveform with a fixed or variable timbre and variable pitch. Common waveform generator configurations usually included two or three simple waveforms and often a single pseudo-random-noise generator (PRNG). Available waveforms often included pulse wave (whose timbre can be varied by modifying the duty cycle), square wave (a symmetrical pulse wave producing only odd overtones), triangle wave (which has a fixed timbre containing only odd harmonics but is softer than a square wave), and sawtooth wave (which has a bright raspy timbre and contains odd and even harmonics). Two notable examples of systems employing this technology were the Game Boy portable game console and the Commodore 64 personal computer. The Game Boy uses two pulse channels (switchable between 12.5%, 25%, 50% and 75% wave duty cycle), a channel for a 4-bit waveform generator, and a pseudo-random-noise generator. The Commodore 64 however used the MOS Technology SID chip which offered 3 channels, each switchable between pulse, saw-tooth, triangle, and noise. Unlike the Game Boy, the pulse channels on the Commodore 64 allowed full control over wave duty cycles. The SID was a very technically advanced chip, offering many other features including ring modulation and adjustable resonance filters. Due to the limited number of voices in early sound chips, one of the main challenges is to produce rich polyphonic music with them. The usual method to emulate it is via quick arpeggios, which is one of the most relevant features of chiptune music (along with its electronic timbres). Some older systems featured a simple beeper as their only sound output, as the original ZX Spectrum and IBM PC; despite this, many skilled programmers were able to produce unexpectedly rich music with this bare hardware, where the sound is fully generated by the system’s CPU by direct control of the beeper.

Chopped and screwed

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

Characteristics#

In dance or hip hop music sampling, the term “chopping” is the “altering of a sampled phrase or break by dividing it into smaller segments and reconfiguring them in a different order.”

Origins#

Prior to the late 1990s, most Southern hip hop was upbeat and fast, like Miami bass and Memphis, which was inspired by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force with their groundbreaking track “Planet Rock”. Unlike its southern musical counterparts Houston’s rap style has consistently remained slower, even in the beginning of Houston hip hop, as can be heard on the earliest Houston based group Geto Boys records from the mid to late 80’s. It is unknown when DJ Screw definitively created “screwed and chopped” music. Screw’s former manager Charles Washington stated, “Screw mistakenly created the sound while hanging out with friends at an apartment in the late 80s.” Screw discovered that dramatically reducing the pitch of a record gave a mellow, heavy sound that emphasized lyrics to the point of storytelling. Initially, the slow-paced hip hop genre was referred to as laid-back driving music and was limited to South Houston until it was popularized by DJs such as DJ T-Rent Dinero and DJ Z-Rusty. In Houston, between 1991 and 1992, there was a notable increase in the use of lean (also known as purple drank and sizzurp) which, as Patel Joseph from MTV News believes, contributed to the allure of screw music. The drug beverage has been considered a major influence on the making and listening of chopped and screwed music due to its perceived effect of slowing the brain down, and giving the slow, mellow music its appeal. In an interview for the documentary film Soldiers United For Cash, DJ Screw denounced the claim that one has to use lean to enjoy screwed and chopped music, saying, “People think just to listen to my tapes you gotta be high or dranked out. That ain’t true. There’s kids getting my tapes, moms and dads getting my tapes, don’t smoke or drink or nothing.” In the mid-1990s, chopped and screwed music started to move to the north side of Houston by way of DJ Michael “5000” Watts, and later OG Ron C. Michael “5000” Watts always gave credit to DJ Screw as the originator of chopped and screwed music, although Watts has been a proponent of the slogan “screwed and chopped” instead of “chopped and screwed”. In the late 1990s, with the help of P2P networks such as Napster, chopped and screwed music spread to a much wider audience. On November 16, 2000, DJ Screw was found dead in the bathroom of his music studio. The autopsy report later revealed that Screw died from a combination of codeine, Valium, and PCP.

Chopper (rap)

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

Etymology#

The word “chopper” was first used in street and hip hop slang to refer to an automatic firearm. The word has also been used as an informal word for helicopter. The linkage to automatic firearms and helicopters are the rapid “tat-tat-tat” sound they make. This may have an analogous relation to fast-paced rap. One of the first rappers who popularized this style of rap, Twista, in a song with Tech N9ne entitled “Worldwide Choppers” implied this in his lyrics, “I’m finna be usin’ it as energy, watch how radiant I’ma be / Like a helicopter when the words fly” was used to loosely describe the style of fast-paced rap, but the usage of the term was made more widespread when rap artist Tech N9ne released a series of posse cuts with other chopper-style rap artists from around the world in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2015 including “Midwest Choppers” and “Midwest Choppers 2”, “Worldwide Choppers” and “Speedom (Worldwide Choppers 2)”. The trend of naming songs in this fashion spread, with examples such as DCVDNS & Tamas’s track “German Choppers” and the Undaground Choppers series produced by DJ Lil Sprite, which currently includes ten installments. The word “chopper” can simply be used for any rapper that uses a fast-paced style in their lyrics. The word is also used as a verb, as in “chopping” or “to chop”, in describing the action of rapping at high speeds.

Choral concerto

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

Background#

Eastern Christian liturgical music has ancient Byzantine roots, with a particular focus on chants. Traditions such as Russian Znamenny chant, Ukrainian Kievan chant, and Carpatho-Rusyn Prostopinije are unique within Christendom, and are a distinguishing feature of Russian, Ukrainian, and Carpatho-Rusyn liturgical music. The sacred chants and the polyphony (multi-part singing) found in much folk and secular music were difficult to reconcile. The Eastern Churches eventually relaxed their restrictions on the performance of polyphonic chant, and multi-part church music began to develop in the seventeenth century. However, the Greek Orthodox Church ban on the use of musical instruments in church remained in effect. This prohibition was a result of a desire to remain faithful to the ancient Byzantine tradition of a cappella singing. In the long eighteenth century, Orthodox church music in the Russian Empire underwent a period of Westernisation; the near-ubiquity of Italian music contributed to this, as did the transmission of polyphonic singing from Catholic Poland and Lithuania to Orthodox Christians and Byzantine Catholics in Ukraine and Russia. The popularity of this music, as well as the widespread acceptance of polyphonic church music, led to an almost complete cessation in the use of traditional chant. Rising nationalism contributed to a deeper interest in folk music, from both ideological and aesthetic viewpoints. The eighteenth century saw the adoption of folk tunes into so-called “high genres”, such as symphonies, cantatas, oratorios and opera seria. However, the desire to create a high “para-liturgical” genre, comparable with Western European masses, requiems and passions, remained unfulfilled.

Choral music of Washington, D.C.

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

Choral organizations#

Note - this section does not discuss particular scholastic / university or church ensembles unless they are independently notable.

Symphonic choruses#

Unlike many American cities, Washington, D.C., features several independent (i.e., non-orchestra-controlled) symphonic choruses, including three major organizations with annual budgets exceeding $1 million. The Choral Arts Society of Washington presents an annual concert series at the Kennedy Center, performs frequently with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), and in recent years has performed with prominent symphony orchestras from Philadelphia, Baltimore, London, Russia (Mariinsky), and China (Qingdao). It regularly participates in nationally televised events such as the Kennedy Center Honors and A Capitol Fourth. It also tours internationally every 3–4 years, including a landmark tour to Russia in 1993 with Mstislav Rostropovich and the NSO, two trips to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy in 1993 and 2001, opening the BBC Proms in London in 2002, performing with Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra in 2008, and a visit to China with the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra in 2015. The Choral Arts Society is the largest choral organization by budget in the Washington area. The organization also includes a vocal chamber ensemble. The Washington Chorus, previously known as the Oratorio Society of Washington, is directed by Dr. Eugene Rogers and dedicated to reframing classic choral repertoire, revitalizing overlooked or underrepresented works, and commissioning new music. It is the largest chorus in Washington D.C, with over 220 singers on its roster. TWC regularly partners with the National Symphony Orchestra (over 300 performances), Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and National Philharmonic, with regular Kennedy Center performances and several international tours, most recently in 2024 to Argentina. In 2000, the chorus (then led by Robert Shafer) received the Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for its live recording of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. TWC was the first major Washington area chorus to be founded independent of a church or college, and the first major symphonic chorus in the United States to be directed by an African-American. The Cathedral Choral Society is the oldest symphonic chorus in Washington, founded in 1941 by Paul Callaway and directed by J. Reilly Lewis from 1985 to 2016. It performs primarily at the Washington National Cathedral but also appears regularly at the Kennedy Center and other local venues. Finally, the City Choir of Washington was established under the direction of Robert Shafer in 2007 in the wake of his departure from the Washington Chorus. In Virginia, the 120-voice Fairfax Choral Society has been a community institution since 1962. The Choralis Foundation, founded in 2000 in Falls Church, supports a symphonic chorus and four other auditioned choirs of various types The 200-voice New Dominion Chorale (founded in 1991) performs symphonic repertoire, but is structured as a “singers’ cooperative” and does not require auditions to participate.

Choral symphony

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

History#

The symphony had established itself by the end of the 18th century as the most prestigious of instrumental genres. Because of its lack of written text for focus, it was seen as a vehicle for entertainment rather than for social, moral or intellectual ideas. In 1824, Beethoven redefined the symphony genre in his Ninth by introducing text and voice into a previously instrumental genre. His doing so sparked a debate on the future of the symphony itself. Others were not sure how to proceed—whether to emulate the Ninth by writing symphonies with choral finales, or to develop the symphony genre in a purely instrumental fashion. Eventually, musicologist Mark Evan Bonds writes, the symphony was seen “as an all-embracing, cosmic drama that transcended the realm of sound alone”. Some composers both emulated and expanded upon Beethoven’s model. Berlioz showed in his choral symphony Roméo et Juliette a fresh approach to the epic nature of the symphony as he used voices to blend music and narrative but saved crucial moments of that narrative for the orchestra alone. Liszt wrote two choral symphonies, following in these multi-movement forms the same compositional practices and programmatic goals he had established in his symphonic poems. Throughout the history of the choral symphony, works have been composed for special occasions. One of the earliest was Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, commissioned by the city of Leipzig in 1840 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of movable type. In the final years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, more such choral symphonies were written. Mikis Theodorakis’s Symphony No. 4: Of the Chorals Odes was for the 150th anniversary of the University of Athens. Krzysztof Penderecki’s Seventh Symphony was for the third millennium of the city of Jerusalem.

Chorale

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

History#

In German, the word may as well refer to Protestant congregational singing as to other forms of vocal (church) music, including Gregorian chant. The English word which derived from this German term, that is chorale, however almost exclusively refers to the musical forms that originated in the German Reformation.

17th century#

The bulk of Lutheran hymn texts and chorale melodies was created before the end of the 17th century. Johann Pachelbel’s Erster Theil etlicher Choräle, a set of organ chorales, was published in the last decade of the 17th century. Johann Sebastian Bach’s earliest extant compositions, works for organ which he possibly wrote before his fifteenth birthday, include the chorales BWV 700, 724, 1091, 1094, 1097, 1112, 1113 and 1119.

Chorale cantata

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

Description#

The chorale cantata developed out of the chorale concerto, an earlier form much used by Samuel Scheidt in the early 17th century, which incorporated elements of the Venetian School, such as the stile concertato, into the liturgical music of the Protestant Reformation. Later the chorale cantata developed into three general forms: * a form in which each verse (strophe) of the chorale was developed as an independent movement; * a form in which the chorale appeared in some of the movements, perhaps only two, while the other parts of the cantata used other texts; and * the version pioneered by J. S. Bach, in which the first and last movements use the first and last strophes of the chorale, but the inner movements—perhaps aria and recitative—use paraphrases of the chorale text. Typically the beginning and ending movements use all the instrumental and vocal forces, while the interior movements are for smaller groups. Most compositions in this genre were never published. It was common at the time for composers to write for local performances; often the composer and the music director at a church were the same person, and the music was written, copied and performed in short order, remaining in manuscript. Some 95% of all compositions of this type have been lost.

Chorale cantata cycle

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

Development of the second cantata cycle and the chorale cantata cycle#

Possibly the idea for writing a series of chorale cantatas was inspired by the bicentennial anniversary of the first publications of Lutheran hymnals (1524). The first of these early hymnals is the Achtliederbuch, containing eight hymns and five melodies. Four chorale cantatas use text and/or melody of a hymn in that early publication (BWV 2, 9, 38 and 117). Another 1524 hymnal is the Erfurt Enchiridion: BWV 62, 91, 96, 114, 121 and 178 are based on hymns from that publication. BWV 14 and 125 were based on hymns from Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, also published in 1524. Apart from some cantatas composed after Palm Sunday 1725, the chorale cantata cycle and the second cantata cycle overlap, and the two designations are often used interchangeably in scholarly literature. Otherwise the cycle is described as breaking off after Palm Sunday or Easter 1725. There are some cantatas that belong to one of both cycles, but not to the other, for instance the chorale cantata for Trinity 1727 replaces the Trinity cantata of the second cycle composed in 1725. Also, some cantatas traditionally seen as belonging to the chorale cantata cycle are not chorale cantatas in a strict sense, for instance the cantata for the Sunday between New Year and Epiphany added to the chorale cantata cycle in 1727. Neither the second cantata cycle, nor the chorale cantata cycle are complete annual cycles as extant. Even a merging of both cycles into one, with some occasions having two cantatas, which hardly can be seen as an intention of the composer, would still be missing a few cantatas (e.g. for Easter 3 and Trinity XXVI).

Chorale concerto

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

Description#

This use of the word concerto differs considerably from the more modern, and considerably more common usage: in the early Baroque the word meant vocal music accompanied by instruments, specifically in stile concertato (). The stile concertato was brought north across the Alps by composers such as Hans Leo Hassler and Heinrich Schütz, who studied in Venice with the originators of the style, the Venetian School composers including Giovanni Gabrieli. Hassler, Schütz and others then applied their newly learned techniques to the German chorale to create a form roughly equivalent in expression and purpose to the motet which in the preceding Renaissance era was used in Roman Catholic context. The Protestant Reformation made necessary the development of new genres of music, most of which were related in form and function to equivalent genres in Roman Catholic parts of Europe, but which avoided the use of Gregorian Chant, using the chorale instead (many chorale tunes of which were derived directly from chant, but fitted with words in German). A chorale concerto is a sacred concerto based on a Lutheran chorale. There were two basic types of chorale concerto: # A simple composition for voice and basso continuo, sometimes with an obbligato solo instrument; # A more elaborate polychoral setting, directly related to the music of the Venetian School, and often modeled after the work of Giovanni Gabrieli. The chorale cantata, culminating in the works of J.S. Bach, evolved out of the chorale concerto, and became a popular liturgical form in Germany for more than a hundred years.

Chorale fantasia

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

History#

Chorale fantasias first appeared in the 17th century in the works of North German composers such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (who arguably had the greatest influence on the genre), Heinrich Scheidemann and Franz Tunder (who, however, rarely used the term). Their works would treat each phrase of a chorale differently, thus becoming large, sectional compositions with elaborate development of the chorale melody. By mid-18th century this type of organ composition was practically non-existent. Johann Sebastian Bach used the term first to designate a whole variety of different organ chorale types (during his period in Weimar), and then limited its use to large compositions with the chorale melody presented in the bass. Bach also wrote movements which have been described as chorale fantasias scored for various combinations of singers and instruments, for example the opening choruses of his chorale cantatas and the opening and closing movements of Part I of the St Matthew Passion. In the vocal pieces the chorale cantus firmus is often given to the soprano voice. In the 19th century the chorale fantasia was revived by Max Reger, who applied the term to monumental pieces based on chorale melodies.

Chorale motet

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

References and further reading#

Articles “Chorale motet,” “Chorale settings,” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954.
Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1947.

Chorale prelude

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

Function#

The precise liturgical function of a chorale prelude in the Baroque period is uncertain and is a subject of debate. One possibility is that they were used to introduce the hymn about to be sung by the congregation, usually in a Protestant, and originally in a Lutheran, church. This assumption may be valid for the shorter chorale preludes (Bach’s setting of ‘Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV 731, for example), but many chorale preludes are very long. It could be the case that these were played during special services in churches or in cathedrals.

Chorale setting

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

Choro

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

Choro instruments#

Originally choro was played by a trio of flute, guitar and cavaquinho (a small chordophone with four strings). Other instruments commonly played in choro are the mandolin, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. These melody instruments are backed by a rhythm section composed of 6-string guitar, seven-string guitar (playing bass lines) and light percussion, such as a pandeiro. The cavaquinho appears sometimes as a melody instrument, other times as part of the rhythm.

Chouval bwa

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

History#

The Martinique bèlè is a legacy of the slave music tradition. The bélé itself is a huge tambour drum that players ride as though it was a horse. It is characterized, in its rhythm, by the “tibwa” (two wooden sticks) played on a length of bamboo mounted on a stand to the tambour bèlè. Added to the tambour bèlè and tibwa are the maracas, more commonly referred to as the chacha. The tibwa rhythm plays a basic pattern and the drum comes to mark the highlights and introduce percussion improvisations. It is organized in a certain way, the first entry of the singer ( lavwa ) and choir ( lavwa Deye or “answer”). Then the “Bwatè” (player ti bwa) sets the pace, followed by bèlè drum. Finally, the dancers take the stage. A dialogue is created between the dancers and the “tanbouyè” (drummer). The “answer” plays opposite the singer, the audience can also participate.

Christian adult contemporary

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

Demographics#

The target audience of Christian adult contemporary radio, generally females in their thirties or forties, has been nicknamed “Becky” by the Christian music industry. However, artists that are played on Christian adult contemporary radio are predominantly male. Male Christian artists outnumber female Christian artists by at least a 2:1 ratio and, according to Billboard, 43 of the top 50 Christian songs of the 2000s were performed by males. Females held the top spot on the Christian Songs chart for just 11 weeks out of the chart’s 337 weeks of activity during the 2000s. Audience testing has revealed that men test well to audiences, while women test low to audiences. This discrepancy has been associated with an overall shift in 2003 from a mainly pop sound to a more rock-oriented sound. As the genre shifted towards more rock-driven songs, deeper male voices from artists such as Third Day, Jeremy Camp, and Todd Agnew became popular, and established female artists like Amy Grant or bands with females like Point of Grace and Avalon, who tested extremely well among audiences, went out of style, along with their pop-oriented sound. Another reason for this discrepancy is audience concern of sexuality among female artists, especially worship leaders, and possible jealousy towards female artists among the format’s generally female listener base. Opinion is split on whether or not this represents a permanent shift or just a temporary trend.

Christian alternative rock

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

History#

Christian alternative music has its roots in the early 1980s, as the earliest efforts at Christian punk and new wave were recorded by artists like Andy McCarroll and Moral Support, Undercover, the 77s, Steve Scott, Adam Again, Quickflight, Daniel Amos, Youth Choir (later renamed the Choir), Lifesavers Underground, Michael Knott, the Prayer Chain, Altar Boys, Breakfast with Amy, Steve Taylor, 4-4-1, David Edwards and Vector. Early labels, most now-defunct, included Blonde Vinyl, Frontline, Exit, and Refuge. By the 1990s, many of these bands and artists had disbanded, were no longer performing, or were being carried by independent labels because their music tended to be more lyrically complex (and often more controversial) than mainstream Christian pop. The modern market is currently supported by labels such as Tooth & Nail, Gotee and Floodgate. These companies are often children of, or partially owned, by general market labels such as Warner, EMI, and Capitol Records, giving successful artists an opportunity to “cross over” into mainstream markets.

Christian country music

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

Characteristic#

Christian country musicians are artists who blend traditional country music with faith of Christian music. Like other forms of music, the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of Christian country music varies according to culture and social context. It is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes with a positive message, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. A common theme as with most Christian music is praise, worship or thanks to God and/or Christ.

Christian death metal

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

Characteristics#

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that features fast, distorted, down-tuned, and sometimes palm-muted guitar instrumentation, growled and screamed vocals, and hyper-fast, blast beat drumming. Death metal lyrics typically feature graphic, sometimes pornographic and misogynistic, themes of violence, gore, disease, and death; Satanic, blasphemous, and anti-Christian content; or, to a lesser extent, war, apocalypse, social and philosophical concerns, and esotericism and spiritualism. The growled vocal style has been identified for contributing to death metal’s relative lack of popularity as a music style.

Christian electronic dance music

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

Popular figures#

During the late 2000s and early 2010s, several Christian electronic artists rose to prominence in Christian music and general popular music, including G-Powered, Owl City, and Kye Kye. Other mainstay artists in the genre include Capital Kings, LZ7 Gawvi, Hillsong Young & Free, and Andy Hunter. CEDM also includes other subgenres included in EDM, such as dubstep, techno, deep house and trance. There also is a perception of genre-blending between CEDM and contemporary Christian music. A significant number of artists from this genre tend not to reference themselves as solely Christian musicians due to the crossover with other genres.

Christian hardcore

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

Stance#

The method and extent of the promotion of Christianity varies between bands. Christian hardcore bands have often openly stated their beliefs and employ Christian imagery in their lyrics, and may be considered a part of the Christian music industry.

Community and fans#

Christian hardcore can serve as an unconventional form of religious community for young people who reject mainstream Christian congregations. Fans of Christian hardcore music are not exclusively believers in the Christian religion. Owing to innovation in the hardcore movement such as Extol, Nobody Special, Zao, Living Sacrifice, and the hardcore movement in general, the audience has become less exclusive.

Christian hip-hop

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

History and notable examples#

The first commercially released and distributed gospel hip-hop record was MC Pete Harrison of Queens, New York. Under the recording name McSweet, he released The Gospel Beat: Jesus-Christ (1982), written and arranged by Harrison and produced by Mac Sulliver on Lection Records of PolyGram. The first notable full album released was Stephen Wiley’s Bible Break (1985), written by Wiley and produced by Mike Barnes on Brentwood Records. In the same year, David Guzman founded JC & The Boyz. Some of America’s premiere Christian rappers, such as Michael Peace, Soldiers for Christ (S.F.C.), Dynamic Twins, MC Peace and T-Bone came out of this crew. A more commercially successful group known as P.I.D. (Preachers in Disguise) released five recordings. Jon Gibson (or J.G.) is also considered a pioneer of Christian pop rap, with “Nation in Need” (1983) including a quasi-style rap verse and his first rap solo being “Ain’t It Pretty” (1985). CCM’s first rap hit by a blue-eyed soul singer and/or duo, “The Wall” was later released on Gibson’s successful album Change of Heart (1988), and featured MC Hammer (previously as the Holy Ghost Boys). Other tracks included the No. 1 “Love Come Down” and “In Too Deep” from Jesus Loves Ya (1990). Gibson also collaborated with MC Peace on “Enough Is Enough” (1990), “Happy to Know Jesus” (1992) and “You Are the One” (1992). Additionally, he notably collaborated with Soup the Chemist on “How I Cope” (1994) and “As the Sun Rises” (2000). S.F.C. was led by Chris Cooper, originally performing as Super C, later Sup the Chemist, and then Soup the Chemist. Other rap groups emerged in the late 1980s, including dc Talk and E.T.W. (End Time Warriors). ETW was led by producer Mike Hill. Christian emcee Danny “D-Boy” Rodriguez was another well-known early gospel rap artist but was murdered in 1990 in Texas. Prior to his death, he helped launch the career of his sister Genie Rodriguez-Lopez, known as MC GeGee, one of the first female Christian rap artists. The trend of rap artists blending faith and rap continued in the 1990s, with D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ) from Oklahoma, as well as the Gospel Gangstaz from Compton and South Central, Los Angeles. In 1991, JC Crew featured the West Coast beat box champion Maximillian and T-Bone. In the mid-1990s, rapper KJ-52 originated in Tampa, Florida, and Jewish rapper John Reuben from Columbus, Ohio. The Cross Movement group was based in Philadelphia, with The Ambassador and Phanatik as members. More Christian rap artists include Dynamic Twins, Freedom of Soul, IDOL King, Apocalypse, 12th Tribe, and Holy Alliance. 12th Tribe and Holy Alliance were produced by Scott Blackwell of MYX Records, among others. S.F.C.’s (Sup, QP and DJ Dove) 1992 album Phase III was DJ’ed and produced by DJ Dove, whose credits also include the 1993 debut album Gang Affiliated by Gospel Gangstaz. Around the same time as Phase III, Dynamic Twins (Robbie and Noel) released their 1993 album No Room To Breathe. Freedom of Soul (MC Peace and DJ Cartoon) followed with their second album, The Second Coming. Grapetree Records was the first Christian rap label founded by Knolly Williams and Jeff Adams 1994. Gotee Records formed in 1994, co-founded by dc Talk member Toby McKeehan, making it the first record label marketed explicitly for Christian hip-hop and R&B that was backed by a major label. The label was among the first to market the Contemporary Christian music market through distribution at Christian bookstores and playing on Christian radio. Artists associated with Grapetree Records during its early years included Houston-based rapper Lil’ Raskull, who released multiple projects through the label in the 1990s and was later nominated at the 30th GMA Dove Awards in the Rap/Hip Hop/Dance Album category for Glory 2 Glory. The duo GRITS were among the early artists signed to Gotee Records and were active during the formative years of Christian hip-hop. They also won a GMA Dove Award for Rap/Hip-Hop Recorded Song of the Year for “Hittin’ Curves” at the 36th GMA Dove Awards. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Christian hip-hop also diversified stylistically through regional influences. Florida-based artist Pettidee emerged with a Southern hip-hop sound incorporating crunk-influenced production. Writing for Cross Rhythms, Tony Cummings noted Pettidee’s role in expanding the genre’s musical range during this period through albums such as Still Alive and Thug Love. In 2004, the founding of the label Reach Records by American rapper Lecrae and Ben Washer, also had a considerable influence in the development of Christian hip-hop. In 2015, the label set records with sales and award-winning albums. Following the founding of Reach Records in 2004, Christian hip-hop continued to expand with both independent and regional releases. In 2006, Florida rapper Rawsrvnt released In Rare Form, an album blending elements of hip-hop and worship music. Reviewer Tony Cummings of Cross Rhythms described the project as “the best ever fusion of hip-hop and worship ministry”, calling it a benchmark for future Christian hip-hop artists. Several tracks from the album received radio play on British Christian music stations. The album was also included in lists of Stellar Award nominees for Rap/Hip Hop/Gospel CD of the Year in 2007. Christian hip-hop reached mainstream industry milestones in the early 2010s. Lecrae’s 2012 album Gravity won Best Gospel Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, the first time a hip-hop artist won in that category. The label’s artists continued to influence the genre, with Reach Records helping to expand opportunities for emerging Christian hip-hop performers. In 2019, artist and producer Kanye West released his ninth studio album, Jesus Is King, which marked a shift toward explicitly Christian themes in his music, incorporating gospel influences. West described the project as reflecting his faith and featuring largely religious imagery and lyrics. The album was also accompanied by West’s Sunday Service performances, including an Easter Sunday set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that featured gospel arrangements of his songs and appearances by artists such as Chance the Rapper and Kid Cudi.

Christian metal

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

Characteristics#

Christian metal is not a solitary style of music but rather an ideological umbrella term that comprises every subgenre of heavy metal music, from hard rock to black metal. What sets the style apart is that Christian metal bands typically base their lyrics on Judeo-Christian traditions. AllMusic writes that Christian metal is “gospel music’s hard rock” - while not as hard as most heavy metal, “it still has many of its trademarks, particularly loud guitars, bombastic riffs, long solos, and pseudo-operatic vocals.” According to the website, most bands fall somewhere between arena rock and pop metal, although occasionally there are bands that are heavier. The lyrical style varies depending on culture, denomination, and country. For example, in Northern Europe, the bands with Lutheran members usually prefer a personal lyrical approach, which is seldom meant to “convert” in an aggressive manner; this is because evangelism has been more typical among American bands. Christian bands never deny their conviction but typically avoid preaching; sometimes, the matter is left unexpressed, leaving religion as a private issue of the listener. Certain bands choose to deal with everyday life experiences from a Christian perspective in order to draw both Christian and non-Christian listeners. In such cases, identifying a “Christian band” can be difficult. Secular bands that occasionally deal with Christian topics are a different matter altogether. Defining a Christian band is a much debated issue on Christian metal forums. A Christian band is expected to have either professed Christian members or a Christian message, preferably both.

Christian music

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

Worship services#

Among the most prevalent uses of Christian music are in church worship or other gatherings. Most Christian music involves singing, whether by the whole congregation (assembly), or by a specialized subgroup—such as a soloist, duet, trio, quartet, madrigal, choir, or worship band—or both. It is frequently accompanied by instruments, but some denominations such as some Exclusive Brethren, the Churches of Christ, the Primitive Baptists, and the Free Church of Scotland prefer unaccompanied or a cappella singing. Other denominations such as Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians sing alongside some form on accompaniments. Some groups, such as the Bruderhof, sing songs both with religious and non-religious meanings and words. For them, the act of singing is important. One of the earliest forms of worship music in the church was the Gregorian chant. Pope Gregory I, while not the inventor of chant, was acknowledged as the first person to order such music in the church, hinting the name “Gregorian” chant. The chant reform took place around 590–604 CE (reign of Pope Gregory I) (Kamien, pg. 65–67). The Gregorian chant was known for its very monophonic sound. Believing that complexity had a tendency to create cacophony, which ruined the music, Gregory I kept things very simple with the chant.

Christian punk

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

History#

Christian punk originated in the 1980s punk rock scene. The genre has obscure origins. The rise of the Jesus Movement and its cultural institutions, such as Jesus People USA (JPUSA), served as an incubator for various Christian subcultures including punk, in part through JPUSA’s label Grrr Records and their annual music festival Cornerstone also referred to as a type of “Christian Woodstock.” Crashdog is one characteristically punk band that was rooted in JPUSA. In the 1980s, many bands performed at Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel in Orange County California. One popular band within that scene was Undercover, who proclaimed that “God Rules”, with a combination of rockabilly and hardcore punk elements. Other notable early Christian punk bands included Nobody Special, the Crucified, Scaterd Few, Lust Control and One Bad Pig. During the 1990s, the underground Christian punk scene grew as bands such as Ghoti Hook, Squad Five-O, the Huntingtons, Slick Shoes, Dogwood, Pocket Change, Officer Negative, Blaster the Rocket Man and Headnoise influenced many of their peers and paved the way for many bands to follow. In the 21st century, developments in Christian punk have paralleled the broader punk scene. Band such as Relient K, Hawk Nelson, FM Static, Flatfoot 56, Stellar Kart, and This Providence gained popularity with more mainstream audiences.

Christian R&B

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

Origin and musical style#

Gospel music is one of the roots or influences of R&B music. While it might seem as if Christian R&B should be the subgenre of gospel music, R&B is rooted in several music genres and has developed over the decades, making its musical characteristics audibly different from the musical nuances of gospel music. Yet some modern musicians mix R&B elements with gospel music elements. R&B originated between the 1940s and 1950s, and Christian R&B followed close behind. Christian rhythm and blues have the same musical characteristics heard in regular or secular R&B music, with the only major difference between the two being the lyrics. Some Christians who perform R&B may not explicitly mention God, Jesus Christ, or other overtly religious terms, but their lyrics still fit within the Christian moral standards, or may be ethically neutral. A few early gospel R&B musicians can be found as far back as the 1950s. One R&B vocal group, for example, known as the Orioles, sang “gospel-styled reworkings of songs that had been popular country, blues, or R&B songs.” In 1953, the Orioles recorded a gospel song called “Crying in the Chapel”; yet the band was considered to be R&B. A strong influence on the merging of gospel and R&B came from Sam Cooke. He started out as the lead singer for the gospel group Soul Stirrers, but had always loved blues and jazz. He would incorporate elements from these two musical styles into his gospel recordings. Even though he was making a nice living, he wanted to venture into secular music. In 1956, for fear he would upset his fans, bandmates, and his record label, he released his first R&B single (called “Lovable”) under the assumed name ‘Dale Cooke’. Because his voice is distinctive, people were not fooled by the name Dale Cooke. Soon, other singers followed Cooke’s footsteps, crossing over from gospel to R&B/soul and merging the two. Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and James Brown are other important figures who combined gospel and R&B. In the early age of R&B, the musicality distinguishing gospel from R&B was blurred. There was little or no way to tell whether a person was listening to gospel music or R&B music, unless they paid close attention to the lyrics.

Christian rock

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

Christian response to early rock music (1950s–1960s)#

Most traditional and fundamentalist Christians did not view rock music favorably when it became popular with young people from the 1950s, even though country and gospel music often influenced early rock music. In 1952, Archibald Davison, a Harvard professor, summed up the sound of traditional Christian music and why its supporters might not like rock music when he wrote of “… a rhythm that avoids strong pulses; a melody whose physiognomy is neither so characteristic nor so engaging as to make an appeal in its own behalf; counterpoint, which cultivates long-breathed eloquence rather than instant and dramatic effect; a chromaticism which is at all times restricted in amount and lacking in emotionalism; and modality which creates an atmosphere unmistakably ecclesiastical”. In the light of Archibald Davison’s characterisation it is easy to see how different these two genres of music are. Christians in the United States did not want their children exposed to music with unruly, impassioned vocals, loud guitar-riffs and jarring, hypnotic rhythms. Rock and roll differed from the norm, and thus it was seen by them as a threat. Often the music was overtly sexual in nature, as in the case of Elvis Presley, who became controversial and massively popular partly for his suggestive stage antics and dancing. However, “Elvis” was a religious person who released a gospel album: Peace in the Valley in 1957. Individual Christians may have listened to or even performed rock music in many cases, but conservative church establishments - particularly in the American South - regarded it as anathema. He Touched Me, a 1972 gospel-music album by Elvis Presley, sold over 1 million copies in the US alone and earned Presley his second of three Grammy Awards. Not counting compilations, it was his third and final album devoted exclusively to gospel music. The song “He Touched Me” was written in 1963 by Bill Gaither, an American singer and songwriter of southern gospel and Contemporary Christian music. In the 1960s, rock music developed artistically, attained worldwide popularity and became associated with the radical counterculture, firmly alienating many Christians. In 1966 The Beatles, one of the most popular and influential rock-bands of their era, ran into trouble with many of their American fans when John Lennon jokingly offered his opinion that Christianity was dying and that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus now”. The romantic, melodic rock songs of the band’s early career had formerly been viewed as relatively inoffensive by Christians, but after the remark, churches nationwide organized Beatles-record burnings and Lennon was forced to apologize. Subsequently, the Beatles and most rock musicians experimented with a more complex, psychedelic style of music that frequently used anti-establishment, drug-related, or sexual lyrics, while The Rolling Stones sang “Sympathy for the Devil” (1968), a song openly written from the point of view of Satan. Allegations of Satanic intent also arose from the Beatles and others of the controversial backmasking recording-technique. This further increased Christian opposition to rock music. Later, in the 1960s, the escalating Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, Paris student riots of 1968 and other events served as catalysts for youth activism and political withdrawal or protest, which became associated with rock bands, whether or not they were openly political. Moreover, many saw the music as promoting a lifestyle of promiscuous “sex, drugs and rock and roll”, also reflected in the behavior of many rock stars. However, there was growing recognition of the diverse musical and ideological potential of rock. Countless new bands sprang up in the mid-to-late 1960s, as rock displaced older, smoother pop styles to become the dominant form of pop music, a position it would enjoy almost continuously until the end of the 20th century.

Christian ska

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

Early years (late 1970s through 1980s)#

While Christian bands have played ska since the days of Jesus music, one of the first well documented Christian bands to play ska was Ishmael United, which operated in the late 1970s and early 1980s from the United Kingdom. Their sound was new wave or two tone, similar to other British bands such as The Specials or Madness. Another early Christian ska band was The Israelites, formed in 1989. similar to the Skatalites or Desmond Dekker. They released two albums before Christian ska matured.

Christmas cantata

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

Theme#

Different from Christmas oratorios, which present the Christmas story, Christmas cantatas deal with aspects of it. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, written for performance in Leipzig in 1734/1735 touches many of these themes. It consists of six parts, each part is a complete work and composed for the church service of a specific feast day. Bach structured the report from the Gospels which connects the parts to a whole, as told by the Evangelist, in six topics. In Parts I to IV he followed the Gospel of Luke (), in Parts V and VI the Gospel of Matthew (). In some instances he deviated from the prescribed readings, rather continuing the tradition of older works by Heinrich Schütz and others. * Part I, Jauchzet, frohlocket!, for Christmas Day (25 December): Nativity of Jesus * Part II, Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend, for the Second Day of Christmas (26 December): Annunciation to the shepherds, Glory to God, peace on earth * Part III for the Third Day of Christmas (27 December): Adoration of the shepherds * Part IV, Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben, for New Year’s Day (1 January): Naming of Jesus * Part V for the first Sunday after New Year’s Day: Biblical Magi * Part VI for Epiphany (6 January): Adoration of the Magi These themes appear also in cantatas of later composers.

Christmas carol

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

History#

The first known Christmas hymns may be traced to 4th-century Rome. Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. Corde natus ex Parentis (Of the Father’s heart begotten) by the Spanish poet Prudentius (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas sequence (or prose) emerged in monasteries of Northern Europe, developing under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux into a liturgical sequence composed of rhymed stanzas. In the 12th century, the Parisian monk Adam of Saint Victor began incorporating melodic elements derived from popular songs, creating musical forms more closely resembling the traditional Christmas carol. By the 13th century, a strong tradition of popular Christmas songs written in regional vernacular languages had developed in France, Germany, and particularly Italy, under the influence of Francis of Assisi. The earliest English Christmas carols appear in a 1426 manuscript by the Shropshire chaplain John Awdlay, who recorded twenty-five “caroles of Cristemas”, likely sung by groups of wassailers traveling from house to house. The songs now identified as Christmas carols were originally communal festival songs performed during seasonal celebrations such as harvesttide. Only later were they adopted for church use and associated specifically with the Christmas season. Many carols that later gained widespread popularity were printed in Piae Cantiones, a collection of late-medieval Latin songs first published in 1582. Early Latin forms of carols such as “Christ was born on Christmas Day”, “Good Christian Men, Rejoice”, and “Good King Wenceslas” appear in this collection. "" (“O Come, All Ye Faithful”) appears in its present form in the mid-18th century, although its lyrics may date to the 13th century; the origin of its melody remains disputed. Christmas carols increased in popularity following the Protestant Reformation, particularly in regions where Protestant churches became dominant. Reformers such as Martin Luther actively promoted congregational singing and composed carols for worship, reflecting the Lutheran tradition’s strong embrace of sacred music. During the period of the Puritan ban on Christmas in England, semi-clandestine religious services commemorating Christ’s birth continued to be held, and carols were sung privately despite official restrictions. The publication of Christmas music books in the 19th century helped to widen the popular appeal of carols. “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”, “The First Noel”, “I Saw Three Ships” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” appear in English antiquarian William Sandys’ 1833 collection Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern. Composers such as Arthur Sullivan helped to repopularise the carol, and it is this period that gave rise to such favourites as “Good King Wenceslas” and “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”, a New England carol written by Edmund H. Sears and Richard S. Willis. The publication in 1871 of Christmas Carols, New and Old by Henry Ramsden Bramley and Sir John Stainer was a significant contribution to a revival of carols in Victorian Britain. In 1916, Charles Lewis Hutchins published Carols Old and Carols New, a scholarly collection which suffered from a short print run and is consequently rarely available today. The Oxford Book of Carols, first published in 1928 by Oxford University Press (OUP), was a notably successful collection; edited by the British composers Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams, along with clergyman and author Percy Dearmer, it became a widely used source of carols in among choirs and church congregations in Britain and remains in print today. The singing of carols was further popularised in the 20th century when OUP published one of the most popular carol books in the English-speaking world, Carols for Choirs. First published in 1961 and edited by David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, this bestselling series has since expanded to a five-volume set. Along with editor John Rutter, the compilers included many arrangements of carols derived from sources such as Piae Cantiones, as well as pieces by modern composers such as William Walton, Benjamin Britten, Richard Rodney Bennett, William Mathias and John Rutter. Today carols are regularly sung at Christian religious services. Some compositions have words that are clearly not of a religious theme, but are often still referred to as “carols”. For example, the 16th-century song “A Bone, God Wot!” appears to be a wassailing song (which is sung during drinking or while requesting ale), but is described in the British Library’s Cottonian Collection as a Christmas carol. As recently as 1865, Christmas-related lyrics were adopted for the traditional English folk song “Greensleeves”, becoming the internationally popular Christmas carol “What Child is This?”. Little research has been conducted on carol singing, but one of the few sociological studies of caroling in the early 21st century in Finland determined that the sources of songs are often misunderstood, and that it is simplistic to suggest caroling is mostly related to Christian beliefs, for it also reinforces preservation of diverse national customs and local family traditions. A modern form of the practice of caroling can be seen in “Dial-A-Carol”, an annual tradition held by students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, wherein potential audiences call the singers to request a performance over phone call.

Christmas music

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

Early music#

Music associated with Christmas is thought to have its origins in 4th-century Rome, in Latin-language hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium. By the 13th century, under the influence of Francis of Assisi, the tradition of popular Christmas songs in regional native languages developed. Christmas carols in the English language first appear in a 1426 work of John Awdlay, an English chaplain, who lists twenty five “caroles of Cristemas”, probably sung by groups of wassailers who would travel from house to house. In the 16th and 17th century, various Christmas carols still sung to this day, including “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” (earliest extant version dates to the 1650s) and “Ríu Ríu Chíu” (first published no later than 1556), first emerged. Music was an early feature of the Christmas season and its celebrations. The earliest examples are hymnographic works (canticles and litanies) intended for liturgical use in observance of both the Feast of the Nativity and Theophany, many of which are still in use by the Eastern Orthodox Church. The 13th century saw the rise of the carol written in the vernacular, under the influence of Francis of Assisi. In the Middle Ages, the English combined circle dances with singing and called them carols. Later, the word carol came to mean a song in which a religious topic is treated in a style that is familiar or festive. From Italy, it passed to France and Germany, and later to England. Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Audelay, a Shropshire priest and poet, who lists 25 “caroles of Cristemas”, probably sung by groups of wassailers, who went from house to house. Music in itself soon became one of the greatest tributes to Christmas, and Christmas music includes some of the noblest compositions of the great musicians. Martin Luther, the father of Lutheran Christianity, encouraged congregational singing during the Mass, in addition to spreading the practice of caroling outside the liturgy.

Christmas oratorio

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

Christmas oratorios as a set of Christmas cantatas#

Some Christmas oratorios consist of a collection of Christmas cantatas, to be performed during several days of the Christmas season. Examples include: * Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, Johann Sebastian Bach’s , premiered from 25 December 1734 to 6 January 1735 in Leipzig. * Liebes-Andachten, nach dem Jahrgang aus denen Evangeliis eingerichtet, cycle of Christmas cantatas by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, first performed 25–27 December 1719 in Gotha (music lost). * Das Volck so im Finstern wandelt, Christmas oratorio by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, first performed 25–27 December 1728 in Gotha. Ach, dass die Hülfe aus Zion über Israel käme, is a Christmas oratorio retroactively compiled from 10 cantatas by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, which were performed from 25 December 1736 to 6 January 1737 in Sondershausen (recorded 1999–2000).

Christos Apostolides

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

Early life and education#

Apostolides was born in Limassol in 1870. He finished an 8 year elementary school (οκτατάξεο αλληλοδιδακτικό σχολείο) at the Katholiki neighbourhood, and a 5 year Greek high school (πεντατάξεα Eλληνική Σχολή Λεμεσού).

Career#

After graduating in 1888 he started working as a school teacher for four years in the villages Arsos and Asgata. He then taught at the First Primary School of Limassol (Α’ Αστική Σχολή Λεμεσού). He studied European and Byzantine music which he taught at various schools in Limassol, he also taught the violin.

Chuanqi (theatre)

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

Music#

Whereas its precursor nanxi predominantly used southern Chinese tunes, which were pentatonic, melismatic, slow and soft, chuanqi widely incorporated northern tunes which were heptatonic, syllabic, fast and forceful. This process had begun in the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), which reunified northern China (the former Jin dynasty (1115–1234)) and southern China (the former Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279)), as nanxi increasingly absorbed the northern tunes of zaju, a northern Chinese opera form. After chuanqi came into being in the middle of the Ming dynasty, its popularity spread throughout the various areas of China, each with its distinct traditional musical style and topolect. Haiyanqiang and yuyaoqiang did not last long; yiyangqiang evolved into a large variety of regional forms and disappeared as a genre in the process; while kunqu became the standard genre in the Qing dynasty.

Church cantata

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

External links#

Musique vocale sacrée section at Georg Philip Telemann (1681–1767) Catalogue TWV ()
“Übersicht über die Bestimmung der Kantaten”, Appendix 2, pp. 482–483 in Alfred Dürr, Yoshitake Kobayashi (eds.), Kirsten Beißwenger. Bach Werke Verzeichnis: Kleine Ausgabe, nach der von Wolfgang Schmieder vorgelegten 2. Ausgabe. Preface in English and German. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1998. –
The Sources of Bach’s works: Liturgical/secular designation of vocal works at

Church music

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

Early Christian music#

The only record of communal song in the Gospels is the last meeting of the disciples before the Crucifixion: Outside the Gospels, there is a reference to St. Paul encouraging the Ephesians and Colossians to use psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Later, there is a reference in Pliny the Younger who writes to the emperor Trajan (53–117) asking for advice about how to persecute the Christians in Bithynia, and describing their practice of gathering before sunrise and repeating antiphonally “a hymn to Christ, as to God”. Antiphonal psalmody is the singing or musical playing of psalms by alternating groups of performers. The peculiar mirror structure of the Hebrew psalms makes it likely that the antiphonal method originated in the services of the ancient Israelites. According to the historian Socrates of Constantinople, its introduction into Christian worship was due to Ignatius of Antioch (died 107), who in a vision had seen the angels singing in alternate choirs. During the first two or three centuries, Christian communities incorporated into their observances features of Greek music and the music of other cultures bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea. As the early Church spread from Jerusalem to Asia Minor, North Africa, and Europe, it absorbed other musical influences. For example, the monasteries and churches of Syria were important in the development of psalm singing and the use of strophic devotional song, or hymns. In the late 4th or early 5th century, St. Jerome wrote that a Christian maiden ought not even to know what a lyre or flute is like, or to what use it is put. Evidence of musical roles during the 6th through 7th centuries is particularly sparse because of the cycle of invasions of Germanic tribes in the West and doctrinal and political conflict in the East as well as the consequent instability of Christian institutions in the former Roman empire. The introduction of church organ music is traditionally believed to date from the time of the papacy of Pope Vitalian in the 7th century.

Chutney music

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

History#

The term chutney is derived from the Hindi word chatni, referring to South Asian condiments made of spices. The contemporary fusion of genres that led to chutney music was created around the 1940s by Indo-Caribbean people of the West Indies, whose ancestors originally were brought to the region from the Hindi Belt as indentured labourers by the British, intended to replace slaves working on sugar plantations after slavery was abolished in the region. There were no recordings of chutney until 1968, when Ramdew Chaitoe, of Suriname, recorded an early rendition of the music. The album was called King of Suriname and all of the songs were religious in nature. However, Chaitoe soon became a household name with East Indians, not just in his native Suriname but throughout the Caribbean. Although the songs were religious in nature, all had a distinctly danceable sound. For the first time, Indo-Caribbeans had music that spoke to them personally, and was not specifically Indian, African, or European or American in style/roots. This was a breakthrough for East Indian Caribbean music, but the fame was shortlived. Chutney music exploded, again, after 1968, with the singer Dropati releasing her album Let’s Sing & Dance, made-up of traditional wedding songs. The record became a huge hit within the Indo-Caribbean community, gaining exposure for chutney music as a legitimate form of music, and uniting Indians, regardless of their birthplace. 1969 was a turning point for chutney music, when record producer Moean Mohammed recorded Sundar Popo with Harry Mahabir’s BWIA Orchestra. Sundar Popo modernised the music by including western guitars and early electronics into his music. Although Popo became known as the “King of Chutney”, the art of singing songs in “chutney” style was introduced by a singer named Lakhan Kariya, from the town of Felicity, Chaguanas who preceded Sundar Popo. Other artists, such as Indo-Trini artist Sam Boodram, followed in his footsteps, adding newer and modern instrumentation into songs. Chutney music, until then, remained a localised genre in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname.

Chutney soca

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

History#

Chutney soca is a prime example of how Indo-Trinidadians have established roots in Trinidad and have created an original, syncretic artform. This fusion was originally pioneered by Lord Shorty in the 1960s and 1970s and its later branding resulted from the intervention of Indo-Trinidadians into soca music in the 1980s, the addition of chutney soca to the island’s musical life signified a consolidation of the East Indian influence on Trinidadian culture and politics, particularly during the 1990s. It was during the 1980s and 1990s that Trinidadian musicians, performing in the popular style of calypso and its offshoot, soca, began to incorporate Indian themes into their lyrics. A significant example of this is the song “Sundar Popo”, by Black Stalin. This song, whose whimsical lyrics concern a veteran Indian singer, won Black Stalin the coveted Calypso Monarch Prize in February 1995. Although it was neither in chutney style nor in Hindustani, “Sundar Popo” was labelled chutney soca because of its theme. Similar efforts followed in the wake of 30 May 1995, which marked the anniversary of the first arrival of “indenturees” in Trinidad and was designated by the island’s government as Indian Arrival Day. Chutney soca’s rise in popularity through the mid to late 1990s was expedited by its changing role in Trinidad’s Carnival celebration. The 1995–96 Carnival season saw the establishment of the Chutney Soca Monarch Competition and the performance of a number of chutney socas during the calypso soca competition by creole musicians, including Marcia Miranda, Tony Ricardo, Chris Garcia, Brother Marvin, and Luta. Embraced as it was by non-Indian performers, who abandoned formal Indianisms, sang solely in English and emphasized the soca beat, chutney soca became a national fad.

CH on Music Theory Print

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Origin#

Chaabi (Algeria)

The best known chaabi singers#

Features of Chaabi#

Chaabi (Morocco)

Chabad niggunim

The Chabad style of niggun#

Chacarera

Chacarera music#

Melody and harmony#

Chaconne

History#

Chaiti

Origin and cultural context#

Chalga

Etymology#

History#

Chamamé

See also#

External links#

Chamarrita

Azorean Chamarrita#

Chamber jazz

Notable musicians linked to chamber jazz music#

Chamber music

History#

Early beginnings#

Chamber pop

Definition and etymology#

Champeta

Musical characteristics#

Change ringing

Technique and physics#

Changgeuk

History and Evolution#

Chanson

Chanson de geste#

Chanson courtoise#

Chanson franco-orientale

History#

Chanson réaliste

Origins and influences#

Chant

Chant as a spiritual practice#

Chanté mas

The French#

Chap hop

History#

Character piece

History#

Chastushka

Metre#

Form#

Chầu văn

External links#

Chazezesa Challengers

Music style#

Chèo

History#

Chicago blues

Origins and Influences#

Chicago hardcore

Origins (1980s)#

Chicago house

Disco edits#

Chicago no wave

History#

Chicago soul

Notable labels#

Vee-Jay#

Chicano protest music

Origins#

Chicano rap

Origins#

Chicano rock

History#

Chicken scratch

Children's music