DA on Music Theory Print

Da capo aria

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

Form#

A da capo aria is in ternary form, meaning it is composed of three sections. The first section is a complete song with accompaniment, ending in the tonic key, and could in principle be sung by itself. The second section contrasts with the first in its musical key, texture, mood, and sometimes also tempo. The third section was usually not written out by the composer, who would instead simply note the instruction “da capo” (Italian for “from the head”) - meaning from the beginning, i.e., the first section is to be repeated. The text for a da capo aria was typically a poem or other verse sequence written in two strophes, the first for the A section (hence repeated later) and the second for B. Each strophe consisted of from three to six lines, and terminated in a line containing a masculine ending, that is a line ending in a stressed syllable.

Dabke

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

Etymology#

The etymology of ‘dabke’ is uncertain but is thought to be derived from the Levantine Arabic word dabaka () meaning “stamping of the feet” or “to make a noise”.

History#

According to Youssef Ibrahim Yazbec, a Lebanese historian, journalist, and politician, the dabke descends from Phoenician dances thousands of years old. According to Palestinian folklorists Abdul-Latif Barghouthi and Awwad Sa’ud al-‘Awwad, the dabke jumps may have originated in ancient Canaanite fertility rituals related to agriculture, chasing off evil spirits and protecting young plants. Another theory is that the stomping part of dabke started out as a way of solidifying roofs made of mud. People would stomp on the rooftops of houses together to help compress the material to compact it to prevent cracks from forming. This eventually evolved into the dancing form of dabke that is known today.

Daechwita

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

Instrumentation#

Instruments used include nabal (brass horn), nagak (seashell horn), and taepyeongso (shawm), with jing (gong), jabara (cymbals), Ulla (xylophone), and yonggo (; drum painted with dragon designs and played with hard mallets). This style of Korean military music is often used in the reenactment of the Guard Changing Ceremony at Seoul’s Gyeongbokgung Palace, as well as in Deoksugung Palace. Special daechwitas today is under the service of the Ministry of National Defense Traditional Band and the Traditional Guard Unit, 3rd Infantry Division, Republic of Korea Army, and are the only ones that also has the Ulla (small tuned gongs), Pungmul-buk and Galgo in its instrumentation. This is the same case for traditional Korean bands outside the homeland, which also have a pungmul marching percussion battery (with kkwaenggwari, janggu and pungmul-buk drums) at the rear with distinguishing uniforms between the two ensembles. Few modern bands based in schools sport bass drums together with the kwaennggwari, galgo and janggu, as well as the daegeum flute, as part of their instrumentation. Uniforms in the band are in royal gold or red and white, as these were connected in the Imperial period to the Imperial family and the armed forces of the Korean Empire. Most bandsmen in ensembles today wear the royal gold full dress. The Bandmaster of the ensemble, called a deungchae, carries a long baton to direct the ensemble during performances. Today, the Ministry of National Defense Traditional Band and Traditional Honor Guards participate in official welcome ceremonies for foreign heads of state and in other state or special events, with the band playing daechwita and the honor guards carrying out ceremonial duties.

Dagbon music and dance

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

Music in Dagbon#

Dagbani music is best known for an extremely advanced drumming tradition carried out by hereditary praise-singers and oral historians known as the lunsi. Their tradition, which primarily features the hourglass-shaped lunga (talking drum) and the cylindrical gungon (bass drum), is a vital aspect of Dagomba culture.

Dancing in Dagbon#

Dagbon music is usually composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. The Dagomba tribal have different kinds of traditional dance which is facilitated by drummers who play different rhythms and the dancers move accordingly. Some of the traditional dances are popular and can be performed on any occasion while others are a reserve for special events and occasions such funerals, coronation ceremonies and during spiritual sacrifices. Each dance has special regalia but what is common is the smock, “kurugu” and the “muɣuri”. Some of the popular dance are as follows:

Daina (Latvia)

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

Poetic metre and its limitations#

The trochaic metre is the most popular, with around 95% of dainas being in it. Characteristic of this metre is that an unstressed syllable follows a stressed syllable, with two syllables forming one foot. Two feet form a dipody and after every dipody, there is a caesura, which cannot be in the middle of a word. The dainas traditionally are written down so that every line contains two dipodies. If a caesura is followed by three syllables, the last syllable – i.e. the one at the end of the line – is long; if four syllables follow it is short. A syllable is considered short if it contains a short vowel or a short vowel and S; all other syllables are considered long. This results in a rather limited vocabulary as a dipody can consist of either one four-syllable word, two two-syllable words, one one-syllable and one three-syllable word or two one-syllable words and one two-syllable word. Exceptions are mostly found in Eastern Latvian dialects, which allow words to start one syllable before or after where the caesura normally would be, thus allowing five-syllable combinations. This inconsistency is usually found only in one or two lines, most often in the second or fourth. The notion of short and long syllables at the end of lines is retained. However, the syllable after a lost caesura is often unstressed as it is in everyday speech. A sound may be added or removed to increase vocabulary there or elsewhere. The addition of sounds is explained with structural changes in the language itself (loss of vowels in word endings). The sound added at the end of a word is usually I, in some rare cases also A, U or E (the last of these mostly in some regions of Courland). Occasionally contractions occur and I replaces a diminutive ending in I – i.e. the ending is retained but separated from the rest of the word by a caesura. This can perhaps be explained by diminutives being so popular in dainas that people didn’t find it appropriate to replace one with the same word without it, which would be a syllable shorter. Sometimes a diminutive is added to increase the number of syllables even when the meaning of the word is the opposite of what is usually expressed with the diminutive. Similarly, the need to match the metric might cause disagreement in tenses.

Dance music

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

Origins#

Dancing to rhythmic music has long been a cherished tradition in civilizations around the world, where dynamic movements synchronized with percussion instruments such as drums, bells, and rattles serve as integral expressions of cultural identity, social cohesion, and spiritual significance. Folk dance music accompanies traditional dance and may be contrasted with historical/classical, and popular/commercial dance music. An example of folk dance music in the United States is the old-time music played at square dances and contra dances.

Dance-pop

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

1980s#

As the term “disco” started to go out of fashion by the late 1970s to early 1980s, other terms were commonly used to describe disco-based music, such as “post-disco”, “club”, “dance” or “dance-pop” music. As the primary songwriter on her self-titled debut album and a co-producer by her third record, Madonna’s insistence on being involved in all creative aspects of her work was highly unusual for a female dance-pop vocalist at the time. The staff of Vice magazine stated that her debut album “drew the blueprint for future dance-pop.” In the 1980s, dance-pop was closely aligned to other uptempo electronic genres, such as Hi-NRG. Prominent producers in the 1980s included Stock, Aitken and Waterman, who created Hi-NRG/dance-pop for artists such as Kylie Minogue, Dead or Alive and Bananarama. During the decade, dance-pop borrowed influences from funk (e.g. Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston), new jack swing (e.g. Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul), and contemporary R&B. Other prominent dance-pop artists and groups of the 1980s included the Pet Shop Boys, Mel and Kim, Samantha Fox, Debbie Gibson, and Tiffany.

Dance-punk

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

History#

Many groups in the post-punk era adopted a more danceable style, with dance-punk emerging as a compromised genre originally referred to as “disco-punk” or “punk funk”. Its first wave emerged from a communal and alternative scene as a critique of social standards. New York City bands who were core to this wave were ESG, Liquid Liquid, James Chance and the Contortions, Defunkt, Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Material. In addition, the Slits contributed to the genre in Britain, emphasizing the influence of reggae. These bands were influenced strongly by funk, avant-funk trends, disco, dub reggae, ska, new wave, and other dance music forms popular at the time. More culturally prominent acts from the late 1970s into the 1980s included Talking Heads, Public Image Ltd., New Order and Gang of Four. Emerging from the convergence of disco and punk influences, dance-punk exhibits a strong affiliation with urban environments, particularly in the way they are romanticized and portrayed. These spaces, whether they exist in the realm of imagination or reality, conjure up a sense of cosmopolitanism, artistic liberation, and a spirit of defiance against the confines of conventional mainstream culture.

Dance-rock

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

Definitions#

Michael Campbell, in his book Popular Music in America, defines the genre as “post-punk/post-disco fusion”. Campbell also cited Robert Christgau, who described dance-oriented rock (or DOR) as an umbrella term used by various DJs in the 1980s. However, AllMusic defines “dance-rock” as 1980s and 1990s music practiced by rock musicians, influenced by Philly soul, disco and funk, fusing those styles with rock and dance. Artists like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, INXS, Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, the Clash, New Order and Devo belong, according to AllMusic, to this genre. Dance-rock embraces some experimental funk acts like A Certain Ratio, Gang of Four, and also mainstream musicians, for example Robert Palmer, Billy Idol and Hall & Oates.

Dancehall

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

Lead#

Dancehall is named after Jamaican dance halls in which popular Jamaican recordings were played by local sound systems. It both refers to the music and dance style. It faced criticism for negatively influencing Jamaican culture and portraying gangster lifestyles in a praiseworthy way.

Early developments - Early 1970s#

Dancehall music, also called ragga, is a style of Jamaican popular music that had its genesis in the political turbulence of the late 1970s and became Jamaica’s dominant music in the 1980s and ’90s. It was also originally called Bashment music when Jamaican dancehalls began to gain popularity. Social and political changes in late-1970s Jamaica, including the change from the socialist government of Michael Manley (People’s National Party) to Edward Seaga (Jamaica Labour Party), Themes of social injustice, repatriation and the Rastafari movement were overtaken by lyrics about dancing, violence and sexuality. Though the revolutionary spirit was present in Jamaica due to this social upheaval, the radio was very conservative and failed to play the people’s music. It was this gap that the sound system was able to fill with music that the average Jamaican was more interested in. Alongside this music was the addition of the fashion, art, and dance that came along with it. This made Dancehall both a genre, and a way of life. In contrast to roots reggae, which aimed for respectability and international recognition, dancehall did not hesitate in dealing with the day-by-day realities and basal interests of the average Jamaican—especially that of lower classes—and observing society in a provocative, gritty, and often vulgar manner. Since this put spreading via radio out of the question, dancehall initially gained popularity only through live performances in sound systems and specialized record dealing. Dancehall’s violent lyrics, which garnered the genre much criticism since its very inception, stem from the political turbulence and gang violence of late 1970s Jamaica. In the early days of dancehall, the prerecorded rhythm tracks (bass guitar and drums) or “dub” that the deejay would rap or “toast” over came from earlier reggae songs from the 1960s and 1970s. Ragga, specifically, refers to modern dancehall, where a deejay particularly toasts over digital (electrical) rhythms.

Dancehall pop

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

Early developments#

As the sub-genre of its fathering music style dancehall, dancehall pop combines instrumental reggae and drum patterns of Jamaican sounds with the vocal melodies and catchy lyrics of pop music. The name of the genre itself is also credited to Jamaican music lifestyle, where artists and producers would play music from sound systems in local dancehalls. The socio-political changes after the 1970s government change in Jamaica affected dancehall styles, where lyrics moved away from political protest and more towards partying lifestyle. The dancehall genre trend of reusing beats, also known as “reworking”, is also still evident in dancehall pop as well, with many artists sampling old school dancehall track instrumentals––colloquially known as “riddims”. the dancehall pop genre combines rhythm and sounds from across in the Caribbean including that of soca, calypso and reggaeton. The fusion between dancehall and pop is attributed to the early digitisation of musical production in Jamaica, where the format of pop music––such as the melodic verse-chorus structure and repeated choruses––could be combined with the fast-paced instrumental rhythms of dancehall. Dancehall pop music did not make its mainstream arrival into the music industry until the early 2000s. Dancehall and soca songs such as Kevin Lyttle’s “Turn Me On” and Rupee’s “Tempted to Touch”, both released in 2002 and 2003 respectively, are examples of the early combinations of the digital pop style and Caribbean rhythms into the western music scene. It was dancehall pop artist Sean Paul, who released his second studio album Dutty Rock in 2002, including the hit singles “Get Busy” and “Gimme the Light” that put the genre on highly rated chart positions, with the album reaching a peak position of number 4 on the US Billboard 200. Sean Paul’s collaboration on the album with at-the-time rising pop star Beyoncé, titled “Baby Boy”, reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. This marked the beginning of the mainstream dancehall and pop fusion. Barbadian singer-songwriter Rihanna then released her debut dancehall pop single in 2005, “Pon de Replay”, which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. The genre had a small absence from the pop charts and then reemerged again in the 2010s with numerous Caribbean artists such as Kranium, Konshens, and Popcaan entering the dance-pop music charts. As these artists curated their names in the music industry, chart-topping pop artists like Drake, Rihanna, and Major Lazer incorporated the dancehall pop sounds into their respective hit singles “One Dance”, “Work”, and “Boom” which each gained top 20 spots on the US Billboard Hot 100. Drake’s dancehall pop and rap inspired track “One Dance” became a best-selling and chart-topping single, giving credit to the genre within the mainstream music scene. Named as the “song of the summer”, and spent over two months as number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, largely contributing to the mass-audience recognition of dancehall pop.

Dangdut

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

Development#

The term dangdut is an onomatopoeia for the sound of the tabla (also known as gendang) drum, which is written dang and ndut. Modern Minangkabau music is also the forerunner of dangdut, along with Malay music. The transformation of Malay music by M. Mashabi (1932–1967) and Munif Bahasuan (1935–2021) with the Orkes Kelana Ria in the 1960s with several songs such as Ya Mustafa, Ya Mahmud and Patah Kasih which, according to ethnomusicologist Andrew N. Weintraub, are considered “proto-dangdut” and pioneered the form of dangdut as it is known today. Orkes Melayu singer Ellya Khadam switched to dangdut in the 1970s, and by 1972, she was the number-one artist in Indonesia. Her success, along with that of Rhoma Irama, meant that by 1975, 75 per cent of all recorded music in Indonesia was of the dangdut genre, with pop bands such as Koes Plus adopting the style.

Danger music

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

In performance#

As with many forms of concept music and performance art, the lines drawn between tapestries such as “music”, “art”, “theater”, and “social protest” are not always clear or apparent. Danger music consequently has some things in common with the performance art of artists such as Mark Pauline and Chris Burden. For instance, some extreme examples of danger music direct performers to use sounds so loud that they will deafen the participants, or ask performers to throw anti-personnel bombs into the audience. Japanese musician Yamantaka Eye’s noise project Hanatarash was notable for its dangerous live shows, the most famous instance being when the Japanese artist drove an excavator through the venue at the back of the stage. There were also reports of audience members being required to fill out waivers before shows to prevent the band or the venue being sued in case of any harm caused to them. Punk metal band G.I.S.M., another Japanese act, reportedly featured violent live shows in regards to the band’s frontman, Sakevi, who would perform a variety of dangerous stunts including running toward the crowd with a chainsaw, attacking front rows with a lit flamethrower, throwing fireworks at the crowd or fighting random concertgoers. Other pieces involve more symbolic forms of “danger”, such as Nam June Paik’s “Danger Music for Dick Higgins,” which directs the performer to “creep into the vagina of a living whale.”

Danish jazz

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

History#

In the 1930s, jazz became quite popular in Denmark; major figures of the period include pianist Leo Mathisen, violinist Svend Asmussen, trombonist Peter Rasmussen, saxophonist Kai Ewans, bassist Niels Foss, and pianist/vibraphonist Kjeld Bonfils. Many of these musicians played in Valdemar Eiberg’s band. Jazz went underground in 1940 as a result of the Nazi occupation of Denmark when jazz was discouraged by the regime. Nevertheless, it continued to be performed and recorded, even more so as Danish musicians began to fill the void created by the lack of foreign players touring through the area. Musicians such as Eiberg, Bonfils and Asmussen (who played in a band together), along with Uffe Baadh, Bruno Henriksen and Bertel Skjoldborg continued to make jazz music as a form of political protest. Many singers, such as Freddy Albeck, Ingelise Rune, and Raquel Rastenni, found it necessary to escape to Sweden in the later years of the occupation. Following World War II, Danish jazz musicians began to split into an older guard, which maintained the style of traditional New Orleans jazz, and newer musicians who favored the bebop style of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie that was emerging in America. The former were represented by musicians such as pianist Adrian Bentzon, trombonist Papa Bue, and trumpeter Theis Jensen, while the latter included saxophonist Max Brüel, bassist Erik Moseholm, drummer Uffe Baadh and trumpeter Jørgen Ryg. In the early 1960s, a club called the Jazzhus Montmartre opened in Copenhagen, which was intended to recreate the atmosphere of jazz clubs in Paris and New York City. It became a major venue for both Danish and American jazz musicians. Many American jazz players moved to Copenhagen from the 1950s when Stan Getz and Oscar Pettiford moved there. They were followed by Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, and Ben Webster in the 1960s, and Duke Jordan, Horace Parlan, Ed Thigpen, Bob Rockwell, and Thad Jones (who became the leader of the DR Big Band in 1977) in subsequent decades. Kenny Drew formed a trio with Alex Riel and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen which became a staple at Jazzhus Montmartre. In the 1960s, Danish musicians began to explore free jazz with saxophonist John Tchicai as the most prominent proponent. In parallel, a more mainstream wing evolved, including saxophonist Jesper Thilo. As rock music became more popular in the 1970s, jazz’s popularity waned, but it continues to be supported in venues such as the and the annual Copenhagen Jazz Festival. The organization JazzDanmark, funded by the Danish government, works to promote jazz in Denmark and Danish jazz abroad.

Danish traditional music

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

History#

Through the Middle Ages and into the 19th century there are reports of “chain dances”, processions and ceremonial dances accompanied by pipes, drums and singing. In the 17th and 18th centuries, throughout Denmark the practice of music was under the monopoly of the appointed city musicians (stadsmusikant), who with their journeymen and apprentices were the only musicians allowed to play for a salary within an assigned territory. Since the city musician was trained in the cities, this meant that courtly repertoires made their way into the countryside, and that most areas did not maintain local musical traditions during this time. Only a few areas, such as Bornholm and Amager, never had the stadsmusikant monopoly, and a few others such as Fanø maintained a local tradition by an arrangement whereby local musicians leased the right to perform on the island from the city musician of Ribe. Since city musicians frowned on the use of instruments deemed impure such as drums, bagpipes and hurdy-gurdies, this period also saw the rise of the fiddle as the main instrument for dance music. From around 1500, medieval chain dances were displaced by pair dances. The oldest known pair dance in Denmark is the pols, an adapted variant of a Polish dance that was popular in Sweden as early as the 16th century. It is assumed that the pols was prevalent in the Danish countryside by the second half of the 17th century, and in the 18th century it was the most common popular dance along with the minuet. These Polish dances were usually performed in two parts: a slow march and a faster 3/4 second part. Often in the oldest hand-written tune books only the first part was written, as the fiddler improvised the second half based on the first. From the end of the 18th century English-style contra and square dances became popular. In the 19th century the waltz became the most popular dance in the cities, after having been known in the countryside for a while. Other dance types of the early 19th century are hopsa, rheinlænder, galop, sveitrit and schottish all of which were integrated into the popular English style dances, and later developed their own local dance forms. Around 1850 the polka and mazurka entered the popular repertoire. At the end of the 19th century the earlier dance tradition began to lose its place to modern dances from England, Southern Europe and America. From the local tradition of the island of Fanø the tune types sønderhoning and fannik have made their way into the standard repertoire of Danish traditional music, and are remnants of the early tradition of Polish derived dances. To counter the loss of traditional dances, the Association for the Promotion of Folkdancing was founded in 1901, focusing on the preservation of popular dances from the period 1750-1850. Many local chapters of such preservation societies appeared during the first decades of the 20th century, and in 1929 there were as many as 16,000 members. These dance associations had a homogenizing effect on the popular dances, creating a standard repertoire of Danish folk dances. They often danced in folk dress. In response to this homogenizing effect of the folkdancing guilds, informal dance organizations working to keep local dance traditions alive in informal settings were also developed, under the name of “Old Dance”. Certain rural areas of Denmark such as Fanø, Læsø, Ærø and parts of Western Jutland maintained living traditions of dancing from the late 18th century well into the 20th century.

Danmono

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

Musical style#

Each danmono piece consists of a number of movements, or variations (“dan” in Japanese means “step”). Each dan consists of 104 beats, except for the first. The first dan is preceded by a four or eight-beat introduction, called kandō. The few pieces that make up the danmono repertoire are all very similar in musical style. Listeners unfamiliar with the danmono style have trouble distinguishing one piece from another. The reason for the strong similarities between the danmono pieces is that originality was unusual for seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Japanese composers.

Dansband

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

Lyrics#

Dansband lyrics are often upbeat, and are mostly about love, friendship and peace. Other lyrics are about dancing. Some lyrics are inspired by national romanticism, with lyrics about things such as old memories from the past, nature, or native districts. Romantic dansband lyrics are reminiscent of pop, where the singer declares his or her love for the person being sung to, but are often more focused on growing old together and living together until one of them dies. The Norwegian dansband Ole Ivars has also, with much humour, written lyrics that are more about society than traditional dansband lyrics. The lyrics are often in Swedish in Sweden, and in Norwegian in Norway. In the 1990s, special “dansband songwriters” broke through, among them Lasse Holm, Gert Lengstrand and Torgny Söderberg. For many years, the same persons wrote songs for most of the major names, but soon dansband musicians became more involved in songwriting.

Danza

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

Danza in Puerto Rico#

Danza is a form of music that can be varied in its expression. The Puerto Rican national anthem, La Borinqueña, was originally a danza that was later altered to fit a more anthem-like style. Danzas can be either romantic or festive. Romantic danzas have four sections, beginning with an eight-measure paseo followed by three themes of sixteen measures each. The third theme typically includes a solo by the bombardino and, often, a return to the first theme or a coda at the end. Festive danzas are free-form, with the only rules being an introduction and a swift rhythm. The first part of the romantic danza, the paseo, had 8 measures of music without a fixed rhythm (a snare drumroll may be played as background), when the couples circled the room elegantly, giving the lady the opportunity to display her beauty. The second part, called the merengue, grew from the original 16 measures to 34, in 1854. Here the couples held each other in a proper stance and executed turns that looked very much like a waltz. While the origins of the danza are murky, it probably arose around 1840 as a sort of reaction against the highly codified contradanza and, according to Cuban sources, was strongly influenced by Cuban immigrants and their habanera music. The first danzas were immature, youthful songs condemned by the authorities, who occasionally tried ineffectively to ban the genre. In Puerto Rico, the genre continued evolving until it was taken up by the young pianist Manuel Gregorio Tavárez, who had just arrived from his studies in Paris, and took it to a new artistic level. His disciple, Juan Morel Campos, adopted it also and developed it further to its maximum expression, composing more than 300 danzas, most of them masterpieces of an exquisite beauty. The danza that evolved was inspired mostly by women and romance and their titles reflected that change.

Danzón

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

History#

The danzón developed from the habanera, a creolized Cuban dance form. By 1879, the year Las alturas de Simpson composed by Miguel Failde (leader of the Orquesta Faílde) was first performed in Matanzas, Creation of the new danzón form is generally attributed to Faílde. The classical composer Manuel Saumell has also been cited as a key figure in its delineation.

Precursors: figure dances#

The English contradanza was the predecessor of the “habanera”, also known as danza criolla. Out of this Creole genre, the Habanera, was born in 1879 another Cuban genre, called danzon, a sequence dance, in which all danced together a set of figures. The first use of the term danzón, which dates from the 1850s, is for just such a dance. Havana’s daily paper, El Triunfo, gave a description of this earlier danzón. It was a co-ordinated dance of figures performed by groups of Matanzas blacks. The dancers held the ends of colored ribbons, and carried flower-covered arches. The group twisted and entwined the ribbons to make pleasing patterns. This account can be corroborated by other references, for example, a traveler in Cuba noted in 1854 that black Cubans “do a kind of wreath dance, in which the whole company took part, amid innumerable artistic entanglements and disentanglements”. This style of danzón was performed at carnival comparsas by black groups: it is described that way before the late 1870s. Faílde’s first danzóns were created for just such sequence dances. Faílde himself said “In Matanzas at this time there was a kind of square dance for twenty couples who carried arches and flowers. It was really a dance of figures (sequence dance), and its moves were adapted to the tempo of the habanera, which we took over for the danzón.”

Dapha music

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

History#

Classic devotional music has been in existence in Nepal for more than a thousand years. The time period between 11th to 17th century saw an increase in literary activity in Kathmandu. The book was written as an appendix to Natya Shastra by the king of Bhaktapur Jagat Jyoti Malla and his minister Vanshamani Ojha. The book elaborates on Bharata Muni’s Natya Shastra and Abhinavagupta’s Abhinavabharati. This was followed by Gayanlochan, written during the reign of Jitamitra Malla. Gayanlochan focuses more on introduction to raga (and raginis), their characteristics, and performance. Various treatises on musical instruments used in Dapha such as Taal anukaranam, Mridanga anukaranam, Panchataal baaja etc. have also guided Dapha over centuries.

Dappankuthu

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

Musical instruments#

A percussion instrument called parai in Tamil, without the jingles, is often used for dappankuthu or similar dance forms. Unlike normal tambourines, this requires a wooden stick to play. Telugu teenmaar uses daf drums, associated there with Siddi people. The urumee drum is also often used. A customised trumpet (called Nadaswaram locally) is also sometimes employed. The rhythm of the dappankuthu is often signified by a mix of beat patterns layered and flowing into one another. Other percussion instruments may be employed in dappankuthu. A similar instrument called TamaTe in Kannada resembling a Ganesh tambourine is also used for such dance forms in border areas such as M.M. Hills. The most-used time signature for dappankuthu songs is .

Dariacore

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

Etymology#

The term “dariacore” was first used by Jane Remover for a trilogy of albums released on SoundCloud under the alias “Leroy” in the early 2020s, with cover artwork taken from the cartoon Daria. calling it “a joke that’s been going on for too long”. Following Jane’s comments on the name dariacore, some artists would remove the hashtag from their music.

Characteristics#

Dariacore is most defined by its eclectic use of samples from pop music, underground viral hits, pop culture, and internet memes, as well as its fast BPMs. and bed squeaks. as well as breakbeats.

Dark ambient

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

Characteristics#

Dark ambient often consists of evolving dissonant harmonies of drones and resonances, low frequency rumbles and machine noises, sometimes supplemented by gongs, percussive rhythms, bullroarers, distorted voices and other found sounds, often processed to the point where the original sample cannot be recognized. However, while the theme in the music tends to be “dark” in nature, some artists create more organic soundscapes. The Symphonies of the Planets series, a collection of works by Brain/Mind Research inspired by audible-frequency plasma waves recorded by the Voyager uncrewed space probes, can also be considered an organic manifestation of dark ambient.

Dark cabaret

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

Precursors#

In a 2019 article for The New York Times writer Christopher R. Weingarten stated that “Any journey into cabaret-punk begins with the work of Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill”. The pair’s work merged Weimar-era cabaret with elements of the country’s pop music, American jazz music and socialist themes. Weingarten specifically cited the “Alabama Song” (1930), as performed by Lotte Lenya, as a notable precursor, as well as its 1967 cover by rock band the Doors. Furthermore, the 1972 film Cabarets dark and cynical take on cabaret performance anticipated dark cabaret.

Dark wave

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

1980s: Origins in Europe#

Since the 1980s, the term “dark wave” has been used in Europe by the music press to describe the gloomy and melancholy variant of new wave and post-punk music. At that time, the term “goth” was inseparably connected with gothic rock, whereas “dark wave” acquired a broader meaning, embracing bands and solo artists that were associated with gothic rock such as Bauhaus, Joy Division, the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, French cold wave groups such as Clair Obscur and Opera Multi Steel have also been associated with the dark wave scene; Simultaneously, different substyles associated with the new wave and dark wave movements started to merge and influence each other, e.g. synth-wave ) with gothic rock, or began to borrow elements of post-industrial music. Attrition, Die Form (France), Pink Industry (UK), Psyche (Canada), Kirlian Camera (Italy) and Clan of Xymox (Netherlands) performed this music in the 1980s. Other bands such as Malaria! and the Vyllies added elements of chanson and cabaret music. This sort of dark wave music became known as cabaret noir (or “dark cabaret”, a term popularized by U.S. dark wave label Projekt Records). German dark wave bands were partially associated with the Neue Deutsche Welle (i.e. German new wave), and included Xmal Deutschland, Mask For, Asmodi Bizarr, and Pink Turns Blue.

Darkcore

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

Origins#

By late 1992, breakbeat hardcore was beginning to fragment, and darkcore was one of the subgenres to emerge, in contrast with 4-beat. Darkcore is often characterised by dark-themed samples such as horror movie elements, cries for help, sinister sounding stabs and synthesizer notes, along with syncopated breakbeats in addition to 4-to-the-floor beats and low frequency basslines. It also saw the introduction of effects such as pitch shifting and time stretching to create mood.

Dasakathia

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

Etymology#

‘Dasa’ means devotee and ‘Kathia’ is an instrument used in the performance. In a Dasakathia performance the performers describe themselves as devotee of Lord Shiva and perform ballad singing routines.

Origin#

Dasakathia is thought to be originated from Khandara village from Ganjam district of Odisha.

Performance#

Dasakathia performances mainly tell mythological stories, primarily about Lord Shiva, but also other gods as well. Besides mythology, stories based on love, romance, elopement, deceit and marriage are used as subjects as well . One important aspect of the performance is satire and social message The performers play the Kathia, a percussion instrument made up of a pair of wooden pieces while singing and vocalizing. Recently government has used Dasakathia artists for many public service messages.

Dates of classical music eras

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

Problems inherent in assigning date ranges#

Picking particular years for the beginning and end points of eras in European classical music is difficult for several reasons. First, these eras began and ended at different times in different locations. Second, works of particular styles can be found that were composed after the style was no longer popular or important. Third, the styles themselves overlap and absolute categorization is not possible in all cases. For example, a “late Renaissance” piece would likely be very similar to an “early Baroque” piece. Date ranges of classical music eras are therefore somewhat arbitrary, and are only intended as approximate guides. Scholars of music history do not agree on the start and end dates, and in many cases disagree whether particular years should be chosen at all. The 20th century has exact dates, but is strictly a calendar based unit of time. The Modernist era is confined mostly to the 20th century, but the Postmodern era continues into the current century which is therefore not a separate musical era in its own right.