KR on Music Theory Print

Krautrock

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

Etymology#

Until around 1973, the word (“German Rock”) was used to refer to the new groups from West Germany. Other names thrown around by the British and American music press were “Teutonic rock”, “Überrock” and “Götterdämmer rock”. The British music press initially used as a pejorative, but the term lost its stigma after the music gained success in Britain. The term derives from the ethnic slur “kraut”. “Kraut” in German can refer to herbs, weeds, and drugs. The term was originally used by Virgin records in 1972. Various sources claim that “krautrock” was originally a humorous term coined in the early 1970s, either by British disc jockey John Peel or by the UK music newspaper Melody Maker, in which experimental German bands found an early and enthusiastic following. The first use of the term however, was found in a full-page advertisement from Popo Music Management and Bacillus Records promoting German Rock in the UK, in April 1971. The music emerging in Germany was first covered extensively in three concurrent issues of the UK music paper New Musical Express in the month of December 1972, by journalist Ian MacDonald. Its musicians tended to reject the name “krautrock”. This was also the case for “kosmische Musik”. Musicologist Julian Cope, in his book Krautrocksampler, says “krautrock is a subjective British phenomenon”, based on the way the music was received in the UK rather than on the actual West German music scene out of which it grew. For instance, while one of the main groups originally tagged as krautrock, Faust, recorded a seminal 12-minute track they titled “Krautrock”, they would later distance themselves from the term, saying: “When the English people started talking about krautrock, we thought they were just taking the piss… and when you hear the so-called ‘krautrock renaissance’, it makes me think everything we did was for nothing.”

Krishnacore

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

Precedents (1980s)#

Punk rock and Hinduism have converged occasionally since the early days of the genre. Singer Poly Styrene of the English band X-Ray Spex joined ISKCON following the breakup of her band in 1980. In the New York hardcore punk scene, the main influence on some musicians to embrace ISKCON was the Washington D.C.’s hardcore band Bad Brains which, despite being Rastas, “grafted fervent spirituality onto an otherwise nihilistic and antitranscendental genre.”

Kroncong

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

Characteristics#

The name “Kroncong” may be derived from the jingling sound of the kerincing rebana, as heard in the rhythmic background of the music created by the interlocking of instruments playing on or off beat. This background rhythm runs faster than the often slow vocals or melody, and is created, typically, by two ukuleles, a cello, a guitar and a bass. These instruments, especially the pair of ukuleles, interlock as do the instruments in a gamelan orchestra, and it is clear that the musical traditions of Indonesia have been applied to an orchestra of European instruments. Previously, they also used the Portuguese musical instrument called cavaquinho, a four steel stringed musical instrument that looks like a guitar; however, cavaquinho was then modified into a prounga, a 3 nylon stringed instrument with low pitch, and a macina, a 4 nylon stringed instrument with high pitch. One ukulele, called the “cak” (pronounced “chak”), maybe steel-stringed. The instrumentalist strums chords with up to 8 strums per beat in 4/4 rhythm. The off-beat strums are often accentuated. The other ukulele, called the “cuk” (pronounced “chook”), is larger and has 3 gut or nylon strings. The instrumentalist may pluck arpeggios and tremoloes using a plectrum, and the on-beat is emphasised. As a set, the cak and cuk form an interlocking pair that mostly gives Kroncong its characteristic kron and chong. The cello may have 3 gut or nylon strings and the chords are plucked rapidly, often with a unique skipped-beat using the thumb and one finger. This instrument then adds both rhythm and tone. The guitar may play similarly to either cak or cuk, but plays are often extended scalar runs that provide an undulating background to a chord or bridge chord changes. The bass is often played in a minimalist style reminiscent of the large gongs in a gamelan. On top of this rhythmic layer, the melody and elaborate ornamentation are carried by a voice, flute, or violin. The violin or flute is used to play introductory passages that are often elaborate. The fills and scalar runs are both faster and more elaborate than the guitar’s. The vocalist sings the melody which is slow with sustained notes in traditional Kroncong. The repertoire largely uses the Western major key with some arrangements in the minor. One departure from this occurs when Kroncong orchestras play Javanese songs (Langgam Jawa). Javanese music ordinarily uses scales and intervals that do not occur in Western music. Kroncong Jawa maintains Western intervals but adopts a 5-tone scale that approximates one of the main Javanese septatonic scales. When playing this style, cak and cuk leave their characteristic interplay and both play arpeggios to approximate the sound and style of the Javanese instrument the siter, a kind of zither. The cello adopts a different rhythmic style as well.