SH on Music Theory Print

Shaabi

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

Mahraganat#

The most recent new development to come out of Cairo’s Shaabi scene is mahraganat () music, also known as “electro-shaabi” in the West. However the performers use mahraganat (meaning a big, loud, messy event; and a festival) to distinguish themselves from sha’bi. The best-known artists in this genre are Felo, Oka Wi Ortega, Sadat, Figo, Alaa 50 Cent, Shehta Karika, and Islam Chipsy (although Chipsy does not associate him with mahraganat, as his music is more instrumental).

Shaman punk

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

History#

When Galloping Coroners (Hungarian: Vágtázó Halottkémek or simply VHK) was formed in 1975, there was not a defined category for the musical genre that they were exploring. Frontman Atilla Grandpierre was a student of shaman’s music infusing Galloping Coroners with shamanistic philosophies and concepts from the start. Because the group was formed 1–2 years before the western punk movement the band didn’t initially use the term “shaman punk” to define their music. In late 1970s as punk rock emerged, VHK’s relationship to punk and hardcore become obvious for both the band, fans and journalists. “Shamanistic punk”, “psychedelic hardcore” and also “ethno punk” were expressions that began to be used retroactively by western musical press from the 1980s and was also applied by the Hungarian press after the political changes around 1989. Some critics who regard tribal shaman music as an ancient form of folk music suggested the use of “ethno punk”, while others claim that VHK’s musical style should be regarded as a folk punk subgenre. But, while typical “folk punk” groups include national folk elements in their music, VHK’s repetitive, ecstatic sound with distorted guitars and inarticulate howls is much closer to hardcore or even industrial rock. Today the “shaman punk” expression is widely used in Hungarian and western musical media when talking about Galloping Coroners. To date there is no other group that is regarded as “shaman punk”.

Shamanic music

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

Shamanic and musical performance#

Since a Shamanic ritual includes a spiritual purpose and motive, it cannot be regarded as a musical performance, even though shamans use music (singing, drumming, and other instruments) in their rituals. Several things follow the ritual. First, a shamanic ritual performance is, above all, a series of actions and not a series of musical sounds. Second, the shaman’s attention is directed inwards towards her or his visualization of the spirit world and communication with the spirits, and not outwards to any listeners who might be present. Third, it is important for the success of the ritual that it be given its own clearly defined context that is quite different from any kind of entertainment. Fourth, any theatrical elements that are added to impress an audience are of a type to make the contact with the spirits seem more real and not to suggest the performer’s musical virtuosity. From a musical perspective, shamanic ritual performances have the distinctive feature of . Breaks may happen because a spirit is proving difficult to communicate with, or the shaman needs to call a different spirit. Typically, phases of the performance are broken off abruptly, perhaps to be restarted after a gap, perhaps not. The rhythmic dimension of the music of shamans’ rituals has been connected to the idea of both incorporating the rhythms of nature and magically re-articulating them.

Shamstep

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

Shangaan electro

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

History#

Previous to releases by Honest Jon’s in the late 2000s, the Shangaan Electro movement has a vast catalogue of cassettes, CD-Rs and DVDs released locally in South Africa via Nozinja Productions. The style has since gained international attention through the release of the compilation Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa via Honest Jon’s which showcased the production work of Nozinja and the vocal/dance crews he had established. The record and the attention it threw on various YouTube clips of the dancers in action led to a succession of performances at Sónar festival, Berghain and elsewhere across Europe, Australia and Africa.

Shanghai opera

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

History#

The Shanghai opera is rooted in the folksongs of the Huangpu River area. According to historical records from 1796, there was more than 200 years of cultural development from the original Huaguxi operas before the emergence of contemporary Shanghai opera. During the rule of the Qianlong emperor of the Qing dynasty, Huaguxi was very popular in Shanghai. Influenced by Huaguxi and other forms of drama during the reign of the Guangxu emperor of Qing dynasty, these folksongs developed into (滩簧). In order to distinguish them from Sutan and Nibo Tanhuang, Shanghainese people called them “bentan” (本滩) or “shentan” (申滩). Performance of shentan began in Shanghai around the 1900s. Before and after the revolution of 1911, shentan were performed in various venues across Shanghai. In 1914, Wenbin shao (邵文滨), Lanting Shi (施兰亭), and Shaolan Ding (丁少兰) organized “zhenxinji to improve bentan. It was then renamed “shenqu (申曲). In 1941, Shanghai Huju She was founded in Shanghai. It was an ensemble that consisted of several opera performers. They renamed shenqu as Huju. During this period, Huju became a more concrete art form. During the 1950s and 1960s, Huju adapted many modern plays. It adopted divisions of acts and recognized the role of the playwright and director at a much earlier time than other similar art forms. Red Lantern and Shajiabang—the most influential Jingju (Peking opera) plays among the eight model plays created during the Cultural Revolution—were both adapted from Huju plays.

Shashmaqam

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

History#

In the first half of the 20th century in Uzbekistan, Abdul Rauf Fitrad, member of the Jadid, was particularly interested in shashmaqam, the traditional music of the Court. In 1927, he wrote a book called Ozbek klasik Muzikasi va uning Tarikhi (Uzbek classical music and its history), in which he presented shashmaqam as a grand musical tradition of the Uzbek people. In the 1930s, during the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin, Uzbek shashmaqom was seen as an echo of the feudal ruling class and as a kind of music that impinged cultural progress toward adoption of European-style harmony. Finally, in 1951, a decree from the president of the Uzbekistan Union of Composers, reaffirmed by the committee of Uzbekistan, suppressed the maqom and the development of the musical practice. During the mid-50s, the maqam began an ideological rehabilitation. In Tajikistan, the local leadership decided that shashmaqom should form a part of the national traditional heritage. Tension between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan led to the differentiation between the Tajik shashmaqom as developed in Dushanbe, and the Uzbek shashmaqam as developed in Tashkent. Tajik books made no mention of Uzbek shashmaqam and vice versa. During the 1980s, this artificial division began to change. Uzbekistan began to learn about the Tajik shashmaqam, and Tajikistan learnt of the Uzbek shashmaqom. This has survived to the present, but a surge of nationalism in Uzbekistan may change that: singers on the radio in Bukhara, a city perfectly bilingual in Uzbek and Tajik, are using only the Uzbek texts in their shashmaqom music broadcasts. This style of music was brought to the Western world, particularly to the United States, by the Bukharian Jews of Central Asia. Many of them were successful performers of Shasmaqom and brought it to the West.

Shchedrivka

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

Name#

The word “shchedrivka” is of Slavic origin and originates from the ritualistic dinner called kutia, which is prepared after fasting. New Year’s kutia is described as shchedra (bounteous), in contrast to Christmas kutia (pisna, lean and bidna, poor). Fasting was practiced prior to the Christianization of the region, and so was caroling. While the date of koliaduvannia shifted from winter solstice to Christmas, remained a largely secular practice performed on New Year’s Eve.

Shengqiang

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

Bangzi qiang#

Bangziqiang (梆子腔) consists of Qinqiang (秦腔), Yu opera (豫剧), Jinju (晋剧), Hebei Bangzi (河北梆子), Sixianqiang in Dianju (滇剧的丝弦腔), Tanxi in Chuanju (川剧的弹戏), etc.

Pihuang qiang#

Pihuang qiang (皮黄腔, a coinage made from xipi and erhuang) comprises Huiju (徽剧 Hui theatre), Hanju (汉剧), Beijing opera (京剧), Cantonese opera (粤剧), Xiangju (湘剧), Chuanju (川剧), Dianju (滇剧), etc.

Kun qiang#

Kunqiang (崑腔), also known as Kunshanqiang (崑山腔), or Kunqu (崑曲) was listed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001.

Shibuya-kei

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

Etymology#

Shibuya-kei ( “Shibuya style”) that developed from the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, a center of youth culture, fashion, and nightlife known for its concentration of fashionable restaurants, bars, record shops, and bookshops. A common misconception holds that the name reflected Shibuya’s status as a fashionable neighborhood; according to scholar W. David Marx, young residents had by then moved from Harajuku designer fashion toward a casual style known as shibu-kaji. Scholar Anne McKnight writes that the term described “an atmosphere” delineated from the mainstream kayōkyoku industry and rooted in a 1970s-era “musical infrastructure … underwritten by an urban street culture of design, public space and commerce”. Although Shibuya-kei is usually described as a music genre, most of the leading acts were not formed in Shibuya and Shibuya’s record stores accounted for more than half of their sales. The exact origin of the phrase “Shibuya-kei” is not definitively known; it was first used in promotional materials by stores like HMV and Wave in 1993 and possibly inspired by the 1992 appearance of visual-kei.

Shidaiqu

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

Terminology#

The term literally translates to ‘songs of the era’ in Mandarin Chinese. When sung in Cantonese, it is commonly referred to as ; in Amoy Hokkien, it is known as . These terms incorporate the native names for the dialects. The term is believed to have originated in Hong Kong to describe a genre of popular Chinese music that gained prominence in Shanghai during the early to mid-20th century. This genre emerged as a fusion of traditional Chinese melodies, Western musical elements, and influences from jazz and popular music of the time.

Shima-uta

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

Names and concepts#

Although shima-uta is often considered to represent Amami’s musical tradition, it is just one of various music genres. Amami’s traditional songs can be classified into three categories: # kami-uta (religious songs sung by priestesses) including omori, tahabë and kuchi, # warabe-uta (children’s songs), and # min’yo (folk songs). Amami’s min’yo is further divided into three genres: # gyōji-uta (songs for annual events) including songs for hachigatsu-odori, # shigoto-uta (work songs), associated with rice planting, sailing, etc., and # asobi-uta, which are sung at recreational gatherings. In a narrower sense, shima-uta refers to asobi-uta and is also known as sanshin-uta, zashiki-uta (lit. room songs) and nagusami-uta (lit. comforting songs). In a broader sense, shima-uta also covers gyōji-uta and shigoto-uta.

Shitgaze

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

Characteristics#

Shitgaze has been referred to as a “microgenre”, a category that proliferated in underground music culture in the late 2000s. while drawing influence from bands in the genres of garage punk, noise pop, and noise rock. Additionally, artists primarily gained popularity through early music blogs and online music forums within the emerging blog rock movement. A Spin magazine feature described bands labeled as shitgaze as " Audio clipping spik ing in the red and cloaked in caustic fuzz. Vocals are intelligible every so often, and snare hits resemble chopsticks on tinfoil. You could say Psychedelic Horseshit’s bass drum sounds like a cardboard box", and that their music was “not too far removed from the output of fellow Ohioans Guided by Voices.”

Shock rock

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

Etymology#

On December 25, 1966, The New York Times published an article entitled Shock Rock: Take Musical Satire One Step Further by journalist Robert Shelton. In the article, Shelton would coin the term “shock rock” to describe musician Frank Zappa and his group the Mothers of Invention, he stated:

Influences and precursors#

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins has been seen as a pioneer for shock rock. After the success of his 1956 hit “I Put a Spell on You”, Hawkins began to perform a recurring stunt at many of his live shows: he would emerge from a coffin, sing into a skull-shaped microphone and set off smoke bombs. Another artist who performed similar stunts was the British singer-songwriter Screaming Lord Sutch.

Shoegaze

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

Origins#

The term shoegaze—originally shoegazing—was coined by Andy Ross, who was a part-time Sounds contributor and head of Food Records, the label that promoted Blur. On March 15, 1991, Ross attended Lush’s concert at the Venue in New Cross with his then assistant Polly Birkbeck, where Blur and Moose also performed as support. According to writer Ryan Pinkard, an erroneous story claimed that Ross introduced the word “shoegazing” in a live review of the concert published in Sounds. This use predated Ross’s recollection in his 2016 HuffPost article, in which he stated that he pitched “shoegazing” to Lamacq and fellow NME writer Simon Williams over lunch on October 9, 1991, after Sounds was shut down and he no longer had a publication in which he could promote his “groundbreaking genre”. According to Pinkard, the appearance of the term in print several months earlier than Ross’s conversation with Lamacq and Williams suggested a problem with Ross’s timeline, with the most likely explanation being that he “got the dates wrong”.

Shōka (music)

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

History#

In 1872, the Meiji government promulgated the first educational constitution called and set up as a subject in elementary schools. However, the subject was not taught due to the lack of teaching materials. Japanese court musicians composed most of the music for kindergarten, such they were the only musicians with knowledge in Japanese and Western music. In 1878, they composed Kazaguruma (Windfans), commissioned by the Tokyo Women’s Teacher College. In 1890, Musical Investigation Committee changed its name to Tokyo Music School and hired German musicians, and stopped teaching Japanese music. However, music textbooks that mixed Western melodies with Japanese text for school appeared after Shogaku Shokashu. In 1893, the Ministry of Education selected eight shōka songbooks for Imperial Holidays. In this book, songs with traditional Japanese Pentatonic scale were preferred, instead of the western diatonic scale. In this way, shōka songs sounded more familiar to Japanese people and got more popularity.

Shōmyō

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

History#

An early reference to Buddhist chanting in Japanese history is a ceremony being held at the time of the kaigen ceremony for the in 752, and it is believed that chanting was widely practiced during the Nara period (710-794). In the early Heian period (794-1331), Kūkai and Saichō each transmitted chanting styles they had inherited when studying Buddhism in China, which eventually became the basis for the chanting styles of Shingon and Tendai. The Tale of Genji, a crucial work of classical Japanese literature written during this period, frequently mentions memorial services performed by monks from Mount Hiei, where Tendai chanting was utilized. In addition, Buddhist traditions other than Shingon and Tendai also have their own chanting styles, which are still passed down today. Buddhist vocal music introduced from China during the Heian period was called the . This remains the term used for chanting styles in both Chinese and Korean Buddhism, where the same Chinese characters are read as fanbai and beompae, respectively. The study of the Siddhaṃ script, used to write Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, also became popular. Eventually, the term shōmyō came to denote the combination of Siddhaṃ studies and the recitation of texts; from the medieval period onwards, it referred only to the recitation of texts. Because shōmyō was passed down orally, there was initially no equivalent to musical notation in modern music theory. This made transmission extremely difficult. Later, the equivalent of musical notation would be developed, with technical terms referring to the notation varying across Buddhist schools. However, the notations were merely a reference for chanting, and to formally master shōmyō, ), or face-to-face instruction by a teacher, was essential. Without face-to-face instruction, the school could not be maintained or passed on from teacher to student. For this reason, it was essential to train instructors and successors. Before the medieval period, shōmyō was difficult to understand, not only for ordinary Japanese people but also for Buddhist monks. As a result, there was a demand for easy-to-understand shōmyō with lyrics in Japanese, and a form of shōmyō called was created. Because Kōshiki was made up of a musical structure that deviated from the conventions of existing shōmyō, a new method of notation was devised. Kōshiki had a major influence on the development of Japanese music, such as the yōkyoku used in Noh plays.

Shona music

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

Mbira#

The mbira is a traditional instrument of the Shona people often used in religious ceremonies. There are several different varieties of mbira including the mbira dzavadzimu and mbira nyunga nyunga. Shona music is well known as representative of mbira (“thumb piano”) music. The performer of the “kushaura” (lead mbira part) often acts also as the lead vocalist, selecting a known melody or mbira pattern to accompany selected lyrics, usually a phrase or a few lines of text which are then commented upon improvisationally. The performer of the “kutsinira” (second mbira part) plays a pattern which interlocks with the “kushaura” in a way that creates the repeated notes which identify mbira music. The “kutsinira” part is sometimes the same part as the “kushaura”, but following the kushaura one pulse behind. The mbira players are accompanied by another less active singer who plays the hosho (a rattle) and responds to the improvised lyrics of the singer and, most importantly, embellishes and complements the lead vocal melody. (Garfias 1971)

Shout (Black gospel music)

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

History#

The shout music tradition originated within the church music of the Black church, parts of which derive from the ring shout tradition of enslaved people from Central and West Africa. As these enslaved Africans, who were concentrated in the southeastern United States, incorporated Kongo shout traditions into their newfound Christianity, the black Christian shout tradition emerged—albeit not in all black churches or in every part of the country. Even so, after the dawn of the Azusa Street Revival and the rise of Pentecostalism in 1906, many African-American Christians began to incorporate more modern Charismatic Christian practices into their worship, including speaking in tongues and various other bodily anomalies said to be caused by the Holy Spirit. The shout tradition fit well into this framework and became ever more popular across the spectrum of Pentecostalism and, eventually, the larger charismatic Evangelical world. As time passed, the influence spread from church music to secular music. It influenced the rhythms found in genres like early rock and roll, soul, and funk. The 1959 the Isley Brothers released Shout!, which took influence from the gospel music. Church groups wrote into radio stations to request the song no longer be played. As Southern black Christians migrated north in large numbers after the end of Reconstruction, they began to found churches of their own that had different styles of worship than the aforementioned Northern black churches. Soon, the center of power shifted in the direction of the newcomers, who in many represented a more authentically African-American (and lively) church experience. At the same time, a new form of black gospel music emerged, influenced both by the black spiritual tradition as well as the growing Pentecostal/Holiness movements. This eventually led to the high-energy, fast-paced shouts and praise breaks seen among contemporary practitioners. It is common now for gospel recording artists to include shouts and praise breaks on their albums, either recorded in a studio or live during a recorded show. This has had an outsize influence on the spread (and musical structure) of the tradition in modern times, in addition to the popularity of videos on social media depicting the practice.

Show tune

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

Examples#

Particular musicals that have yielded popular “show tunes” include: * Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Flower Drum Song, The Sound of Music * Jerome Kern and Hammerstein’s Show Boat * Rudolf Friml, Herbert Stothart, Otto Harbach and Hammerstein’s Rose-Marie * Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s Pal Joey and Babes in Arms * Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun, As Thousands Cheer, Call Me Madam * Cole Porter’s Anything Goes, Kiss Me, Kate, Can-Can * George and Ira Gershwin’s Girl Crazy, Oh, Kay! * Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s Fiddler on the Roof * Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, Gigi, Camelot * Meredith Willson’s The Music Man * Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying * Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s West Side Story * Jule Styne’s Gypsy, Funny Girl, Gentleman Prefer Blondes * Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley’s Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd * Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton * Bricusse, Frank Wildhorn and Steve Cuden’s Jekyll & Hyde * Jerry Herman’s Milk and Honey, Hello, Dolly!, Mame, Dear World, Mack and Mabel, La Cage aux Folles * Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music and Into the Woods * John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, and Chicago * Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express, Sunset Boulevard, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat * Stephen Schwartz’s Pippin, Godspell, and Wicked * Jonathan Larson’s Rent * Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les Misérables, Miss Saigon * Charles Strouse’s Bye Bye Birdie (with Lee Adams) and Annie (with Martin Charnin) * Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s Grease

Shu school

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

History#

The Sichuan qin players, as early as the Tang dynasty, was perceived as having qin play characterised by rushing, tumbling energy.

Zhang Kongshan#

The modern form of the school was largely founded by Zhang Kongshan in the mid-19th century; his inheritors have been very numerous. As the Sichuan style fanned out into other areas of China (as it seemed to do rather successfully in the early 20th century), it became known as “Fanchuan”, whose connotation is something like “Chuan – Everywhere”.

Shyama Sangeet

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

Origin#

During the 12th-13th centuries when Shaktism grew in Bengal, it inspired a number of poets to compose poems on Kali. Mukundarāma, known as Kavikaṅkaṇ or ‘gem of poets, ’ wrote his chief poem, the epic Chaṇḍī, in 1589. Towards the middle of the 18th century, the poet Ramprasad Sen instilled new life into it and turned it into a distinct genre of Bengali songs. Ramprasad was succeeded by number of composers like Kamlakanta Bhattacharya (1772–1821), Maharaja Harendra Narayan (1783-1839), Maharaja Shivendra Narayan (1839-1847), Rasikchandra Ray (1820–1893), Ramchandra Datta (1861–1899), Nilakantha Mukhopadhyaya (1842–1911) and Bhaba Pagla (1902–1984). In modern times both Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam have composed poems of Shyama Sangeet genre. The term ‘Shyama’ refers to the skin color of Kali (usually depicted in black or dark blue).