TH on Music Theory Print

Thai hip-hop

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

History#

The origin of Thai hip hop can be traced back to Thailand in the mid-1980s. “Moo Kang Thong” (หมูแข้งทอง, Moo’s Golden Kick) by Mr. Tang Mo (มิสเตอร์แตงโม, real name Pratchaya Srithanyarat) in 1985 is credited as the first song to feature hip hop music in the Thai language. However, there were earlier pop records that experimented with rap, such as Thaneth Warakulnukroh’s “Buea Kon Bon” (เบื่อคนบ่น), and Rewat Buddhinan’s “Mun Plak Dee Na” (มันแปลกดีนะ). The Thai hip hop scene began in the early 1990s, with artists like Jetrin Wattanasin and Touch Na Takuatung. While they were more representative of Thai pop, the earliest Thai hip hop group, TKO (Technical Knock Out), was signed to KITA Records. Their first album, Original Thai Rap, released in 1993 and produced by Kamol Sukosol Clapp (later one of the founders of Bakery Music), was commercially unsuccessful but helped introduce Thai hip hop, heavily influenced by US hip hop. Joey Boy’s first album for Bakery Music in the same name, had hip hop influences from R&B and reggae and became a hit on Thai radio stations during the mid-1990s. For this distinction, Joey Boy became known as the Godfather of Thai hip hop. One underground hip hop artist, Dajim, became very famous among underground music listeners in the early 2000s. He was signed to GMM Grammy’s Genie Records division and released his first hit album, Rap Thai. During the 2000s, rap groups such as Southside, Sing Neua Seua Tai, Buddha Bless, and Thaitanium became primarily popular among hip hop fans. One prominent Thai rapper and singer is Illslick, who competed in the S.E.A. Audio Battle in 2006 and initially created mixtape records. Illslick’s popularity began to grow after the successful underground single “Jai Rai” (ใจร้าย) featuring Southside, which had a more slow jam and R&B influence. He later became widely known in Thai hip hop and has been cited as an influence on several Thai hip hop artists. Although Illslick’s songs in later years leaned more towards a pop and R&B style, he was also synonymous with diss tracks and violent lyrics, drawing comparisons to Tupac Shakur. Since crossing over into the mainstream in the 2010s, Thai hip hop has become one of the most popular in the internet and streaming era, with artists such as D Gerrard, Youngohm, Younggu, PMC, and RachYO. In mid-2021, “Ton” (ทน) a single of duo Sprite x GUYGEEGEE debut #89 on the Billboard Global. In September 2021, Lisa of Blackpink released her debut single album Lalisa. The first single, “Lalisa”, and the second single, “Money” both charted in the top ten of the Billboard Global 200. It was also her first album to achieve this milestone, making her the first female artist to sell 736,000 copies of an album in its first week in South Korea. In October 2021, Thai hip-hop musicians F.HERO and Milli released single “Mirror Mirror,” featuring Changbin of the South Korean boy group Stray Kids. With the social media app TikTok contributing to the song’s international popularity, the music video for “Mirror Mirror” reached 53 million views as of February 2022. Additionally, the female rapper Milli performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2022, making her the first Thai solo artist to perform there.

Thai pop music

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

1960s: Origin of Thai pop and shadow music#

The foundation of Thai pop was heavily influenced by British and American rock and roll. These early groups gained popularity with Thai youth by playing for US troops during the Vietnam War. These Thai pop groups played a combination of string combo, instrumental music and surf music, which was influenced by bands like The Ventures and The Shadows. This style was locally known as wong shadow (shadow music) and more broadly as string music. Prominent Thai pop groups from the mid-to-late 1960s included The Impossibles, and PM5.

Thai rock

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

1960s: Western rock music adaptation#

The earliest Thai pop rock music emerged from western music influenced form both the United States and United Kingdom. The earliest Thai rock combo groups played a combination of instrumental music and surf music influenced by The Ventures and The Shadows which was known locally as Wong shadow. The international popularity in the 1960s with bands such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, and musician Jimi Hendrix influenced the creation of some of the earliest western style groups. The most popular Thai beat, garage rock, and psychedelic rock groups include The Impossibles, The Cat, and The Dynamics in the mid to late 1960s.

The Voëlvry Movement

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

History#

South Africa lived under Apartheid—the separations of race enforced by law. The non-white race were barred from political office or even removed from the country. Uprising and protests increased in number and led to major anti-apartheid movements. One of these movements, in 1989, was called the Voëlvry movement. The Voëlvry movement started in the 1980s with the opening of Shifty Mobile Recording Studio. Started by Lloyd Ross, this company began playing Afrikaans rock music, but it was too early for wide acceptance. Shifty Records asked three major questions when looking at music to accept: is it original? Is it quality music? And does it allow for growth in South Africa’s music development? This led Ross to allow music that was angry and music that directly sang in response to Apartheid. Ross was quoted as saying, “But I am not a movement type of guy and never joined any political party or organization. What fascinated me was the culture coming out of it. That’s what I wanted to capture”. Ralph Rabie, under the stage name Johannes Kerkorrel, was a major force in the movement. Rabie used this name as a stage name to mock the Dutch Reformed Church. (Johannes Kerkorrel is the trademark of a Dutch organ.) Other musicians, such as Koos Kombuis, James Phillips (also performing under the name Bernoldus Niemand), and Karla Krimpelien were prominent in the movement.

Theatre music

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

History#

Since the earliest days of the theatre, music has played an important part in stage drama. In Greek drama in the fifth century BC, choric odes were written to be chanted and danced between the spoken sections of both tragedies and comedies. Only fragments of the music have survived. Folk theatre has always deployed dance music and song. In the 16th and 17th centuries, theatre music was performed during the action of plays and as afterpieces. Christopher Wilson, discussing Shakespeare’s use of music, lists “stage music” (fanfares to introduce important characters or accompany battle scenes), “magic music” (as in the lullaby in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), “character music” (as in Twelfth Night, illustrating the high, low, sad or merry natures of the characters) and “atmospheric music” (such as Ariel’s “Where the bee sucks”, in The Tempest). By the early 18th century, music was firmly established as part of practically all theatrical performances in Europe, whether of opera, dance, or spoken drama. Theatres were built with orchestra pits, and music was either specially composed for the production or appropriated and arranged from existing material.

Theme music

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

Purpose#

From the 1950s onwards, theme music, and especially theme songs also became a valuable source of additional revenue for Hollywood film studios, many of which launched their own recording arms. This period saw the beginning of more methodical cross-promotion of music and movies. One of the first big successes, which proved very influential, was the theme song for High Noon (1952).

Main title#

The main title is the music, often later recorded on soundtrack albums, that is heard in a film while the opening credits are rolling. It does not refer to music playing from on-screen sources such as radios, as in the original opening credits sequence in Touch of Evil. A main title can consist of a tune sung by the leading character over the credits, such as Moon River, sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or the main orchestral theme as written by the composer, such as the famous The Pink Panther Theme. It can also be a medley of themes from the film, as in the 1959 Ben-Hur. In the film A Hard Day’s Night, the title tune was heard over the opening credits showing The Beatles running from their fans. An overture may serve as a main title, as in The Sound of Music. However, there is a very strong difference in a roadshow theatrical release between an overture and a main title. The overture in such films is heard on pre-recorded tape or film, before the film even begins, while the house lights are still up and there is yet no picture on the screen. The main title begins when the film actually starts. In the case of The Sound of Music though (and also Fiddler on the Roof), no overture was heard before the lights in the theatre went down; therefore, in these cases, the main title did serve as an overture. Both films had pre-credits opening sequences; during these, the first song from the film was sung, and immediately afterwards, the main title music followed. In movie musicals, the main title nearly always consists of one or more of the songs from the film, played by the orchestra.

Third stream

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

Definition and critics#

In 1961, Schuller defined third stream as “a new genre of music located about halfway between jazz and classical music”. He insisted that “by definition there is no such thing as ’third stream jazz’”. He noted that while critics on both sides of third stream objected to tainting their favorite music with the other, more strenuous objections were typically made by jazz musicians who felt such efforts were “an assault on their traditions”. He wrote that “by designating the music as a ‘separate, third stream’, the other two mainstreams could go about their way unaffected by the attempts at fusion”. Third-stream music emerged during a time when jazz was seeking recognition as a legitimate art form, and European musical traditions were still widely considered the standard by which all music was judged. In chapter 4, he describes discovering jazz music as a teenager and being fully attracted to Duke Ellington’s music and how he was fascinated by its “freely, loosely, more personal” music style, which he had not experienced as a classical learner. Later, he discusses how he wanted to combine classical music and jazz together to produce a third-stream, and how he explored this music style in various creative ways. He also shares his experiences of wanting to make the New England Conservatory more inclusive by adding new programs and jazz-related courses when he was the president from 1967 to 1977.

Thrash metal

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

Characteristics#

Thrash metal generally features fast tempos, low-register, complex guitar riffs, high-register guitar solos, and double bass drumming. The rhythm guitar parts are played with heavy distortion, power chords and often palm muted to create a tighter and more precise sound. Vocally, thrash metal can employ anything from melodic singing to shouted or screamed vocals. Most guitar solos are played at high speed and technically demanding, as they are usually characterized by shredding, and use advanced techniques such as sweep picking, legato phrasing, alternate picking, tremolo picking, string skipping, and two-hand tapping. David Ellefson, the original bassist of Megadeth, described thrash metal as “a combination of the attitude from punk rock but the riffs and complexities of traditional metal.” On the origins of thrash metal, Dan Lilker (bassist and co-founding member of Anthrax, S.O.D. and Nuclear Assault) recalls: “Thrash was just what they called ‘faster hardcore,’ because you literally thrashed around when you were either playing it or reacting to it. And thrash metal was born because it was influenced by thrash hardcore, and they just thought it was more metal, so they said, ‘Okay, this is thrash metal.’” The guitar riffs often use chromatic scales and emphasize the tritone and diminished intervals, instead of using conventional single-scale-based riffing. For example, the intro riff of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” (the title track of the namesake album) is a chromatic descent, followed by an ascent based on the tritone. Cymbal stops/chokes are often used to transition from one riff to another or to precede an acceleration in tempo. To keep up with the other instruments, many bassists use a plectrum (pick). However, some prominent thrash metal bassists have used their fingers, most notably Frank Bello, Greg Christian, Steve Di Giorgio, Robert Trujillo, and Cliff Burton. Several bassists use a distorted bass tone, an approach popularized by Burton and Motörhead’s Lemmy. Lyrical themes in thrash metal include warfare, corruption, injustice, murder, suicide, isolation, alienation, addiction, and other maladies that afflict the individual and society. In addition, politics, particularly pessimism and dissatisfaction towards politics, are common themes among thrash metal bands. Humor and irony can occasionally be found (Anthrax for example), but they are limited, and are an exception rather than a rule.

Thrashcore

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

Terminological ambiguity#

Thrashcore is often confused with crossover thrash and sometimes thrash metal. Further confusion is added by the fact that many crossover bands, such as D.R.I., began as influential thrashcore bands. The “-core” suffix is necessary to distinguish it from the thrash metal scene, which is also referred to as “thrash” by fans. Still more confusingly, the term “thrashcore” is occasionally used by the music press to refer to thrash metal-inflected metalcore.

Threnody

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

Examples#

In written works: *John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” *Countee Cullen’s “Threnody for a Brown Girl” *Bruce Dawe’s poem “Homecoming” *Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Threnody” *Peter H. Gilmore’s “Threnody for Humanity” *A. E. Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young” *Jan Kochanowski’s “Laments” *Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Sunset Threnody” in Dien Cai Dau (1988) *Anna Stanisławska’s Transaction, or an Account of the Life of an Orphan Girl told through Mournful Laments in the Year 1685 In classical music: *Thomas J. Bergersen’s “Threnody for Europe” *Benjamin Britten’s “Threnody for Albert Herring” *Lou Harrison’s Threnody for Carlos Chavez *Toshio Hosokawa’s Threnody: To the victims of the Tōhoku 3.11 Earthquake (2011) *André Jolivet’s “Chant de Linos” for flute and piano or flute, string trio and harp; described by the composer as “a form of threnody: a funeral lamentation interrupted by cries and dances” (1944, premiered 1 June 1945) *Janis Crystal Lipzin’s 2003–05 film Threnody *Two “Thrénodies” from Franz Liszt’s piano series Années de pèlerinage, set at the Villa d’Este *Marian McPartland’s “Threnody”, written in memory of pianist Mary Lou Williams *Krzysztof Penderecki’s Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima *Gordon Rumson’s Threnody for John Ogdon *Bright Sheng’s Nanjing! Nanjing! *William Grant Still’s Threnody: In Memory of Jean Sibelius *Takashi Yoshimatsu’s Threnody to Toki *“Threnody for Souls in Torment” by Robert Fripp In jazz: *“I Remember Clifford”, written by Benny Golson to honor the memory of Clifford Brown *“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, written by Charles Mingus in memory of Lester Young *“Memories of Lee Morgan”, composed by Pharoah Sanders in memory of Lee Morgan. (Morgan had played on Dizzy Gillespie’s recording of “I Remember Clifford”. ) *“Bird’s Lament” by Moondog, dedicated to Charlie Parker *“Threnody for Sharon Tate”, written by Freddie Hubbard and İlhan Mimaroğlu, from the 1971 album Sing Me a Song of Songmy *“Lament for Booker”, written by Horace Parlan in memory of Booker Ervin In film and other music: * “Threnody To Earth” by Dream Koala * “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John and Bernie Taupin *“Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young *“Since I Lost You” by Genesis *“Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton *“Threnody” by Sebastian *“Go Rest High on That Mountain” by Vince Gill *“Fiddler’s Green” by The Tragically Hip *“Threnody” by Two Gallants *Michael Jackson’s “Little Susie” from the 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I *“Threnody for a Duck” from Peter and the Wolf (1975 rock album) by Jack Lancaster and Robin Lumley *“Threnody” by Goldmund *“In Trenodia” by Ville Valo

Throat singing

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

Terminology#

Throat singing is characteristic of the Turkic peoples (Tuvans, Tofalars, Altai, Khakass, Yakuts, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz), Mongolic peoples (Mongols, Buryats, Kalmyks) and Tungus-Manchu peoples (Evenks, Evens). The term originates from the translation of the Tuvan word and the Mongolian word , which mean throat and guttural, respectively. Ethnic groups from Mongolia, Russia, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Italy, China and India, among other countries, accept and normally employ the term throat singing to describe their way of producing voice, song and music. The term throat singing is not precise, because any singing technique involves sound generation in the “throat”, with the voice being produced at the level of the larynx, which includes the vocal folds and other structures. “Singing with the throat” may be regarded as a demeaning expression to some singers, since it may imply that the singer is using a high level of effort, resulting in a forced or non-suitable voice. The word “throaty” is usually associated with a rough, raspy, breathy or hoarse voice. Despite being a term frequently used in the literature starting in the 1960s, some contemporary scholars tend to avoid using throat singing as a general term. There is a consistent and enthusiastic international reception for concerts and workshops given by musical groups belonging to the several cultures that incorporate throat singing. Besides the traditional ethnic performances, throat singing is also cultivated and explored by musicians belonging to contemporary, rock, new-age, pop, and independent music genres.

Thumri

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

Structure#

As in khayal, thumri has two parts, the sthayi and the antara. It favours talas such as Deepchandi, Roopak, Addha, and Punjabi. These tala-s are characterized by a special lilt, nearly absent in the tala-s used in khayal. Thumri compositions are mostly in ragas such as Kafi, Khamaj, Jogiya, Bhairavi, Pilu and Pahadi. A common feature of these and other such ragas is the free movement they allow the artist, since they do not depend for their identity on rigidly formulated tonal sequences, irrespective of the compositions involved. In fact, one may say that they have a built-in provision for mixing ragas or for moving out of the nominal raga to add color to the proceedings.