ZE on Music Theory Print

Zeckenrap

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

History#

In the beginnings in the 1980s, as in American hip-hop, political character was the main focus in West German hip-hop, dealing with themes such as racism and everyday problems. With the commercialization of German hip-hop music in the 1990s these political themes lyrically became more and more a background aspect, even though groups such as Advanced Chemistry or Anarchist Academy still wrote songs about political themes. In the 2000s, the network HipHop Partizan was responsible for the establish of rap music within the left scene in Germany. Beginning in 2012, the rap collective Tick-Tick Boom contributed in spreading of the term Zeckenrap. Between 2012 and 2015, the collective regularly hosted a Zeckenrapgala. The German hip-hop group Neonschwarz from Hamburg is said to be the inventor of the term Zeckenrap. The group was also part of the Tick-Tick Boom collective and stated that they invented the word to “oppose something positive to the negative cliché in describing the left as Zecke”. Even though some Zeckenrap artists were able to get some recognition, Zeckenrap is still considered a marginal phenomenon within the German rap music scene, playing a minor role.

Zemirot

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

Words and lyrics#

Many derive from a corpus of poems written by various rabbis and sages during the early Middle Ages, which were then set to music at a later point, with some appropriated for paraliturgical purposes, such as the zemirot, and others for liturgical use, as with the piyyutim. The extra-liturgical domestic tradition of singing the zemirot increasingly gained a foothold in Jewish praxis by the 11th to 12th centuries. In the 16th century, especially, certain kabbalists of Safed and Italy such as Isaac Luria and Israel Najara, specifically authored texts with the intention of utilization as Sabbath song texts, helping to promote a mystical renaissance in Jewish thought they were pioneering at the time. Using the tunes or styles of surrounding gentile musical selections from the Levant and Turkey, and at times deploying their metaphorical strategies as well, these zemirot have diffused throughout the Jewish world similarly to the influential mystical ideologies on which they depend. Others of the zemirot were likely conceived as anonymous folk songs that have been passed down from generation to generation. Lyrically, zemirot tend to focus on the themes of the Sabbath or the specific holiday being celebrated while employing intertextual references to the extended Jewish canon from sources as diverse as the Bible, mystical works like Sefer Yetzirah, Midrash, or Talmudical or legal literature for either artistic or expressive reasons. Certain songs are primarily didactic, listing Sabbath prohibitions and issuing recommendations for pious conduct, while underscoring the ideas of Shabbat as a treasure and covenant. Often the lyrical tie-in to Shabbat is merely implicit. Over time, various songs have acquired an association with the Sabbath or holidays based on their incorporation of metaphors for Shabbat such as redemption and Jewish chosenness, even when mention of Shabbat is absent. These heightened themes reinforce the spiritual goals of Shabbat observance.

Zeuhl

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

Characteristics#

The musical roots of zeuhl go back to pioneers of the free jazz movement such as John Coltrane and folkloristic echoes and influences from Carl Orff’s work. Zeuhl is determined by several characteristic elements. Especially important are dominant rhythm fractions, usually in the form of a pumping bass guitar and sometimes sluggish or flexibly playing drum kits. Slow repetitive structures that serve to build a hypnotic atmosphere are just as prominent as solo passages of high technical finesse. Vocals are often widely present and can consist of polyphonic choral movements, such as Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, or soloistically performed passages with shrill intonation. Zeuhl bands also often have solo guitarists or pianists that usually have a more than accompanying function, especially to emphasize the repetitive patterns. Dominique Leone, writing for Pitchfork, says the style is “about what you’d expect an alien rock opera to sound like: massed, chanted choral motifs, martial, repetitive percussion, sudden bursts of explosive improv and just as unexpected lapses into eerie, minimalist trance-rock.” Christian Vander has said that it means celestial and that zeuhl is “L’esprit au travers de la matière” (The spirit through matter). “That is Zeuhl. Zeuhl is also the sound which you can feel vibrating in your belly. Pronounce the word Zeuhl very slowly, and stress the letter z at the beginning, and you will feel your body vibrating.”