Rap Music Is More Than Just Music

Rap music made its way to the traditional music around the late 70's to the early 80's. The roots of rap music to trace the history, centuries before there was hip-hop back in American history, where griots or West African folk poets used to deliver their stories in a rhythmic tone accompanied by drums and other rare instruments.

It's a style that stays aside all the trends in the music of others. Be not dismayed, but a little deeper. The reason is that it is a reflection of the race, the plurality of people united by roots and origin. Rap is the culture of Afro-Americans, the continuation of their language and traditions.  

Rap is a mixture of voice and music, in fact, the word music and beat, it's better to say. And when we say people are united by music, which means that each human being on this planet, rap unites the family of blood through the music and everyone is welcome or be hostile to a newcomer.

Rap is classified as the urban poetry of lyrical resistance. This is not music for the village like country music. It is the power of gathering those united by music in big cities. The aim is to resist the grieves because accidents are more dramatic and numerous in urban areas.

Rap is not only talking about the mind and emotions, but he speaks to the communities around humans for humans. If the words or the courage to say these words are not there, the subconscious takes over and rap lyrics kick in.


Some songs have innocent words that emphasize the mind for later release in cold water. Some choruses are catchy and when sung by some of the artist remains in the subconscious long after. Various rappers have unique voices that some people find attractive, or the same song as the tone of your voice, what would it be easier to sing.

First goes the beat, and then moves to the letter. It is so soft and tender as classical music, not as bright as pop, but it is a cry of pain of real emotion of the hardness of the world. You could even say that rap is the most pain expressed a style of music. Those who sing or say it is better to read relive their feelings not only about love, like most other forms do. His message is about life and issues, particularly those of Afro-Americans. The music of pain and oppression, rap is a remedy to it.

A Short History of Jazz Music

Jazz is a musical tradition and style of music that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions.

The word "jazz" (in early years also spelled "jass") began as a West Coast slang term in 1912 and was first used to refer to music in Chicago at about 1915.

The origins of Jazz are attributed to turn of the 20th century New Orleans, although this unique, artistic medium occurred almost simultaneously in other North American areas like Kansas City, Saint Louis and Chicago. Traits carried from West African black folk music developed in the Americas, joined with European popular and light classical music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, became the syncopated rhythms of Ragtime and minor chord voicings characteristic of the Blues.

Most early Jazz was played in small marching bands or by solo banjo or piano. The dynamic of Jazz improvisation arose quickly but as an ornament of melody and was not to come into its own soloing styles until circa 1925.

During the years from the First to the Second World War (1914-1940), Europe embraced Jazz music as its own. American musicians spread the globe as ambassadors of Jazz often in self-imposed exile from racial and social tensions at home, others in search of cultural and creative freedoms thought to exist abroad. Jazz music transformed from primarily an African-American genre into an international phenomenon.

Post-war depression and the break-up of the 'Big Bands' brought a focus on the smaller ensemble sound and the emancipation of Jazz styles. Perhaps the most innovative, forward discoveries in style took place at this time.

The 1950s Jazz scene faced new competition from other forms of entertainment. The growing popularity of television helped to introduce new popular music trends but shrinking Jazz audiences. Then Jazz music suffered an almost fatal trend upheaval first from the record industry's frenzy over Rock & Roll in the mid 1960s and followed by the Disco dance fad in the early 1970s. Many Jazz artists crossed over to more popular venues or joined the new Fusion school of Jazz.

During the 1980's, the Jazz timeline continued to evolve on a somewhat lateral direction with a multitude of influences, the most significant of which was the retro surfacing of it's own roots and styles. With an emergence of innovative young players revitalizing the creative spirits and a consistent increase of Jazz "purists" from the USA, Europe and abroad, the necessary energy and passion for creativity has continued to grow.

Post Bop, now interpreted with a modern preciseness and proficiency, ushered in the school of Classicism, circa 1990. This 'retro-renaissance' has become the passion of listeners and followers of every age group, of every culture and has brought a new awareness to the early sounds of legendary players.

An unexpected fad of the 1990s was the emergence of Retro Swing, a joyous, easy listening celebration of Jump Blues, Hot Dance and Swing hybrid (sans soloing) played by young musicians from Indie Rock.

Except for possibly Smooth Jazz and the European House dance music, significant change in the timeline of Jazz style has not occurred since. [source : Jazz Music Timeline]

The Romantic Bachata Music

Bachata is a genre of music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the early parts of the 20th Century and spread to other parts of Latin America and Mediterranean Europe. It became popular in the countryside and the rural neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic. Its subjects are often romantic; especially prevalent are tales of heartbreak and sadness. In fact, the original term used to name the genre was amargue ("bitterness," or "bitter music"), until the rather ambiguous (and mood-neutral) term bachata became popular. The form of dance, Bachata, also developed with the music.

The earliest bachata was originally developed in the Dominican Republic around the early part of the 20th century, with mixed Cuban boleros, which originated from Son. With afro elements, it combined with traditional Latin/Caribbean rhythms, and is a guitar based music which recently evolved from bolero. During much of its history Bachata music was denigrated by Latino/Caribbean society and associated with rural backwardness and delinquency. As recently as 1988 Bachata was considered too vulgar, crude and musically rustic to enter mainstream music. In the 1990s, bachata's instrumentation changed from acoustic guitar to electric steel string. The new electric bachata soon became an international phenomenon, and today bachata is as popular as salsa and merengue in some Latin American dance-halls.

The typical bachata group consists of five instruments: lead guitar, rhythm guitar, electric bass guitar, bongos and güira. The rhythm guitar is also known as a Segunda and serves the purpose of adding syncopation to the music. Bachata groups mainly play an evolved style of bolero (lead guitar instrumentation using arpeggiated chords is a distinctive characteristic of bachata), but when they change to merengue based bachata, the percussionist will switch from bongo to a tambora drum. In the 1960s and 70s, maracas were used instead of guira. The change in the 1980s from maracas to the more versatile guira was made as bachata was becoming more dance oriented. [source : Bachata Music]

Pandora Radio : An Automated Music Recommendation Service and Custodian

Pandora Radio is an automated music recommendation service and custodian of the Music Genome Project. Users enter a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar. Users provide feedback on approval or disapproval of individual songs, which Pandora takes into account for future selections.

While listening, users are offered the ability to buy the songs or albums at various online retailers. Over 400 different musical attributes are considered when selecting the next song. These 400 attributes are combined into larger groups called focus traits. There are 2,000 focus traits. Examples of these are rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies, and displayed instrumental proficiency.

The Pandora media player is based on OpenLaszlo. Pandora can also be accessed through many stand-alone players such as the Roku DVP (formerly Netflix player) Reciva based radios (from companies like Grace Digital, Sanyo, Sangean), Frontier Silicon-based connected audio systems, Slim Devices and Sonos product(s). On July 11, 2008, Pandora launched a mobile version of their software for the Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch through the iTunes App Store. Pandora is also available for Android phones (such as the Motorola Droid), BlackBerry platforms, WebOS (used on the Palm Pre and Pixi), and Windows Mobile devices. Pandora was the provider for MSN Radio until MSN discontinued their internet radio service on June 18, 2008. A modified version of Pandora has been made available for Sprint Nextel beginning with the Samsung Instinct phone line.

The service has two subscription plans: a free subscription supported by advertisements, and a fee-based subscription without ads. A free account user may reach the streaming limit of 40 hours per month, and continue unlimited streaming by paying $0.99. There are also advertisements in "Pandora Mobile" for mobile phones and the "Pandora in The Home" computer appliance. In his June 2010 appearance on The Colbert Report, Pandora Radio founder Tim Westergren stated that most users choose the free subscription.

As of March 2010, Pandora had 700,000 tracks in its library and 48 million users who listened for 11.6 hours per month on average.

In May 2010, Pandora was named in Lead411's “2010 Hottest San Francisco Companies” list. In January, 2011, Pandora met with bankers to consider a possible $100 million IPO. [source : Pandora Music]

A Short History of Country Music

Country music (or country and Western) is a blend of traditional and popular musical forms traditionally found in the Southern United States and the Canadian Maritimes that evolved rapidly beginning in the 1920s. Distinctive variations of the genre have also emerged elsewhere including Australian country music.

The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s when the earlier term hillbilly music came to be seen as denigrating. Country music was widely embraced in the 1970s, while country and Western has declined in use since that time, except in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where it is still commonly used. However, in the Southwestern United States a different mix of ethnic groups created the music that became the Western music of the term country and Western. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres.

Country music has produced two of the top selling solo artists of all time. Elvis Presley, who was known early on as “the Hillbilly Cat” and was a regular on the radio program Louisiana Hayride, went on to become a defining figure in the emergence of rock and roll. With 129.5 million albums sold, Presley is the top-domestic-selling solo artist in U.S. history. Contemporary musician Garth Brooks, with 128 million albums sold, is the second best-selling solo artist in U.S. history and lately the fenomenal Taylor Swift.

While album sales of most musical genres have declined since about 2005, country music experienced one of its best years in 2006, when, during the first six months, U.S. sales of country albums increased by 17.7 percent to 36 million. Moreover, country music listening nationwide has remained steady for almost a decade, reaching 77.3 million adults every week, according to the radio-ratings agency Arbitron, Inc. [source : Country Music]

Kurdish Music

Kurdish Music refers to music performed in Kurdish language.

Historically, Kurdish Music has very ancient roots that go back to the Hurrian period of Kurdish history. The Hurrians - the ancestors of the modern Kurds - were an ancient people that inhabited present-day Kurdistan and established several kingdoms before their aryanization by the coming Medes. A Hurrian tablet dating back to the 13th century B.C. was discovered in Ugaret; it contains in its upper portion the text of a Hurrian hymn. In the lower portion, it contains a series of numbers and technical terms that have been interpreted as a score rendering the tune to which the hymn would have been sung. This is then the earliest known musical score in history. Interestingly, the meqam in which the hymn was composed corresponds with the modern meqam "Kurd".

Kurdish musicians had a great role in the musical life of the Islamic caliphate. Ziryab was one among the absolutely greatest musicians in the Islamic era. He brought the Middle Eastern musical tradition to Muslim Spain and trained local musicians in his style. He also invented many maqams and musical forms and improved the design of the 'ûd. Ibrahim Mûsili and Is'haq Mûsili were considered among the greatest musicians of the Abbasid court. They wrote several first-rate works on local Iranic and Mesopotamian styles. Musicologists like Safi al-Din Ûrmawi - the founder of the systematist school of music (Wright 1978) - and Muhammad al-Khatib Arbîlî who wrote some of the most seminal works on Middle Eastern musicology.

Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish Classical performers - storytellers (çîrokbêj), minstrels (stranbêj) and bards (dengbêj). There was no specific music related to the Kurdish princely courts, and instead, music performed in night gatherings (şevbihêrk) is considered classical. Several musical forms are found in this genre. Many songs are epic in nature, such as the popular Lawiks which are heroic ballads recounting the tales of Kurdish heroes such as Saladin. Heyrans are love ballads usually expressing the melancholy of separation and unfulfilled love. Lawje is a form of religious music and Payizoks are songs performed specifically in autumn. Love songs, dance music, wedding and other celebratory songs (dîlok/narînk and bend), erotic poetry and work songs are also popular.

Kurdish Musician

Another style of singing that originated as practice to recite religious hymns in both Zoroastrian and Islamic Sufi faiths is Siya Cheman. This style is practiced mostly in the mountainous subregion of Hewraman in the Hewrami dialect. However, some modern artists, have adopted the style and blended it with other Kurdish music. Siya Cheman can also be classified as çîrokbêj because it is often used to for storytelling.

Musical instruments include the tembûr (tembûr, saz), biziq (bozuk), qernête (Duduk) and bilûr (Kaval) in northern and western Kurdistan, şimşal (long flute), cûzele, kemençe and def (frame drum) in the south and east. Zirne (wooden shawm) and dahol (drum) are found in all parts of Kurdistan.

The most frequently used song form has two verses with ten syllable lines. Kurdish songs (stran or goranî) are characterized by their simple melodies, with a range of only four or five notes. [source : Kurdish Music]

The Exotic Musical Instrument : Javanese Gamelan

Indonesia is a big country, consisting of many cultures with many musical traditions. The biggest culture, with the most highly refined musical tradition, is that of the Javanese. The island of Bali also supports a distinct classical tradition. The music of other cultures has also been recorded, but I will not be dealing with that, as it has more the character of folk art.

Since many readers are apparently less familiar with the Javanese cultural setting (as opposed to India, China or Iran), I will discuss this background before proceeding to the list of recordings. The language we call Javanese is spoken in the central and eastern parts of the island of Java. The western part is Sundanese (from which there are also a few recordings, not to be discussed). Javanese is a very complicated language, consisting of three distinct vocabularies and grammars to be used with those in superior, equal, or inferior social positions with respect to the speaker. The national language of Indonesia is a modern construction, designed for simplicity and easy use by the wide array of different cultures within its boundaries.

Prior to the European period, Javanese was the dominant culture of the region, at times holding hegemony in parts of the Asian mainland. For instance, in the early-medieval history of what is now Cambodia, a restoration of the traditional monarchy was heralded by the arrival of a prince from Java to take the kingship. During the Mongol era, a large invasion fleet (much larger than that sent to Japan) was sent to Java, only to be soundly thrashed at sea, without a landing. This will give the reader some idea of the Javanese strength, but it should also be noted that this hegemony was generally not expressed through military means (at least insofar as we understand it), but rather as cultural and trading superiority. Of course, this situation was drastically modified by the arrival of the Arab traders.

Javanese Gamelan Players

Indonesia is counted as the most populous Muslim nation in the world, but this is somewhat misleading. Islam is not a "state religion" as it is in many Islamic countries, and there is quite a bit of variety, although the majority of inhabitants do profess Islamic beliefs. Among the larger cultures, North Sumatra is the "most" Muslim; in fact, it was home to a major Islamic University (known, for instance, in China) during the later medieval era. Java is also Islamic, in the sense that the people believe in many of the tenets of Islam and identify themselves as Muslims, but there are also other simultaneous belief systems. Prior to Islam, Java was alternately Hindu and Buddhist (and Bali remains Hindu), and these beliefs continue to be important for Muslim people. There is also an older layer of native religious practice which is still alive and well. Javanese religion is termed "syncretistic" (i.e., combining various influences), and it is generally only our tendency to give priority to the monotheistic religions which yields the Javanese the designation of "Islamic" per se. Of course, the influence of Islam should not be understated either.

The above discussion of syncretism should not give the impression that Java is an area of religious conflict. The different belief systems have been molded into a coherent whole, and the various public rituals (like the calendar with its simultaneous cycles of five and seven days, i.e. these coincide every thirty-five days) are thoroughly ingrained throughout the Javanese population (of course, as we know, the "Europeanized elite" frequently have different ideas). The Sanskrit classic epic Mahabharata continues to be a huge cultural influence on Java (it is easily apparent from the simple fact that many personal names are taken from that text, etc.) and the shadow puppet theater based on episodes from this epic is one of the most distinctive and wide-spread Javanese cultural practices. The gamelan is always used to accompany these plays (wayang kulit). The classical dance forms of Indonesia are also attaining some level of popularity in the USA (you could have seen them regularly in the Rose Bowl Parade, for instance), and much of the court music was written to accompany dance. There is also a large and impressive body of surviving classical literature on various topics, usually written in verse (including a verse encyclopedia, if you can imagine...).

The gamelan orchestra, based on metallic percussion with some wooden xylophones and drums, is well-known to many readers. In various forms, it is ubiquitous to Southeast Asia. In Java, the full gamelan also adds a bowed-string instrument (the rebab, a name illustrative of Islamic influence), a bamboo flute (suling) and voices. The rebab is one of the main melodic instruments, together with the bronze xylophone "gender," and is often played by the senior musician to lead the ensemble. Voices consist of male (and sometimes female) choruses called gerong, together with female soloists called pesindhen. However, the voices are not used as "lead" instruments in court gamelan (as opposed to wayang kulit, shadow puppet theater) and blend with or complement the sound. More specifically, the chorus is very much a part of the texture, whereas the soloist has an almost-separate improvisatory role, including the use of notes outside of the mode of the piece. In these abstract pieces, mostly "gendhing" on the current list, the words are largely secondary to the music.

This list of recordings is devoted to court gamelan. There are four royal courts (kratons) in Central Java, two each in Surakarta (Solo) and Yogyakarta. Returning briefly to history... when the Dutch took over the Southeast Asian trade and established themselves in Java (Sunda, actually), their policy was not to destroy the royal court, but to isolate it. In other words, they did everything they could to remove any political influence from the sultans, but allowed the court to remain as a cultural institution (which had always been a large part of its role, perhaps analogous to the Chinese Emperor). Much later, the court (originally in Solo) divided into four, due to philosophical differences (of aesthetic) in the royal house, and with encouragement from the Dutch. The kratons continue to serve as cultural and educational institutions, and house the classical music tradition of Java. Each court has a huge roster of musicians and an extensive collection of historical instruments. Today many of these musicians also have jobs outside their kraton, but this was not true in the recent past. Despite what any of this discussion might imply, the music itself is extremely coherent. It shows no sign of mixed objectives, but is rather a "pure" style. The repertory is vast.

There are two scales in Javanese gamelan music, "slendro" (pentatonic) and "pelog" (heptatonic-pentatonic). Tuning is not standard, rather each gamelan set will have a distinctive tuning. A complete gamelan consists of a pair of sets, one tuned in each of the scales and intended to be played together in many instances. Different gamelan sets have different sonorities, and are used for different pieces of music; many are very old, and used for only one specific piece. Musical forms are defined by the rhythmic cycles. These consist of major cycles subdivided by smaller cycles, each marked by the striking of successively smaller gongs. The melodic interplay takes place within this framework (technically called "colotomic"). There are also distinct melodic modes ("pathet") within the division of scale, three for each of the scales. The modes are defined according to which notes of the scale are emphasized, much like the vadi/samvadi concept in Indian classical music. [source : Central Javanese Gamelan]