Browsing by Subject "Folk music"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Compañeros del destino: transborder social lives and huapango arribeño at the interstices of postmodernity
(2010-05) Chávez-Esquivel, Alex Emmanuel; Flores, Richard R.
Destined companions of the calling (compañeros del destino), huapango arribeño music practitioners often refer to each other as – a label that signifies the expressive bonding forged through the axis of encounter/engagement central to huapango arribeño’s performance. As of late, huapango arribeño, which originates in Mexico, has made its way across the border where it is performed among communities of listeners and practitioners in the U.S. This dissertation unearths the cultural dimensions of the experiences of migration particular to the immigrant communities in question with focused attention on the performative (musical/discursive) contouring of the transborder imaginary – the prism through which they live and understand their lives, make decisions, work, perform, and imagine. Attention is given to the physical and metaphysical construction of the border between the U.S. and Mexico, to its militarization and officialized discourses of the nation and citizenship that legitimate draconian policy initiatives. Huapango arribeño – as a site of conviviality and sociality –, it is argued, actively disrupts this dislocational alchemy of the borderlands, as communities themselves cultivate the linkages that shape the patterning of their multidirectional existence across borders.
Negotiations of modernity, spirituality, and Bengali identity in contemporary Bāul-Fakir music
(2014-06-24) Krakauer, Benjamin Samuel; Slawek, Stephen; Capwell, Charles; Ghosh, Kaushik; Hansen, Kathryn; Moore, Robin; Seeman, Sonia
Bāul-Fakirs are a heterogeneous group of Bengali musicians and spiritual practitioners known for their humanist spirituality and their rejection of caste and religious discrimination. In recent decades, Bāul-Fakir music has undergone dramatic changes as it has gained in popularity among affluent audiences. I explore the ways in which modernity, spirituality, and Bengali identity are negotiated in the performance and reception of Bāul-Fakir music in West Bengal. To many affluent Bengalis, the music is a sonic representation of a homegrown tradition of liberalism, communal tolerance, and social critique that predates the secular reforms of the colonial and post-colonial eras; Bāul-Fakirs occupy an especially prominent place in the self-imagination of many Bengali intellectuals and artists who appropriate signifiers of Bāul-Fakir identity in constructing their own countercultural identities. To many working-class Bengalis, Bāul-Fakir music is but one of many local entertainment forms, and is best received when performed with the instrumentation and electronically mediated timbres of mainstream commercial music. For Bāul-Fakirs themselves, the music fills a variety of roles: it is a professional livelihood, an important aspect of spiritual life, and an enjoyable recreational activity. In addition to addressing the presentational Bāul-Fakir music acknowledged by other scholars, I also shed light on the Bāul-Fakir participatory music, unexplored in previous literature, that thrives in isolated, predominantly Muslim villages of West Bengal along the India-Bangladesh border. I observe a strong correlation between five socio-cultural factors and the presence of this participatory music, and I suggest that similar factors correlate with participatory music-making elsewhere in South Asia. I also explore the changes that have occurred in one village in this area where a preservationist NGO has recently been active. The musicians of this area have become embraced as “authentic” alternatives to professionalized “Hindu” Bāuls, but the community has experienced negative side effects with the influx of urban visitors. Finally, I address some previously unexamined features of Bāul-Fakir music. I discuss the use of polyrhythm, elasticity of phrasing, odd meters, unique melodic modes, and variable intonation. I also provide the first published transcriptions illustrating the range of instrumental configurations found in contemporary Bāul-Fakir music
Oneness within the diversity of music : a suite for jazz chamber ensemble in four movements
(2013-05) Kim, Christian Jinsan; Mills, John, saxophonist
Oneness within the Diversity of Music is a four-movement suite with world music and jazz influences. The suite includes world music elements from Asian folk sources, as well as Hungarian gypsy, Hindustani, Brazilian and Argentine music. The underlying concept -- the goal of this suite, is to combine jazz language with world music elements. The musical arrangement of Oneness within the Diversity of Music integrates Asian and jazz styles. Two main styles characterize the musical arrangements throughout the suite: the Asian-influenced style, which incorporates non-harmonized linear melodic lines and multiple counter-lines in unison simultaneously, and the jazz style, with chamber strings, wind section, and piano harmonized using jazz language.
When the horse runs off
(2011-05) Maguire, Randy Allen; Welcher, Dan; Pinkston, Russell
"When the horse runs off" is a one-act chamber opera, which features an original libretto by playwright Sarah Saltwick, and is based on a Buddhist fable. The piece is scored for four singers and six instrumentalists. Similar to the manner in which the original fable is used as a point of departure, the opera incorporates folk music of Nepal and China into a larger, more varied palette of sounds. These are places from which this fable could have originated, so this is a natural way to create a world within the piece that feels organic.