Arabic and Asian Music

 

Arabic and Asian Music

         



              I decided to discuss the Arabic accordion for my blog.  Arabic music includes many influences from other cultures in its music.  They have more scales than any other type of music.  The accordion is a Western instrument, but it made its way over to Arabic nations and now it is a normal instrument over there.  In the video the man talks about how the accordion is so difficult to learn, because quarter-tones, which are half a semitone, do not exist on the accordion and quarter-tones are played in most of Arabic music. The man talks about how he had to learn to play the accordion Western style.  When he was young the man moved from Lebanon to the United Arab Emirates, because the war started in Lebanon.  While in school in the United Arab Emirates he had nothing else to do in his free time, so he decided to learn the accordion. The way the Arabic accordion is played is completely different from the way the Western accordion is played stylistically speaking.  Also, there are more notes in Arabic music and on the Arabic accordion, because the pitches are divided more and that is the major difference between the Arabic and Western accordion.




            I chose to discuss the Yowlah dance. The Yowlah dance is also referred to as the Emirati stick dance and it is a weapon dance of the United Arab Emirates.  The dance is performed for weddings, ceremonies, and other special events. The dance is meant to imitate a battle scene and they do so by having two rows of men face each other and they carry sticks of bamboo to represent a sword. Also, this dance is meant to be a victory dance and is supposed to be performed after winning a tribal war. Yowlah dances include dancing, instrumental drum music, and chanted poetry. Other instruments that are included in this dance are drums, tambourines, bagpipes, flutes, and and cymbals. 



        I decided to discuss the santur, which is an Arabic instrument.  The santur is a trapezoid shaped instrument and it has seventy-two strings that are in groups of four. Each group of four strings is placed on its individual bridge.  It is tuned by a tuning wrench and it works by putting it on the tuning pins at the end of the instrument and turning it. To play the instrument you use the hammers or mallets, also known as mezrab is Farsi.  At the tip of the mallets it is oval shaped and is very light.  This instrument is very resonant when played, and it is devised of three octaves with the bass octave being on the right side of the instrument, the middle octave being in the middle, and the highest octave being on the left. The right side of the santur is not used.  Each of the four strings are tuned in unison on each bridge. The first octave begins with mi or e and ends with fa or f.  The second octave also starts with mi and ends on fa, as well as the third position.








Bibliography: 

Yowlah explained. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://everything.explained.today/Yowlah/

Comments

  1. Ahdi HortonJanuary 24, 2022 at 3:22 PM

    Tanner - It was really cool to see the accordion being used in Arabic music. The first thing that stuck out to me were the keys, do you know what material they're made out of ? The accordion is an instrument I didn't think would be used in Arabic music solely because of quarter-tones, but after watching the video it definitely works. The santur sounds like a very heartfelt instrument because of its long decaying sound which continue after its struck. I thought the video you included was very educational and gave a nice intro the instrument. Good Job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Allana FarmerJanuary 24, 2022 at 11:03 PM

    Tanner - I was really interested in the section you did about the Yowlah Dance. Not only was the dance very well organized, the symbolism behind the dance was presented so clearly through each of the men performing. I think it would be a really unique experience to see this dance done in person as it takes a lot of people to get this together and it is a very powerful dance! Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JillianJanuary 24, 2022 at 11:11 PM

    I've always associated the accordion with a more Italian sound so it was neat to hear it used in a different style. It fits in really well and sounds great. The Santur looks really fun to play but the sticks are so small! They look like they would cramp your fingers, at least in the beginning.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Music and Family Field Study

Image
  Music and Family Field Study     I interviewed my mom, Kimberly Smith, for my family field study project.          Me:  What is your earliest memory of music?     My mom:  Listening to mama play music on our radio.           Me:  What kind of music do you associate with your childhood?     My mom: The  80's - Duran Duran, Van Halen, Beastie Boys.      Me:  Think about younger childhood, middle school years, high school, college–how did it change, evolve?     My mom:  Elementary I remember Michael Jackson, Rock Springfield, etc. that my parents liked. I also remember all the 80's hair bands, along with groups like Van Halen, Beastie Boys, New Edition, etc. The European invasion of bands like Duran Duran that my sister loved still sticks with me. I would love to see Duran Duran or New Edition in concert.         ...
Read more

Music and Rites

Image
High School Graduation          For my blog, I chose to discuss music and rites; in particular, I chose to discuss music in a high school graduation. The reason I chose high school graduation is because it is both something I have experienced and a rite of passage into the world.  Graduation is when young adults reflect back on the times they had, look forward to the future, and go out into the world on their own for the first time.  The music that is used in graduation ceremonies is full of nostalgia, love, excitement, hope, and a tinge of sadness.       My graduation included various styles and genres of music, including songs that exhibit the emotions I previously stated. One of the songs that was played at my graduation was "Whenever You Remember," by Carrie Underwood.  This song was played at the beginning before the ceremony began and it served to set the mood of the ceremony.  The purpose of playing this song at the...
Read more

Music Of Indigenous Americans

Image
  Powwow Healing Dance     We have discussed the significance of the Powwow in Native American culture and how it unifies the members of that culture.  During Powwows there are dance competitions and I found the costumes that they wore to be interesting, so I looked up specific dances and the costumes' significance to that dance. I chose to learn about the Healing Dance.  In this video the dance is being performed by the Northern Cree and they are a powwow, round dance, drum, and singing group.  The Healing dance, also known as the Jingle dance, was created during a time in history when many people were getting sick and a lot of the children were becoming incredibly ill.  A man that was in their village who was worried about his daughter prayed to the great mystery and he received a vision in a dream.  In that vision he was told to help the people, and he saw four women who were each dressed idiosyncratically. The dresses they wore were covered wi...
Read more