World Music Wednesday: Music from Malaita (Solomon Islands)
This week’s installment of World Music Wednesdays comes courtesy of my fellow ChordStriker Alan Wiley, who came across the video below while burning the midnight oil earlier this week. He sent it to me, and I was so intrigued that I immediately scrapped what I'd been planning to write about in favor of this vid. It’s amazingly cool.
I wasn’t able to find much background info on the video, but I did discover this much: it was made by French ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp in Malaita (one of the Solomon Islands.) The people in the video are from the 'Are 'are ethnic group, which is known for complex panpipe music. Originally, the ‘Are ’are produced music by striking hollow bamboo sticks of varying sizes on coconut shells, but this method has evolved over time (in the video, the players strike bamboo sticks on rocks, and my research has revealed that the 'Are 'are also play panpipes by blowing into them.) This method of music-making might seem simple, but it’s really quite complex; as you can see in the video, players harmonize with one another, and single players can grip multiple bamboo pipes with their fingers and toes in order to produce multiple notes at once.
If you like world music or watching videos on the web, chances are you’ve heard a sampling of music from Malaita before. Electronic/new age duo Deep Forest used a vocal sample from a recording made by Zemp in their 1992-93 hit, “Sweet Lullaby.” Zemp’s original recording features a woman named Afunakwa singing a traditional lullaby called “Rorogwela.” “Sweet Lullaby” was popularized in 2005 when it was used as the background music for two viral videos made by Matt Harding (of Where the Hell is Matt? fame.) Check out one of Matt’s awesome dancing vids below. Yes, they've been around for a few years, but I still love watching them. They somehow exemplify what world music means to me--discovery, joy, celebration...I could go on and on.
--Bri Nguyen
August is an exciting month here at ChordStrike. We've put together our World Music Event and our editors’ picks for the 100 Greatest World Music Albums of All Time, and in honor of these internationally-themed occasions (and frankly because I’ll use any excuse to blog about world music), I’ve created a month-long miniseries of blog posts called “World Music Wednesdays." Each Wednesday this month, I’ll highlight a different genre of world music. Suggestions welcome!
Image above via justview.info
viagra online on April 15, 2010 at 11:25 AM
without doubt the best genre of music, throughout history great exponents have given the best of his talent and will be remembered by all his major themes, for decades in the radio will ring in our players, etc. Thank God for rock music.
battery charger on September 11, 2009 at 06:47 AM
Oh this is simply new type of music.
But it be more interesting to check then for going to pop and rock music.