My Global Music Autobiography


As an American, I feel that I don’t have the greatest understanding of global music. However, the older I get, the duller Western music sounds. When I was really young, I checked out a world music book from the library that had a CD and made my mom play it in the car on the way to school until (after a few renewals) I had to turn it back in.  The CD featured everything from Gregorian chant to African tribal chants to the erhu. I think this is when I fell in love with music I didn't hear on the radio. When I was in Vancouver, I was over the moon to see this man playing the erhu song from the world music CD from my childhood.
  


I have traveled throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Belize, and India, and honestly the music all sounded the same until I visited India.  I went on a missions trip to Bengaluru, India in July 2019 and was struck by the beautiful country filled with colorful art and music like I’d ever heard before.  Music was everywhere in the city. From sunrise to sunset you could hear the Islamic call to prayer from the loudspeakers on the Mosques, the jingle that the public buses have as horns, and various forms of traditional Indian music all over the city.
The church I visited in Bengaluru conducted services in both English and Kannada and sang in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and occasionally English.  While they used Western instruments such as the piano and violin, the also had a few drums, shakers and a tambourine that were passed around to whoever wanted to play them for that service.  I really enjoyed hearing the mix of shakers and drums with traditional hymns. I admire how relaxed the music was and how anyone who wanted to participate was allowed to do so. Here is a clip from one of the song services. 


Most recently, I’ve really been into a band called The Hu.  They are a metal band from Mongolia who use traditional Mongolian instruments and throatsinging in their songs.  They also make really cool music videos. If you choose to watch the linked video, turn on the English subtitles (it’s pretty badass.) 


Although I have a very limited knowledge of world music, I am excited to expand it during this class and during my future travels. 


Comments

  1. Courtney WhitenerJanuary 8, 2020 at 10:04 AM

    It is amazing how not only did you find a different music culture, but you were able to submerge yourself completely into the culture such as going to the church in Bangaluru. I also enjoyed the erhu as well. Its almost an Indian twist to the traditional violin and is always something present in meditation videos that I have heard before. I never realized that the erhu is what I was most likely hearing and thank you for sharing.

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  2. Anna J. Micklatcher-PetersonJanuary 8, 2020 at 12:14 PM

    I was amazed at all the places you have traveled at such a young age. You have had some awesome opportunities to experience a lot of different culture. I would love to visit Mexico like you did and see the Mayan Temples there. The music you posted from the church in Bengaluru sounded great with the maraca. I have never seen an instrument like the one in the picture of the man from Vancouver.

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  3. Elizabeth JettonJanuary 8, 2020 at 12:47 PM

    I am so jealous that you have been to India, that is such a cool experience! I would love to travel there one day. I bet it was so amazing hearing their music and being in a much different environment than our's. I also really liked the Erhu song from your trip to Canada!

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  4. Joanna NorwoodJanuary 8, 2020 at 2:58 PM

    I really like your story about being enamored with the world music CD from the library. As a child, I was similarly fascinated by a VHS called "Baby Mozart." It had visuals, but what I really loved was the Mozart music that played throughout. When I began playing piano, all I wanted to be able to do was play Turkish March because it was my favorite piece from the VHS.

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  5. WenTing YaoJanuary 8, 2020 at 6:06 PM

    I am jealous that you get to travel to a lot of different countries. I hope that I can travel around the world in the future.I do not have much experience with global music, but I hope to get more experience in the future.

    ReplyDelete

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