Native American music

Native American music

American Indian music is the music that is used, created or performed by Native North Americans. In addition to the tribally specific music of those groups there now exist pan-tribal and intertribal genres as well as distinct Indian subgenres of popular music including: rock, blues, hip hop, classical, film music and reggae, as well as unique popular styles like waila .

Characteristics

Vocalization and percussion are the most important aspects of traditional Native American music. Vocalization takes many forms, ranging from solo and choral song to responsorial, unison and multipart singing. Percussion, especially drums and rattles, are common accompaniment to keep the rhythm steady for the singers, who generally use their native language or non-lexical vocables. Traditional music usually begins with slow and steady beats that grow gradually faster and more emphatic, while various flourishes like drum and rattle tremolos, shouts and accented patterns add variety and signal changes in performance for singers and dancers

Song texts and sources

Native American song texts include both public pieces and secret songs, said to be "ancient and unchanging", which are used only for sacred and ceremonial purposes. There are also public sacred songs, as well as ritual speeches that are sometimes perceived as musical because of their use of rhythm and melody. These ritual speeches often directly describe the events of a ceremony, and the reasons and ramifications of the night.

Societal role

Native American music plays a vital role in history and education, with ceremonies and stories orally passing on ancestral customs to new generations. Native American ceremonial music is traditionally said to originate from deities or spirits, or from particularly respected individuals. Rituals are shaped by every aspect of song, dance and costuming, and each aspect informs about the "makers, wearers and symbols important to the nation, tribe, village, clan, family, or individual".Native Americans perform stories through song, music and dance, and the historical facts thus propagated are an integral part of Native American beliefs. Epic legends and stories about culture heroes are a part of tribal music traditions, and these tales are often an iconic part of local culture.They can vary slightly from year to year, with leaders recombining and introducing slight variations. The Pueblo compose a number of new songs each year in a committee which uses dreams and visions.

Music of the Philippines

Music of the Philippines

Music of the Philippines are performance arts composed in various genre and styles. The music of the Philippines is a mixture of indigenous, other Asian, European, Latin American, and American.

Traditional music

Kulintang

Kulintang refers to a racked gong chime instrument played in the southern islands of the Philippines, along with its varied accompanying ensembles. Upon the Spanish arrival in the 16th century, Kulintang ensembles were the musical instruments of the Muslim Filipinos. Due to hispanization of the majority of the Philippine population, only the Moro ethnic groups of southern Mindanao, and the Sulu archipelago retained their Islamic musical tradition. The Kulintang instrument is also found in other Southeast Asian countries.

Harana and Kundiman

The Harana or Kundiman is a lyrical song made popular in the Philippine Islands, which dates back to the Spanish period. Composed in the Mexican-Spanish tradition, the music is characterized by a minor key at the beginning and shifts to a major key in the second half. Its lyrics depict a romantic theme, usually portraying love, passion, or sadness. In other styles of the Harana or Kundiman tradition, the music is based on a love story. Almost all traditional Philippine love songs in this genre are portrayed with poetic emotion.
In the 1920s Harana or Kundiman became a much more mainstream musical style, with many popular performers including Diomedes Maturan, and Ruben Tagalog singing in Harana or Kundiman style. in this period Nicanor Abelardo popularized the kundiman by composing lovely and harmonic songs

Cariñosa

The Cariñosa (meaning loving or affectionate one), is a Philippine national dance from the María Clara suite of Philippine folk dances, where the fan, and handkerchief plays an instrument role as it places the couple in romance scenario. The dance is similar to the Jarabe Tapatío. The Cariñosa is accompanied with Hispanic music, and language.

Tinikling

The Tinikling is a Philippine dance which involves two individual performers hitting bamboo poles, using them to beat, tap, and slide on the ground, and against each other in co-ordination with one or more dancers who steps over, and in between poles.

Rondalla

The Rondalla is performed on ensembles comprising mandolin instruments of various sizes called bandurria composed on the Iberian tradition. Other instruments including guitars, is also performed.