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A DJ mixer is a type of audio mixing console used by disc jockeys. The key features that differentiate a DJ mixer from other types of audio mixers are the ability to redirect (cue) a non-playing source to headphones and the presence of a crossfader, which allows for an easier transition between two sources.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
mixer
DJ Equipments
 This is the main tool for any "respectable" DJ. It is the voice of the DJ, the hands of the DJ and source of the music. Vinyl records are placed on the main platter of the turntable and a needle arm (containing a needle) is placed on the records. This needle fits into the grooves of the records and reads the musical information stored there. Of course, DJs can use other methods for playing music...such as CDs or MP3s but to most DJs, there is a certain style, hands-on feeling or flare about mixing and spinning round pieces of vinyl. For years, Technics, has made the standard 1200 series turntable . This deck is so popular that almost every turntable company has copied the basic design in an attempt to meet the demands. Features:
The main advantage of a turntable is the direct access to the medium on which the music is maintained. No other musical playback device allows the user to directly access the medium which holds the music. Vinyl records, on the other hand, are large, easily viewable and can be handled easily with a hand. Usually each side of a vinyl record will contain one or two tracks. With such a large surface for a track, the DJ can easily see the grooves in the record. The grooves on the vinyl play an important role in that they show the DJ what will happen in a track. Subtle moments in the music (known as breaks) will be seen as sparsely laid grooves whereas music with lots of frequencies being used will be represented by grooves that are much closer together. By viewing the grooves, the DJ can anticipate changes in the track and act accordingly. Grooves also play an important part in track selection. When a side of vinyl contains more than one track, the DJ can note the beginning of the sequential tracks by looking for the large dark grooves. If the DJ were to play the third track on a piece of vinyl that contained five tracks on one side, he or she would have to count three grooves in from the beginning of the record and place the needle there. There is a potential for error here as the DJ must correctly place the needle in the proper groove in order to select the correct track. Even after the needle has been placed properly, the DJ must push the record forward a little to find the exact starting point of the track. Each of the dark grooves between each new track consists of a small duration of dead air. There are other limitations with the turntable. They are summarized as follows. Limitations:
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage with the turntable is the damage which occurs to both the needle and the vinyl records that are used with the turntable. Each time a vinyl record is played, a (diamond-tipped) needle rubs over the surface of the vinyl. Naturally this causes friction which wears the vinyl down over time. Often the needles become worn as well, resulting in an increased amount of skipping as the needle no longer fits snugly into the groove. The combination of these two forms of damage causes a loss of sound quality over time. AnalysisThe Technic SL1200 turntable (the industry standard) has 5 controlling devices that can effect the music. 1) The power switch is a dial on the bottom left of the unit. It has two modes (on and off) and is operated by turning the dial until it clicks, signifying a change in mode. This is a one dimensional binary task. If the power is switched off when a record is spinning, the record does not come to a complete stop. Instead the power for the motor is turned off and the platter containing the record, continues to revolve until enough friction causes it to stop. This dial is housed on top of the red strobe light which illuminates the sidewall of the platter allowing one to know when the correct pitch has been achieved. 2) A start/stop button is located next to the power dial on the bottom left of the unit. It is used for "instant" starts and stops of the record. Pressing this button when a record is revolving causes a braking mechanism to be used on the platter, halting the record. Pressing this button when a record is motionless causes the platter to start revolving. The Technic SL1200 has a starting torque of 1.5kg-cm and a start up time of 0.7 seconds. This button is a one dimensional binary controller with two modes (start or stop). 3) A speed mode switch is located next to the start/stop button and is used for setting the speed of the platter to rotate at either 33 RPM or 45 RPM. This consists of two button, each with a light to indicate which mode the platter is in. If the light for the 33 RPM mode is illuminated and the 45 RPM button is pressed, the platter switches to 45 RPM. Likewise, if the 33 RPM button is pressed in 45 RPM mode, the platter reduces speed to 33 RPM. If the speed mode button of the current speed is pressed, nothing will happen. Interestingly enough, if the platter is moving at 33 RPM and the 45 RPM speed button is depressed as well as the 33 RPM button, the speed of the platter will speed up to 45 PRM until the 45 RPM button is released and then the platter will resume 33 RPM. This is useful for bending the speed (and pitch) upwards when trying to adjust speeds while beatmatching. If running in 45 RPM mode and both the 33 and 45 RPM buttons are depressed, the effect is to remain in the 45 RPM mode. Thus the modulation can only be acheived upwards from 33 RPM to 45 RPM. This last feature makes the controller a one dimensional binary controller with two modes (33 RPM or 45 RPM) and modulation. We can mod ulate the speed (and pitch) of a track upwards based on a mode switch and a proportional time modulation. The more we hold the 45 and 33 RPM buttons down at the same time (when in 33 RPM mode), the longer the modulation of the speed (and pitch). 4) A pitch/speed slider is located on the right side of the unit. It controls the speed of the platter within +/-8% of the designated speed. When placed in the middle, the platter should be moving at its exact designated speed. When moved toward the front of the unit, the platter will speed up. When moved towards the rear of the unit, the platter will slow down. This is a one dimensional continuous action that spans +/-8% of either 33 RPM or 45 RPM, depending on the current speed of the platter. If there is no power connected to the platter or the platter has been stopped, this slider has no effect. 5) The platter on the turntable itself can be moved back and forth by hand. This allows the user to have great control over the speed and direction of the music. By placing a hand on the record as it spins around the platter, the user can speed up or slow down the platter and record. When the hand is removed, the platter will resume its designated speed again. This can be useful for positioning the point of a musical track to the desired location or temporarily adjusting the speed of a track to match another. It is also very useful in the art of scratching a record back and forth to produce new and unique sounds. Since the record can only travel back and forth across the needle, this is a one dimensional continuous task. |
DJ Terminology
In order to understand the art and process of DJing, one must know the language of a DJ.
This section attempts to explain some of the terminology associated with DJing.
These are the basic terms,for more check out the GLOSSARY page.
Backspin
This refers to spinning a record backwards for a short and quick spurt. It is used as a special sound effect and can be used to give the peak of a build some more energy.
Bleeding
This occurs when a crossfader breaks after long use. When the crossfader is completely on one side, the opposing channel should not be detected in the output but the broken crossfader will allow some of the opposing channel to "bleed" through. Crossfaders that bleed need to be replaced so that the DJ has control over which channel is played to the audience.
Break
A moment in a musical track where the main beat changes and becomes more subtle. Breaks have gained such an immense popularity that a new genre of elecrontic music has evolved with the same name, which consists entirly of breaks. The break of a musical track was designed to break the monotony of modern dance beats and provide a change in the mood of a song. A break will usually occur between downbeats of a track and may span for more than one loop.
Build
A moment in a musical track signified by a strong building sensation, climaxing with an explosion of sound and followed by either a break or a main beat. Builds are usually the most exciting part of a song and are very useful in creating energy within a crowd. The climaxing explosion will occur on a downbeat.
Crossfader
A sliding control device on the mixing board that allows the DJ to transfer the audio output from one source to another in a smooth manner. As the crossfader moves from left to right, the volume of one source decreases while the volume of the other source increases. If the crossfader is completly on one side, only one audio source is played. It is also called a fader for short.
Cueing
This is the act of finding the correct starting point of a track. With vinyl records, this is done by placing the needle on a certain groove and then moving it back or forth until the needle is above the point that the DJ wants to play. On a CD player, this is done by selecting the track that the DJ wants to play and then scanning through the track (if necessary) to find the correct starting point.
Downbeat
The is the first beat of a loop and is usually signified with an accent or extra burst of sound from and instrument such as a crash symbol or hi hat. If a musical track consists of 16 beat loops, we should hear a downbeat once every 16 beats.
Loop
Most modern electronic dance music consists of loops of sound. A loop is a piece of sound that can be played again and again in a coherent sequence. Dance music consists of many types of loops layered on top of each other to create music. One track can contain many loops which may not necessarily be played throughout the entire track. Typically a loop will consist of 16 beats although loops of 4,8,16,32,etc. can also be found.
Scratching
This is the act of moving the needle back and forth along a groove in a record causing the sound contained within the groove to be played forwards and backwards at various speeds. A DJ will usually have one hand on the record and the other hand on the crossfader located on the mixer. By using the crossfader to cut the volume of the record in and out and moving the record back and forth at various speeds, the DJ can create many unique sounds. The type of sound sample used on the record also affects the sound of the scratch. For more information see the scratching section of this site.
Train Wreck
A train wreck is a term used to explain when two tracks that are playing at the same time have their beats out of phase and out of time. When the audience can hear this, it will sound like incoherent beats occuring at odd times and not making much sense. The term comes from the idea that when your tracks cross, your train will crash, thus a train wreck. This is always a bad thing in a musical mix and is the mark of an amateur DJ.
Turntablist
A person who uses vinyl records and turntables in a manner that involves scratching and cutting the records back and forth to produce new musical output from fractions of the music contained on the records. Turntabilists perform the art of turntabism and know how to perform a varity of scratches and tricks involving playing music from two or more records.
Dictionary of World Music Genres
A
A cappella - vocal music without instrumental accompaniment. It is sometimes spelled a capella (Latin).
Acid - An electronic music style. It evolved from house music and it is characterized by its repetitve and crackly sounds.
Afrobeat - Term used to describe the fusion of West African and black American music.
Afroxê - A rhythm from Bahia (Brazil) used in the street parades by the bloco afros and in ceremonies for the orixas. The instrumentation is like a reduced samba batucada, and the rhythm is somewhat similar to samba.
Afro Latin
A combination of African-rooted music and instrumentation with Spanish music and some times the music from native cultures in Spanish America.
Afro-Colombian: cumbia,
Afro-Cuban: Rumba
Afro-Ecuadoran:
Afro-Peruvian: landó
Afro-Puerto Rican: Bomba, Plena
Afro-Uruguayan: Candombe
Afro-Venezuelan
Aguinaldo - Christmas songs from Spain and Spanish America. In Puerto Rico, traveling amateur musicians would perform aguinaldos from house to house.
Alabanzas - religious praise songs in Spain and Spanish America.
Alalás- traditional Galician song.
Alboraes - Asturian dawn tunes (Spain).
Alboreá - 1. Spanish Gypsy wedding song. 2. Flamenco style.
Amarg - 1. Poetry sung by women from the Atlas region of Morocco. 2. Poetry sung by Chleuhs wandering minstrels.
Amazigh - music performed by natives of Northwestern Africa, also known as Berbers.
Ambient - An electronic music style. It is characterized by evocative synthesized sounds. It rarely includes rhythms. Ambient music is also known as gliding and floating music.
American Indian - Also know as Native American.Music composed or performed by American Indian musicians belonging to the various nations, tribes and bands that still exist in the United States of America. American Indians are sometimes called Native Americans. In Canada they are known as First Nations.
Anthem - A choral or vocal composition, often with a religious or political lyric, with or without accompaniment, written either for performance in a church, or another place with significance to the song itself.
Añada - Spanish lullaby.
Arabesk - popular Turkish music of Arabic origin, rather than Turkish origin.
Arrolo - Spanish lullaby.
Arrorro - Spanish lullaby.
Ator-ator - the name given to Christmas songs in the Spanish Basque Country.
Avaz - Iranian modal system. It’s made up of twelve modes, divided into seven principal and five secondary ones.
Axe - A percussive Brazilian pop music style from Bahia in northern Brazil that is African rooted. It is derived from the Yoruba word meaning "life force."
B
Bachata - a type of music and dance that originated in the countryside and rural marginal neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic. It is played with guitars and percussion. The lyrics usually focus on love, treachery, jealousy and desperation. The music is in 4/4.
Baion - a slow samba rhythm from Brazil.
Ballad - 1. A simple song. 2. A song that tells a story.
Bamba - an old Mexican air from the province of Veracruz, Mexico.
Bambera - a flamenco singing style known as swing songs. The name comes from bamba (swing).
Bandari - Dancelike instrumental music. Bandari means from the harbors and it is thought to represent Bushehrs' oldest instrumental musical form (Iran).
Batucada - a samba or Afro-Brazilian jam session.
Batuque - Afro-Brazilian jam sessions.
Beguine - a type of rumba in which the accent is on the second eighth note of the first beat. Its roots come from the islands of Martinique and Cuba.
Bèlè - Folk music of Martinique.
Bembe - 1. Sacred Afro-Cuban ceremony in which saints are praised. 2. A popular Afro-Cuban 6/8 beat.
Benga - Kenyan Luo pop music.
Bhajan - Indian devotional song.
Bhangra (Punjab and South Asian diaspora).
Bhangra was born sometime between the 14th and 15th centuries and is now regarded to be the one of the oldest folk dances in the world. Originating from the state of Punjab, split between India and Pakistan, Bhangra is the culmination of the hard season of harvest when farmers celebrate by singing and dancing to Bhangra songs and beats and thanking the heavens for what rich grain they have reaped. The music and dance was also performed during sewing celebrations.
In the early 1980s, Punjabi expatriates living in Great Britain developed it into a British musical genre. In this era, the dhol - the double barreled drum banged with two sticks - is the foundation of Bhangra events world-wide, whether it be a live stage performance or the recording of the latest Bhangra song. no Bhangra event can do without it!
Bhangra and its modernized sound still retains its classic and raw elements but also utilizes the modern instrumentation of music and language, producing Bhangra songs that can appease any type of audience.
This hybrid of traditional Indian music fused with a range of Hip-Hop, Reggae, Rap, R 'n' B, and Pop beats gives it a more universal sound and appeal - drawing in a wider array of fans. With the constant hard-hitting dhol beats and tumbi strings leading the way for the vocals, Bhangra songs portray a whole plethora of emotions tempting the listener to throw their arms in the air and make tracks towards the dance floor.
The hi-energy beats and the contagious rhythms of Punjabi melody continue to spread themselves to a global audience as the music keeps traveling to shores further and further afield. The up-tempo vibes of the music and the panache of the artists continue to popularize this music genre which is rapidly making Bhangra an essential and integral part of global musical culture.
Bikutsi - a rhythmic style which originated with the Beti people of present day Cameroon. Literally it means to "thump the earth." Originally, the bikutsi rhythms were war and blood affirming. The music would call the people together by resounding through the forest. Such calls were made for requisite vengeance against other groups. These heavily energetic rhythms were meant to enjoin one's blood to boil -- in the figurative sense -- for the cause of war. Rhythmic dances of the bikutsi were preserved by the women as a response to Christian missionaries who attempted to "save" the people from their own "sinful" expressions. Story telling occurred followed by dances in which the shaking of the shoulders, back and buttocks were followed by a series of clapping. The dances are still performed and the fighting concepts have been removed. Sexual underpinnings and fantasies as told in the stories of the women clearly remain in the bikutsi rhythms.
Bis - encore in Spanish.
Bluegrass - an American style performed primarily by white Americans that combines old time, blues music and jazz to create music that is generally faster than old time music. It is characterized by the use of fiddles, banjo, and guitar.
Blues - a type of folk song from the Southern United States. It was developed by Black Americans at the beginning of the 20th century. It has a passionate feel, with elements of melancholy and pain, and a repeated use of blue notes.
Bolero - traditional Spanish musical air and dance at 3/4. In Cuba, Spanish influences mixed with African ones to create the Cuban bolero, a very slow 4/4 rhythm, accompanied by maracas and bongos. Boleros are popular in Spain and Spanish America.
Bomba (Puerto Rico) -A style of Afro-Puerto Rican music and dance traditionally associated with plantation workers in Puerto Rico. The name was inspired by a rather large wooden drum covered with goatskin called the 'bomba' which accompanies this music. The songs are improvised and have a call and response style. Bomba is also commonly found in salsa repertoires
Bossa Nova - a Brazilian popular music style developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is based on the samba, combining Brazilian rhythms and American jazz.
Bougarabou - See Bugarabu.
Breakbeat - The basic rhythm of hip hop. It is also an electronic music style developed in Great Britain, which is the precursor of of Jungle music.
Bressol - Catalan lullaby (Spain).
Bugarabu - a rhythm adopted by the Mandinka from the Jola (West Africa).
Bulerías - A lively type of flamenco song and that originated in Jerez de la Frontera.
Bullerengue - an Afro Colombian song and dance from the Bolívar and Córdoba departments. Women play an important role in both song and dance.
Bushehr - See Busher.
Busher - a unique blend of Persian, Arabic, African and Indian traditions that have met over centuries at this cultural crossroads in southern provinces of Iran on the Persian Gulf.
C
Cabales - 1. a special kind of flamenco siguiriyas.
Cafurna - a rhythm of the Fulni-o Indians of Brazil, where they tell stories about their ancestors.
Cajun - Cajun is an accordion-based music style from Louisiana, a state located on the Gulf of Mexico, in the southern part of the United States of America. The Cajuns are known as Louisianans who descend mainly from French-speaking Acadians, but also from Creole Spaniards and Germans.
Calesera - Andalusian style with flamenco influences developed by the caleseros to entertain themselves during long treks.
Calvarios - Spanish Easter songs
Calypso - traditional music from Trinidad. Frequently improvised, with clever and satirical lyrics. The bands consist of a drummer, bass player, guitar player, keyboards and horns.
Canción de cuna - the term for lullaby in Spanish.
Canciones infantiles - the term for children’s songs in Spanish.
Candombe - a word that defines both a rhythm and a dance of African origin from Uruguay. It is derived from the Bantu words ka and ndonge, which means a "meeting of blacks."
Cant de la sibila - traditional Christmas song from Majorca (Spain) that talks about the second coming of Christ.
cante chico - light or frivolous flamenco song.
cante grande - profound Flamenco song style.
cante jondo - the deep Flamenco song style, focusing on the dark and serious emotions of flamenco singing.
cantes de las minas - Flamenco style that has as theme the mines, its men and their difficulties.
cantes extremeños - Flamenco songs from the Extremadura region.
canto de velada - Spanish evening song.
cantos de vaquería - Colombian cowboy songs.
caña - a very melancholic kind of flamenco singing. It is closely related to Soleares.
Capoeira - a Brazilian martial arts/dance style developed by the slaves to teach each other how to defend themselves. The music is as unique as the instruments themselves.
Caracoles - a flamenco style from Cadiz that belongs to the cantiñas group.
Caramelles - 1. Catalan Easter songs (Spain). 2. Christmas songs from the Balearic Islands of Ibiza and Formentera (Spain).
Carceleras - a Flamenco song telling of the hardships of prison life.
Carnatic - Southern Indian classical tradition.
Carol - a Christmas song of praise and celebration.
Cavacha - Congolese folk rhythm adopted by many Congolese pop musicians in Congo and Kenya.
Ceilidh - communal Celtic dances with a live band.
Celtic - The music from the countries and regions that have preserved Celtic traditions- Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, Galicia, Wales, Asturias, Cornwall and the Isle of Man. Bagpipes, fiddles, flutes and frame drums are commonly used. There is also a Celtic diaspora formed by immigrant communities in the USA, Canada, Australia and Argentina.
Ceol - general Gaelic term for music.
Ceol beag - a Gaelic phrase meaning literally “small music."It refers to the jigs, reels, and strathpeys of traditional Scottish pipe music.
Ceol mór -a Gaelic phrase meaning the “big music” of the pibroch or classical Highland bagpipe repertoire.
Chaabi - popular Arabic music, also known as shaabi.
Chacarrá - fandango dance from Tarifa, in southern Spain.
Chakacha - traditional rhythm from Kenya.
Champeta criolla - an Afro-Colombian music style and dance from Cartagena, in the Caribbean coast. It is a combination of indigenous rhythms, Caribbean beats and African influences. The lyrics are usually satirical. Also known as terapia criolla.
Changüí - an early form of Cuban music, featuring an instrumentation which includes the tres, bongos, güiro, maracas, and the marímbula.
Chants des marins - Breton sailor songs.
Charanga - a popular Cuban musical style featuring violins, flute and rhythm section.
Chicha - an Afro-Peruvian music style with African and Andean elements.
Chimurenga - popular style of music from the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It is based on the sound of the mbira.
Chö - a contemplative system of Tibetan Buddhism meaning "cutting." It involves the yogi or yogini mentally offering his or her own body as a means of severing attachment, literally "cutting through ego-clinging and the traditional four demons." The training is based on the tradition of Prajnaparamita (transcendent knowledge), in which the practitioner sees through the illusion of a solid reality by recognizing the insubstantial nature of all things. The religious songs that accompany this tradition have been passed from accomplished masters to worthy students for hundreds of years. Tibetans do not regard this music as folk music, but rather perceive the depth of meaning in these songs as capable of enhancing understanding and transforming ordinary experience.
Choro - an early form of popular urban instrumental music from Brazil.
Choro novo - a combination of choro, jazz and Afro-Brazilian music.
Chutney - Trinidadian musical genre. Also known as chutney soca. It is a combination of calypsp and tassa Indian drumming.
Ciranda- slow Afro-Brazilian rhythm and dance from Pernanbuco.
Colombianas - Flamenco style influenced by South American rhythms.
Columbia - a style of Cuban rumba played in 6/8 and sung with a combination of Spanish and African phrases.
Compas - Haitian dance music.
Conjunto - accordion-based Texas-Mexican style.
Controversia - an improvising game for two singing poets. The singers compete in inventing more and more verses and expressions (Cuba). Coplas - stanzas (Spain).
Coplas de lo divino - the name given to Christmas songs in the Canary Islands (Spain).
Cumbia - a Colombian dance developed by African slaves. It consist of short steps and sensual hip movements that originally was a form of flirting. The women used to flirt by waving their long skirts and the men demonstrated their strength by waving their huge machetes in the air. it has become one of the most popular musical styles in Colombia (together with salsa and champeta) and Mexico.
Currulao - A Colombian dance of African origin. Its themes vary: it can celebrate saints and love or lament misfortune.
D
Dadra - Light classical Indian song
Dance ronde - Breton dance tune
Danzón - a ballroom dance played by the Cuban charangas. It is a descendant of the popular French contradanza brought by Haitian immigrants and the Spanish danza of the 1800s.
Dar - a hybrid of traditional Moroccan music with house, breakbeat, garage and other British electronic dance beats.
Décima - a poetic rhyme (ten-line octosyllabic stanzas) music style originated in Spain that later became popular in Spanish America, especially Venezuela, Panama and Puerto Rico. Also known as espinela, trovo, and rima en poesía. The themes range from the religious to love, death and mythology.
Deep house - An electronic dance music style. It derives from house music and is characterized for having a deeper Soul music influence. It developed during the late 1980s and was popular until the early 1990s in New York, New Jersey and Chicago.
Derdeba - Gnawa ceremonies (Morocco).
Descarga - a salsa jam or improvisation.
Dhimotiká - general term for Greek folk music.
Dhrupad - the oldest vocal style of Indian classical music. It is devotional in nature and consists of two parts, alap and dhamar.
Dhun - Short piece in the style of Indian folk music.
Didadi - athletic dance rhythm from the Wasulu (Wassoulou) region of Mali.
Dimba - a Mandinka dance rhythm played for older women.
Doina - melancholic Romanian folk song.
Drum and bass - Fast paced polyrhythmic electronic dance music that is primarily instrumental. It is divided in sub genres known as: Jump-Up, Hard Step, Tech-Step, Hardcore, Happy Hardcore, Ragga, Darkside, Ambient/Intelligent. It derives from Jungle and is also known as Jungle.Dub - Jamaican roots electronic music, created by skillful, artistic re-engineering of recorded tracks.
Duet - A piece for two performers.
E
Early music - European music of the Middle Age, Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Edo-bayashi - Festival music from Edo (Japan).
Eisa-daiko - Okinawan style of dancing and drumming (Japan).
Encore - To repeat a piece or play an additional piece at the end of a performance.
Enredo - the theme song for a Brazilian samba parade. Each samba school writes a new samba enredo for each year’s carnival that fits a theme. Everyone in the school learns this song and sings it as they parade.
Ensalada - Spanish medley.
F
Fado - Fado music is the heart of the Portuguese soul. It is arguably the oldest urban folk music in the world. Some say it came as a dance from Africa in the 19th century and was adopted by the poor on the streets of Lisbon. Or perhaps it started at sea as the sad, melodic songs coaxed from the rolling waves by homesick sailors and fishermen.
Fasa - praise song performed by West African jalis.
Fena- a traditional rhythm from Mozambique.
Fere- one of the oldest Mandinka rhythms. Also known as Seyuruba. The songs typically consist of improvised praise for friends.
Fest noz - A Fest Noz is a Breton night festival, which involves traditional music, dancing and drinking. The traditional dances which feature in a Fest Noz date back to the Middle Ages, however the tradition of Fest Noz is more recent, being invented in the 1950s.
Festejo - festive Afro-Peruvian music.
Flamenco (Spain) - "…an Andalusian loves flamenco because it is beyond any definition, any law--accepting as it does every style, modality, cadence, sound and rhythm…because each individual who dances, plays or sings flamenco can interpret it as he wishes, and no one more so than that individual. Flamenco is Tartesian, Persian, Byzantine, and probably Ancient Greek, too. It is Mozarabic and Latin and, in being all of these, it is something moreflamenco is no more than what its most recent interpreter wanted it to be."
Eugenio Noel, Martín el de la Paula en Alcalá de los Panaderos. Madrid: La Novela Mundial, 1926.
Many new to flamenco typically ask, "What is flamenco?"This might seem like a simple question, one that could be answered with a few formulas, a short list of essential features that, taken as a whole, defines flamenco. The reality of flamenco is far from this simple, tidy picture. In truth, there is not one flamenco, there are many flamencos. Flamenco exists in both space and time, changing from locale to locale and from epoch to epoch. By its very nature, flamenco is a mass of contradictions: it is a traditional art form passed down orally from one generation to the next, often within family dynasties, but it is only about 200 years old and is a constantly changing hybrid. Also, while it is a regional and an oral art form, it is not a folk art. Flamenco singing and guitar playing are not taught in conservatories, though theatrical flamenco dance has been taught since the nineteenth century in dance academies, and today has attained a breathtaking virtuosity that has nothing to do with the technically subdued but highly expressive pueblo dancing that is still the backbone of so many flamenco fiestas. Flamenco is associated in the popular imagination with the Gypsies of Andalusia, though non-Gypsy artists have been every bit as important in the evolution of the art form, and the entire fandango family developed largely apart from the heavily Gypsy-influenced styles that developed in and around Cádiz , Jerez de la Frontera and Seville.
Flamenco is a way of life for many of Andalusia's Gypsies and plays a prominent role in all their important celebrations, yet it has been a highly professionalized art since the nineteenth century, presented before enthusiastic paying non-Gypsy audiences since the early years of that century. In the end, rather than trying to define flamenco, the intention here is to describe some of its most characteristic features, always realizing that for every "typical"element enumerated, there exists one or more common exceptions to this or any rule. Flamenco is a moving target, restless, never static for long, lovingly preserving the past, yet looking expectantly toward the future. For every aficionado of flamenco you ask "What is flamenco?", you will receive a different and often contradictory answer. Just as the Sufi is taught there are as many paths to God as there are souls on the earth, there are as many kinds of flamenco as there are flamencos.
Although flamenco cannot readily be defined, there is much about it that is typical, usual or customary, and this can be described to give a picture of some of the most common features of the art form. Much ink has been spilled on the origins of flamenco, from the date when flamenco can first be said to exist as a distinguishable and recognizable art form (the most common arguments place the date anywhere from the Fifteenth Century (or earlier) to the 1860s), to the role of Gypsies in the formation and popularization of flamenco, to establishing the canon of accepted (and acceptable) song forms. In fact, there is very little that can be said for certain about flamenco. We do know that it originated in Andalusia. The first documents that feature eye-witness accounts of something that is recognizably flamenco date from the first half of the nineteenth century. The use of the term flamenco to designate the art form and its performers is even later, scholars have dated its first appearance in print to the 1860s. Yet there are theories, especially by those who champion the Gypsy origins and development of flamenco, crediting the Gypsies with the creation of flamenco within their family circles during the eighteenth century (if not before). Unfortunately scholars have been unable to document this theory, though there is some logic to the argument that anything developed within Gypsy family circles and not presented to a non-Gypsy public would have had little chance of showing up in the documentary record since the Gypsies themselves were largely illiterate.
Both Gypsies and non-Gypsies seem to have been involved in the development of flamenco as a performing art. Certainly today over half of professional flamenco performers are non-Gypsy, and in every era there have been major figures who have not been Gypsy. But the Gypsy contribution, especially in terms of interpretation, has been significant in every age. The rise of flamenco itself has been tied by some scholars to a vogue for Gypsy style clothing, language and music championed by certain members of the aristocracy beginning in the second half of the eighteenth century. Certainly there is ample evidence of Gypsies and non-Gypsies alike adopting a flamenco lifestyle, one heavily influenced from its inception by Gypsies and many of their habits and characteristics. Although until the 1970s there were always two different interpretative traditions in flamenco--one Gypsy, the other non-Gypsy—since the 1970s there has been an overwhelming triumph of the Gypsy style of flamenco.
While flamenco cannot be neatly defined, certain basic and typical elements can be identified. The most basic element of flamenco is the voice. Without the voice, or at least the corpus of song forms derived from the singing tradition, there can be no flamenco. A lone singer, accompanied only by hand claps, finger snapping or table rapping, or simply the naked voice, can be the quintessence of flamenco. The guitar has been accompanying flamenco since the nineteenth century and has developed certain techniques and accompaniment styles in concert with the development of the singing style. Contrary to what many foreigners believe, dance is not the motor that drives flamenco. The musical forms that the dances are set to all derive from the singing tradition. The musical structure derives in every case from song: guitar and dance are rooted in flamenco song.
There are several different types of flamenco performances characterized by different venues, and even different audiences. The most basic performance type is the juerga or party. A juerga can simply be a collection of a few musicians--singers, a guitarist or two, and perhaps a few knowledgeable non-performers. Dancing may occur, though it will be impromptu and informal and will bear little resemblance to what would be presented in a flamenco stage production. Often the singers and guitarists will dance a bit as part of a juerga, at other times non-professional dancers will spontaneously get up and dance and occasionally professional dancers will dance, but in the more informal fiesta style. This more informal type of flamenco is also part of Gypsy celebrations such as baptisms and weddings. Some of the more elastic flamenco song types, generally bulerías and tangos, will be sung and danced to for hours on end. Again, the focus is on spontaneous performances by party goers who may or may not be professional performers. The emphasis is on self-expression, wit, playfulness and spontaneity. Prodigious technique, theatrical effects, and highly structured productions are not the focus of a fiesta.
Already by the 1840s, there is written evidence that flamenco was performed for paying spectators. During the course of the nineteenth century, more formal venues, in particular music halls and theaters, became the most usual place for paying audiences to experience flamenco. Performing groups were formed of one or more singers , a couple of guitarists and a group of dancers. There is a mix of singing accompanied by guitar, guitar solos and dance accompanied by voice and guitar, with quite a bit of emphasis given to the dance. Although these dance numbers are more highly structured than those spontaneous dances performed at juergas or fiestas, and there is greater emphasis on technique, still the performers have a certain degree of freedom within the overall agreed upon structure. For example, when a tablao group presents an alegrías, all of the performers know what metrical and harmonic structure is most typical of that song form. Alegrías have particular melodies associated with them and the lyrics have a specific poetic meter. The dance por alegrías traditionally contains certain sections that often come in a particular order, though there is some flexibility. Because the basic elements are common knowledge between all of the performers, and certain signals are commonly used to communicate between them, tablao performers can perform together with minimal rehearsal. This is the type of flamenco most often seen in flamenco night clubs in Spain.
Since the 1920s, highly choreographed theatrical productions have become increasingly common. In such productions the emphasis is on dancing, and often the dancing itself is at the service of a highly developed plot. A complex choreography is created, often set to specially selected or composed music. The performers have less room for spontaneous improvisation (or none at all), for in these productions there is great emphasis on flamenco as a dramatic art form like opera or ballet, in which the plot, choreography, music, costumes and set design all work together to communicate a consciously designed experience to the audience. This is flamenco as a theatrical art, one presented before a large audience that often has little or no understanding of flamenco. One of the most notable individuals associated with this type of theatrical flamenco has been Antonio Gades, whose works have been superbly documented by director Carlos Saura in a trilogy of dramatic dance films ("Blood Wedding", "Carmen", and "El Amor Brujo"). The dance technique of theatrical flamenco is worlds away from pueblo flamenco, though there is a clear connection with tablao flamenco, and the two styles have cross-fertilized to some extent. Yet for all the distance that divides theatrical flamenco dancing from the flamenco of a juerga or a fiesta, they all have in common the desire to communicate emotion directly and through the agency of the same flamenco song forms that are the basis of all flamenco.
These flamenco song forms are sometimes called "palos". Palo simply means a stick in Spanish and perhaps refers to the wooden sticks that many flamenco singers performed with during the nineteenth century, sticks that they would sometimes rap on the floor as they sang to mark the compás. There are over a dozen flamenco palosamong the most commonly performed today are alegrías, bulerías, tangos, fandangos, seguiriyas, soleá, soleá por bulerías, tarantos, martinete, saeta, malagueñas. There are other less commonly performed types, many of them derived from Andalusian folk music: bamberas, peteneras, farruca and fandangos de Huelva. There are also the so-called "cantes de ida y vuelta", song types that went to the New World with the Conquistadors and Spanish settlers and returned at some point during the nineteenth century to be transformed into flamenco song forms, these include, among others, the milonga, rumba and guajiras. This plethora of different sources and song types has been characteristic of flamenco since the nineteenth century.
A palo is characterized by several features:
- Compás--comprising both its musical meter and a particular pattern of accents within this metric structure.
- Mode, key or scale. Flamenco is often modal music, though not exactly the accepted modes of Western music. There are also some examples of palos, or sections of palos, in major and minor keys.
- Melody. Some flamenco palos, for example members of the cantiñas family, are associated with specific melodies. Other palos, like bulerías can and are sung to almost any melody, including popular songs transformed into the compás of bulerías.
- Some palos are associated with characteristic lyrics, for example the petenera, whose lyrics speak of a woman named Petenera, or the bambera, whose lyrics tell of swinging on the bamba (an Andalusian word for swing). There are also certain lyrics normally sung por seguiriyas or soleá, and saetas have a religious text, sung as they are to the images processed in Holy Week.
- Finally, each palo has a specific poetic meter to its verses that is, of course, compatible with the compás of the music.
Because of the rigidity of the compás in association with melody, and to a lesser extent lyrics, a performer or knowledgeable aficionado can identify the palo being performed before the end of the first sung line, and often before. The meter and the accent pattern quickly places the song into one of several compás families. The mode or key often further refines the identification. Finally the melody, characteristic guitar accompaniment and lyrics contribute to the positive identification. Seguiriyas will never be confused with malagueñas, nor bulerías with guajiras. It is quite frequent in Spanish to say that a singer or guitarist performs "in the style of"(por) a palo. For example, a singer sings por seguiriyas, meaning in a style that employs the characteristics of meter, compás, mode, melody and lyrics that are those of seguiriyas, and hence distinguishable from those of soleá, martinete, granainas, etc. Each flamenco palo is characterized by a number of commonly agreed upon elements. Taken together, these elements distinguish one palo from another. All a singer has to do is let the guitarist know he wants to sing por soleá, and the guitarist knows how to begin his guitar introduction. Once the singer begins singing his first line, the guitarist then identifies the specific melody the singer is singing and, from experience, knows how to accompany the singer. It is up to the guitarist to know the song tradition at least as well as the singer he is accompanying so that within seconds he can recognize what the singer is singing, and therefore accompany him appropriately. It must be remembered that flamenco is still an almost entirely oral tradition. The musicians are not working from any type of written musical notation, but are performing music that has been handed down orally from one generation to the next. This is beginning to change in recent years with the rise of flamenco compositions, especially on record albums. However, many of these songs have now become part of the oral repertory and are sung together with traditional verses and melodies in the same song.
So, we return again to the question: What is flamenco? Perhaps flamenco is not beyond description, though it might be, as Eugenio Noel believed, beyond definition. There is a corpus of commonly agreed upon characteristics that distinguish the flamenco palos from one another and create distinctions within flamenco as a whole. But these characteristics themselves are not flamenco. Flamenco is first and foremost an expression of the human heart. The formal elements of flamenco should ideally always be at the service of this expression: mutable, if necessary, to more fully explore our human experience. While flamenco was born and grew to maturity in a certain time and place, it has transcended its origins to be recognized as an art form of universal appeal, one expressing the universal concerns of human experience, an art form that speaks to hearts from Tokyo to Topeka, from Sydney to Seville. The power of flamenco derives from its of social and geographical focalization combined with its exploration of general human concerns. Some modes of communication still lie beyond the boundaries of conventional language, communicating in ways that are more direct, more truthful: speaking the language of the heart and soul. To be touched deeply by flamenco, you need not know the difference between bulerías and alegríasall that is required is an open heart, one ready to be moved by the passion for living expressed with such naked conviction in this art.
Fleadh- Celtic music festival.
Foliba- A typical praise song from Mali.
Fonn mall- slow air in Gaelic.
Fuji- Yoruba dance music with apala and sakara influences (Nigeria).
Fulía- a call and response music style from eastern Venezuela with Spanish musical roots.
G
Gafieira - Brazilian ballroom dance music. It is very popular in Brazil, particularly in Rio de Janeiro. The musical influences include Afro-Brazilian samba rhythms, French dance forms, Argentine tango, and North American big-band music. And the gafieira band, whose origins included guitar, cavaquinho, flute, and pandeiro, evolved to include trombone, trumpet, bass, drums, and piano.
Gagaku - Japanese imperial court orchestral music.
Gamelan - Indonesian music performed by an orchestra of percussion instruments, spiked fiddle and sometimes flute.
Gammaldans - old dance in Swedish
Ganawa - see Gnawa.
gangar - Swedish and Norwegian country dance
Gavotte - Breton dance tune.
Geantraí - happy song. One of three ancient types of Irish Celtic music.
Geet - Popular Indian song or composition
Ghazal - Westerners have become increasingly familiar with the classical music of India since it first became fashionable in the 1960s. But the Persian tradition, without a Beatles/Ravi Shankar collaboration to promote it, has remained a mystery, although it is becoming more recognized.
Several centuries of Mogul rule in northern India left a strong imprint on Hindustani music: a result of the mysticism, poetry, and musical subtleties of the Persian language and culture. The name Ghazal reflects that link: in the Persian tradition, a ghazal is a specific genre of poetry, characterized by an unusual blend of ecstatic spirituality and very earthy desires. In India, ghazal has evolved into a form of semi-classical music that remains popular to this day, and usually takes the form of a love ballad. In both cases, the imagery of the texts often obscures the difference between spiritual and physical love. Desire for a lover can be described in such exalted terms that it transcends the purely physical aspects of love. While these poems and ballads can be serious artistic and spiritual endeavors, they also reflect a sense of play - almost daring the audience to determine whether it's really what it appears on the surface, and suggesting that spiritual and romantic love are two sides of the same coin.
Gnaoua- see Gnawa
Gregorian Chant - a type of chants of the Roman Catholic Church, most of which are part of two liturgical rites, the Mass and the Offices. They were first created in the period of Pope Gregory I (590-604).
Goltraí - lament. One of three ancient types of Irish Celtic music.
Guaguanco - a form of Cuban rumba popular in Cuba.
Guajira - 1. An Andalusian dance. 2. Cuban country music. 3. A Flamenco style with Cuban influences.
Guaracha - 1. An old Spanish dance. 2. A very popular song and dance genre, with Spanish roots, that originated in Cuba and became popular in Puerto Rico and New York.
Gumbé - popular Guinean rhythm.
Gypsy - Gypsy music comprises various genres performed by the Gypsy or Roma (also called Rom and romani) people. It varies considerably from country to country. It includes Spanish Gypsy rumba (Spain and the Camargue area in southern France), Flamenco (Spain), Gypsy jazz guitar or Manouche (France), Balkan brass bands, Eastern European wedding orchestras, and much more.
Gyu ke - Chordal singing style of the Tibetan monks.
H
Habanera - owes its name to the Cuban capital Havana (La Habana in Spanish), where, at the beginning of the 19th century, a dance developed, which was slow in tempo. It became popular rapidly and was soon known beyond Cuban boundaries. It was this very habanera that the Spanish soldiers brought back home to their native country. These originally Cuban songs were able to cast their roots quickly on the Iberian Peninsula because of the compelling mixture of Antillean musical elements and sad folksongs, so that they soon became an important part of Spain's musical culture.
Halling - Swedish and Norwegian country dance.
Halk - general term for Turkish folk music
Haupango - The Mexican Haupango is a descendant of the Spanish Son, but its rhythm is definitely of the new world. The Haupango combines 2/4 time with 3/4 time and 6/8 time, creating cross rhythms of great complexity.
Highlife - a music style than begun in Ghana in the 1920s and which became popular in neighboring Nigeria. Highlife is the result of a combination of tribal rhythms with various European, American-style big band sounds, and even Caribbean influences. It reached its maximum popularity in the 1950s and 1960s in dance clubs throughout West Africa. The name highlife comes from mocking the high living lifestyle of its patrons.
Hindustani - North Indian.
Hip hop -Hip hop music, also known as rap music, is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. It consists of two main components: rapping (MCing) and DJing (production and scratching). Along with hip hop dance (notably breakdancing) and urban inspired art, or notably graffiti, these compose the four elements of hip hop, a cultural movement that was initiated by inner-city youth, mostly African Americans and Latinos in New York City, in the early 1970s.
Typically, hip hop music consists of rhythmic lyrics making use of techniques like assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. The rapper is accompanied by an instrumental track, usually referred to as a "beat," performed by a DJ, created by a producer, or one or more instrumentalists. Historically, this beat has often been created using a sample of the percussion break of another song: usually funk and soul recordings have been utilized. However, in recent years, it has become more common for the beat to be built up from individual drum samples. In addition to the beat, other sounds are often sampled, synthesized, or performed. Sometimes a track can be instrumental, as a showcase of the skills of the DJ or producer.Hip hop began in The Bronx, a borough in New York City, when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk and disco songs. The early role of the MC was to introduce the DJ and the music and to keep the audience excited. MCs began by speaking between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience members, jokes and anecdotes. Eventually this practice became more stylized and became known as rapping. By 1979, hip hop had become a commercially popular music genre and began to enter the American mainstream. In the 1990s, a form of hip hop called gangsta rap became a major part of American music, causing significant controversy over lyrics which were perceived as promoting violence, promiscuity, drug use and misogyny. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 2000s, hip hop was a staple of popular music charts and was being performed in many styles across the world.
Hogaku - Japanese classical music.
Honey songs - campfire songs from the Mbuti people (Central African Pygmies).
Höömeï - Tuvan throat singing.
Hora - Balkan ring dances.
Horo - See hora.
I
Iscathamiya - Traditional Zulu call-and-response a capella choral music sung by men from South Africa. In the mines of South Africa, black workers would entertain themselves after a six-day week by singing songs into the night, and choreographing dance steps on "tip toe"so as not to disturb the camp security guards. When the miners returned to the homelands, the tradition returned with them. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is the premier example of this style of music
J
Jali- See Jeli.
Jeli - jelis are the Manding nomadic praise singers and master instrumentalists from Mali, Senegal, Guinea and the Gambia, whose traditions date back to the 13th century. They sing epic songs and family histories. Another word used to describe jelis is griot, a term used by westerners.
Jambadon - a Mandinka rhythm for boys’ and girls’ circumcision ceremonies.
Jazz - a style developed by African-Americans. It is characterized by a strong rhythm, blue notes, and improvisation.
Jeel - Egyptian music of the younger generation.
Jhala - the final, fast movement of a raga.
Jing ping - Dominican [from Dominica, not the Dominican Republic] dance music played by accordion bands. The ensembles typically include the banjo and accordion with bass and percussion instruments like the chac-chac (maracas), boom boom (a blown bamboo tube) and tamboo (bamboo stick).
Jit - percussive Zimbabwean dance music.
Jive - Generic South African term for popular music.
Joik - one of the song styles of the Sami people.
Jondo - deep or profound flamenco style. The word jondo derives from hondo (deep).
Jornaditas - traditional Christmas songs from Granada (Spain) about the advent of Christ.
Joropo - the national music and dance form of Venezuela. The dancers are accompanied by harp, cuatro, maracas and bandola or guitar.
Jugalbandi - Indian jam session.
K
Kabuki-bayashi - the music of Kabuki theater music (Japan).
Kan ha diskan - unaccompanied Breton singing
Karoninka - a Mandinka rhythm usually played at weddings and child-naming ceremonies.
Kaseko (Surinam).Kaseko is the dance and entertainment music of the Surinamese Creoles, the descendants of the African slaves. It is created from a fusion of western march music, chorales, jazz, calypso and other popular music from the countries surrounding Surinam with Afro-Surinamese folk traditions.
Kidumbak - a style from Zanzibar. It is like a stripped down version of Taarab, more percussive and dance-based.
Kizomba music - an Angolan style based on the Semba, rumba and quilapanga.
Klezmer music - Klezmer is a Yiddish term for musician and refers primarily to a tradition of Jewish folk music with deep German and Eastern European roots. Two of the most important instruments in this tradition are the violin and the clarinet. Today Klezmer music is not just practiced in Eastern Europe and Germany but is also performed in the United States
Kompa - a popular style of Haitian tropical music created in the 1950s. It is heavily influenced by Dominican merengue and Cuban music. It is also spelled konpa. The word Kompa derives from the Spanish word compás, which means rhythm or beat.
Konpa - See kompa.
Krontjong - A mix of Portuguese Fado and various influences from various Indonesian cultures in the former Dutch East Indies. Lyrics are often sung only in four lines, mostly in Malay or Indonesian, sometimes in Dutch, depending on how old the song is. Krontjong Music was folk music for the average Eurasian living in the Dutch East Indies and from 1950 on mostly in the Netherlands. Nowadays Krontjong is Keroncong in Indonesia in the form of a mix with the popular Indonesian music Dangdut. Dangdut though is typical local music in Indonesia now, while Krontjong Music is still popular amongst Eurasians all over the world, like the USA, Australia etc.
Kveding - old Norwegian vocal tradition.
Kwaito - an urban South African genre developed in the 1990s. It is the result of the fusion of various musical sounds that were popular in the 1990s: South African dance music, hip hop, Jamaican influences, house music and rhythm and blues.
Kwassa Kwassa - dance style from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was developed 1980.
Kwela - South African pennywhistle (tin flute) music.
L
Laavloe - a Sami song style with words or lyrics.
Lammban - pre-circumcision ritual music from Guinea.
Lo kantak - Basque lullaby.
Lullaby - song for babies or young children
M
Madiba - a Mandinka wrestling rhythm.
Macumbo - an Afro- Brazilian ritual dance.
Makossa - Cameroonian dance rhythm from the Duala region.
Makusé - a form of Pygmy music to bring luck to a hunting camp.
Malagueña - a Flamenco style. It is a variation of the fandango.
Mantra - Buddhist invocations.
Mangissa - a popular Bayaka (Pygmy) dance form.
Maqam - Arabic scale in which a whole piece may be played.
March - Music for marching, such as in a parade or procession.
Marcha - Spanish term for march.
Mariachi - Mariachi is a type of musical group, originally from Mexico. Usually a mariachi consists of at least two violins, two trumpets, one Spanish guitar, one vihuela (a high-pitched, five-string guitar) and one guitarrón (a small-scaled acoustic bass), but sometimes featuring more than twenty musicians.. They dress in silver studded charro outfits with wide-brimmed hats.The original Mariachi were Mexican street musicians or buskers. Because of their great popularity many Mariachi are professional entertainers doing paid gigs in the mainstream entertainment industry.
Marinera - Peruvian handkerchief dance.
Marrabenta - a popular roots-based urban rhythm from Mozambique.
Marzas - Spanish songs of March.
Maskanda - Born of the Zulu experience of labor migrancy, maskanda is a musical dance style dominated by lush acoustic guitar ‘picking’ and distinctive rhythms.
Mawwal - the emotional melodic beginning to an Arabic song that is sung or spoken over a slow instrumental section before breaking into the fast-moving main body of the composition.
Mbalax - A Senegalese blend of African, Caribbean and pop rhythms. Also known as the jumping dance.
Música llanera - Venzuelan and Colombian plains music played by cattle herders. instruments used normally include the bandola, cuatro, bass and maracas
N
Nadales - the name given to Christmas songs in some parts of Spain, such as Catalonia and Galicia.
Nagauta - a form of Japanese classical music.
Naghmeh - See Naymeh.
Nana - Spanish lullaby.
Navidás - one of the names given to Christmas songs in Galicia (Spain).
Naymeh - Fishermen’s songs from Bushehr (Iran).
New Age - a marketing term originally used in the 1980s and 1990s to group a series of music styles that included acoustic instrumental, melodic electronic music, ambient music, meditation music , healing music and easy listening instrumental music. In recent times it became the term used to define easy listening instrumental music.
Nzele - a Kenyan music style created in the late 20th century by Uyoga, a famous Kenyan band. Nzele essentially borrows its rhythmic beats from Mwanzele. Nzele’s most distinct facet is the call and response style. This involves the lead singer, who lyrically calls out and the backing vocals answer in a chorus response. The instrumental accompaniment revolves around the bass guitar, drums, percussion, keyboards, flute, horns (sax/trumpet) and what Uyoga refers to as a “stinging” rhythm guitar strum.
Nuu isuisuha - `Are`are vocal music.
O
Omutibo - Kenyan style developed in the 1960s and 70s. The music is based on the sounds of two guitars and a scraped Fanta (soda pop) bottle playing the rhythm section.
P
Palm Wine - a music style from Sierra Leone. It is based on the sound of acoustic guitar riffs accompanied by traditional percussion.
Pambiche - a slower type of merengue that is easier to dance (Dominican Republic).
Pandeirada - lively Galician tambourine-based tunes (Spain).
Panxoliñas - one of the names given to Christmas songs in Galicia (Spain).
Parang - The word Parang comes from the Spanish word parranda, which means to party or to spree. In Trinidad it refers to a particular type of folk music of Spanish American origins.
Traditional Parang bands were formed by four to six singers accompanied by guitar, cuatro, mandolin, box base, and maracas. The musicians would move from house to house during festive seasons, singing in the homes of families, greeted with drinks and food. There were specific steps that accompanied the entry to a home, the dedication of songs to a host, the eating and drinking, and the departure. Today, many bands are professional, with corporate sponsorship, consisting of sometimes as many as 25 musicians, and often taking part in annual competitions that are televised or broadcast on radio.
Parap - a song style from Malaysia.
Pareados - two-line stanzas.
Pasacorredoiras - traditional Galician songs (Spain).
Pasichigare - traditional Shona (Zimbabwe) music.
Pasucais - traditional Asturian march (Spain).
Plena – an Afro Puerto Rican folk song and dance style.
Plin - Breton dance tune (France).
Polo, El - a popular Venezuelan style where singers improvise and sing verses from well known traditional songs. Accompanied by bandolina, guitarra, cuatro, charrasca, maracas and furruco.
Pols - Swedish and Norwegian country dance.
Polska - Swedish dance in triple time.
Polskor - polska in Swedish. Swedish country dance.
Polyphony - music that has many notes sounding together.
Posadas, las - traditional Mexican Christmas songs and reenactments of the trek that the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph made before the birth of Christ.
Puirt a beul - Scottish rhythmic form of unaccompanied singing that can be danced to.
Puntaires - Catalan Easter songs (Spain).
Q
Qawwali -Qawwali, an Arabic word eaning "utterance," is the devotional music of the Islamic mystics, or, as they are known in their regions, Sufis. The term includes both medium and style in its performance, and has been a dominant feature of Islamic culture since the 12th century.
Quebecois - music from the Canadian province of Quebec.
R
Rag - See raga.
Raag - See raga.
Raga- a melody in Indian classical music. The series of notes are related with moods, seasons or ceremonies. It can also be found under the spellings rag and raag.
Raga-soca - a music style from Trinidad and Tobago. The raga-soca derives from reggae, dancehall and calypso.
Rai - a popular musical style from Algeria that combines Berber roots with modern pop.
Raks sharki - belly dance or Oriental dance.
Ragtime - 1. A form of ethnic piano music from the early 20th century that is indigenous to the United States, and is characterized by a syncopated melody over a steady bass and chord line constituting a duple rhythm (two or a multiple of two beats per measure).
2. As in Piano Ragtime, which is a genre of syncopated music based on a march form that usually consists of three or four repeated distinct sixteen measure sections in a tonic and subdominant keys in the sectional form of A A B B A C C D D or a variation thereof.
3. A genre of popular music based on marches and Afro-American rhythms that was prevalent in the early 20th century. The roots of ragtime include African rhythms, French quadrilles, Mariachi instrumentations for New Orleans style ragtime, Russian and German marches, and some Arabic melodic lines.
Raks sharki - belly dance or Oriental dance.
Rancheras - Literally, ranch songs, accompanied by mariachi bands. This Mexican style began as Mexican cowboy music. In the 20th century, Mexican films popularized the genre. It became a pop style that attracted thousands of fans throughout Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas and Spain.Rap - a style developed in the United States by urban black American musicians. It combines rhythm and blues (R&B) and funk rhythms with poetry.
Rapso - a music style from Trinidad and Tobago. The name derives from rap and calypso.
Rasiya - This is the rich tradition of folk-songs that is found in the Braj area. Rasiya songs describe the love of the divine couple Radha and Shri Krishna. It is an inseparable part of the Holy celebrations and all other festive occasions at Braj. The Rasiya is sung to the rhythm of huge drums, locally known as bumb.
Reggae - a slow tempo rhythmic style that originated in Jamaica. It derived from ska and rocksteady. Its roots came from Jamaican folk, American soul and rock. Many reggae performers adopted the spiritual philosophy of Rastafarianism.
Reggaeton - reggae sung in Spanish, with rap influences. Found mainly in Puerto Rico and Caribbean Hispanic communities in the United States. It is also spelled Reggeton.
Rhumba - a misspelling of rumba.
Rímur - a dramatic form of epic song from Iceland. It is rooted in narrative poetry. Originally performed, a rímur circle could last hours and could cover many subjects.
Rock - a popular music style developed in the United States and Great Britain in the late 1960s. Its main influences were 1950s rock and roll, soul music and blues. As the genre grew, other influences were added, such as jazz, folk, country and classical music. Rock spawned a lot of subgenres: hard rock, southern rock, heavy metal, progressive rock, punk rock, grunge, etc.
Rock and roll - a popular music style developed in the United States in the 1950s. Its main influences were African American rhythm and blues, country music and pop. In the 1960s, a more electrified version developed and was called simply rock.
Rock'n'roll - See rock and roll.
Romances - Ballads. One of the most important poetic song styles from Spain and Spanish America.
Romerías - 1. Spanish religious processions and festivals. 2. Basque open circle dances, danced by a wide circle of men and women holding hands, or joined by handkerchiefs.
Rondeña - Flamenco style from Ronda (Málaga province), a variation of the Flamenco fandango.
Rondalla - a group of Spanish serenade songs sung by large groups of singers and players that walk throughout the city streets.
Rumba - 1.Cuban rhythms played at informal celebrations, combining African drumming and Spanish or African vocal traditions with improvised dancing and singing. There are three kinds of rumba rhythms: guaguanco, columbia and yambú. The instrumentation for the rumba includes three tumbadoras and two sticks or palitos. Two of the drums, the tumbadora and the segundo or tres golpes, play the basic rhythm and the quinto, which is a higher pitched drum, plays improvised beats to guide the dancers. 2. Also called rumba gitana or rumba flamenca, this sensual style derives from the Afro-Cuban rumba brought back from Cuba to Southern Spain in the 19th century.
Rumba Columbia - a style of Cuban rumba developed at the end of the 19th century in the eastern province of Matanzas. It differs from other rumbas by the 6/8 beat.
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Sakara - a Yoruba (Nigeria) musical style played at namings, weddings and funerals.
Salegy - In Madagascar, Salegy is probably the most danceable music of modern times. Born in the era of Pop music (end of the 60s), Salegy is an electric music but owes nothing to the West. An original and powerful ternary rhythm pulls dancers into its spiral; the instrumentation is delicate, inspired by tradition.
The origin of Salegy goes back to the fifteenth century at least, to man’s arrival in Madagascar. The rhythm, a quick six-eight, came to the Southeast of the Island (Fort Dauphin region) with the first inhabitants, and then moved with them towards the Southwest and then the North. In each region it has a particular name: tuska in the North and bassessa in the East, but it is fundamentally the same, with imperceptible variations for someone who is not from these parts. It has become the symbol of Malagasy music, which is nonetheless very diverse.
The word Salegy itself dates back to the 60s. Apparently it has an Indonesian origin and means a new, electric music, conceived by certain guitarists at the crossroads between popular and traditional music.
Salsa - Salsa is an energetic song and dance style that combines Cuban son, Afro-Puerto Rican beats and sounds from other Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries, with American jazz and other styles.
Salsa was developed mainly by Hispanic American, Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Caribbean musicians in New York City (USA). It is a hot Latin dance style that frequently features exciting horn arrangements. The polyrhythmic, beautifully syncopated music, is usually played by a band (sometimes called orquesta) of 8-10 musicians with 1 or 2 lead singers, brass instruments (especially the trombone), piano, bass, conga drums, timbales, bongos, a cowbell and other percussion instruments. The word salsa means sauce, denoting a "hot" flavor.
One of the true musical giants of the 20th century, Tito Puente, was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents. By the late 1940s he had his own orchestra, complete with four trumpets, three trombones, four saxophones and a large rhythm section. Puente became a major innovator in mambo, descarga, Latin jazz, cha-cha-chá, salsa and many other styles.
One of salsa’s most innovative pianists, Eddie Palmieri grew up in New York’s Bronx, in a Puerto Rican family. By 1955, Eddie was playing music professionally, and in 1961 he launched a band that would soon become legendary, La Perfecta.
Some of the most famous Salsa groups appeared in the New York City area in the 1970s. Fania Records, founded in 1964, by Johnny Pacheco, became the home of some of the most exciting groups and recordings of the time. A few of the key artists from that period are composer and arranger Willie Colón, vocalists Hector Lavoe, Ismael Miranda and Rubén Blades. A group known as the Fania All Stars was formed, which included some of the best singers, instrumentalists and composers based in the New York vicinity.
Héctor Lavoe was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and quickly made a name for himself with his distinctive high-nasal vocal sound and jibaro singing style. Later he met Willie Colón and launched what would prove to become one of the most formidable partnerships in Latin music history Willie Colón was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1950. Colón’s talent has been unmatched. This gifted trombonist, singer, composer, producer, arranger and actor has produced more than forty albums in his career, and has sold an astonishing fifteen million records. He has been nominated for eleven Grammys, has fifteen gold and five platinum records.
One of the world’s top soneros, José Alberto ‘El Canario’ was born in the Dominican Republic in 1958, but spent most of his childhood in Puerto Rico. In 1978 in New York he joined Típica 73 and began recording for the Fania label. Five years later, he formed the José Alberto ‘El Canario’ Orchestra, which quickly earned a reputation as one of the hottest salsa bands.
New York was not the only hotspot for salsa groups. In Puerto Rico there was El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. Andy Montañez was its lead vocalist for a while and appeared on many of the group's hits. In Venezuela, Dimensión Latina was the leading band. It featured Oscar D'León, a singer that would later become one of the world's top salsa stars. There were many other popular bands and artists, including La Sonora Ponceña, Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Roberto Rohena y su Apollo Sound, La Zodiac.
Manny Oquendo’s Libre was founded in 1974 by a pair of New Yorkers of Puerto Rican heritage, Manny Oquendo and Andy González. Both decided to leave Eddie Palmieri’s band in order to create new sound that was libre (or ‘free’) of traditional musical boundaries, based on Afro-Cuban and Afro-Puerto Rican roots but constructed more around jazz arrangements.
In Colombia, salsa took hold in the main Atlantic and Pacific coastal cities, where a distinctive style emerged and had a significant impact on the genre as a whole. Within Colombia, salsa is danced in clubs, discos and at carnival – dancing is widespread in a land where the latest salsa hit is heard everywhere, on your way to work, when you do the shopping, and when you go out with your friends. Some of the biggest salsa names today are Colombian, including Joe Arroyo, Fruko y sus Tesos, La Sonora Dinamita and The Latin Brothers.
Born in 1955 in Cartagena, Joe Arroyo would become Colombia’s most popular salsa artist and an international star. A singer, bandleader, composer, arranger and producer, he formed his own band La Verdad in 1981, playing a variety of traditional Latin rhythms and blending musical influences, as heard in ‘La Guerra De Los Callados’.
An incredible composer and arranger, after discovering New York salsa, Fruko formed Fruko y sus Tesos in 1971. Since then he has been at the cutting edge of Colombian music, stamping his unique musical imprint on a range of styles, and is one of the most respected Latin music artists in salsa from South America.
Colombian arranger/composer Lucho Argain brought together eleven musicians from the Atlantic coast of Colombia to form La Sonora Dinamita, who have played a central role in the music of Colombia over the last forty years.
Internationally regarded as one of the finest Colombian salsa bands, The Latin Brothers were originally influenced by the (then) new sound of two extra trombones in a music group, pioneered by Venezuelan salsa legend Oscar D'León and his band Dimensión Latina. This sound is now integral to their distinctive music, and they have produced a string of classic albums in the best traditions of Colombian salsa.
Formed in 1995 by composer and producer Diego Galé and Mario Rincón, La Sonora Carruseles are an incredible machinery of non-stop swing. Their mission has been to re-record classic songs from the salsa heyday of the 1970s preserving them for future fans.
Luis Felipe González first became famous as lead singer of Nelson y Sus Estrellas. His wide-ranging voice successfully performed bolero, tropical music, and, of course, salsa, with songs like the unforgettable ‘Londres’ (recorded in 1979).
Los Golden Boys formed in 1961, and the success and popularity they initially gained from covering the twist, and Atlantic coast rhythms such as el elevado, allowed them to record numerous covers including ‘El Pirulino’ by Calixto Ochoa. ‘Pirulino’ was chosen as the soundtrack to one of the most successful Colombian soap operas ever, Pedro El Escamoso.
Other Colombian salsa artists worth listening are Los Nemus Del Pacifico, Los Del Caney, Los Titanes, Grupo Niche and one of the greatest soneros, Gabino Pampini.
A variant known as Salsa Dura is a term that defines salsa as it developed in New York, with genres and rhythms drawn from Cuba and other islands in the Caribbean melding with the tempo, drive and improvisational techniques picked up by the immigrants in New York City. Jimmy Bosch is one of its top exponents.Salsa now reaches far and wide. There are numerous bands in Europe, Africa and Asia. Two African acts have become very popular in the salsa world, Africando (Senegal) and Ricardo Lemvo (Congo/US).
A genre called salsa romántica has been around for a few years. It is by and large a very commercial and bland mix of romantic Latin pop with a little salsa. The artists record for the Latin divisions of major labels, who promote this lackluster genre as salsa.
Salsa Dura - means hard salsa. It is a term that defines salsa as it developed in New York, with genres and rhythms drawn from Cuba and other islands in the Caribbean melding with the tempo, drive and improvisational techniques picked up by the immigrants in New York City.
Saltarello - a fast two-step Italian dance whose name comes from jump. However, only expert dancers hop. The dancers are accompanied to the sound of the guitar, mandolin, tambourine or the drum.
Salterello - See Saltarello.
Saltones - traditional Asturian dance tunes (Spain).
Samba - Samba remains a popular Brazilian dance form and musical genre. Over the years, it has been exported worldwide, and fused with contemporary music to its success. Though its origins are widely disputed, the genre can be placed as having its roots origins in the traditional religious ceremonies brought to Brazil by African slaves. As a musical genre, samba combines the rhythmic percussion tempo variation with the sounds of the pandeiro, reco reco, tamborim and cuica to name a few, giving it its distinct sound and vibe. With its link to the yearly Carnaval (Brazilian carnival), samba has come to symbolize racial and social harmony.
Samba de Coco - a fusion between the Fulnio Indian culture of Brazil and African musical roots.
Samba Reggae - this style grew out of the blocos afros (Black carnival associations) in Bahia (Brazil).
Sangleik - Scandinavian song games.
Sema - the Whirling Dervish rite.
Semai - dance of the Alevis, also know as screaming dervishes.
Serranas - The Serranas is a Flamenco style with the same beat structure as the Siguiriyas, although less intense. Its themes revolve around the concerns of and about mountain bandits.
Sevillanas - a very popular dance which is typical of the province of Sevilla (Spain) and is derived from the seguidilla and the fandango. The sevillanas are danced by couples and consist of six couplets.
Sephardic music - Sephardic music comprises the songs, mainly ballads, romances (Hispanic narrative ballads) and wedding song lyrics, preserved by communities formed by the Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 15th century. Most of the Spanish Jews set up house in Mediterranean countries, primarily in Morocco, Greece, Turkey. These Sephardic communities share many of the same lyrics and poems, but the music itself varies considerably.
Because so many centuries have passed since the exodus, a lot of the original music has been lost. Instead, Sephardic music has adopted the melodies and rhythms of the various countries where the Sephardim settled in. The Greek and Turkish traditions are fairly close. The Moroccan or “western” Sephardic traditions are not that close to the eastern/Greek/Turkish traditions.
Sha'bi - indigenous Egyptian music. It is also spelled shaabi and chaabi in some cases.
Shoegaze - A term coined in the 1980s. It refers not to the sound of the music, but on the onstage behavior of the musicians, particularly the guitarists. The characteristic sound of shoegaze is one of electric guitars with numerous effects (i.e. distortion, delays, reverb, compression et al.). The players are typically fiddling with their effects pedals forcing the guitarists to look down at their pedals. As a consequence, they are said to be "gazing at their shoes" or "shoegazing". Thus the genre, shoegaze came to be in the 80's.
Description courtesy of Mark Dungey.
Siguiriyas - a Flamenco deep song style derived from tonás. They are full of drama and the number of variations is very high. They consist in a powerful wordless introduction followed by a four verse stanza.
Singsing - pop music from the Solomon Islands.
Soleares - a flamenco singing style of ternary beat, without rational continuity in its words, mainly formed by a quartet and a trio or solearilla de cierre, which is more agile and simple. Although, in some occasions, this finishing is best defined as a difficult culmination that requires particular voice qualities and a highly expressive emotion.
Soca - a musical style from Trinidad and Tobago. The name derives from so, from soul, and ca, from calypso. The bands usually feature a drummer, bass player, guitar and horns.
Soleariya - a flamenco soleá with three verses.
Son - means pleasant artistic sound in Spanish. The word son is used throughout the Spanish speaking world to designate various music styles. Some of the best known as son cubano (Cuba), son jarocho (Mexico).
Son cubano - one of the most important Cuban music styles. It is the result of combining Spanish and African influences. Cuba son originated in the province of Oriente and was played by small bands, using guitar or tres, maracas, güiro, claves, bongo, a marímbula and a botija.
Soneos - Improvised lyrics and melody sung during a Cuban montuno.
Songo - A popular musical style created in Cuba, featuring drum set and many new rhythms.
Soniou - light Breton songs of love and adventure (France).
Son jarocho - a style found in the Veracruz Gulf Coast region of Mexico. It is a blending of instrumental music traditions featuring Spanish and Afro-Caribbean influences, oral poetry and dance. The ensemble that plays this style of music usually consists of a harp, jarana (five string guitar), and requinto (small four string guitar).
Soukous - a Congolese musical style that grew out of 1950s Cuban rumba combined with the kwassa kwassa dance rhythm.
Stev - Norwegian short songs.
Suantraí - lullaby. One of three ancient types of Irish Celtic music.
Sufi - devotional Muslim music.
Sygyt - throat-singing style from Tuva.
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Tagou m’bar - A traditional Wolof warm-up rhythm (Senegal).
Tamborera - A Venezuelan genre from the state of Zulia in Venezuela's western Caribbean region. It is known for its tropical rhythms and the use of several characteristic instruments: tamboras, furro and charrasca.
Tamunangue, El - An Afro-Venezuelan rural music and dance style from the state of Lara that honors San Antonio de Padua.
Tamure - New dance form from Micronesia.
Tango
- 1. a passionate style that originated in the streets and brothels of Buenos Aires. It can be vocal or instrumental with the bandoneón and violin playing a leading role. 2. Tango flamenco. The only non-dramatic variety of the eldest Flamenco genres. It is a festive style, with a faster rhythm, unrelated to the Argentinean tango.
Tanguillos - festive and joyful flamenco style derived from tangos, found in Cádiz.
Tarantas - flamenco style from Almería, derived from the Andalusian fandango.
Tarantella- Italian folk dance accompanied by tambourines.
Tarantos - an eastern Andalusian flamenco style, related to the tarantas.
Tenores - The Tenores style of singing is the proof of the existence of polyphony in ancient age on the island of Sardinia. But it is difficult to establish precisely the origins of tenores singing because of the entangled history of Sardinia, full of domination by other civilizations, such as the as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs and Spaniards.Terapia criolla - an Afro-Colombian music style and dance from Cartagena, in the Caribbean coast. It is a combination of indigenous rhythms, Caribbean beats and African influences. The lyrics are usually satirical. Also known as champeta criolla.
Tientos - flamenco style derived from tangos, although with a slower beat
Timba - a contemporary music that has been developing in Cuba under the influences of Jazz, pop, rock, rap, reggae and son music. Timba is a very vibrant sound with elements of Afro-Cuban folk drums, congas, bass and piano.
Timbalada - A musical rhythmic style of percussion from the northern part of Brazil.
Tonás - one of the oldest flamenco styles. The songs include long moans and sudden halts, directly related with the tragedies suffered by Gypsies- incarceration, chain gangs, hard laborand violent deaths in quarrels. It includes twenty variations, amongst them martinetes and deblas.
Toré - a religious rhythm of the Fulni-o Indians in Brazil, where messages for protection are sent to the ancestors.
Tropicalismo - a short lived social and political music movement that took place in Brazil. It was started in 1968 by Caetano Veloso, together with Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, his sister Maria Bethania and a number of other musicians, poets and intellectuals. Musicians experimented with new sounds and words, adding electric guitars to their bands and utilizing the imagery of modern poetry.
Ttsapika - popular Malagasy dance rhythm from Fort Dauphin / Tulear, in the south.
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Vallenato - Colombian music style.
Vakisoava - a poetic call and response style of singing from Madagascar.
Velorio - an Afro-Colombian religious ceremony that pays tribute to the deceased, which is very common in African countries.
Verdiales - 1. one of the Flamenco styles that belong to the Málaga fandangos groups. 2. A typical folk dance from Málaga, Spain.
Villancets - one of the names given to Christmas songs in Catalonia (Spain).
Villancicos - Spanish and Spanish American traditional Christmas songs and dances.
Vou-veri-rou - lullaby from Mallorca (Spain)
Vuelie - Sami storytelling song about a person or an event.
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Wassoulou - see Wasulu.
Wasulu - a musical style from Mali typified by a strong Arabic feel.
Welsk music - A revival of traditional folk music and a renewed interest in the use of its native Welsh (Cymreag) language took place in Wales in the 1970s.
Were - A Muslim style of music performed most often as a wake-up call for early breakfast and prayers during Ramadan celebrations.
Winti - Winti is an Afro-Surinamese religion with a supreme being who has withdrawn from the world and a pantheon of lesser gods. Belief in an immortal soul and the ancestor worship connected with it play a central part in the religion of the Creole population. The music linked to the religious practices is a Surinamese variant of the West African tradition, handed down from the period of slavery, of ritual drum music and dancing before the wintis, the demigods who move as fast as the wind. Each of the wintis has special rhythms and songs by which he or she can be summoned.
Their presence manifests itself in the trance dance in which a winti temporarily takes possession of someone's personality. This can happen during a healing ritual, but also at a celebration.
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Yambú - One of the three most popular forms of Cuban rumba.
Yasl-khani - Improvised songs of humor and satire from Bushehr (Iran).
Yovoringo - a Mandinka wrestling rhythm.
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Zigeuner musik - German term for Gypsy music.
Zouk - modern dance music from the French-speaking Antilles.
Zydeco - a popular accordion-based musical genre from southern Louisiana. It is performed by the Creoles of Color, combining traditional sounds with new rhythm and blues elements.
