Cool Stuff 1!

I have long been fascinated in the roles of women in many different societies, and this certainly extends to Native American women. As we took a listen to the different songs in class, I noticed a heavy male presence and became interested in what more Native American women have done that flies under the radar. This lead me to discover a Smithsonian website entitled “In Our Own Voice: Songs of American Indian Women“. It talked about how most music by Native American women is done in private settings, as their role is traditionally more domestic. I learned about a specific song called the “Spotted Fawn Song”, which is a ceremonial and spiritual song basically about a girl’s first menses, when she becomes a woman. This is a unique and surprising topic (at least, to those used to the topics of most Western style music) that, upon further reading, I realized is a very appropriate one, as many Native American women’s songs are about renewal and new life. I’ve attached a short recording of the song below. As you can tell, it is very repetitive and accompanies a dance, which I could unfortunately not find a video of.

As anyone who read my first blog post is aware, my mother is very well traveled. Unsurprisingly, this led to her collecting many pieces from all around the world that are on display in our house in Virginia. One such piece is an Egyptian Doumbek drum. As we studied the different types of African drums in class, I thought of our Egyptian Doumbek and considered what kind of music might be played on it, as the sound is different than that of other African drums. The first video below is of a man names Fritz Heede playing a Doumbek. As you will hear, the sound is more hollow, bright, and sharp than that of say, the Agbekor. I also attached a video of an Agbekor Ensemble for comparison.

I was asked by my brother the other day if I had any SATB a capella arrangements I would be willing to send his way to have his choir perform. I said of course, and that I just had to take a quick look to edit some details on a few of them. As I was going through one of my arrangements, I noticed with a new eye that I had employed the use of some polyrhythms not in the original arrangement. I had done this to give it a fresh twist that had a different, but not unrecognizable, sound. I love the intricacy of polyrhythms, and while those I’ve written aren’t incredibly complex, those of many African songs are. Upon searching for examples of these, I found a video of a man from Nigeria and a man from Los Angeles collaborating to record a more modernized example of 1000-year-old African polyrhythms. Enjoy!