Cool Stuff #4

I was looking for a video of a didgeribone, a didgeridoo that slides like a trombone. This is what I found--a guy “hee-hawing” through a didgeribone to a couple of donkeys, who sing back--it’s quite funny. If you look carefully, you can see how the didgeribone slides. The inner tube is yellow, and the outer sliding one is red.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5MCSq8Adg4

This is a gamelan performance, marching band style. They carry their instruments, move around in formation, and do cool stuff like a marching band being goofy. You can tell that they are enjoying themselves immensely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28-5r9-BdwQ

Okay, so you never know what you’re going to find. I was looking up Hawaiian music and found the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. They do look very British. In this video they are performing a medley of various pop songs. I have finally figured out the words to one of the songs that they sing: “one smell of fajitas”--I never knew what those darn Eagles were saying in that line. Now I do, thanks to the Ukulele Orchestra of GB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTIv8hP-UIA

Uku orchestra doing “Orange Blossom Special”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H18aK9HhNSM

Here’s a little more information about the Chinese opera mask changing. A performer is interviewed, but he gives very little of his secrets away. Interesting, nonetheless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwfGdJIzYZs

I was surprised to learn that the Native American drumming had not meter. I have heard a fair amount of Native American music, but never noticed the lack of meter. I thought it was quite powerful when several people all beat the same drum at the same time. It was interesting to learn, also, that the drum represents the heartbeat.

I noticed that in my own culture there is an extreme amount of blending of music from other cultures. Since the US is a relatively young nation, that really is not that surprising. Even music that was developed in this country is a fusion of music from other cultures.

I would like to learn more about Chinese music. I never knew that it was so meditative in nature. I am interested in learning the scales that they use, and what it is about their music that makes it meditative.