Friday, 1 July 2011

Music From Around The World Sounds Sweet

By Stacie Allison


From its indigent roots, music from around the world has come into its own. In an increasingly globalized multi-culture, we have access to musical styles that in former decades would have required extensive travel to appreciate. During the eighties, pop stars like Sting and Paul Simon corroborated with musicians from around the globe adding depth to their individual sounds. With intriguing embellishments from third-world musicians, Western genres expanded.

Often referred to as ethnic music, with a wide-ranging geography and instrumentation, it is not quite so easily categorized now. Musicians of wildly diverse cultures have managed to assimilate styles creating a profusion of sounds that have led to sub-categories. Compositions and harmonies have melded.

Appearing first in small venues, these international artists now fill large venues playing to increasingly sophisticated audiences. From there, CDs make their way into the record collections of an avid Western population intent of cultural enrichment. What was once an ethnic sound has become familiar with exposure.

If you are interested in hearing some Tibetan chants, Japanese koto or Indian raga, all are increasingly booked to play for Western audiences. Offered up, tribal music from the Middle East, Asia, Central America and Africa are proliferating. Reggae as been assimilated so deeply into the mainstream it almost seems like an American roots style instead of Jamaican.

This genre has become a hybrid of assimilated styles. We now see categories called World Fusion, Global Fusion, Ethnic Fusion and Club Beat that all have similarities but the various strains are fusing into separate idioms. And it is only just beginning. They crossover into new age, pop, ska, jazz, lounge and blues. Eastern European folk evolves into American country and western.

The one place that is thoroughly behind this amalgamation is Paris. With large West and North African populations, as well as Algerian and Moroccan, an intense appreciation for differing musical styles proliferates. Add a culture with strong institutional support for the arts and you have a lively scene. Middle Eastern sounds, especially Persian, are on the rise in the United States. Jamaican Reggae has been thoroughly assimilated.

Visit the Internet to learn about the latest and most exciting groups all over the globe. A great source of information, you can listen to and purchase CDs and MP3s. There is a list of radio stations to tune into. There is a schedule of festivals taking place this summer. There are great sites to begin your appreciation of the many and varied musical styles on tap.

If you think you may have listened to Pink Floyd maybe one too many times, have worn out your Nirvana records, have listened to so much Grateful Dead your brain is dead, check out some of the exhilarating musical offerings around the world. It might be just the thing to get your mojo working with some new jump and jive. Globalization never sounded sweeter. Read more about: music from around the world




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | GreenGeeks Review