FInal Post: Anier's World Playlist

 Alrighty, y'all... so this is the end of an amazing semester with an amazing class! I am so glad that I had the opportunity to spend my last Jan Term class with you all, it was lots of fun!! Thankfully, we had the opportunity to learn about many different cultures and places around the world that diversify not only my knowledge, but as well as what we all thought we knew about countries around us. I had the opportunity to explore a variety of cultures that I hope to experience one day, and after learning what we have learned throughout our time in Music Of Diverse Cultures, traveling seems like a beneficial experience for anyone. So, let us strap in and travel the world one last time and explore the different art expressions or musical history of the beautiful countries that surround what we all think to be the only place we have limitations to. Being in this class has taught me no limits, so lets take advantage of it!

    To begin our first journey, we are flying over from the U.S. over to Greenland. I decided to come over here because of recent uproar of political stands between these two countries. A lot of people don't know much about Greenland's musical or general history, but opportunities like these should be a great chance to learn more about countries that we should all respect and uplift in times like these. Greenland is located in the North Eastern area of North America, bordering near Canada. It is mostly inhabited by Greenlandic Inuit, who are the indigenous peoples of Greenland. Most of their musical influences came from dancing, but based of of instruments given from European colonization, they began a folk tradition of music called Kalattuut, in which the largest ethnic group of Greenland called Kalaallit, keep alive. I think my favorite traiditon that fills my Instagram feed all the time has to be the traditional Katajjaq throat singing, in which traditionally, two women come face to face and with the combination of vocalization and non-vocable sounds that they produce by tightening and relaxing the vocal cords. One person is indicated as a leader and the other is indicated as the follower, in which they treat it as "call-and-response". I decided to attach a video of my two favorite Inuk influencers that I follow. Their goal is to maintain the traditions of Inuit culture and express the different cultures. 

Here are two of my favorite influencers in the whole world. Her name is @Shina Nova if y'all want to give her a follow <3. She was born in Greenland I believe, and then moved to Canada at a very young age!

    Now, NEXT COUNTRY!! Now, honestly, I am traveling based on the different people that live in these countries, and elaborating from there. Now, you all know about the song Royals by Lorde, which I won't attach (but look it up if you want a brief nostalgic trip to Middle School), but little do you know that Lorde the artist is from New Zealand! Here, the Māori people are the indigenous people of this land, in which they have inhabited for over 700 years. One of the most commonly known and traditional forms of music from the Maori people is called Waiata, which is translated to "song". These can be in the form of lullabies, or Oriori, Waiata Tautoko, support songs, or the most traditonal form of song called Haka. If you have NOT seen Haka, it has to be one of the most moving acts of honor and respect that the Maori people perform to show a form of celebration, emotional expression, welcoming others, or challenging another group. This was mostly done in War in battle to show power and strength, using extreme facial expressions, vigourous hand-shaking, and feet stomping. They create a rhythm by maintaining a steady stomp, accompanied by sometimes strong taps on their chest. This is mainly performed by both men and women! I have attached a video of a popular Rugby match, in which before a New Zealand match competing against Australia in 2021, this was their form of beginning the challenge. As of today, more and more New Zealand teams have expressed this form of song, exposing the world to the culture a lot more.  I am unaware of which song they are singing in this one, but most of the Haka songs express honor to their motherland and stating that they would die and live for another step forward!! (Also, they are in the continent of Oceania, which once again, I just learn so much more as I take a deeper look at the world map, haha). I just think that this form of music and chant is so powerful, and to know that so many young individuals still learn this traditional act shows how proud they are of maintaining their culture. 

Okay, ready to fly somewhere else? Okay, so we will be circling back towards North America, and landing back in Africa for a round two! I wanted to revisit Africa because I truly believe the continent and culture of Africa is the heartbeat of lots of music that we find throughout the world. From the drums maintaining a steady dance rhythm, cultural influences beyond the arts, Africa has been a center of social and cultural expansion throughout different areas of the world. I considered going back to Spain, because of the traditional dance of Flamenco, which I also think is a bonus one I will include for funzies, but I wanted to visit African influences again. So during class, we visited Western and Southern Africa, but we will take some time to look into the more Eastern part of Africa, in which I will go into Egypt. Now, I don't know much about Egypt, hence why we are here to learn, but I definitely know that Egypt is not just about pyramids and mummies, as most critics would like to argue. A lot of traditional Egyptian music include the usage of wooden wind instruments, strings, and of course the HARP, but I wanted to explore more of the modern day music you would expect visiting Egypt. So for a little bit of cultural context, the majority of the population here speak traditional Arabic language, whilst the population is made up of mostly Northern African people. However, there is an "Egyptian" language, The language is a combination of Afroasiatic languages, which include combinations of Arabic, Hebrew, and so many more. As far as modern Egyptian music, you will find a lot of recorded mixing and combination of traditional Egyptian instruments and Western influences. This song I attached called Habeb Hayaty by Moustafa Amar, which translates to Love of My Life. During the song, its the artist singing about how his love now has left him alone and has made him realize his life's purpose is to be with the woman he is in love with. In the background, you can hear not only traditional symbols being used, but you can hear clapping and a slight sound of finger cymbals, which is traditionally used in belly dancing by female dancers. The main beat is kept by drumming, which there might be a high chance that it could be a Doumbek drum, which was another traditional instrument used in Egypt!! I decided to land here because I just figured that Egyptian music is something I always wanted to explore, and of course, stereotypical views lead you to believe everything is one way, which it isn't! 

And of course, for my final location, we will land over in North America in the Caribbean Islands, which is where I was born! Bomba, or bomba plena, is a traditional African dance, created by the enslaved people of Africa. Bomba was a way to express anger and resistance, and typically danced to rebel against those who brought pain. The idea of bomba plena was to tell stories of current social, political, and personal movements, in which many used as a form of protest against the government for their treatment against African people. Bomba was brought by the Sudanese and Bantu cultures, located in the Western region of Africa. Since its birth in the 17th century in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, and has since spread throughout Ponce (my hometown), Santurce, and Loíza. It has now become a artistic movement in many social groups today, like the Black Lives Matter social group, expressing union and power. I found this video that explains the history of Puerto Rico and how bomba was born so perfectly, but growing up in Puerto Rico, we come from people who are proud of our ancestry, which I have said a lot of times makes me happy. However, I am super salty my mom never got me a bomba dress, because I always wanted to learn to dance it. Typically, the drummer keeps the rhythm, but the dancers controls the drummers rhythm, melody, and tempo, based off the different dances done!! This type of music explains mainly why Latino culture is really passionate of their historical and ancestral roots, and why this passion pours over to other parts of the world. The call and response, the most important way of keeping community, and it seems like we have learned lots about this throughout the world. 

And now, back to South Carolina we land. I hope you all enjoyed a chance to explore different regions of the world and learn a little bit more about different parts of the world. This experience has allowed me to learn that traveling and experiencing different cultures will open your eyes to so many different things, but has also made a way of unifying the world in a tighter sense. So, as we depart, lets keep learning, lets keep asking questions, and lets keep informing others of the wonderful world that surround us. Doesn't matter if you are white, African, Latina, Asian, or whatever else, we are all humans just trying to share a beautiful world around us and show that we all have hearts to express some beautiful cultures. <3 Thank you, Dr. Vaneman for opening our eyes to an opportunity to learn!