Music around the world; Dances

The following program was originally released in 1967. Will you won't you will you won't you will you join the dance. Yes the building you see it in a variety of ways and for many different reasons all the peoples of the world have a new set of. Michigan State University Radio invites you now to a program of music around the world produced and hosted by Mark a little. Dancing occurs in almost all societies. Dancing for the gods for oneself for an audience. There are classical dances art dances folk dances social dances their dramatic dances fun dances ceremonial dances some dances are highly formalized some are loosely pattern some are for self-expression. There are so many kinds of dances and dancing that an introductory lecture could easily go on for hours. In any case this is definitely one of those situations in which experience is worth a million

words. But let's see if the music the various dances can conjure up some of the excitement the color the movement the spirit. For a start let's join in around Unchained dance being performed at some community gathering maybe affair or a wedding in western Bulgaria. Was. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good.

Good. Good. Good. Good. Good good. Oh OK. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. The musicians and dancers often continue on in relays for hours. The sort of trips the

Korean jam session there were several different melodic instruments in that number. But the main element of music relevant to dancing is of course the rhythm. Here's the music to the dance which the people of Zambia on festive occasion. But the fact that the. Dancing is often accompanied by singing plus whatever instruments are generally used in the region.

In at least one area of Madagascar that would be this instrument. And among the Australian aborigines it would be the didgeridoo.

In addition to the didgeridoo and rhythms you can hear the scampering the dancers who are doing rituals or dancing. By the way the word. Here is alive.

Yeah. The. Country knew. This type of song called Hunger is often used to harvest dances the words to this particular song. Fun at the good for nothing village lads who go up to the big wide world to seek their fortunes and then return home after many years with nothing but I could be. Proud of.

The. Hard. Work but I'm going to. The dance in the back of a sun the north eastern frontier state of India also uses drums to accompany male voices. It was a completely different effect. And from South India the dance of the on'em festival which marks the end of one year and beginning

of the next. This is a popular dance but the music has overtones of the South Indian style of classical music and passion than eat was a Manny was a non-geek I am that I am damn well go. Oh it was bound to eat you out where they beat a guy underworld. Being. Right. Or. Wrong to our own god you want a girl or a

girl a world like a. Thank god thing. God I think. This is not in the South Indian classical dance usually done by women. You can hear the dancers ankle bells accentuating the rhythm. Yes yes yes that yes yes. This drumming accompanies the intricate movements of the Congo and dancers of Ceylon the

island off the southern tip of India. From home from home.

Several of the Asian countries have classical traditions of dance and music. The next selection is a classical Burmese dance. Originally performed at the Royal Court it's now danced on ceremonial and religious occasions. The ancient Indian epic The Ramayana has provided motifs for a variety of the arts in Southeast

Asia in Indonesia the story isn't acted with the elaborate shadow puppets called Lion coolit in Thailand Cambodia and Laos. My name Dan's recitation and music are combined to present the story. Here's a bit of the scene of the abduction as played by a Laotian orchestra. Japan has several forms of dance related to its varieties of theater. The highly

specialized no drama is accompanied by a wooden food and three types of drums. There are special music for each type of play and for each type of character you will hear come I an accompaniment for dances in deity plays a musical description of the gods as they frequently are seen in the form of old men. The voices are the drummers calling to each other to mark the time between beats. Since no music is set in a flexible rhythm it was originally a rehearsal technique but it's now an integral part of the performance. Many people have dances related to their gods rather than descriptions of them as was the case in the

last piece. They're more usually for the purposes of praising or appeasing the gods appealing to them or trying to compel them to do something. It's believed that perhaps man's first dances grew out of compulsive magic ceremonies that were supposed to ensure good hunting early cave paintings of men wearing deer antlers and bison horns are interpreted as being the priests or shamans who performed a sort of mime dance in acting the hunt and the death of the beast. Among several societies that are still dependent upon hunting and collecting for their subsistence. Such a dance is still used and in a few societies that are no longer dependent upon hunting that type of dance has been maintained as an element of group unity. We eat eat eat eat eat eat

make this chant which accompanies a dance of the Hopi Indians in Arizona is an appeal for rain addressed to nature spirits called achiness. The Chinos are spirits from an outer world who come to live in the Hopi villages for half the year. During that time the containers can be appealed to through dancers who are masked in costume to represent them or through wooden dolls that are dressed in ornament exactly like the dancers to sneak peek during a certain nine day sacred ceremony of the Navajos. A similar dance is performed by similarly masked and costume men representing the gods. A few weeks ago on the program illustrating vocal techniques I played a bit of this night chant

which accompanies that Navajo dance. Not having the full information at that time I suggested that perhaps the unusual falsetto tone was being used to imitate Powell's or some other night animals. However I've since learned that this style is used by those who represent the gods. I also discovered that during one of the Apache dances the crown dance certain men massed and wearing two foot high crowns decorated with the symbols for clouds rain thunder and lightning do imitate the cries of the Kudo which is sacred to the Apaches. Dancing is an important feature of American Indian tradition nowadays many of the dances have been detached from their original sacred ceremonial or ritual

meanings and are used to social dancers. But of course any living aspect of culture does change with time and circumstance and even when there are elements of culture that seem to remain the same our understanding of them changes. I'd like to play a few interesting examples of adaptations. This recording was made in an ordinary neighborhood temple in a Japanese city during a traditional summer festival the local department stores set up a loudspeaker and paid for musicians. People wondered and considered with their neighbors and joined in the open tonight when they felt like it. Everyone from tiny toddlers to teenagers through the old women were seen very much as it would have been in the village except that the music perhaps in the slightly citified style could be heard by more people. Thanks to modern electronics and big business. And here's one of my favorite examples of adaptation to changing circumstances. The

gumboot dance done by the Zulus. The Zulus who are working on the docks at Durban were given rubber Wellington boots to protect their feet when they were handling cargoes of chemical fertilizers. Following along lines of their traditional fetters of dancing they developed a very complex precise dance which includes light in the sides of their Wellingtons with their hands or clapping the boots together with their feet to accentuate the rhythm. It's a very difficult dance and the men who DO IT spend as much of their spare time as possible practicing. Who could have guessed that nasty uncomfortable bumbles could be the source of an exciting new African event. The popular Nigerian High Life dance is a more predictable mixture of old and new

indigenous and foreign. This is one of the more popular songs today which means something like time for pleasure. It's by the king of highlights from my jury box. Of course there are a lot of exciting dances we haven't had time to get to this week. For instance all the

South American dances and many dances in the Mediterranean area. Maybe we do have time to slip in one of the popular Lebanese dance. But. By the way kids are not accustomed to Mediterranean dancing habits perhaps I should mention that no one

is booing the orchestra yelling because he got his toes stepped on or trying to get his partner's attention by hissing into the mike. These are all songs of enthusiasm and pleasure and I would be pleased if you join you again next week when we'll be listening to some of the many stringed instruments around the world. We have presented music around the world with Martin Nicolas producer and commentator. And we invite you to be with us again next week at the same time for music around the world. Tonight. I've got to

tell you this program was produced for Michigan State University Radio originally released in 1967. The program you've just heard is from the program library of National Public Radio.