Music around the world; Greetings
- Transcript
Why. The following program was originally released in 1967. We have a big group. How about. The people of Iran say somebody in Thailand they sing. In Korean It is also in sheep you know in the would open language of the Midwest region of Nigeria they say Greeks a unit in the Hindi were it is a mistake and in American English I say Welcome welcome to this first programme in a series of broadcasts of music around the world.
The only good time. Yes the build they produce it in a variety of ways and for many different reasons all the peoples of the world have been interested in the. Michigan State University Radio invites you now to a program of music around the world produced and hosted by Mark Nickolas. I thought it would be appropriate to devote this first program of the series to hearing a few of the ways in which different people around the world express Greetings and welcome in music. So is those Bengali boatman in the theme song we're saying let's get going. Uh uh uh.
The old the the the. This is the gathering song of one of the Bedouin tribes of South Arabia. It was recorded an actual convocation of tribesmen among the Bedouins when tribesmen come to a meeting were when they reached their destination after a long journey. They chant certain lines that are the trademarks of their particular tribe. The words to this one begin the lightning has appeared and Sunder is still stronger. Between you and me a council is possible. The men start singing before they get to the gathering place and then continue on after they arrive. Repeating the same words over and over with the temple getting faster and faster in the intensity all the time. When important visitors arrive the host may fire guns in the air as a salute. And there may also be some verses of welcome composed by the hosts with the guests responding with other
verses. With. Home. Home with the. The old. Greeting songs and songs of welcome are of all kinds and can mean different things according to how and when and by whom they're used in singing that gathering song. Those Bedouin men were not only greeting each other and welcoming outsiders they were also expressing and strengthening their feelings of group solidarity and identifying themselves as a cohesive group to everyone else. And of course by the spirit of it they were expressing their joy in getting together and they were working themselves up to the excitement and enjoyment of the occasion. Very similar to a group singing the school fight song on the way to a
game. There are other greetings songs which are merely friendly and express pleasure in seeing someone or perhaps just standard formulas of welcome. Some are very general and some are for specific occasions or specific people. Now let's hear a greeting song Mexican style certain popular songs have come to be associated with the idea of welcome even though their words don't particularly convey any special idea of welcome. They're played by mariachi groups such as the one we'll be hearing in a minute on semi a formal occasions like to welcome guests as they arrive at a party and they're also played on more formal occasions like welcoming visiting dignitaries. The one will be hearing a bit of this called the naked eye. And it was used to greet the goal when he went to Mexico a couple of years ago. I love that I
told. Even closer to home we have a song of welcome sung by some Winnebago Indians of
Wisconsin American Indians often borrow songs when they visit other tribes. This one actually came from Oklahoma. The words translate roughly as Brother you are welcome. Come sit at our fireside be one of us Brother You're welcome. Next we will hear part of a GOP song. Greetings. The GOP people of Mozambique
in Portuguese East Africa are famous for their complex dance forms and their large orchestras of xylophones which they call this greening song however is sung by the women with only hand clapping as an accompaniment. It's interesting to notice if the reader technique in this is rather similar to that in the American Indian song we just heard.
Peace be with you. It's the common greeting in Israel and set to music it's become a favorite folk song. That. Was.
The Arabic equivalent of the same phrase of greetings is Salaam aleikum. Here it becomes a part of the refrain of a love song done in a sort of middle eastern pop style. The oh my. He is a tribal dance which welcomes the young boys back into the tribe for the
first time after they've been through a month's long initiation into manhood. They've been isolated for 30 days learning the tribal symbols and rituals the words to the song are improvised on the themes of the bravery of the young men and of their acceptances fully adult males. If you haven't had very much experience with African music but you still had a
feeling that something about that piece was familiar it's probably due to the fact that much of the music of the Caribbean area was derived from the music of the slaves who were brought there on their way to the United States. Many of them were from the west coast of Africa which is where Guinea is located very often you will easily detect the influence of African music in the music of both South and North America especially in dance music and jazz. Even though the rhythm is much more formalized and the harmony is along more familiar lines you can still hear a similar spirit in this early morning greeting called Wake up being a bud which is performed by a group of young Jamaicans up. While our ears are tuned to children's voices let's hear a song of the Sudan welcoming
the holiday that marks the end of the month long fast of Ramadan. There are new clothes for everyone and there is much feasting and visiting. The Words To The Song are welcome to the end. This is a happy time for all of us. Everything is new. Your days are sweet filling our souls with pleasure and rest. Everyone is kind to us and joins our singing. Welcome to the. The children who unfortunately are standing too close to the microphone are accompanied by the ubiquitous harmonium and a string instrument that's probably an old. Song. Next we have a very special kind of welcome music from Borneo.
You know you're. The but people who live along the northern coast of Borneo are Muslims. They play this music aboard a boat which was on its way to greet a pilgrim returning from Mecca. The instruments are probably a single large bronze gong and a set of smaller brass gongs which are mounted on a single frame it played by two people.
No no no no no no. And next we have a song from Turkey. A young man is welcoming the train that's bringing his sweetheart from another part of the country. You can hear the sound of the train imitated in the company. Mr. Odd man a graduate student at Michigan State University sings and accompanies himself on the B-1 song which is a long neck deep bodied string instrument. The instrument that introduces our next election is called a thumb piano and we'll be
discussing it in detail on a later program. The piece is a welcome song of the peoples of the Congo Republic. Several other kinds of percussion instruments join in as the music goes on drums rattles and a whistle. Though we've heard only a small sample of the world's Greetings songs. Time is running short so
perhaps we ought to have a few songs of farewell. Here's a Russian song called chatter which was translated on the Soviet record jacket as evening on the roadstead. It's a popular song from World War 2 but the theme has something in common with today. It's the song of a young fellow who's just been drafted. He's gathered together with his friends for the last evening before he must be off. In this case to serve as a sailor The refrain is Goodbye my beloved city. I'm leaving tomorrow to the sea in the early morning mists will be leaving. Oh my. The. Globe the
US the cold shoulder the the. Globe. Oh. And finally another song of farewell. This is a north Chinese folk song of the
eighth century a musical setting of a famous poem in which the poet bids farewell to his friends in the end before traveling westward where he says there will be no more old friends. The music was originally written for a string instrument of the sitter family but it's been adapted for many different traditional Chinese instruments. And here it's played on one of the most ancient of Chinese musical instruments. A clay Arco Arena. I'd like to think all those people including several students and faculty members of Michigan State
University who've been helping me and encouraging me on this project of collecting and presenting music from all over the world and I would be very glad to receive any further comments or suggestions or further materials from any one of you who are listening. I hope you'll be with me next week when we'll be surveying a few of the interesting features to be encountered in listening to the music of the many peoples of the world and also in the weeks to come when we will be listening to numerous examples of the many kinds of music around the world. We have presented music around the world with Martin Nicolas producer and
commentator. You can obtain a list of recorded materials used on this program by writing music around the world w k r radio. East Lansing Michigan. And we invite you to be with us again next week at the same time for music around the world. Tonight. On China what some people thought about me and it will I'm not I'm not. What's upbeat about it but deep deep deep. Deep. Deep. Deep. I did it got out of. This program was produced for Michigan State University Radio
originally released in 1067. The program you've just heard is from the program library of National Public Radio.
- Series
- Music around the world
- Episode
- Greetings
- Producing Organization
- Michigan State University
- WKAR (Radio/television station : East Lansing, Mich.)
- Contributing Organization
- University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/500-pc2t8m80
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/500-pc2t8m80).
- Description
- Episode Description
- This program focuses on music of greeting from around the world.
- Series Description
- This series, hosted by Marta Nicholas, presents music from all parts of the globe.
- Date
- 1967-01-01
- Topics
- Music
- Media type
- Sound
- Duration
- 00:30:47
- Credits
-
-
Host: Nicholas, Marta
Producer: Parrish, Thomas (Thomas D.)
Producing Organization: Michigan State University
Producing Organization: WKAR (Radio/television station : East Lansing, Mich.)
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
University of Maryland
Identifier: 67-37-1 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:29:49
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “Music around the world; Greetings,” 1967-01-01, University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed October 9, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-pc2t8m80.
- MLA: “Music around the world; Greetings.” 1967-01-01. University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. October 9, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-pc2t8m80>.
- APA: Music around the world; Greetings. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-pc2t8m80