Big Blog 2! One Last Music Culture: Japanese Music

Hello! I apologize for this being late, but congrats to everyone for making it this far in this semester! We're finally done - or at least almost done!

Now to get to the main point of this blog: Japanese music. Throughout all of the musical cultures we discussed throughout this semester, the Japanese music culture still remains as the one I'm most invested and interested in. So naturally, I wanted to write at least one blog discussing this culture in this class! And I'm glad I finally can - even despite being in the form of a long, overdue, probably too-late-to-be-graded-and-much-less-seen-at-all blog. 

Now there's one thing I'd like to note: even despite being a small strip of land, Japan is still an entire country with a long history and multiple different cities. Naturally, then, Japan is still quite the broad topic with a relatively diverse culture. So I'll be discussing this topic via different, specific categories! Only the most prominent ones, however, as it would be impossible to touch upon every single smaller one as well.

Traditional Music

First off, traditional music in Japan - aka hogaku (邦楽, "homeland's music"). This is the kind of music that many people automatically associate with Japan - especially back then (around 5 years ago and more), back when anime wasn't as popular internationally-wise at all. It's primarily characterized with gentle vocals and melodies - created with traditional instruments such as the koto, a long, wooden board zither with 13 or so pluckable strings and movable bridges. Here's a video exemplifying its sound:

Traditional Japanese music actually has multiple sub-genres and periodical differences, however. The sub-genres in question are Japanese folk music (min'yō, 民謡, "folk/people song"), Japanese court music, Japanese theatre music, and Japanese instrumental music. Each one emerged and prevailed during different eras of time - though all before the Meji period (1868-1912), the period when Western influences completely dominates and influences Japanese music. 

Japanese folk music in particular is the oldest out of all of the Japanese traditional music sub-genres. It's also the most prominent sub-genre out of the others under the traditional Japanese music category - hence why I placed a video example of it above. Japanese folk music first dates back to around the 6th-7th century, back when the Yamato clan (the very first Japanese clan, where over 90% of today's Japanese residents descended from) first settled into Japan. Since the aboriginal Ainu people were already living there, the Yamato Japanese people kept discriminating against and pushing the Ainu people back more and more over time. Part of the Ainu people's music nevertheless influenced part of the Yamato Japanese people's developing folk music culture, however. Even the nearby countries of China and Korea influenced part of it - especially China.  

Japanese folk music can also be recognized as one of its two main forms as well: shōmyō and gagaku. For shōmyō, it refers to liturgical/ritualistic Buddhist chants in Buddhist and Japanese folk music. It's primarily sung by multiple Buddhist monks during a Buddhist ceremony. As for gagaku, it refers to imperial theatrical court music. Its instrumental form is referred to as kigaku, while its vocal form is referred to as seigaku. 

Gagaku is also directly related to the aforementioned sub-genres of Japanese court music and Japanese theatre music. The latter is known for its two most prominent forms: the kabuki and noh forms. Both are prevalent in Japanese theatrical history, and possibly even in some international theatrical studies in general. While kabuki is highly stylized and elaborate with its aspects, noh is more classical with a more limited tonal range. The latter in particular includes many negative blank spaces, along with a musical accompaniment of a hayashi ensemble: three drummers and a flautist (flute player). Kabuki is still generally more well-known, however. Here's an example of Kabuki music:

Unlike the other sub-genres, however, Japanese instrumental music includes no vocals. The lack of vocals doesn't make this sub-genre any less relevant than the other sub-genres (perhaps aside from Japanese folk music). It instead relies on delivering a deeply artistic and ritualistic feel with its percussion, wind and stringed instruments. It especially tends to imitate the sounds of nature and life, and even include plenty of silence and scattered, "ma"-based rhythms. 

J-Pop Music

Now for the second most commonly-associated music genre with Japan: J-pop music! Aka my favorite music genre. It's an extremely vast music genre, however. It includes sub-genres such as: standard pop music with singers, band music, J-rock, K-pop like music, idol music, anime music, and even Vocaloid music. J-pop as a whole is one of the most popular music genres in Japan's modern society - to the point where it's even somewhat popular overseas as well. 

Regarding standard pop music, it's actually quite similar to Western pop music. Music accompaniments and vocals are just as simple yet catchy and disconjunct, for one thing. Rather than traditional percussion and wind instruments, there's use of modern band and electronic instruments as well. Notable soloists such as Yuuri and Yoko Ono will sing in music studios, then release new singles or albums in both the physical and digital sense. Physical CDs are still much more prominent in Japan than they are in modern-day America, however. CDs in general are just still a significant part of Japanese popular culture - especially since most people walk their way around, aside from boarding buses and trains. So they can much more easily just find and stop by CD stores whenever they'd like to. 

Band music is also quite self-explanatory. Like in America, Japanese bands seem to often comprise of all men. Their songs carry similar popularity and CD usage in Japan, so it's just as difficult not coming across any Japanese bands as it is to come across any Japanese soloists. Some notable examples are X-Japan and The Gazette - which both also happen to primarily fall under the J-rock sub-genre, with specific forms such as heavy metal and visual kei (similar to heavy metal, involves heavy makeup as well). Another band example I also happen to come across often is BUMP OF CHICEKN, which also is a rock band that has created several popular hits - including (but not limited to) anime-themed ones, such as "ray" (a song that was even covered and added to one of Japan's currently most-downloaded mobile games, "Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! feat. Hatsune Miku") and "SOUVENIR" (also used as the opening song of Spy x Family's - one of this year's most popular anime - second season). Here's even a Pokémon-themed one of theirs that blew up 2 years ago!: 

This was definitely a super wonderful surprise for many Pokémon fans and players like myself to come across - especially if we've already been invested in this franchise ever since our childhood. 

There's also the J-pop artist side that's essentially the Japanese version of K-pop: soloists or groups of singers, constantly training their singing, dancing, and visual charms for MVs, concerts, and promotional activities under agencies. While this sub-genre is definitely not as prevalent as K-pop is, this side of J-pop is still nevertheless quite popular. This is noticeable in how some of the songs included in top J-pop songs (like two videos above) are of K-pop-like J-pop artists. One of the most prominent ones so far is NiziU, an all-female group who also happens to work for JYP Entertainment - one of the biggest K-pop agencies in Korea. 

Similar to such artists are also Japanese idols, who - unlike Japanese bands - are dominantly female. Just like K-pop-like J-pop artists, idols sing and dance on stage, and release their songs via CD albums online and offline. They're much more known for their cuter and lighthearted aesthetic, however. Idols even serve as one of the most common basis's for Japanese anime (especially Love Live!, an extremely well-known school idol anime franchise that most international fans like myself seem to have learned about idols from). It's also worth noting that even though soloists can exist in this genre as well, Japanese idols are still prominently groups - especially of around 5 or more members. A very popular example is AKB48, a group of 5 teams of female idols (counting a total of 72 members - yes, 72 - as of August 2022) based in a theater in Akihabara, Tokyo. Here's an example of one of their most popular songs: 

Based on my experience with anime idol songs alone, this song SCREAMS female idol music. Even though the idol outfit styles here seem to be somewhat old fashion (which is understandable, given this is a song from 2011). 

Speaking of anime idol songs, anime-themed songs in general are one of the biggest and most well-known parts of the J-pop music genre. It's not at all just limited to anime idol music; it extends to anime openings, anime endings, anime OSTs, and even anime game OSTs and Vocaloid music. This sub-genre as a whole tends to be the one that draws many anime fans to the J-pop world as a result. Especially anime openings and endings, such as "Hitamuki" by Super Beaver - the opening song to My Hero Academia's (one of the current most popular animes both in Japan and worldwide) 6th season - and "Akuma no Ko" by Ai Higuchi - the ending song to Attack on Titan's (also an extremely popular anime for an unusually long time) final season. 

I haven't watched either anime's season yet, but I have definitely heard from peers that My Hero Academia's new opening was really good - and I have personally listened to "Akuma no Ko" already, too. A... lot, actually. It's very, very, VERY good, both lyric-wise and music-wise.

Another popular yet complicated anime-themed sub-genre is Vocaloid music. Vocaloids in particular are defined as singing voice synthesis softwares used in place of vocalists. Each one of them carries a voice bank made from an existing voice actor's sounds (with permission, of course). Each Vocaloid is also represented with a distinct anime character avatar, such as Miku Hatsune (much more commonly known by her Asian name order, Hatsune Miku) - the most well-known and popular Vocaloid worldwide. Here's a picture of her for visual reference:

Vocaloids in general are often used by anyone who'd like to - or can only - produce music without relying on their own or someone else's vocals. How it works is that said softwares' voice banks are bought online, then used to assemble their sounds into lyrics and melodies within a different music composition computer program. Whatever genre said melodies are created for are entirely up to the people themselves - though due to this modern day age, Japanese pop music is naturally the most common genre Vocaloid music is made for. The overall Vocaloid sub-genre is complicated yet amazing, and has proven to be so vastly popular of a media that top J-pop song charts tend to include Vocaloid songs as well. Vocaloids are even popular enough to be the main theme of one of the currently most downloaded mobile games in Japan (as mentioned earlier: "Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! feat. Hatsune Miku").

Even singers often love to cover whatever Vocaloid songs they happen to like - thus giving both themselves, the songs, and the songs' producers more exposure in the Japanese music world. Said singers are actually referred to as utaites - deriving from the commonly used phrase of "utattemita" (歌ってみた, literally translates to "tried to sing") in place of "cover." Utaites can actually refer to anyone who covers any Vocaloid songs, even if they're not on the professional level. The more commonly-known utaites are most definitely on the professional kind, however. Such as Mafumafu, who is the most well-known utaite - and who also actually often produces and sings to his own, original songs as well. His covers of Vocaloid songs are nevertheless often very popular, however - to the point where the songs he covers tend to be more associated with him rather than the producers themselves. Here's one of his most popular covers of "Hated by Life Itself" by Kanzaki Iori: (TW// depression)

The original song's vocals are of Hatsune Miku; hence why this is recognized as a Vocaloid song. It touches upon the very serious topic of depression, however - specifically of the feelings of wanting to die and being extremely alone and pained with constant hardships.

In general, it's actually not at all uncommon for Vocaloid songs to touch upon abstract and dark topics. In fact, it's less common to find Vocaloid songs that don't do this. This is due to how many Vocaloid producers like to touch upon the serious feelings that Japanese society has forced upon them with high expectations - such as academic expectations, gender role expectations, heteronormative expectations, and even expectations to be "ideal" and never talk about mental disorders/illnesses. It's definitely overall much less open as a society than ours. So naturally, many online users such as Vocaloid fans and producers tend to run to this sub-genre for escape. This even applies to international users, since it's also common for people in general to use the internet as an escape from the societies they're unable to really integrate in. 

Here's a very popular example of such themes: "Usseewa" (うっせぇわ, pronounced as oo-seh-wah - short for うるさい (urusaiwa), translating to "Shut Up") by Vocaloid producer Syudou. It's sung by Japanese singer Ado - though it's still regarded as a Vocaloid song due to Syudou's status as a Vocaloid producer. It narrates as a person whose happiness was compromised from being forced to abide by society's expectations as an honor student and ideal worker their entire life - and is thus criticizing this overly normalized social expectation in Japan.

There's also "Bug" by Vocaloid producer Kairiki Bear. It's sung by Hatsune Miku, though it was also created for a commission by "Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! feat. Hatsune Miku." As a result, the cover used in said game is the most well-known and popular version of it. Here's both the original Vocaloid version and the game's cover I mentioned: (TW// flashing imagery, fear of disappointment, depression)

It's also common for more recent Vocaloid songs like this one to originate as a commission for the same game, too. The game is based on characters interacting with and singing Vocaloid songs with Vocaloid characters, after all (even though the game also pours heavier focus into the original characters' own stories than with the Vocaloid characters).  

Like almost any other Vocaloid song, this song's English translations can be found on the Vocaloid Lyrics Wiki and other sources. This song seems to narrate as a person who's dealing with constant fear of one day suddenly failing others' expectations of them - yet always bottling it all up, thus stepping dangerously closer and closer to actually doing it and/or falling into an EXTREME amount of despair. Even this explanation alone feels like an understatement, as even just the abstract lyrics and cover vocals really deliver the amount of fear you'd feel being stuck in any similar or identical situation. This song's also meant to be for the "Project SEKAI" character Mafuyu Asahina, who herself is an honor high school student struggling with severe depression - resulting from constantly bottling up her emotions while abiding by the ideal student expectations her parents forced onto her her entire life. The blond Vocaloid in the Project SEKAI cover - Kagamine Len - is also meant to represent Mafuyu's lost childhood innocence, which was already sacrificed to that situation. The other characters in the 2DMV don't relate to the song as much, even though they themselves do also suffer from depression due to other society-related reasons. This is indirectly revealed in their group's main story within the game.    

Conclusion

And that's about all! Even though I only separated Japanese music into two separate categories, it's still clear that there are so many other smaller categories underneath each one. There may even be a chance that I missed a sub-genre while looking around and writing this. Regardless, I hope I did an alright job explaining things.

Also, as a bonus: a syncretic anime ending song based on traditional Japanese (and Chinese + Korean) music! Based on hearing alone, it seems to include (but not limited to) the koto, flute, and even the Chinese instrument urhu! The aesthetic of traditional Japan is popular in Japanese modern culture, too, so there's plenty of things like anime songs based on it as well~ 

I really love this song, and the manga's a really wonderful read as well~ The song in question is "Akatsuki" (暁, translates to "Dawn") sung by Akiko Shikata - used as the second ending song for the anime adaptation of "Yona of the Dawn."

 

Works Cited

"Ado - うっせぇわ (Usseewa) (Romanized)." Genuis Lyrics. Web. https://genius.com/Genius-romanizations-ado-usseewa-romanized-lyrics 

"Akatsuki no Yona." MyAnimeList. Web. https://myanimelist.net/anime/25013/Akatsuki_no_Yona 

"AKB48." AKB48 Fandom Wiki, Web. https://akb48.fandom.com/wiki/AKB48 

"AKB48 Members." AKB48 Fandom Wiki, Web. https://akb48.fandom.com/wiki/AKB48_Members 

Anna. "3 Popular Japanese Rock Bands." JW Web Magazine, Updated 25 Aug 2020. Web. https://jw-webmagazine.com/popular-japanese-rock-bands/

Brown, Keith L. "Ethnic Diversity and the Origins of the Japanese." University of Pittsburgh. Web. https://www.japanpitt.pitt.edu/essays-and-articles/history/ethnic-diversity-and-origins-japanese 

"Bug." Project SEKAI Wiki. Web. https://projectsekai.fandom.com/wiki/Bug#English 

Chang, Ed. "Hogaku: Japanese Traditional Music." Blogspot, Web. https://japanesetradmusic.blogspot.com/ 

"Hatsune Miku: Rise of a Virtual Pop Star: What Is A Vocaloid?" Harrington School of Communication and Media, Updated 27 Jun 2019. Web. https://urilis.libguides.com/c.php?g=894968&p=6436235 

@knowledgable otaku. "Vocaloid." Urban Dictionary. 9 July 2010. Web. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Vocaloid 

"koto". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Mar. 2020. Web. https://www.britannica.com/art/koto.

Malm, William P.. "Japanese music". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Jan. 2021. Web.  https://www.britannica.com/art/Japanese-music.

Narabe, Kazumi. "Hôgaku: Traditional Japanese Music." The Japan Foundation: Performing Arts Network Japan, 9 Jun 2010. Web. https://performingarts.jpf.go.jp/E/overview_art/1005_09/1.html 

Sato, Yuu. "Top 20 Best Japanese Rock Bands You Shouldn’t Miss." Questionjapan, Updated 5 Feb 2021. Web. https://questionjapan.com/blog/best-japanese-rock-bands/ 

"TRADITIONAL JAPANESE MUSIC: YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE." audionetwork, 4 May 2021. Web. https://www.audionetwork.com/content/the-edit/expertise/traditional-japanese-music  

"Usseewa." Wikipedia. Web. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usseewa (sorry, but there's hardly any sources on this song. The lyrics tell it all anyway)

"Utattemita." Nico Nico Douga Singer´s Wiki. Web. https://utaite.fandom.com/wiki/Utattemita 

"What is Vocaloid?" Wonderopolis. Web. https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/What-Is-Vocaloid 

Yusuke-s. "10 Most Popular Free Game Apps in Japan 2022." JW Web Magazine, 31 Aug 2022. Web. https://jw-webmagazine.com/most-popular-free-game-apps-in-japan-2022/

"6 Best Japanese Bands You Have To Listen To!" JapanTruly, 18 Feb 2022. Web. https://japantruly.com/best-japanese-bands/ 

"うっせぇわ (Usseewa)." Vocaloid Lyrics Wiki. Web. https://vocaloidlyrics.fandom.com/wiki/うっせぇわ_(Usseewa) 

Music & Family: Mother

It's awfully interesting how different other people's experiences in music can be, huh? Especially with people close to or related to you, specifically of the generation-older kind.

While I wouldn't say I have the closest or best relationship with my mother at all, I still consider her a part of my family. She's very talkative and loves sharing stories, too - so that's why I decided to interview her for this particular blog! Here's the video of said interview below:

Note that it's 23 whole minutes. My mother talked quite a bit as expected~ although she still sounded more shy and polite than she usually is. The answers and information she shared, though, was still overall interesting to me.

Now as a bit of background context: my mother is fully Vietnamese, and she goes by Thanh Tam Ho (although it's actually Hồ Thị Thanh Tâm in Vietnam instead, just with the accents included and order switched around). She was born in and grew up in Vietnam, where most everyday citizens are actually very poor and unadvanced in technology. It wasn't until she was 19 when she eventually immigrated to America with my biological father. She then settled in this little state of South Carolina, never moving into a different residence afterwards ever again (aside from our very few month-long stays at Vietnam during my childhood, if that even counts). 

So naturally, a large amount of her experience with music comes from both her homeplace in Vietnam and in this particular state of America. Specifically the rural, incorporated community of Boiling Springs. 

This entire interview is still entirely in English, though! My mother has fortunately managed to learn English throughout her years here, so she can converse entirely in English. She's still not completely fluent in English, however - so she may sometimes struggle to fully understand some things, or to string some of her sentences together with good grammar and/or pronunciation (mostly in text, though). That's why this video has some moments where she'd slightly misunderstand my questions, or just not completely understand/process the questions at first. Nevertheless, she's easy enough to understand. 

I also hope it's okay that this was recorded in portrait mode! My mother specifically preferred it to be in portrait mode. All in all, I hope any of this ends up becoming enjoyable to you. Thank you for taking a look at this and reading/watching any of this either way. 

Big Blog 1! American Roots Music: Early Country Music

Despite what most other people feel about country music, I've always found myself liking it for some reason. Something about the consistently chill country vibe, warm vocals, and gentle instrumentals just spoke to my musical taste. It's not at all a musical genre I'd ever willing go listen to out of pure leisure, but it's nevertheless quite nice to me. That's why, after much consideration, I decided I may as well give discussing early country music a try. 

As we already learned in class, early country started to develop out of the blues in the early 20th century. Specifically out of Hillybilly music, which emerged in the 1920s from Bistol, Tennessee. The genre was a new culmination of the blues with various other existing genres: Appalachian folk music, English ballads, Irish and Celtic fiddle songs, and barn dance up-tempo tunes. It even included yodeling and singing cowboys from said barn dances! The Appalachian folk music genre is the most prominent inspiration, however - as much more of its elements was adopted or recycled in Hillybilly music, especially fiddle playing.

This overall new emergence of the Hillybilly music was quick to become incredibly popular across the United States of America - and it was particularly thanks to Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter family, who were respectively the first ever soloist and vocal group to release million-selling hit songs of the genre. Even as artists that weren't the first to ever release a country song at all - or even to release a national hit of one - they both were still the ones that succeeded and impacted the musical industry enough to start off and standardize the country music craze.

For Rodgers's, his first hit country song was specifically "Blue Yodel #1." Even though it wasn't the first ever song to use yodeling, Rodgers's song was still the first to actually significantly popularize it in the country music genre. 

While for the Carter family, there was multiple first hit country songs released at once  - including "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow," "Little Log Cabin by the Sea," "The Poor Orphan Child," and "The Storms Are on the Ocean." They even released one of their most ever notable songs just two years later: "Wildwood Flower." It was popular and impactful enough to establish itself as a standard in the country music genre - even up to present day. 

People especially began favoring the singing cowboys aspect of the genre after the 1940s came around. They were specifically lining up for the Hollywood films that were, at the time, prominently cowboy-themed and full of country music. Musical artists like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were especially notable in these films, as they built their extremely successful careers around these. Especially considering that much of the most prominent and popular music of this time period were written for the movies. It was all in all the new, big mainstream thing in America. 

Here's a few examples of such music:

Eventually, the people changed the name of country music within the same decade. It was now no longer "hillybilly music"; it was now officially acknowledged as country music.

Early country music was further influenced, too, by the artists and Western swing boom that followed after the aforementioned achievers. Coming from Texas and up to the Midwest, the newish genre of Western swing inspired various new things in country music by the early 1940s - especially instruments not so commonly used in country music yet, such as saxophones, pianos, steel guitars, and even drums - instruments that were previously regarded as too loud and brash up until the mid 1930s. Prominent Western swing artists like Bob Wills, the Light Crust Doughboys, and Milton Brown especially added to this new yet influential craze of the Western Swing as well. Here's even an example of one of Bob Wills' most popular songs of the time: "Faded Love."

Considering all that of Western swing, country music naturally borrowed quite a bit from this genre as it evolved even more. It definitely wasn't even the last time that country music would directly take inspiration from another music genre, either. With a neverending excitement for broadening more and more of their horizons, country music artists inevitably expanded the list of genre inspirations even more over the years - even as country music eventually grew out of its "early" stage. Some of the most notable genres that would inspire it later on included honky tonk, country boogie, and rockabilly.

So as you may have already overall noticed by now: early country music was a mass hotpot of already-existing music genres. Country music in general kept evolving with these genres, even though it still frequently turned to around the same instruments, musical accompaniments, and types of vocals. The most common instruments in particular included the banjo, acoustic guitar, and fiddle. 

Interestingly enough, only the acoustic guitar originated from America. And even then, the first official acoustic guitar was actually made by a German-born immigrant in America. For the banjo, it actually originated from West Africa and the slaves that came from it. As for the fiddle, it actually originated from Europe - although country music borrowed fiddle music from the Appalachian Mountains instead, since that was where multiple black and white musicians were developing the popular, European-based Appalachian folk music.

So with instruments like these, early country music naturally tended to indulge in simple, conjunct melodies. The rhythm would almost always be even more consistent and precise - whether slow or fast. The same few instrument(s) would show up in many songs, too - although some early country songs still did incorporate other instruments as well, such as harmonica and electric guitars. 

Either way, the music was always accompanied by some vocals. Both soloists and whole groups were the norm when it came to vocals - though soloists seem to be somewhat more known. Since country music was also notably most popular among working-class Americans, it was common for these singers to sing lyrics directed towards them. The language would be accessible, informal, and open-hearted in a way where the audience could relate to them - especially whenever the lyrics related to a common struggle among the people. Many early country lyrics were more lighthearted and sung with chill, charismatic voices, too - especially considering how much the Hollywood film prominence equated these music artists to star celebrities of their time. 

Early country music thus carried on with all of these flourishing in its wake. It wasn't until the 1950s when it finally came to an end; opening a new chapter to a different stage of country music as a whole. As the overall genre undergoes much more new changes from then on.

References:

“Carter Family.” Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2022. Web. https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/103002/Carter_Family 

“Carter Family discography.” Wikipedia. Updated 22 Oct 2022. Web. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Family_discography 

Dooley, Sean. “The History of Country Music: A Crooked Country Road From Jimmie Rodgers to Garth Brooks.” liveaboutdotcom. Updated 23 May 2019. Web. https://www.liveabout.com/the-history-of-country-music-934030

Egge, Sara. “The Origins of Country Muisc.” Norton Center for the Arts. 19 Mar 2017. Web.  https://nortoncenter.com/2017/03/19/the-origins-of-country-music/ 

“hillbilly music.” Dictionary.com. Web. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hillbilly-music 

“History of Fiddle.” Georgia Pick & Bow Traditional Music School. Web. http://www.georgiapickandbow.org/history-of-fiddle/ 

Lozano, Ed. “The History of the Acoustic Guitar.” GuitarSpace. Updated 20 Jul 2022. Web. https://guitarspace.org/acoustic-guitars/history-of-the-acoustic-guitar/ 

Marty. “Who Invented The Acoustic Guitar?” The Acoustic Guitarist. 3 Sept 2019. Web. https://theacousticguitarist.com/who-invented-the-acoustic-guitar/ 

“The Banjo: From Africa to America and Beyond.” McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture, The University of Tennessee. 14 Jan 2006 to 30 Apr 2006. Web. https://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/exhibitions/the-banjo-from-africa-to-america-and-beyond/ 

Music & Gender: K-Pop

As we already know, gender roles and expectations are unavoidable even in the world of music. Even in different countries' musical cultures, there's always some form of gender roles or tendencies laced within them.

This very much includes the K-pop culture. As a person who's been invested in this genre for years (especially during my high school years), I figured I'd touch upon it specifically. 

In K-pop culture, there are firm standards as to how men and women portray themselves. While men tend to have a more masculine, edgier vibe, women tend to have a sexier, less edgier vibe. This is especially notable in their choreography - where men tends to have sharper, rougher movements, while women tends to have smoother, sexier movements. Similar traits reflect in their vocals, raps, and songs' musical arrangements, too. These differences are actually most noticeable in the K-pop group, KARD - which also happens to be one of the very few co-ed K-pop groups in the field. For reference, here's the videos of both the MV and choreography to one of their most notable songs:

I included both of these versions since the female choreography is strangely not shown much in the original MV. The MV's cinematography, outfits, and etc. also highlight the differences I mentioned earlier so well, though.

Now personally, I'm not much of a fan of these kind of gender-coded patterns in K-pop. Especially due to the kind of vague messages they can deliver to impressionable audiences, like with men being masculine/rough and women being sexy/beautiful. However, I still find the visible gender differences in this specific choreography incredibly fascinating to watch. Both styles are also honestly fun to dance to as well! The differences between the dance styles feel very obvious once you try them out with your own body.

Besides, these kinds of patterns are only what's most common in K-pop - not what only ever happens in it. There are still some occasions where male artists will go for a more melancholic, lighthearted/cutesy vibe instead - mostly to diversify their discography and better attract/delight audiences. Female artists, too, may sometimes go for a more melancholic or lighthearted/girly vibe instead as well - essentially for the same reasons. 

Even with the lighthearted songs, though, there's still some gender differences. For male artists - especially the debuting and teenage ones - they tend to throw gender norms out of the window and act cutesy and young. They'd smile and hop around like little kids or girls; wearing cutesy or casual clothes and acting like they're having the time of their life with each other. They'd also act like close friends and carry out exaggerated mannerisms in general. Kind of like this:

For female artists, they also act cute, young, having lots of fun, and exaggerated whenever doing lighthearted themes. Although more in a girly sense than a childlike one. It also seems to be more common for female lighthearted songs to include less realistic visual aspects (i.e. supernatural, graphics, cartoonish environments, sped-up choppy movements) and a listener-centric narration - often, though not always, in a romantic way. Here's a good example of a lighthearted female K-pop song, even despite not including much unrealism: 

Still remember that anything other than edgy and sexy still isn't all that common in comparison, though. K-pop audiences just simply prefer edgy and sexy concepts, after all. That's common knowledge in the K-pop world. K-pop groups hardly ever have freedom to act that far beyond their companies' control or audience's expectations, too. Especially thanks to Korea's strict standards and overly vast competition in the K-pop industry. 

 

It's also worth noting that male K-pop artists are typically more popular and successful than female ones are. This is due to how most K-pop fans, especially in Korea, are female and heterosexual (or at least male-leaning in attraction). So if you have ever wondered why there are more popular male K-pop groups than there are of female ones, then now you know why. 

  

Music & Rituals: Vietnamese Weddings (updated!)

As someone who was born into a Vietnamese family, I've been involved in a number of Vietnamese traditions and practices as a child. Naturally, then, I'm familiar with a bit of the Vietnamese culture - even despite my own family not being that heavily ingrained into it (since, according to my mom, many Vietnamese families become significantly less in touch with the culture after immigrating to America). 

Out of the ceremonies carried out in the Vietnamese culture, the wedding tradition is one of the most familiar ones to me. The particular one I attended stuck out quite a bit to me, after all. It was specifically with my mom and her boyfriend, back when I was a young teenager. Since the wedding was arranged to be at Vietnam - considering that we were staying at/visiting Vietnam at the moment - it was the first time I was able to personally witness what a traditional Vietnamese wedding was like.

Now according to my mom and other sources, weddings like this are often based on what religion the involved parties believe in. It's often either Buddhist or Christian. In my mom's case, she's Buddhist - so the wedding wasn't held at a church, but rather at our relatives' house (since we were temporarily staying there at the time) - and prayers were done in relation to Buddhist principles as well. The wedding involved the traditional engagement ceremony, too - which had the groom's family members bring gifts and jewelry to the bride's family members for the bride. Here are a few pictures from my mom's engagement ceremony:

The big after-party in the afternoon, however, would apparently be around the same regardless of religion. 

Either way, Vietnamese weddings tend to include either traditional Vietnamese music or modern, popular songs from Vietnam or America. Or even all of those. It is rather common for weddings to even hire a band to play live as well (sources: 1 & 2). The traditional Vietnamese music part, however, is naturally most in touch with what makes Vietnamese culture unique. It's slow and conjunct, often complete with vibrating vocals of a sweet and smooth kind. It's often much like the song below:

This video even includes a slideshow of pictures from a Vietnamese wedding. It is not the original video for the song, however. The original song video can be found in The Nguyen Collection's YouTube channel.  

I unfortunately cannot provide much of an example for modern Vietnamese songs that'd be played, since I have zero idea as to what most young people in Vietnam would listen to today. I'm not entirely sure just how popular and common Vpop is among the people in Vietnam, either (even though it's actually quite good). What I am familiar with, however, is the general style of music the older Vietnamese people around me enjoy. The music is overall similar yet slightly different to traditional Vietnamese music - which may be why the older people enjoy it so much. Here's an example of it, which definitely captures many of the elements I often hear in my family and their Vietnamese coworkers' favorite songs:

I could go on and on about what this song shares with many of the songs my family and their Vietnamese coworkers like to listen (and sing) to. Long story short, however, the same kind of introductory music, instruments, singing style, and transition from slow music to higher, more powerful music/vocals are used in this song.  

So how is this significant? Particularly, Vietnamese weddings are still ultimately arranged by the couple themselves (even though their families still play a very large role in the process and actual wedding procedures (source). Therefore, the music is part of what they ultimately decide on. So this kind of music is a natural go-to song for people like my family. They even enjoy gathering together with other relatives and/or coworkers in the same house during special occasions - loudly karaoke-ing the night away with songs like the above example. 

Music & Me

 

Hi, I'm Tera Nguyen! I was born in this very state and grew up in Boiling Springs. I've never moved into anywhere else so far. I often do various things during my free time, but the ones I do most often are anime games, reading their stories, and roleplaying existing characters online! I also often like to listen to music during car drives.

I consider my music tastes to be unorthodox, though. Even after taking Chorus for multiple years before college, and even after dancing in a dance cover group for a few years, I still can't help but deviate to around the same kinds of Jpop and Kpop songs most of the time. Primarily Jpop nowadays, though.

Songs

1. One of my favorite songs is "TA" by Stray Kids! I find it to be a very, very catchy song, and I frequently jam to it and feel tempted to dance whenever it comes up in a playlist - even more than with many other songs I like. It's enjoyable to recognize everyone's voices and listen to how each one of them sings/raps their parts as well~ It sometimes even reminds me of their growth as artists, since their improvement compared to back then vaguely shows through in this song. 

There's no English subtitles, though. So you'll have to search up the translated lyrics if you're curious about them. Sorry!

 

2. A song that's personally meaningful to me is "Hanauta" by Alexandros. I first discovered it over a year ago in a fandom ship animatic, and fell in love with both the song and animatic in an instant. I'm especially in love with the song's beautiful combination of vocals and musical accompaniment - along with how well it highlights the deep, melancholic feeling of the overall animatic's story and cinematography. It especially came to mean to me more, too, with how this animatic was the very first animatic I ever watched of both its respective ship and respective fandom. The ship was the very first one that I've ever been able to hold dear to myself in years, too. So even in present day, I can't help but deeply associate this song with that animatic, and I still look at both of them and the ship with fondness. 

So here's the original song! Like with the previous song, though, you'll have to look up the English translated lyrics if you want to read them. They are nice lyrics, though. Here's also the animatic I mentioned in case you'd like to see it as well: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1TK4y1j7cH (If you do check it out, do click the little TV icon with the checkmark at the bottom of the video to turn off the bullet comments~)

3. There's unfortunately a few or more genres I can never understand nor connect with, however. One of them is rap. Even though I do enjoy rap when incorporated with vocals most of the time, I can't find myself to enjoy songs with just rapping at all. Especially whenever it's too vulgar, or whenever it lacks too much depth or storytelling. It's just difficult to find anything enjoyable to listen to in pure rap at all. Here's a good example of what I mean (even including a common beat that I admittedly dislike, due to repeatedly hearing it from peers throughout my childhood): 

4. I'll be discussing a bonus song as well~! "Failure Girl" by KairikiBear is another one of my favorite songs that I heavily considered placing in the second category. To put it shortly; it's a very enjoyable song to listen to, but its lyrics are the most noteworthy part of it all. I love the lyrics so much, and I especially love how well they and the rest of the song portray this specific, awful sense of feeling unwanted. I've even found myself deeply resonating with this and finding comfort in it whenever I felt deeply unloved or disliked by people. And I genuinely hope this song can provide the same sense of resonance and comfort to even more people, too.

Note that this is unlike the other songs, as this one is from the Vocaloid side of Jpop culture instead. So the vocals are purely sung by a voice synthesizing software called a Vocaloid - for this specific case, Hatsune Miku. So if you end up finding this song too difficult to listen to for any reason, you can try listening to Oktavia's English cover of it instead! 

Anyway, that's all! Thank you so much for putting in the time to read all of this if you did. And I do hope I didn't sound overly formal or unpleasant at any point in this blog as well. Have a good day now!