Sounds from around the globe

  It is widely known that the country of Japan is beautiful, full of amazing people, culture, and cuisine. But, along with almost every other country in the world, music is a big part of the culture in Japan. Two forms of music that are recognised as the oldest forms of traditional folk music - shōmyō , or Buddhist chanting, and gagaku , or theatrical court music. There are 3 key instruments used in Japanese music: a shamisen, which kind of resembles a guitar mixed with a banjo with the head of a violin. A Shakuhach, which is a sort of flute carved out of a bamboo stick, and a Koto, a large stringed box that is plucked. The Yoshida Brothers are 2 musical artists that are very popular both here in the US and in Japan. Their music has actually been featured on the Nintendo Wii. They play the shamisen, and use it to create songs in the genres of rock and jazz.

  For this blog I choose to do the history of hip hop music. Throughout history Hiphop has been one of the most influential types of music in the black community. It all started in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York City. In the summer time it was a big time for block parties, where the whole neighborhood would come together and gather to just celebrate the community. That was where Dj Kool Herc thrived, he began Djing these parties. He would get everyone out of there seats by taking records but playing only the solo drum beats from the songs. This became the foundation for hip hop. One of the main factors of hip hop music is the bassline and the drums which is exactly what was highlighted by Djs at the time. Then on August 11 1973, Dj Kool Herc’s little sister asked him to Dj her back-to-school bash for the neighborhood, it was here where he did something that no one had ever seen before. At the time Djs would one use one turntable, but Dj Kool herc introduced using 2 turntables to ...