Today was the first meeting of The Language Of Music group again since Spring Quarter. I had not organized any concerts or meetings during the summer and I had no idea how many students -- old or new -- would show up for class this time.
17 people showed up, only three of whom were from the previous quarter. I wonder if some of the other old students will show up again in future classes? In any case, the new students seem very outgoing and interested in music. As usual there is a mix of what kind of music people like, but the main theme I heard is that relaxing, soothing music and R&B are popular among this group. I look forward to our discussions!
We started with my usual introduction about myself and the class. Then the students introduced themselves: name, country and what kind of music they like. Most students are from Asian countries, but we have two Turks again, too.
After the introductions we dove into hearing some music. The theme was "Songs that remind you of (this) summer."
The first choice was a Jack Johnson (bio) song. Of course, practically *any* Jack Johnson song is appropriate for summer, so we just chose the one with the most views on YouTube: Upside Down (video, lyrics). I had never seen this video before -- it was funny to see Curious George (info), one of my favorite books as a kid.The student who picked this song said that Jack Johnson reminds her of Hawaii: she has been there and has friends who live there. This song lifts her spirits.
The next choice was a Chinese artist and song: Jay Chou (bio). The song chosen was "Fragrant Rice" (video).
Next was a Japanese band: Exile (bio) doing "Summer Time Love" (video).
The next choice came from one of the Turkish students: "Cakkidi" (video) by Kenan Dogulu (bio). One of the students from last quarter recognized the song as one we had heard previously, and I vaguely remember seeing something like it before, but I can't find that I wrote about it in the class blog... It's a good song -- it's always interesting to see how similar music around the world can be, even if the songs are sung in different languages. I enjoy seeing the local cultural twist applied to musical styles popular across the world!
The next choice was another Turkish song, this time an instrumental "Why" (video) by Omar Faruk Tekbilek (bio).The other Turkish student said that the stringed instrument featured in this song reminds her of the Japanese "erhu" (info), a sound that she *loves*! This reminded one of the previous students about a video we had seen from the Twelve Girls Band in a previous class (May 22nd).
The instrument reminded me of the sound of the kora from West Africa. I tried to find an example of Toumani Diabate (bio) playing kora for the class to hear the similarity, but I couldn't find during class. So here are a couple of examples:- Explanation of how Toumani plays the kora (note how he plays different rhythms with different fingers!)
- A whole song on solo kora.
The next song chosen was "Yumeji's Theme / In The Mood For Love" (video) from the Chinese film of the same name. by Shigeru Umebayashi (bio). I had never seen the movie nor heard this song before, but really like it! I love melancholic music!
Getting back to the "summer" theme the next song was "Don't Stop" (video) by Jolin (bio).
The last song of the day was "Sweet Impact" (video) by BoA (bio). She originally from South Korea and started releasing records at age 13, but now only releases albums in Japan.With that the first class of the new quarter was over. I hope the new students enjoyed class and will come back next week!
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