Brazilian Samba

The title of this piece is "Não Deixe O Samba Morrer" which translates into "Do not let Samba Die."  This is a Brazilian Samba, and features many wonderful classifications of instruments.  

The singer is Maria Rita a famous Brazilian singer, and I would classify her voice as either an alto or mezzo soprano.   She has a very low tessitura, and could border as being classified as a tenor.  Her vowels reflect her dialect, and the style of Samba is culturally significant.  

 There are many unique instruments in this video that are Brazilian.  But the instrument that really stood out to me was the unique sound of the cuica that you hear in the beginning of the video. 

This sound is created by friction.  The sound is produced by rubbing a stick on the inside of the head of the drum with a moist rag or cloth.  The head of the drum is compressed to create a variation of pitches.  It resembles the talking drum.  The International classification of musical instruments would say the cuica is a Membranophone.  This type of instrument is unique to Brazil. 

 I found this piece of music to be fun and I loved the various classes of instruments that go together to create the heterogeneous sound of Samba. 

Marshall Islands

"Etto Ao Bed Ilo Entan"

Ronald Jorkan

Marshall Islands

Instrumentation:  drum set, guitar, ukulele, singer

In listening to this music I hear a western culture influence.  Ronald Jorkan is considered popular among the Marshallese.  This music represents what my Marshall island students are listening to.    Through studying world music we discover that all musics are different.   While one culture of music may emphasize reading music, others may not see reading music as something needed.  I would consider this to be Marshallese music, but it is influenced by American pop music.   Other musics from this culture are more basic, and don't offer the same kind of pop feeling that this music provides.