This has got to be my favorite section that we have learned in this class. I always try to find new things to listen to because I want to expand my taste in music. The last thing that I want is for language to be an issue. Not only that, but I also wanted to find out more about traditional instruments in certain countries. It amazes me how many instruments we can come up with and play. In this blog, I will be exploring music from Egypt, as well as a traditional instrument in Japan, and last but not least, I will be talking more about music from India.
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Please tell me I'm not the only person that's obsessing over Marvel's Moon Knight series on Disney+. Steven Grant and Marc Spector are a weird duo, but I am not here to talk about the Moon Knight lore, because that would take forever. Instead, I wanted to focus on the end credits, more specifically, the songs that are played at the end.
Something important about Moon Knight is that most of the series has taken place in Egypt. Don't clown me, but my geography skills are not the best. That is why I had Google help me figure out if Egypt was a part of the Middle East. Idaho University has a page where they have random Middle East facts ( https://www.isustudent-opp.edu ), and they indeed confirm that Egypt was a part of the Middle East. I also Googled what the official language of Egypt was and it is Arabic.
This first song is in the end credits of episode 2, which is categorized as Egyptian rap. I would have never thought that I would be listening to Egyptian rap. The intro of the song shows a lot of the different notes that we heard in the Arabic genre of music. By notes I mean the musical notes in between that are often hard to sing.
I also realize that the series used remixes or reboots of old songs to put in the end scenes, one of which is used in episode three of Moon Knight. This artist's name is Warda and she has an incredible voice.
Personally, I really don't like remixes Mainly because I like to appreciate the original song and all of its aspects. I especially hate it when people who remix other songs completely change the whole melody or main tune of the song. The way that Marvel incorporated the song was absolutely immaculate. They stayed true to the song and just gave it more of a trendy, hip hop type of feel.
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I also wanted to explore different types of instruments. Ever since I've been in this class, I've come to realize there are way more instruments in the world than I could imagine. It sucks because then I would just have urges to learn how to play all the instruments. One instrument that I stumbled across on YouTube growing up was the Koto. At the time, I didn't know it was called that. I thought it was just a weird and random instrument. Turns out it is a traditional instrument from Japan. According to a website called TankenJapan, it is the most popular instrument there. It is a chordophone and is mainly played by being plucked (and people use finger picks for it). You can read more about it here:
Of course, me being me, I wanted to hear this instrument play songs of today (and maybe some well-known piano pieces). So, I went out and found them :
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Last but not least, I ventured into the world of music from India. From the videos that we were showed in class, I was in awe. The vocal ranges that they can reach and the way that they could hold certain notes was amazing to me. Then, Dr. Vaneman pulled out the Bollywood videos. Seeing those videos felt a little bit nostalgic to me because I had a friend in high school who introduced me to Bollywood. But I did have one question from watching these videos. How are these people able to perform this live? There is a lot of jumping in the choreography for these songs. Are they not out of breath while singing? But then again, K-pop idols also do this whenever they perform live. So, I wanted to find a prime examples of well-known artists dancing and singing in India.
First of all I want to say that I have been obsessed with this song ever since my friend posted a video of herself dancing to it. It has been replaying in my head ever since then.
(skip to 1:21)
I want to put this next song in here mainly because of a dance move that she does in it.
(Skip to 0:37 for dance move)
Here is the video of her performing it live:
(Skip to 0:15)
Even though neither of these two beautiful artists weren't wearing mics for their performance, I don't want to say that it's lip syncing. The majority of artists today lip sync at concerts when there is heavy choreography being incorporated. I mean, I wouldn't blame them. I would want to lip sync too if the dancing was that rigorous. They may be lip syncing, but if it wasn't for the extreme dance moves, I am pretty sure that both of these female artists are able to reach the notes and make it sound just like the original recording.
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WORKS CITED
Lee, MT. “Traditional Japanese Musical Instruments.” TankenJapan.com - Discover Fascinating and Exotic Japan, 3 Oct. 2021, https://tankenjapan.com/traditional-japanese-musical-instruments/.
“Middle East Facts.” Middle East Facts | Idaho State University, https://www.isu.edu/history/student-opportunities/class-projects/middle-east-facts/#:~:text=A%20variety%20of%20countries%20make,United%20Arab%20Emirates%2C%20and%20Yemen.
hey larissa i found your blog very intresting, i liked how you included Egypt rap music which i would have never thought there is. i learned that it had a arabic type of tune as i heard the music example.
I think my favorite part of your blog was the section about the koto. I always love to hear what could be considered traditional/classical instruments covering modern popular music. The rendition of Suite Bergamasque was also really beautiful and soooo relaxing. Also, I totally agree with you about how impressive it is when artists can perform vocally while dancing. The dance moves in O Saki Saki were both really fun and really impressive!
I just started watching moon knight this week and it was awesome to see how you connected it to the class. The Egyptian music in the show is actually really good. I enjoyed hearing the rap song you put in the first video.
I really enjoyed reading your post. I especially liked how you shared your mindset going into this unit, and your love of discovering new music. I also enjoyed listening to the music you shared.
OMG! I love the Moonlight series too! It was very cool that you decided to research the music within the show. I also love music. Many of them were very catchy and fitted the scenes so well. Thank you for sharing!
I really enjoyed reading your blog. you really caught my attention. I would say I liked most about the blog was the music that you shared and I only watch like one of 2 episodes of Moon Knight and had no idea that the music was connected.
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hey larissa i found your blog very intresting, i liked how you included Egypt rap music which i would have never thought there is. i learned that it had a arabic type of tune as i heard the music example.
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite part of your blog was the section about the koto. I always love to hear what could be considered traditional/classical instruments covering modern popular music. The rendition of Suite Bergamasque was also really beautiful and soooo relaxing. Also, I totally agree with you about how impressive it is when artists can perform vocally while dancing. The dance moves in O Saki Saki were both really fun and really impressive!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI just started watching moon knight this week and it was awesome to see how you connected it to the class. The Egyptian music in the show is actually really good. I enjoyed hearing the rap song you put in the first video.
I really enjoyed reading your post. I especially liked how you shared your mindset going into this unit, and your love of discovering new music. I also enjoyed listening to the music you shared.
ReplyDeleteOMG! I love the Moonlight series too! It was very cool that you decided to research the music within the show. I also love music. Many of them were very catchy and fitted the scenes so well. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog. you really caught my attention. I would say I liked most about the blog was the music that you shared and I only watch like one of 2 episodes of Moon Knight and had no idea that the music was connected.
ReplyDelete