A blog inspired to teach my children about other countries and cultures through their food. It also includes music, arts, and literature from those countries as well.
Showing posts with label Enrique Granados. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enrique Granados. Show all posts
When
people think of Spanish music, typically thoughts of Spanish classical guitar
and flamenco probably come to mind. And while you wouldn't be wrong with that,
but those styles only scratch the surface of what music Spain has to offer. And
as diverse as Spain is, it can certainly vary from region to region, too. You
also have to look at its history: every time a different group moved into the
area, they introduced instruments and musical styles that stuck to their
culture like cat hair on masking tape.
Early on, the music in this area was generally a mix of Roman style (that they
borrowed from the Greeks), the Visigoths (a Germanic group who borrowed a lot
from the Romans), and the Moors from North Africa. During the Renaissance and
the Baroque periods, many Spanish composers traveled abroad to France, Germany,
Italy, and other countries to study music and composition and then returned
home. Classical guitar method books were also published for the first
time.
Zarzuela
Classical music basically had its "laid on the couch all weekend"
moment during the 17th and 18th centuries. Very little was done, although a few
Italian composers were appointed to write for the Madrid court, including one
of my all-time favorites, Domenico Scarlatti. (I can definitely see a Spanish
influence in some of his pieces.) However, during the 19th century, Spanish
composers took a different focus than composers of other countries. They
developed their own type of secular-based opera called zarzuela, and many
composers really focused on this as a genre. Generally, Spanish composers moved
away from the symphonic ensemble in preference toward chamber groups and solo
instrumental music. Guitar music and piano music flourished during this time,
and composers like Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz were and still are widely
popular in classical music. I've always wondered why Spanish classical music
never seems to really be included in Western classical music studies, and even
James Michener wondered this himself in his book Iberia.
Yes, those are bagpipes. They're especially used in Galician gaita music.
Acoustic guitars are especially important to traditional Spanish music.
However, music styles can vary depending on which region of Spain you’re in.
Even at that, the main instruments you’ll probably hear besides guitars and
other guitar-like instruments are castanets, tambourines, a variety of flutes,
bagpipes (yes, you read that right), other various drums, fiddle, and
accordions.
Flamenco
Quite
a few dances originate from Spain, and many are tied to regional music styles.
Probably one of the most famous dances from Spain is flamenco and has its roots
in Andalusia. Aragon is most noted for its dance, the jota, which is a type of
stick dance. In the Basque country, not only do you find the jota dance, but
the fandango dance (this was mentioned in Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”). Other
dances include the rumba and the bolero.
Enrique Granados at the piano
There
are so many musicians from Spain that it was hard to give a fair listen, but I
did take a quick listen to several. First of all, I took a listen to some
classical music. The first one I listened to was some guitar works by Manuel de
Falla. I really enjoyed listening to this. I’ve always love classical guitar
and wished I could play. I bought a mandolin several years ago and tried to
teach myself, but my pianist hands just won’t cooperate. The next one I listened
to was Enrique Granados. I have some excerpts from some of his piano stuff. I
wouldn’t mind having more of his stuff in sheet music. Isaac Albéniz is another
who writes a lot of piano music that I may have to look up, too.
Enrique Iglesias
I
listened to Enrique Iglesias, who I really liked in the 1990s/2000s. Man, did
some of this music bring me back. (His father is the famous Julio Iglesias.) Lauded
as the King of Latin Pop, it’s no wonder that he is still popular after a
couple of decades of being on the scene. He’s put out albums in both English
and Spanish. Another musician who excelled at the ballad is Alejandro Sanz.
Manu Chao
And
even though Manu Chao is from France, he was originally from Spain and his
parents left Spain during Franco’s regime. So for that reason, I’m including him
here. I’ve been a huge fan of his music for many years. And what’s impressive
is that he sings in Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, and a few others
languages get thrown in as well.
Amaia Montero
In
the pop category, I listened to Amaia Montero. She kind of reminded me a little
of Colombia’s Fanny Lu. She uses the acoustic guitar a lot, and I appreciates
that when she belts out, it’s not distorted like some singers get. I also
listened to Ana Torroja. She was once part of Mecano, one of the most
successful bands from Spain during the 1980s and 1990s. Natalia Jiménez is
another pop singer I listened to. Her music seems to utilize more of a
traditional sound to it.
La Oreja de Van Gogh
When
it came to rock bands, I listened to a few: La Oreja de Van Gogh caught my eye
because it means “The ear of Van Gogh,” which I thought was funny. But their
music is pretty catchy. It’s more of an indie rock style. Mägo de Oz is a
harder rock band, bordering on Celtic metal punk on some songs and folk rock on
others. October People is another band that’s more on the indie rock side of
things. They remind me a little of 1980s new wave rock. I like their name
because I’m an October People (b. Oct. 28). And while definitely rock,
Extremoduro seems to blend in a little blues into their rock at times. Despite
its name, Warcry is not as hard as their name leads you to think it is. Their
music seems like it falls under the rock ballads genre. One band I listened to
solely because I think their name came from the Beatles song of the same name:
Sexy Sadie. I really like their style, which is more of a 1990s pop rock. And
they sing in English.
Mala Rodriguez
I’ve
waited years to talk about one of my favorite musicians: Mala Rodiguez. I have
a weak spot for female rappers, and Mala does not disappoint. I have three of
her albums. Another hip-hop group I listened to was Violadores del Verso. I’d
say they tend to be a little more minimalist on the instrumentals (but not
always), but it’s still catchy. And I really liked listening to Due Kie. Their
music seems to mix EDM, rock, and hip-hop. There’s a lot going on, but I like
it.
Most Andorran folk music is related to both Catalan and
French music, with obvious reason of course. However, its music is related to
two dances that are Andorran in origin.The contrapàs is a dance that’s related to a Catalan
dance called the sardana. Men and women will hold hands alternately and dance
in a circle. There is a combination of long and short steps, and the piece
starts out slow and speeds up towards the end. The music usually contains a
shawm and a flabiol as well as other instruments. A shawm is related to an oboe
(but has a larger bore than an oboe, making it louder). A flabiol is a smaller
woodwind instrument in the flute family that’s playing to the front of the
performer, as opposed to the side like you normally see. It’s usually played
with the left hand while the right hand beats a small drum that’s attached at
the elbow. (Talk about multi-tasking!) In this video you can get a good look at
the flabiol as well as the dance steps.
I kept looking for information on the marratxa dance, but
there really wasn’t any viable info as far as I could find.
Two famous 20th-century composer-musicians from
Catalonia were Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz. I’ve known Granados’ “Valses
Poeticos” for many years – wonderful pieces! – although he’s most widely known
for the piece “Goyescas.”Granados
wrote a lot of piano music and chamber music, many of which has been
transcribed for classical guitar as well. A lot of his pieces are based on
Spanish and Catalan dances. In 1916, Granados died while crossing the English
Canal – the boat he was in was hit with a torpedo from a German U-boat. He
jumped out in an attempt to save his wife who was struggling to swim and
drowned; his body was never recovered. (Think about that the next time you
consider crossing the English Canal.) He had suffered from hydrophobia, and
that was the first time he had been on an extended trip over the water.
Albéniz is really famous for his classical guitar pieces.
One of the most famous pieces he wrote is called Asturias. I’m sure you’ll
recognize the piece; it’s been used in several commercials and movies. This
piece makes me want to learn how to play classical guitar.And the guitarist is none other than
Australian John Williams, who, in my opinion, is some sort of genius.
In popular music of Andorra, two names came up that were
results from the Eurovision music contest: a punk band called Anonymous and the
pop singer Marta Roure. As a HUGE fan of punk music, I was immediately drawn to
Anonymous, but it was really hard to find any of their music, other than the
one used for Eurovision. But with a name like Anonymous, I was coming up with
every album that truly had anonymous tracks on them. Maybe in retrospect,
probably not such a good name for a band if you want people to search for
you.But here’s the track I did
find from the band Anonymous. It somewhat reminds me a little of the American
band Bouncing Souls, but at times they sound like Green Day. Seriously, if anyone has their whole album, please send it to me.
Marta Roure is a pretty typical pop musician, but I did like
some of the songs on her album Nua. At times, it was reminiscent of Columbian
singer Shakira (whose father by the way is partly of Catalan descent), but with
a voice quality more like Mexican singer Paulina Rubio.
Ok, and I did find a death metal band from Andorra called Persefone.
I’m not so into death metal, mostly because as someone who holds a music degree
(my principle instruments were voice and piano), I’m not so partial to
screaming as singing. But there were actually a few songs that I kinda liked.
And apparently, the indie rock style is pretty popular in
Catalonia. Lucky for me, I’m also a huge fan of indie rock.I came across two that impressed me:
Sanjosex and Mishima. While it uses both acoustic and electric guitars, it
certainly falls in the indie rock style, all while maintaining the rhythms that
are so indicative of Spanish and Catalan style. Without having the music in
front of me, I think they also use some of the same chord progressions and
instrumentation from folk music as well. I’ve also found a hip-hop group called
At Versaris who isn’t too bad as well. A few songs I’ve found are pretty good.
They remind me a little of the Brazilian group Marcelo D2 or Planet Hemp at
times. I picked this Sanjosex video just for the fact that he's riding around on a giant orange. It's so random, but it made me happy. (Perhaps I should've translated the lyrics?)
Up next: The Food!
Resources:
Wikipedia articles: “Culture of Andorra” “Shawm” “Flabiol”
“Marta Roure” “Shakira” “Music of Catalonia” “Enrique Granados” “Isaac Albéniz”
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