The Heart of Mexico: The Mariachi The Mariachi is one of the most noticeable musicians worldwide. A theory for where the term “Mariachi” came from is the name of the wood used to make the guitars or platforms on which the musicians performed. One recent theory dates the word back to the early 1500’s to the Coca Indian word for a musician (Ruiz, 2002). The name “Mariachi” may have came from the French word for marriage. Many historians believed that the word originated when Maximillian, a Frenchman, who was the emperor of Mexico.
It is widely assumed that string instruments emerged about 4000 BC from the hunting bow and the sound it produces while shooting. Warriors from Babylon frequently made such stringed instruments with a solid wooden neck and a sound box of stretched animal skins. Like the bow, the strings were made of woven plants fibers or materials derived from animals. At the same time, the “tar” emerged as a primitive stringed instrument originating from India. “Tar” means string Sanskrit, leading to the Indian sitar meaning literally “three strings”.
The Incas were descended from a people who had settled in the valley of Cuzco. Their civilization was created by Manco Capac in the early twelfth century, but the Incas did not expand until the late 12th century. In 1438, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui took the throne, calling himself Earthshaker, he marched through the Andes conquering large parts of South America and turning them into a single mighty empire. His defeat of the Chancas was a turning point for the Incas. Pachacuti rebuilt Cuzco into a city of enormous stone palaces and temples, and brought his numerous provinces under the direction of a single government.
Brian Guay Music History I Research Paper William Byrd was considered a great English composer of his time, one of the greatest. He wrote for several different genres including sacred music, and he also wrote secular vocal and instrumental music. Byrd lived during the Late Renaissance, a time of reformation and change. However, as people were breaking away from the Catholic Church, William Byrd remained Catholic. The church began to use English in services rather than Latin, however Queen Elizabeth allowed Latin to be used in some sacred music (Burkholder, Grout, Palisca, 222).
ARS NOVA I. Ars Nova History The Ars Nova (new art) musical style became exceptionally popular and was used in France and the Burgundian Low Country during the late middle ages. The designation of “new art” came from a treatise written around 1320 by the renowned composer Philippe de Vitry entitled Ars Nova Notandi who used said new techniques in many of his compositions. Originally the term was used to describe music specifically from those areas in the 14th century but is commonly used to describe the music from Italy in the concurrent time period accidently called Italian Ars Nova but was actually Italian Trecento Music. Ars Nova brought with it many musical changes and new ideas in comparison to music as seen in history beforehand. II.
Yoruba dance is the most important non-verbal art form for the people of West Africa. The dances’ history, cultural roots, and aesthetic values form two very distinct ways of life. Bharata Natyam originated in the temples of South India. This classical dance evolved from the polytheistic religion, Hinduism. The four books of the Hindu religion, known as the holy Four Vedas, bring ritual and sacred elements to the classical dance.
Name: Akila Mc Eachnie Course Code: CARN 1701 Course Name: Carnival and Society Lecturer: Dr. Ann Lee and Team Date: 17th November, 2011 Topic: Carnival and Race: The Authorship of Calypso The Authorship of Calypso Trinidad Carnival is proclaimed to be the “greatest show on earth” by many, locally and abroad. This show emerged as a result of the merging of cultural practices, symbols and traditions of the different races that occupied the land from colonization to pre-emancipation to post emancipation. Race is a controversial term with regards to its definition. Race in the context of this essay will be considered from a “colonial” viewpoint. Therefore race here is “assumed to be biological, fixed, or immutable(primordial) so that any attempt to treat it as a social construction is resisted vigorously by those who have a great deal of emotion invested in notions of racial purity and associated concepts of cultural superiority” (Allahar, 1996).
Native American Music Also known as ‘Amerindian’ music, the Native American music is a widespread tradition used as a form of spiritual representation of many aspects of the culture. Together with dance, their use of music in culture is hugely important in order to maintain traditions thousands of years old. So as to fully understand the different types of Native American music, we must also acknowledge the large scope of different Native American tribal units that play this music. Cultural Areas Although most of the Native American music style, along with aspects of their culture, is homogenous, there is evidence that before being forced to move to North American reservations, the Amerindians were divided into separate segments of culture. There are known to be around 1000 tribal units with almost as many languages, as well as 60 independent language families within North America.
It was made up of marauding bands of warriors who migrated from the north. The God of Sun and War for the Aztecs was Huitzilopochtli. Just a few of the Aztec accomplishments have been the development of mathematics, the canoe, the highly specialized Aztec calendar, and remarkably helpful forms of medicine. Aztec society was highly structured, based on agriculture, and guided by a religion that pervaded every aspect of life. The Aztec worshiped Gods represented natural forces that were vital to their agricultural economy.
Both countries, after centuries of immigration and emigration, have populations where only about 50% (52.6% in Puerto Rico and 55% in Bolivia) of people are of Amerindian heritage. Both have histories of Spanish colonization. In 1493, Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of Puerto Rico and claimed it as a Spanish colony, 30 years later, Francisco Pizarro, did the same to the Incan Empire which dominated Eastern South America; at the time, Bolivia was part of Peru. Today, both nations have a rich variety of culture and tradition. Puerto Rico and Bolivia are cultures rich in fine art of all forms.