music and its usage around the world

By Nicole Weber

Dancing, relaxation, celebration, studying are all different reasons for listening to music. Have you ever wondered what else music is used for around the world?

The United States, where it’s stapled genre is country music, played with a banjo and a harmonica, is very different from a popular dance music in Mexico called “Cumbia” which is played with accordions, guitar, drums and other instruments.

Music is defined as, “an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color,” according to dictionary.com.

All of the world music is used as a form of expression in various different ways and sounds. Let’s focus in on a few particular unique ways music is being charmed into the lives of others.

Religious Ceremonies

In Japanese culture, Buddhists play small drums called ‘Okyos,’ says Natasuki Mikami. They are used in spiritual ceremonies when people pass away. The drums are made of wood and come in different sizes.

“They look like human skulls,” says Tomomi Nagai, referring to the drums used in the ceremony.

Marc Punette, an international student from Trinidad talks about a spiritual practice from his homeland. “We have a religion called ‘Orisha,’ who are composed of Methodists mixed with African [belief] which [ceremonies] use a lot of drumming,” says Punette.

Punette says Trinidad and Tobago also has a Muslim festival called ‘Hosea’ where marching drums called ‘Tassas’ are used.
Festivals and Sports

Music Festivals can be found everywhere around the globe, but one that may be considered unique to some is the Rainforest World Musical Festival. This festival is hosted by the Sarawak people of Malaysia to attract tourists and educate them on the culture of the people.

Capoeira is a Brazilian dance/martial arts that was started by the African salves that were brought to Brazil. The slaves that practiced Capoeira were threatened and even killed for knowing and practicing a form of self-dense, because of that “Capoeiristas,” or those who practice Capoeira camouflaged their form of self-defense dance with music and singing.

Instruments used in Capoeira are the ‘Berimbau’ which is a half a gourd attached to a rod with a metal string that is struck with a wooden rod while moving up a coin or a rock; the ‘Atabaque’ which is a basic drum; the ‘Agogo’ which consists of two metal bells struck with a wooden stick; the ‘Pandeiro’ which is a large tambourine; and the ‘Reco-reco’, which is a piece of bamboo with notches cut into it that is played with a piece of stick by rubbing it across the notches.

‘Taiko’ drums, known as the “big, great or fat drum” were used to signal the beginning of a war, according to an article by Suite101. ‘Taiko’ drums were played to intimidate and scare away the opponent.

Political Influence

In ‘Music and Cultural Politics: Ideology and Resistance in Singapore’ by Lily Kong, from Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Kong explains that music was used in Singapore to “perpetuate certain ideologies aimed at political socialization and to inculcate a civil religion that directs favour and fervour towards the nation.” In Singapore music is used as a communicational tool to show political and cultural resistance.

As Beethoven says, "Music - The one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend."

Maybe we cannot comprehend music, or define its meaning, but we can try to understand why it is performed and created. As with any piece of culture, music should not be judged.

Coming from a country where its indigenous people use to go around a fire circling, stomping and chanting to ask their God for rain, to a society where cursing in rap music is a norm is something that may or may not be explainable, but can be attempted to understand. Music has many different purposes and uses that should not be used to define a culture or society as a whole, but may be able to shine some light onto those trying to understand the culture.