Cool Stuff!

When I started thinking about all the different types of cultural music I was exposed to as a child and how I was exposed to them, I realized that most of it was introduced to me through cartoons. The soundtracks of the good old Disney classics Pocahontas and The Lion King have Native American and South African influences respectively. When we talked about the Pow wow in class, my mind went back to a cartoon TV series I had watched as a child called "Pow-wow the Indian Boy". This was one of my favorite cartoons. I remember that the theme song had a lot of "Hey, hoo, ha" in its lyrics - vocables! Who would have thought I would be theoretically analyzing the music in a cartoon I had seen as a child, 16 years ago. (Wow, I feel old.)

Here is the opening song in Pocahontas, "Steady as the beating drum".( Music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Stephen Schwatrz.) This song talks about how the Native American people lead lives as "steady as the beating drum". The lyrics portray their way of life. Concepts we talked about in class such as balance in life, spirituality and life working in cycles can be seen here. To quote from the song : "Oh great spirit hear our song, help us keep the ancient ways, keep the sacred fire strong, walk in balance all our days. Seasons go and seasons come, steady as the beating drum...".
The drumming and the use of the vocables "Hega hega yam-pi-ye-hega...etc." add an authentic native american flavor to the music. Enjoy.

The song "The Spirit of the Hawk" by the Swedish band Rednex includes part of a speech given by "Chief Joseph", the chief of a Native American tribe known as "Nez Perce", which is a tribe which lives in the Pacific North West region of USA. (According to wikipedia). The video of this song has a lot of imagery from the Native American culture. The song's title and video both show the close connection between the Native American people, nature and their spirituality. It is a fusion music influenced by native american sounds and modern techno music.

Africa:

I once learnt a traditional South African song at a music camp which I attend in Sri Lanka when I was fourteen years old. This song is in the call and response style. I learned that it is about migrant workers travelling by train to work at gold and minefields. Here is a video of primary school children singing the song. It's really a fun song to sing with a large group of people.

Here's a video of the African Children's choir just because they are definitely worth checking out.

I would also like to share the video of the performance of "Waka Waka" by Shakira featuring the South African band "Freshlyground". This song was one of the official songs for the 2010 FIFA world cup. Here is a great example of a wonderful multicultural, musical celebration.

Finally, simply because Lady Smith Black Mambazo has an amazing sound: