Tanya Tagaq is an Inuit throat singer and songwriter born May 5, 1975 in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Tanya also took part in painting and was an artist who reached success in her career. Her music included the mixture of rock and roll, electronic, punk styles and Inuit throat singing. Although Tanya had reached success in her musical career, her personal life in teen years was quick a struggle. Tanya had been through substance abuse, sexual assault and even attempted to take her own life at a residential school at the age of 15. This did not stop Tanya’s will to learn, although these tragic events unfolded in her life she still managed to graduate from college with a fine arts degree! She has established an impressive following through her experimental songs and has found success, which has resulted to many awards such as the Juno Awards (2015, 2017) and the Polaris Music prize (2014) to name a few [1].

(​https://globalnews.ca/news/1578299/tanya-tagaq-takes-shot-at-peta-even-though-it-supports-in uit-seal-hunt/​)

Inuit throat singing is traditionally performed between two women and it is sung as a game in which an individual sets the rhythm, and the other individual has to follow. Two females work as a team to create sounds similar to those of animals or portraying lands. The women together must follow an intense and switch in tone and tempo. This gives the singers the ability to express their emotions through their tones. Tanya’s music in particular starts off slow and gradually increases in intensity as the song plays. The winner is deemed the winner if they do not laugh first because each song usually results in laughter [2].

Here’s a clip of Inuit throat singing !

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLMlkjnYe0U)

(http://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674backstage_with_dynamic_throatsinging_duo_tarniriik/)

Tanya was a political voice of first nations individuals. Tanya’s music , like inuit singing, involved two people projecting the tribulations they had went through and they relate it to their surroundings at the time. Music can bring awareness to different subjects and may use it as an instrument to political activism. Tanya addresses issues like racism and poor financial aid in order to express the adversities faced by her people. Tanya’s music relates to the Module 11 materials because it relates to the different social movements such as ​Black Lives Matter (BLM), and Idle No more, in which the​ goal of the movement “calls on all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water” [3].

She has collaborated with the award winning indigenous hip/hop group, ​A Tribe Called Red​ who have expressed themselves as supporters of Idle No more [4].

(https://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/article/qk9a97/here-are-the-best-photos-from-this-years-juno-awards-with-very-little-reading)

Describing Tanya’s music may be challenging if you are not familiar with Inuit throat singing. Throat singing involved two females working as a team to create sounds. As discussed before throat singing can bring different emotions of individuals and others through the singer’s tone. Although I am not too familiar with this type of singing, if I were to describe her music using only a few words, I would personally pick experimental, bold, and vocal. Tanya’s music sounds like that of Ambient music, which gives attention to texture. With Tanya’s music there is a bigger focus on the noises rather than the beat. Artists, similar to her style of music, would be more focused on the positive movement within their culture.

 

She is considered Experimental to me​ because she pushes the boundaries of what we define as traditional music in which she uses unique sounds throughout her music. Bold because she can embrace a different way to express herself through throat singing, along with the successes that she has had with her music. Lastly, her music is very vocal almost as if it is trying to tell you a story, and in some videos, it looks as if she is mimicking an animal, which is why I think that her music is presented in very powerful way.

For this video, the cue that I recommend listening for is the tempo, or the speed of music and rate in which accented and unaccented beats follow each other. As the song goes on, listen for the layering of different music components throughout the song. The song starts of with a set tempo which gradually increases followed by different/stronger instrumentation and vocals adding to the intensity of the song. As mentioned the speed of music and rate in which beats follow each other progresses with the song.

 

Tanya has many achievements through her music, the most prestigious ones which include her Juno Awards and her ​Polaris music prize​ in which she had received a $30,000 prize along with the award. Along with this she also won Best Female Artist in 2005 at the Canadian Aboriginal awards. Furthermore, she also won an award for a short film she created at a festival in 2009. Here is a further list of some of her notable awards.

• 2014; Polaris Music Prize – Animism
• 2015; Aboriginal Recording of the Year – Animism
• 2017; Classical album of the Year – Large ensemble, Going Home Star [5]

The music that Tanya produces is important to our study of popular music because her songs are presented in a non-traditional way in which that most of her songs have interesting elements of Inuit throat singing. Since many are not familiar with her styles of singing and song writing, we are presented with an opportunity where we can attempt to deconstruct the different components in which the songs are composed. Moreover, these songs remind us that First Nation culture is still around and has some issues that need to be addressed. Tanya’s music creates awareness in the community by connecting some of the harsh realties of her previous experiences and how they impact her and others in her culture in the present.

The transmission of her songs are largely made possible through technological advances of the modern day, specifically through the general media, which is put best, taken from Unit 4: Popular song in the modern era:

“A media revolution transformed the way audiences encountered popular music: Through radio, electric recording, and film, Americans learned popular music by listening to it more than they did by reading the sheet music. Moreover, it opened the door to a host of new sounds–sounds that could be preserved on recordings or broadcast over the air, but not transmitted very faithfully via sheet music.” [6]

From what I gather from this paragraph in the textbook is that the media has made it easier to discover different types of music and that it has provided an outlet where genres such as alternative music and even Inuit throat singing can thrive. Through this, we can study different genres that we have not heard of before which was not possible without the help of media. Tanya is a prime example of a niche genre which has become popularized in society to the point where she is researched about in courses such as MUS 111.

 

Bibliography

[1]  Stanley, Laura. 2015. “Tanya Tagaq”. The Canadian Encyclopedia. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tanya-tagaq/.

[2] “Throat Singing”. 2018. Icor.Ottawainuitchildrens.Com. http://icor.ottawainuitchildrens.com/node/30.

[3] “The Vision”. 2018. Idle No More. http://www.idlenomore.ca/vision.

[4] Boles, Benjamin. 2013. “A Tribe Called Red”. NOW Magazine. https://nowtoronto.com/music/cover-story-a-tribe-called-red/.

[5] Staff, Star. 2017. “Full List Of Juno Winners”. Thestar.Com. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2017/04/02/full-list-of-juno-winners.html.

[6] Campbell, Michael. 2012. Popular Music In America – The Beat Goes On. 4th ed. Boston: Schirmer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#M2Q3

-Important figures in Early Pop Music History: W.C HANDY

#M2Q3: W.C. Handy Biography

 

 

William Christopher Handy, born on November 16^th, 1873 in Florence, Alabama was raised in a religious family with his father working as a pastor at the church in Guntersville. He was also known as the Father of the Blues and one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. Growing up he was involved with carpentry, shoemaking and plastering. Handy was first introduced to music while attending church where he was known for singing and his desire for music only grew as he got older. In his younger years handy had bought a guitar without his parents knowing and would play the guitar in secret. Nonetheless his father came to know of it and forced Handy to return it. This was due to the fact his father was very religious and felt the musical instruments were tools of the “devil”. Regardless Handy’s passion drew his father to sign him up for organ lessons which did not last long but Handy learned to play the cornet. Handy always had a desire for music as he would pass time while waiting for overfilled furnaces to digest ore by making beats from the shovels workers were using. Handy even went on to take a teaching exam which he passed easily but quit learning that it paid poorly. Following these events in 1892, Handy formed a band called the Lauzette Quartet. At this time Handy was also working at a pipe works plant. Handy went on to perform at the World’s Fair Chicago, however he was unable to perform at the show until the following year due to the World’s Fair being postponed for a year. W.C. At the age of 23 he became the bandmaster of the Mahara’s Colored Minstrels. Handy at this point had reached success and was able to travel the country and even perform in places like Cuba with the band as their popularity was growing. Through traveling Handy collided with rural African-American folk songs which would later motivate his mainstream blues music in the future. In 1896 Handy was performing in Kentucky when love struck with his partner Elizabeth Price and decided to marry the same year. Handy and Price would go on to have six children and later settle down in Florence. Handy ended up moving to Memphis, Tennessee and wrote Memphis Blues which would become a blues hit during the 1910s. Moreover, Handy went on to New York where he was an essential component in inspiring the blues. 1928 Handy was also the first host of a blues concert in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. W.C. Handy wasn’t done there he went on to create many pieces during the 20s and 30s such as, An Anthology, Negro Authors and Composers of the United States. Handy even went on to publish his own autobiography in 1941 titled Father of the Blues. During the same period of his autobiography Handy began to face health problems as his eyesight was deteriorating and eventually he was left completely.  Following these years of hardships as his eyesight has been lost Handy In 1958 had passed away due to pneumonia.

 

 

 

 

 

Challenges Faced by Handy:

 

W.C. Handy was born into a very religious family as his father was a pastor and expressed his rejection towards the tools of the “devil”. Handy was forced to buy his guitar and play it in secret as this was the only way for him to overcome the challenge of an unapproving father at the time. Non-religious music and musical instruments were considered offensive by his church and father as they were the tools of the “devil”. Due to this challenge a lot of Handy’s passion and desire for music was boxed up inside him and he was unable to express it during his upbringing but nonetheless this didn’t stop his passion and desire as he continued to be involved with music and bands even while working at different job sites. Furthermore, Handy also experienced the downside of poverty as he would be homeless living under a bridge for 2 years as working small jobs was his only source of income. He eventually began working at a pipe plant and part time with his musical band. Racism was also very prevalent during the time of Handy as he lived at a time in the South where people were having a hard time accepting the changes being made to slavery and people would soon have to start accepting others as their equals. Handy faced much racism while being raised in Alabama and even more when he began traveling with his musical groups to the point they were being threatened and racially violated by mobs during performances. This ultimately would facilitate Handy’s decision to move into New York later in his years. On another note one of Handy’s most famous and financially successful songs was taken away from him as he had signed over rights to it without fully understanding what that meant. Memphis Blues never benefited Handy financially from its sales and caused him to create a production company on his own so this type of situation would not occur again in the future.

 

 

Handy’s Contributions towards music:

 

Handy was the first to systematically record and log Blues music and this was a huge contribution as it would pave the way for blues music future. Handy was also a skilled songwriter and composer and this gave Handy the opportunity to produce hits by combining his own compositions with blues music he had ran across while traveling to different countries. This is another reason why we are introduced to so many different types of blues music by him. Handy was also able to turn blues music into sheet music and one of the first to ever do so. Handy preserved blues and folk music from the rural south and worked very hard to legitimize blues music as an exclusive musical form. This is why Handy was known as the Father of Blues.

 

Famous Songs

Yellow Dog Blues

Anticipating to make only “another hundred or so” on a third recording of his, “Yellow Dog Blues”. Handy signed a deal with the Victor company. The Joe Smith recording of this song in 1919 became the best-selling recording of Handy’s music to date. I choose this song because of its success and how popular it became. The fact that its cover version by Joe Smith is a best-selling record of Handy’s music to date is a big significance because it shows the popularity and interest placed by society on the song.

 

Saint Louis Blues

Arguably W.C. Handy’s most famous song is “Saint Louis Blues”. It went on to be called “the jazzman’s Hamlet” because it was recited by many famous artists including Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong.The song form is 12-Bar blues written in a tango rhythm. Handy went on to say “The one-step and other dances had been done to the tempo of Memphis Blues. … When St Louis Blues was written the tango was in vogue. I tricked the dancers by arranging a tango introduction, breaking abruptly into a low-down blues. My eyes swept the floor anxiously, then suddenly I saw lightning strike. The dancers seemed electrified. Something within them came suddenly to life. An instinct that wanted so much to live, to fling its arms to spread joy, took them by the heels.” I choose this song due to the fact that many artists went on to recite this song in their own version as they were fond of it. Bringing this different tango rhythm into play was a big step by Handy and it worked so well that other artists wanted a go at it.

Memphis Blues

Was written by W.C. Handy in 1912 and was one of the first blues songs published that pushed blues into the mainstream scene. Originally written as a campaign song for Edward Crump. Rights of the song was signed off for $100 usd and later inspired Handy to create his own publication.  I choose this song because of its significance towards Handy’s hardships being tricked out of a lot of money and signing the rights away of this song was a turning point for Handy as he would later in life create his own company to publish his music. The world is a cold place be careful!

 

 

References:

W.C. Handy. (2015, October 27). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/wc-handy-39700

 

Yeager, A. (2003). W.C. Handy, Father of the Blues. Birmingham, Alabama: Seacoast Publishing.

 

Robertson, D. (2011). W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

 

 

 

2. Shuffle Along: ​In 2016, Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, a musical about the making of the 1921 hit show Shuffle Along, opened on Broadway. This revival, of sorts, brought new attention to the original show. Though mentioned only briefly in your textbook, Shuffle Along was groundbreaking for African Americans in music and on stage. Read the New York Times Magazine article “’Shuffle Along’ and the Lost History of Black Performance in America.” It rambles a bit, and bounces back and forth between the history of the original show and commentary on the modern production. In a thoughtful blog post, answer these questions based on your reading:

 

 

Why did black people don blackface in early American theatre? Explain the power dynamics of blackface worn by black performers.

Black performers wore blackface in early American theatre because it was not acceptable for African Americans to perform on stage during the 19th century, so in an effort to obey to the predominant white audiences, they had to put on blackface as if they were a Caucasian playing the role of a black person (Sullivan 2016). Many of the actors darkened their faces artificially. The interesting power dynamics of blackface worn by black performers helped strengthen the compromise of the black performers power because blackface was worn as a way to mock their own race. The musical served as a comedy and was reliant on the minstrel tropes used to degrade black culture. Although the use of blackface at the time was used in a negative fashion it played a major role in the acceptance of black performers. In this day and age the use of blackface is looked down upon and described as being racist.

 How did ‘Shuffle Along’ reinforce or challenge:

 The use of blackface in theatre:

The use of blackface in theatre was reinforced or challenged in “Shuffle Along” because of the way it was used, in which the black performers had to put on blackface in order to perform on stage. This was a representation to the Caucasians that they had surrendered their power because it showed that they were mocking their own race. Although the use of blackface signified the loss of power, they increased in power to the point where a genre was established, as seen in black minstrels (Sullivan 2016).

 

 

 

 

The taboo of black sexuality:

As seen in the article presented, black sexuality was seen as dangerous if taken too far, such as a man professing his love through song. This was due to the fact it would match Romeo, but a man singing to a woman at the window would be an acceptable extreme. In the “Shuffle Along” play, this was challenged to see how the white audience would react to Roger Matthews and Lottie Gee singing “Love Will Find a Way”. In my opinion, this subject is best represented by the book Race Matters, by Cornel West (West 2017) “Black sexuality is a taboo subject in America principally because it is a form of black power over which whites have little control–yet its visible manifestations evoke the most visceral of white responses, be it one of the seductive obsession or downright disgust”. In my opinion, West is saying that black sexuality is dangerous because it is something that white people feel as though they cannot control.

 

Typical rhythms:

Shuffle along involved a challenging rhythm in the program, because “The changes often seemed less rhythmical than mathematical”. This in turn made the variations in patterns that much more difficult to follow as a dancer. Due to the fast variations and fast tempo, it helped support a quick rhythm and pace.

Chorus lines:

The chorus lines in Shuffle Along was primarily dance jazz and this was strengthened through stereotypical chorus girls. A dancer that was discussed in this module includes Josephine Baker, who happened to make it to the Shuffle along chorus line, was noticed for her dancing. ​Josephine was an American-born French entertainer. Her career was primarily centered around Europe. She was one of the first person of color to become a worldwide entertainer and to star in a major motion picture.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=josephine+baker&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiK1-TluKzcAhW_HjQIHfL7DrcQ_AUICigB&biw=824&bih=841#imgrc=oKyZMeSe1BEIEM:

 

The most well-known from ​Shuffle Along?

The song that till this day is the most well-known from Shuffle Along is “I’m Just Wild About Harry”, which is a strong fourth beat tied to the down beat (Wilder 1975). The song broke a taboo against musical and stage depictions of romantic love between African-Americans.  Harry Truman used the song for his 1948 campaign for presidency in the United States. It was a good fit amusing because it made it seem like the song is about him due to the same first name. Daffy Duck also sang a chorus of it in the cartoon short Yankee Doodle Daffy. Before researching for this blog post, I have not heard of this song before.

 

 

«patting Juba», and who was Juba (the second Juba). Why is this story included, and how does it tie to our main story?

The term “patting Juba” meant African dancing that involves stomping as well as slapping the legs, body and hands in order to create rhythms. Juba was a young boy that was the best Juba dancer in the world, who rivalled an Irish boy named John Diamond. Although the audience would prefer towards the white dancer who put on blackface, this was changed when Juba also painted his face black and won the crowd over with his greater dancing skills because the audience could not tell the two apart. This is another example of the small victories black people donning blackface gave with regards to power and this is how it ties into our main story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claims about the historical significance of ​Shuffle Along that are not true.  Who or what should actually claim this title?

The claims about the historical significance of Shuffle Along that are not exactly true are how it is promoted as the first successful black Broadway show, this actually belongs to a film called “Bandanna Land” from 1907-1909, which is over 12 years younger than the 1921’s Shuffle Along. ​

Concept of the 2016 show and how it celebrated ​Shuffle Along. How it approached the material

George wolfe had the mindset of transforming rather than reviving to dodge the disappointments of the previous revivals in 1932 and 1952. George would show the creation of “Shuffle Along” instead of recreating it and would “tell the story of the original creators and cast and how they pulled it off” (Sullivan 2016). This was done through the exposure of the material through different characters of Caucasian outsiders during the original show. Concepts such as dancing syncopation and singing were kept the same.

New information, change on perspective on the conditions and challenges faced by early African American performers

What I learned from reading this article was the greatness in which black performers were treated unfairly back then. In order to prosper in that day and age in something they were passionate about a lot of African American performers had to compromise and give up to the harsh racism and inequality placed upon them. It’s saddening that they had to withstand such difficulties such as the mocking of their own race through things like blackface in order to perform. I wasn’t very aware of the culture and things African Americans had to face just to be recognized or perform in theater. Educating myself on this article and subject definitely gives a better understanding of the tribulations and adversities African American performers faced.

 

Look back to the section entitled ‘Minstrelsy and American Popular Music’ in your textbook (page 28), specifically the paragraph that begins “Minstrelsy would give blacks…” – in light of the article, do you feel this paragraph (or the textbook in general) offers a fair perspective on blackface in America? Why or why not?

Looking back at the textbook, I do not think that that section in book offers a fair perspective on blackface in America. This is because I feel as though it seems to express Minstrels as an overall positive experience and portion of time as represented at the end of the page:

“Still, the positive contributions of the minstrel show include four important firsts, all of which figure prominently in subsequent generations of popular music: – It was entertainment for the masses. – It used vernacular speech and music. – It created a new genre by synthesizing middle-class urban song and folk music. – It was the first instance of a phenomenon in American popular music that has continued to the present day: that of invigorating and transforming the dominant popular style through the infusion of energetic, often danceable music.” (Campbell 2012)

The way in which this section is defined makes it seem like these four main points would not have happened without Minstrels. This in turn paints blackface in a positive light. Furthermore, I feel as though the text focuses too little on African American performers. It does not go into depth in describing the reasoning behind the popularity to blackface and what it meant for both African Americans and Caucasians.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Campbell, Michael. 2012. Popular Music In America: The Beat Goes On. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Schirmer.

Hill, Anthony. (2008). Shuffle Along (1921). http://www.blackpast.org/aah/shuffle-along-1921. Retrieved 15th July 2018, from http://www.blackpast.org/aah/shuffle-along-1921

 

Sullivan, John. 2016. “‘Shuffle Along’ And The Lost History Of Black Performance In America”. Nytimes.Com.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/shuffle-along-and-the-painful-history-of-black-pe rformance-in-america.html?mcubz=1.

 

West, Cornel. 2017. Race Matters. Beacon press.

 

Wilder, Alec. 1975. American Popular Song. New York: Oxford University Press.

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