Today I’ll be diving into a different realm of music. Something known as throat singing, Inuit throat singing to be exact. The artist in question is Canadian singer Tanya Tagaq, born in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. What came as a surprise to me was that she attended a residential school as a child until she was at least 15, As she tried to commit suicide at that point in time. Between the school and other household hardships Tagaq has had her fair share of struggles. It wasn’t until her early 20s the Tagaq began learning how to throat sing. “ Tagaq received a cassette from her mother of two women throat singing…Tagaq developed the throat singing technique by imitating their voices and began performed for friends at parties.”(Stanley).  Tagaq mixes the guttural sounds of throat singing with main stream music styles to create something new all together.  For those wanting something peaceful and soothing to listen too Tagaq’s throat singing is not what you’ll be looking for. Her songs aren’t just music they contain a message. “Retribution is Tanya Tagaq’s portrait of a violent world in crisis, hovering on the brink of destruction. It’s a complex, exhilarating, howling protest that links lack of respect for women’s rights to lack of respect for the planet, to lack of respect for Indigenous rights.” (Six Shooter Records).

On the album Retribution is also a song by the same name. Its about earth and all the horrible thing we as humans have done to it. The beginning of the song starts with quiet throat singing and Tagaq speaking, her words are very intense, and each letter seemingly spit out in a smoothly alluring voice tinged with spite. The background noises eventually are joined by some drums and strings in a very disjointed sounding fashion, maybe something you wouldn’t want to listen to before bed. However it’ll be sure to grab people’s attention.

The earth isn’t the only thing Tagaq addresses, she is also greatly involved in womens rights, and indigenous rights. Relating this to our module on hiphop and rap the idea of making yourself heard is what ties the two together. A form of self expression to get her message across, something that will catch the listeners attention be it in a good or bad way. Tagaq’s messages have not gone unnoticed, in 2014 she won the Polaris Music Prize which goes the the Canadian artist with the best album that year. In 2017 she was also nominated once again for the Polaris music Prize, though she didn’t win it that time. Understanding the traditional music of Canada is also important to our study of popular music. In this case it also because Tagaq integrates popular music into traditional music styles. Not to mention she beat other “mainstream” artists in 2014 when she won the Polaris award.  Perhaps this would qualify her as mainstream, or at least popular. A little variety is good, and especially when someone can combine something culturally significant into other aspects of their life.

Sources

Blais-Billie, Braudie. “Polaris Prize 2017: Watch Tanya Tagaq Perform “Rape Me” and “Retribution”.” Kali Uchis: Isolation Album Review | Pitchfork. September 19, 2017. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://pitchfork.com/news/polaris-prize-2017-watch-tanya-tagaq-perform-rape-me-and-run-to-the-hills/.

Stanley, Laura. “Tanya Tagaq.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. July 15, 2015. Accessed August 10, 2018. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tanya-tagaq/.

“TANYA TAGAQ.” Six Shooter Records. Accessed August 10, 2018. http://sixshooterrecords.com/artists/tanya-tagaq/

Most of us have heard some form of swing music in our lifetime. Be it through movies, YouTube, or video games (Fallout comes to mind). Swing was most popular in the 30s and 40s, but it did make a bit of a comeback in the 90s and early 2000s. Around 2004 this new style of swing music was dubbed “Electro-swing” do to the electronic/modern elements mixed with the original style. Though seemingly never gaining as much mainstream popularity as the parent style electro-swing did find its own niche.  Reaching the height of its popularity around 2010, electro-swing apparently isn’t everyone’s favourite genre of music “Electro swing is the past meeting the present in the worst way possible.”(Harrison).  Personally i actually listened to electro-swing on and off, sure some stuff is better than others but its got that very definitive swing style that i love.

Although there are a lot of electro-swing artists out there, the top dogs would be Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace. “Austrian DJ and producer Parov Stelar released one of the first electro swing albums in 2004.  The album is called Rough Cuts, and is considered to be the pioneer of electro-swing” (Pointdexter).  After Stelar popularized electro-swing  the French band Caravan Palace followed in 2008 with the release of their debut album of the same name. Even though these band were popular in their genre, i have to say i’d never heard of either of them by name. Though their music is on a number of the electro-swing mixes on YouTube. The reason most likely being that they’re music never made the so called jump across the pond.

After a bit of flip flopping between what band to highlight in this post i chose Caravan Palace and their song Lone Digger, its got a good beat and makes you want to tap along. Another aspect was the rather intriguing music video that accompanies the song.

Never thought you’d watch a video about three cats that walk into a strip club and get into a deadly fight did you? How the gazelle didn’t notice the fight until it was over is beyond me, but that’s besides the point. Music wise the song does have a fairly syncopated feel at its core, although the swing beat is paired from a much more techno like beat. Instrument wise there are key swing style instruments such as trumpets and some other brass instruments.  The more modern elements of the song would be the added techno beat, and synthesized voice additions. Even the singing at points is almost like rapping, especially the song’s chorus. These characteristic are very inspired by the popular music of the time, rap and electronic music.

Swing era music and fashion are still popular today, one example of swing in a movie that came to mind would be the scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron where Captain America has a flashback like dream of of past which depicts a war time dance in the background.

Fashion wise retro style clothing has really made a comeback recently with “swing style” dresses. Entire sites dedicated to retro dresses at all price points, from $20-$100+. Its clear that people love the style of swing. The music is upbeat, fun, and makes you want to tap along. In some cases people even take swing dancing classes. I studied abroad for a few months in England and some of the students hosted some swing dance nights where they taught the other students basic swing dancing move. Although i wasn’t very good at it, it was a ton of fun.

Its obvious that people of all ages have always been attracted to swing music which is why its still so prominent today. Be it original swing music or electro-swing. I think part of it is the idea of social dancing, though its not a big part of today’s culture, the idea of something like that is exciting. Going on personal experience here, when i watch swing dancing or any type of social dancing i tend to wish we still did something like that to this day.

Comparing swing music to electro-swing i do prefer the original style, its just got a irresistible charm. Sure electro-swing does have the fundamentals similarities but its just not the same.

Sources:

Harrison, Angus. “Electro Swing Is the Worst Genre of Music in the World, Ever.” Thump. December 09, 2015. Accessed July 17, 2018. https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/wnyjk9/electro-swing-is-the-worst-genre-of-music-in-the-world-ever.

Pointdexter, Ashley. “The Rise of Electro-Swing.” Bass Feeds The Soul. March 13, 2015. Accessed July 17, 2018. http://www.bassfeedsthesoul.com/quick-news/2015/3/13/the-rise-of-electro-swing.

Most of us have heard some form of swing music in our lifetime. Be it through movies, YouTube, or video games (Fallout comes to mind). Swing was most popular in the 30s and 40s, but it did make a bit of a comeback in the 90s and early 2000s. Around 2004 this new style of swing music was dubbed “Electro-swing” do to the electronic/modern elements mixed with the original style. Though seemingly never gaining as much mainstream popularity as the parent style electro-swing did find its own niche.  Reaching the height of its popularity around 2010, electro-swing apparently isn’t everyone’s favourite genre of music “Electro swing is the past meeting the present in the worst way possible.”(Harrison).  Personally i actually listened to electro-swing on and off, sure some stuff is better than others but its got that very definitive swing style that i love.

Although there are a lot of electro-swing artists out there, the top dogs would be Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace. “Austrian DJ and producer Parov Stelar released one of the first electro swing albums in 2004.  The album is called Rough Cuts, and is considered to be the pioneer of electro-swing” (Pointdexter).  After Stelar popularized electro-swing  the French band Caravan Palace followed in 2008 with the release of their debut album of the same name. Even though these band were popular in their genre, i have to say i’d never heard of either of them by name. Though their music is on a number of the electro-swing mixes on YouTube. The reason most likely being that they’re music never made the so called jump across the pond.

After a bit of flip flopping between what band to highlight in this post i chose Caravan Palace and their song Lone Digger, its got a good beat and makes you want to tap along. Another aspect was the rather intriguing music video that accompanies the song.

Never thought you’d watch a video about three cats that walk into a strip club and get into a deadly fight did you? How the gazelle didn’t notice the fight until it was over is beyond me, but that’s besides the point. Music wise the song does have a fairly syncopated feel at its core, although the swing beat is paired from a much more techno like beat. Instrument wise there are key swing style instruments such as trumpets and some other brass instruments.  The more modern elements of the song would be the added techno beat, and synthesized voice additions. Even the singing at points is almost like rapping, especially the song’s chorus. These characteristic are very inspired by the popular music of the time, rap and electronic music.

Swing era music and fashion are still popular today, one example of swing in a movie that came to mind would be the scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron where Captain America has a flashback like dream of of past which depicts a war time dance in the background.

Fashion wise retro style clothing has really made a comeback recently with “swing style” dresses. Entire sites dedicated to retro dresses at all price points, from $20-$100+. Its clear that people love the style of swing. The music is upbeat, fun, and makes you want to tap along. In some cases people even take swing dancing classes. I studied abroad for a few months in England and some of the students hosted some swing dance nights where they taught the other students basic swing dancing move. Although i wasn’t very good at it, it was a ton of fun.

Its obvious that people of all ages have always been attracted to swing music which is why its still so prominent today. Be it original swing music or electro-swing. I think part of it is the idea of social dancing, though its not a big part of today’s culture, the idea of something like that is exciting. Going on personal experience here, when i watch swing dancing or any type of social dancing i tend to wish we still did something like that to this day.

Comparing swing music to electro-swing i do prefer the original style, its just got a irresistible charm. Sure electro-swing does have the fundamentals similarities but its just not the same.

Sources:

Harrison, Angus. “Electro Swing Is the Worst Genre of Music in the World, Ever.” Thump. December 09, 2015. Accessed July 17, 2018. https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/wnyjk9/electro-swing-is-the-worst-genre-of-music-in-the-world-ever.

Pointdexter, Ashley. “The Rise of Electro-Swing.” Bass Feeds The Soul. March 13, 2015. Accessed July 17, 2018. http://www.bassfeedsthesoul.com/quick-news/2015/3/13/the-rise-of-electro-swing.

The Minstrel Show, the less than glamorous past of popular music. Preformed in blackface the show was a high energy, often improvised and mainly spoken in “a caricature of African-American speech” (Campbell). In the article Whitewashing Blackface Minstrelsy in American College Textbooks by Joseph Byrd we are told that blackface comedy was adopted from England and eventually evolved into what was the Minstrel Show.

Byrd defines those who were the main audience of the blackface shows which inspired minstrelsy as lower class males. the exact word used to describe the situation was lumpenproletariat. defined as such: “the lowest stratum of the industrial working class, including also such undesirables as tramps and criminals.” (Britannica). With this knowledge we gain a bit of insight on what the blackface shows were geared towards. This show wasn’t intended for those in a higher class, it was catered towards the poor Irish immigrants. As mentioned in the article the inspiration for the music style present leaned towards Irish folk music. This choice most likely added to the appeal of the show.  The horrible misrepresentation of the African-American people of the time most likely added to the success of the shows. Perhaps it made the immigrants feel a step above their black counterparts.

Although the slavery had since ended, the States were bound by a set of segregation laws nicknamed the “Jim Crow Laws” after the reoccurring character in the minstrel shows, the country bumpkin Jim Crow. Below i’ve inserted a short clip of a blackface actor doing a Jim Crow dance.

Jim Crow eventually became a racial slur used to refer to all black people in America, hence the naming of the racial segregation laws the Jim Crow Laws. To expand upon the laws a bit more it was practices like separate schools for whites and blacks, different parks, even different restaurants for white and black people. The idea behind the Jim Crow laws is that whites and blacks were to be “separate, but equal”.

In the early minstrel shows run by the Virginia Minstrels i was shocked to learn how offensive the lyrics were towards African-American people. Here are some lyrics from Old Dan Tucker that were featured in Byrd’s article.

“Tucker on de woodpile, can’t count ’lebben,
Put him in a featherbed, him gwine to hebben,
His nose so flat, his face so full,
De top of his head like a bag of wool.”

“This would become the essence of American
popular song…Note also that, in just one quatrain, Emmett has managed to employ at least three racist stereotypes: blacks are larcenous, stupid, and ugly.” (Byrd)

Its shocking to think that something like this would gain the popularity it did. I even did some browsing to see if i could find the original lyrics  of Old Dan Tucker 0nline to listen to. But it seems even those have been swept under the rung. Some of the songs sung even implied that it was assumed that African-Americans were happier in slavery than they were being free. This mindset most likely impacted the reason the segregation of white and black people lasted for so long, or why the Jim Crow laws even had to exist.

People don’t like to talk about messy parts of history, and minstrelsy is a portion of that so called messy past. In Canada perhaps you could liken the lack of talking about treatment of indigenous people in the past to that of minstrelsy. Despite being less glamorous than other music history blackface entertainment like the minstrel show still existed no matter how much one tries to cover it up. I think its important to learn from our mistakes and grow into a greater society because of it. Hiding the not so nice stuff won’t help the learning process, no amount of rewriting of lyrics or removing of verses will change the actual lyrics of a song. The Minstrel show was to a degree the start of easily accessed entertainment for the average person, the songs were catchy and upbeat and they toured around providing entertainment for many. Thats why i think its so important to learn about these things, its hard to understand music history as a whole when parts are being left out.

Sources:

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Lumpenproletariat.” Encyclopædia Britannica. December 03, 2014. Accessed July 19, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lumpenproletariat.

Joseph Byrd (2009) Whitewashing Blackface Minstrelsy in American College Textbooks, Popular Music and Society, 32:1, 77-86, DOI: 10.1080/03007760802207882

Urofsky, Melvin I. “Jim Crow Law.” Encyclopædia Britannica. July 19, 2017. Accessed July 18, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law.