World cultures final (camilles notes)

Silk Road Project

A project studying the cultural and musical exchange along the trans-Eurasian trade routes.

Micromusics

Term coined by ethnomusicologist Mark Slobin, referring to small units within large music cultures.

Subculture

A group with a common identity and practices that is distinct from others in a society.

Panoptic

A detached, distant view of an event or performance.

Tremolo

A variation in intensity of a sound, similar to vibrato.

Ostinato

A short musical pattern that is repeatedly played.

Habanera rhythm

A long-short rhythmic pattern prominent in Cuban music.

Organitos

Spanish term for organ grinders, which played tangos in the streets of Buenos Aires.

Zydeco

Dance music that emerged in the 1950s among the Creoles of the Gulf Coast.

Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika

A South African hymn that became a national anthem and emblem of political resistance.

Antiphonal style

A performance practice involving alternation between two or more groups of singers or players.

Biphonic singing

A technique where a singer produces two audible tones simultaneously: a fundamental and an overtone.

Mahalaka ritual

A ceremony in honor of the deity Mahalaka in Tibetan Buddhism.

Bata drums

Double-headed drums commonly used in Santeria ceremonies.

Frottoir

An idiophone, or rubboard, used in zydeco music.

Debtara

Ethiopian church musicians who are also scribes and healers.

Dbyang

Type of biphonic Tibetan chant characterized by sustained low notes and harmonics.

Lei Liang

A contemporary composer drawing on his Chinese heritage and influences from various musical styles.

Eya Aranla

An ensemble that performs Santeria music led by Milton Cardona.

Coda

The concluding passage of a musical piece.

Communitas

A sense of social union and togetherness generated by rituals.

Capoeira

An Afro-Brazilian performance style that combines martial arts and dance.

Santeria

An Afro-Cuban religion incorporating Yoruba elements and Catholicism.