Music and Us

     I am going to talk about some music I have varying degrees of knowledge of. Most of the music I actually knew close to nothing about. I am including music from 4 different countries, two of which I had some degree of knowledge beforehand. I hope you enjoy learning about some music you may not know.

    The first musical selection is from a modern Japanese Visual Kei band called Malice Mizer. I have listened to their music beforehand, but because it isn't on Spotify I haven't listened to them as much as I would want. This band definitely does not represent Japanese music as a whole, but they do have a very big following from both Japanese and non-Japanese people. The term Visual Kei represents the dramatic costumes, emotions, and lyrics that the band has. As you can see in the video, the costumes the band wears are very elaborate as well as gothic. This song, "Au Revoir" is a very melancholic love song and I think you can tell just by the emotion portrayed by the lead singer. I found out about this band when I was scrolling TikTok and saw someone talking about them. I ended up falling asleep to a playlist of all of their songs and woke up listening to them. I really liked the band and I want to listen to them more often.

    The second selection I have is traditional Klezmer music from Israel. The main reason I know about this music is because of Dr. LeBauer. After seeing her perform Klezmer-style music in Germany, I decided I eventually wanted to learn how to play that style on violin. I also saw them play Klezmer at the Jewish Temple when I saw Apollo's Fire. The stories that the group had were really interesting and the music was really fun to listen to. This video shows Itzhak Pearlman playing Klezmer for a large group. This video shows that Klezmer is about community and celebration. It was interesting for me to listen to this because I know of him as primarily a classical violinist and have not seen him play anything else before.

    This next selection is definitely not what you would expect from Russia. I had heard the name Slaughter to Prevail, but I did not know that they were Russian. They are a deathcore trio that started around 2015. The lyrics are a mix of Russian and English and the content is definitely very dark. I really like this kind of music when I am in the mood for it and I am glad to have found something new. The guitar in the song "Kid of Darkness" really adds a lot to the song and the screaming is very intense and would definitely make a crazy mosh pit. The members often wear masks, which may give them some distinction in their image.

  

      My final selection features the traditional Chinese instrument, the Erhu. While the piece I chose was composed in the early 1900s, it shows the beauty of the Erhu. I really do not know a lot about Chinese music, but I have always had an interest in the Erhu because it is so similar to the violin. The Butterfly Lovers Concerto was actually originally composed for violin and I have heard it be played before. I think it is really cool that there is an Erhu version, especially with how melodic the instrument is and how the runs can be so clean. There is also an almost race-like quality to this piece that I think really fits the Erhu.