Music and Us: Our New Playlist

Alright, it's time to talk about international music. I absolutely adore uncovering new genres and styles to add to my playlist. Today I'm going to discuss a couple of songs that you may or may not have heard of. They come from a range of cultures, and I've discovered them in a variety of ways.

First, let's start out in Spain. Many of you have heard the Flamenco style music, but don't actually know it's called Flamenco. I don't remember how exactly I became familiar with this genre, I think it might've shown up in my Spotify discovery. Anyways, I became very invested, even learned some strumming patterns on my guitar. This is a very traditional style of Spain, the song I'll show y’all is called Rumba Flamenco by El Viento Flamenco which the artist name translates to “The Wind” in Flamenco style (I don't speak spanish, I used Google Translate so don't come at me!). I actually had the opportunity to see a live performance of Flamenco in Spain in the summer of 2024, it was an amazing experience!

Next, I like to mix it up with a modern/traditional style. It's very syncretic in the essence of combining rock and traditional Cambodian music. If you all don't know, Cambodia is an Asian country near Thailand and Laos. It's a country that has been colonized both by the French and the Japanese. I came across this really neat song while doomscrolling on TikTok. The song is called Chnam oum Dop Pram Muy (I'm Sixteen) by Ros Serey Sothea. The video on TikTok followed the rising of Ros Serey Sothea, the Cambodian Rock Queen of Cambodia. She basically started the whole movement of rock. Give it a listen.

For this piece, we're going to dive into the Middle East. It is a very modern pop version of music, something you might even hear in the states. Of course our singer has her own twists. When listening, you might hear some Arab influences (scale and riff wise). I learned of this artist from my Muslim friend I made about a year ago. I met her in math class, and she would teach me all about her Egyptian culture rather than actually doing our work. That's the house I learned of the Palestinian artist Elyanna. The song I present to you all is Ganeni by Elyanna. If you like this song, go listen to the rest of the songs on this album. It's a no skip!

Finally, let's finish off with something a little more traditional and familiar for the rest of us. So, in class we've talking about drums from different countries; polyrhythms from many parts of Africa. Let's move to Hawaii! This song doesn't really contain many “melodies”, however there are lots of different timbres of drums. This is a very traditional Hawaiian song called Bora Bora by the Polynesians.