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The songs may sound like "western music" but not contemporary American pop songs.
Also, traditional Chinese music (not traditional Chinese opera) uses the "12 equal temperament" too, so Chinese music and western music are similar in nature (compared to Middle Eastern or Indian music). That is why many Chinese folk songs have been modified as "piano music" but relatively few Arabic songs can be modified like that.
This isn't true. Lots of Middle Eastern music has been modified to fit the western notation system.
In fact, the music in Spain and some other former Spanish territories often has a Middle Eastern feel due to the Moors and a Puerto Rican artist has even done a cover of a song originally done by an Algerian artist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7rhMqTQ4WI
It's not just the instrumentation that's what you're not understanding. It's the composition, the theory. You are selecting songs that you recognize as music based on what has always been familiar to you. Try finding authentic far eastern music. If some of it sounds weird or out of tune, THEN you're hearing a truly different musical style as, like the Ottoman music, they use a lot of half tones. If you're looking at a show like the voice, shows like that regardless what part of the world they're in will always be western pop oriented. That's what that franchise, which I believe originated in The Netherlands, is all about.
Ancient Chinese music DOES sound like "Western music". Yes, music of the Islam world sounds "exotic" to Westerners but many traditional Chinese songs are just "in tune" to Western ears.
From Wikipedia:
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The first musical scales were derived from the harmonic series. On the Guqin (a traditional instrument) all of the dotted positions are equal string length divisions related to the open string like 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 3/4, etc. and are quite easy to recognize on this instrument. The Guqin has a scale of 13 positions all representing a natural harmonic position related to the open string.
The ancient Chinese defined, by mathematical means, a gamut or series of ShÃ-èr-lǜ (called the 十二律 12 lü) from which various sets of five or seven frequencies were selected to make the sort of "do re mi" major scale familiar to those who have been formed with the Western Standard notation. The 12 lü approximate the frequencies known in the West as the chromatic scale, from A, then B-flat, through to G and A-flat.
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Try listen to "二泉映月", composed 100 years ago by a blind Chinese artist who had no training in Western music. You will find it fits in classical European scales well.
Last edited by Bettafish; 09-27-2017 at 07:04 PM..
Yeah, He's kinda crazy, but I still find all this wave of BM fascinating and I have always enjoyed the music a lot despite being completely at the other end politically. I understand the context in which it was born and find it interesting, the whole idea of purity and somehow witnessing the cultural shift in Europe at the time (like the city of Bergen opening its first McDonald's, etc). I wonder what music will come out within a few years considering the cultural changes in Europe right now with immigration from everywhere and stuff. That should be really interesting.
Black metal started with a band called Bathory (a case could be made about Venom since they coined the term) whose lyrics dealt with satanism, although back then it was more for shock value then anything else. It's the second wave in Norway that started taking things way too seriously.
I enjoy black metal, but not the NS nonsense, though I have no problem with lyrical content that criticizes religion as long as the band sticks to music and doesn't try to force their political views onto anyone. To me BM is just a musical subgenre of metal that can incorporate any type of lyrics it wants and I'm glad many bands explore different themes whether religion, myth, fantasy, nature... BM truly is a versatile genre despite what many casual observers may think.
Ancient Chinese music DOES sound like "Western music". Yes, music of the Islam world sounds "exotic" to Westerners but many traditional Chinese songs are just "in tune" to Western ears.
From Wikipedia:
----
The first musical scales were derived from the harmonic series. On the Guqin (a traditional instrument) all of the dotted positions are equal string length divisions related to the open string like 1/2, 1/3, 2/3, 1/4, 3/4, etc. and are quite easy to recognize on this instrument. The Guqin has a scale of 13 positions all representing a natural harmonic position related to the open string.
The ancient Chinese defined, by mathematical means, a gamut or series of ShÃ-èr-lǜ (called the 十二律 12 lü) from which various sets of five or seven frequencies were selected to make the sort of "do re mi" major scale familiar to those who have been formed with the Western Standard notation. The 12 lü approximate the frequencies known in the West as the chromatic scale, from A, then B-flat, through to G and A-flat.
----
Try listen to "二泉映月", composed 100 years ago by a blind Chinese artist who had no training in Western music. You will find it fits in classical European scales well.
Not quite, there are half tones in there that are not in western music. There are definite familiar notes like F#/Gb and A but there are tones between the notes that if a western instrument playing western style music of ANY genre was tuned to, it would be considered out of tune.
Look at this Bulgarian song released on June 2017 (with more than 4 million views on YouTube):
You can notice it doesn't sound like rap, R&B, American pop, it has a local Bulgarian rhythm.
To me its rhythm sounds Jamaican/Caribbean. Or at least, rather Latin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentoo
It's not just the instrumentation that's what you're not understanding. It's the composition, the theory. You are selecting songs that you recognize as music based on what has always been familiar to you. Try finding authentic far eastern music. If some of it sounds weird or out of tune, THEN you're hearing a truly different musical style as, like the Ottoman music, they use a lot of half tones. If you're looking at a show like the voice, shows like that regardless what part of the world they're in will always be western pop oriented. That's what that franchise, which I believe originated in The Netherlands, is all about.
True. That's because eastern Asian music is set in the pentatonic scale.
Yes it does have a "Russian pop music" feel to it, although in Russia it would be VERY unusual for males to have such high-pitched voices.
What you see in a second video, would be a typical male-female duo.
Other than that, I definitely liked it)))
Yes it does have a "Russian pop music" feel to it, although in Russia it would be VERY unusual for males to have such high-pitched voices.
What you see in a second video, would be a typical male-female duo.
Other than that, I definitely liked it)))
He is definitely special. Few Chinese male singers have that pitch range. (Probably he is the only active one.)
If anyone is interested in a Brazilian genre that really doesn't sound like any American/British genre, check my thread in the Music subforum about "modern forró":
This genre obviously uses the European music theory and scale, but since it was never the point of this thread, it's a good thread to know what is a very popular music genre that doesn't sound like any American/British genre.
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