Music all over the world
Photo by Tom Vining
The power of music and a 2 glimpse playlist from around the world
You probably enjoy listening to music, almost everyone does. Maybe not everyone enjoys the same type of music, but for centuries we have seen music as a way of expressing ourselves, our backgrounds, and our opinions. Sometimes these influences have been on a huge scale. Think of names such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles. But even aside from major artists who took the world by storm, the type of music you like can define your dress, behaviour, and political attitudes. It can even guide social or political movements. Think of sub-cultures such as punk rock, and bands like the Sex Pistols, or the rise of rap music.
Everywhere you travel you come across a different type of music that defines a different culture, but how do they come into existence?
Music and Cultural Influences
Photo by Bernardo Ramonfaur
Language and Music
When you go travelling, one of the first things you would probably notice to be different from your own country, is the language people speak. Struggling when asking for directions or ordering a meal are probably relatable if you’ve been abroad. Even when people speak English as a foreign language you notice they can have a hard time expressing themselves well.
The same goes for music. While many countries that don’t have English as their native language, have artists performing in English, people can find musicians singing in their native language (even if you don’t understand it) really beautiful. On top of that, every language has different sounds and pronunciations, and this can be heard in their music. For example a tone language, like Mandarin, can have different meanings with different tones, and that changes the way people sing. Another example is the Lokele people of the Congo. They have a drum language and can communicate phrases by playing. So our language influences the way we make music, but it also changes the way we hear music. The language you grew up with forms a template for how you perceive other music. Conclusively, the language we learn and speak has a huge influence on the music that is created from that.
Photo by Sandeep Ozarde
Culture and Music
So now we have discussed language, another thing that is probably very different when traveling is the culture of people, their habits, their religion, and their environment. Can we also see this in their music? You guessed right, we can! Often people are inspired to create music or write music influenced by the life they live, or the world they live in. This means the topics you write about are generally set in the country you come from.
Furthermore, musicians are often influenced by other musical genres. If you come from India you are more likely to be inspired by Hindustani music than someone who comes from Mexico, who would traditionally be more influenced by Mariachi, which often tells someone’s history. Mariachi music came into existence by combining traditional Spanish music with music from the indigenous people living in Mexico. One of the types of traditional Japanese music is theatrical music because of its historical importance, but in more recent times karaoke, also originating from Japan, has also had a major international influence.
2 glimpse Spotify List: Music From All Over The World
We have always been inspired by world music. While already in love with Eastern European gypsy music, and different types of Spanish music, we have now encountered more types of music that have stolen our hearts. And we wanted to share all these different types of music with you. That’s why we at 2 glimpse have created a Spotify playlist, with music in different languages, with different origins, and from different time periods. We can’t stop listening to it.
Go on a musical journey around the world and check out the playlist!
Do you have music from your country (no matter what style) that you feel fits in the list? Send us an email via email@example.com and together we can build this music-around-the-world-compilation!