TRADITIONAL:
In the CD “The Bombas of Kenya”, there are many beautiful traditional songs. I decided to one I particularly found interesting entitled Mwi Bishiru (mourning song). What i liked most about this song was that although it was a mourning song, it still sounded upbeat and kind of happy.
The contour of the song stayed the same until around 1:30 where it went very flat with little hills and bumps in the song. The character of the song was mainly conjunct with some disjunct sounds from the conflicting voices around :52 and :1:30. The range was medium high due to the contrast between the male and female voices, since the female voices belted very high notes. The phrasing was broken into seven separate sections. The fist one was from :13-:32 where the deep voice called and the higher voices responded. In this section there were three phrases sung, one by the male and two by the female voices. Each phrase was sung twice before the next section. The second section was at :33, where the deep and high voices joined in chorus singing the same exact melody, with the only difference in octave sung. There was two phrases sung twice and one only sang once. In the third section :52, the voices were also in chorus but two separate phrases were sung that was different then the second section. In the forth section, 1:30 only hums could be heard, and had no definite pattern in the phrase. In the fifth section, 1:40, the roles become switched from the beginning, as the women calls out and the man responds, this time he has other males singing with him. This repeats in four phrase intervals until around 1:55. In the sixth (and final) section, it is much slower and the woman sings, while the man repeats. These phrases repeat around two times.
There are five different layers in the song and the timbres are as followed: spoons and drum-membraphone, and main voice, chorus voices, and whistling-aerophones. The spoon and drum enter as soon as the song starts, and the voices enter at :15 The speed of the spoon and voices are relativity fast and sporadic. The drum feels constant and steady, creating a slower feel to this timbre. The function of the drum and spoon is to create a steady beat so all of these people can sing/dance along to the song. The function of the voices/whistling is to get all involved with this community dance and to provide contrast to the background beat. There was ALOT of call and response, espessially at :13-:32 and 1:47 till the end. In the first call and response sequence, the deep voice sang and the higher voices responded. During the second response the rolls were switched and the higher voices called and the deeper voices responded. This displays an unique sense of community and equality in their songs.
I had a very hard time trying to feel the beat of this song, but after listening to the tune a couple of times, I have concluded that it is on a duple meter. The rhythm in each layer was unique. In the spoons, one heard a one—–two,one—–two over and over again. In the drums it was irregular, but I could tell there was a basic beat of one-two-and three-four-and. The chorus voices changed multiple times throughout the piece, but the main voice kept a basic rhythm and one-two-and three and until the end. The whistling was shrill and had no distinguishable rhythm. Although dynamic changed throughout the piece, the tempo stayed the same: medium fast. There was syncopation in the piece, espesially at :032 till around 1:30. The drums and the voices had separate accents on different times. Although this sounded very cool, it made it very difficult to hear to a meter in the song.
This song was consonant consonant throughout the song, but there was a slight dissonance feature. In :10, a SHRILL whistling sound can be heard that creates much tension among the sounds. The dynamic was medium loud until 1:25, where it went very quite and you can only hear hums. This break from the music made the song very pleasing to the listeners ears. The articulation was spoken very staccato and clearly, although I cannot understand the language.
This song was definitely a reflection upon the people of Kenya. The sense of community really bled through this song, in the way it was performed. it was very beautiful
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