Cool Stuff: East and Southeast Asia
- Hannah Cheatham
- Jan 30, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 31, 2020
The final cool stuff (at least for now)!!!!
1. Throat Singing
I first heard of throat singing from The Big Bang Theory, as it's one of Sheldon Cooper's special..... skills? Talents? Oddities? Whatever you want to call it, it's a ridiculously random factoid and it works for the show. So when Mongolian throat singing (or Tuvan throat singing) was mentioned in class, I was interested in learning more about the intriguing art form.
Originating in Mongolia, Hooliin Chor ("throat harmony" in Mongolian) is a style of singing making use of the harmonic series, or overtones, to sing two notes at the same time. They also make use of circular breathing to produce a continuous melodic line. There are several different types of throat singing such as khoomei, kargyraa and sygyt. These styles are distinguishable by technique and what parts of the voice/vocal chords are used to produce the singing. Khorekteer, for instance, is classified by the use of chest voice. These styles then have sub-styles as well, meaning that there are many different techniques to achieve throat singing. On top of this, there are different effects that you can add. You can hum, pulse the note, or trill like birds. The long landscape of Mongolia allows for the sounds to really carry across the land.
It is a tradition that has recently come to light. Tuvan throat singers have tried to spread their tradition to preserve it, influencing popular musicians from all over. Most Mongolian throat singers are male, but in recent years, there have been a couple women who have surfaced as throat singers. Women were not allowed to learn to sing in the past because of the belief that singing caused infertility. From a young age, these singers are trained in an apprentice like system where they develop their vocal chords and techniques. Singing in this style makes the people feel connected to their land. Similar types of singing traditions have been found in the Xhosa women in Africa, Tibetan Monks, and the Inuit people of northern Canada, Alaska, and Greenland.
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2. Traditional and Folk Music of Thailand
There are many different types of Thai music. I was interested in researching it because it's not something I've been familiar with in the past.
There's Thai classical music, which is the music that would be presented to the royals dating back 800 years ago. It borrows practices from India, passed down and mixed to create a unique Thai sound. These ensembles can consist of small hand cymbals and/or wooden sticks to mark the primary beats, small drums called klongs, and a gong to punctuate the piece. They also have gamelans like the Bali and Java. It is strongly influenced and influences the music of the countries around it and past nations, such as the music of Siam and Myanmar. These songs are passed down through oral tradition and are normally anonymous. More recently in the Bangkok period, composers have started signing their work and recording their pieces. But they still have a free flowing form and allow for variations and improvisations.
There are three different types of ensembles in traditional music: Piphat, Khrueang sai, and Mahori. Piphat is the most common and well known Thai music symbolizing the dance of the legendary dragons that are said to roam Thailand. This ensemble usually includes two xylophone like instruments called ranats, an oboe like instrument known as the pi, klongs, and two sets of tuned gong chimes. Khrueang sai combines a few of the same instruments we saw in the piphat ensemble, but with a string section including the saw duang (bowed lute), a lower pitched saw u, and a chakee (three string zither), as well as a khlui (flute), thron-rammana (type of drum), and occasionally a Chinese dulcimer know as the khim. This ensemble usually accompanies indoor performances like puppet theatre. Mahori is traditionally played by women in the courts of Thailand. These instruments would be made smaller though, built for the supposed smaller size of women. But these ensembles have since grown to include men as well. These instruments, that are regularly sized today, include the saw sam sai (fiddle like instrument) and mid-ranged bowed lutes. Sometimes Thai music is looked down upon because of Thailand's tumultuous history, and seen as unmodern. But there have been efforts to keep the classical style around through arts scholarships and programs.
Other types of traditional music include Luk thung, which is kind of like Thai country music which was created to reflect the trials of the mid-20th century Thais. In the 90's, this style became more commercial, resulting in a more electrified version of the style that was more pop influenced. Other more regional traditional styles such as Mor Lam and Kantrum.
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3. Anime Film Music
Now what would a cool stuff blog be without a section on film music? I feel like it just wouldn't be the same!
The world of Anime is wiiiiiide (that feels like a massive understatement). To be honest, I do not claim to be a true anime aficionado in any way, shape, or form. I've only seen about 0.001% of amine films, all Studio Ghibli films. But in the little bit of films I've seen, instantly I fell in love with the scores! I mean, what can I say? They're absolutely gorgeous and I'm a nerd!!! So I will be dedicating this section to Studio Ghibli film scores.
As I started searching, I realized there was one man behind all this beautiful music: Joe Hisaishi. Oh. My. LANTAAAA!!! He totally lives up to the nickname of "The John Williams of Japan" because he is an amazing composer! He's written a lot of scores for the Studio Ghibli films and scored all but one of Hayao Miyazaki's films, including Spirited Away, The Wind Rises, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and many, many more. These scores are hours and hours of motivic bliss, heart-wrenchingly gorgeous phrases, and extremely descriptive themes. Obviously film scores are supposed to describe their films and give them life (key word 'supposed to'), but I feel like these Hisaishi compositions set the bar really high. Especially the soundtracks for The Wind Rises, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke (which are my personal favorites). These scores bring the already vibrant, imaginative films to life, musically describing the events you see on the screen. You can feel the wonder, sense of adventure, danger, loss, and joy these scores and films wish to convey. You can really tell they put a lot of thought into these animated movies because the music isn't just background music, it is a leading part of the artistic vision and not just a supporting role. It's literally intertwined with the story and the animation and it makes me feel all the feels!!! I just love it!!!
Admittedly, these scores are very European in instrumentation and harmonic function. But this personally doesn't surprise me because of the sheer popularity of the Western musical tradition in Asia. Some of the most famous classical musicians are Asian or of Asian descent such as Yo-yo Ma, Bright Sheng, and Isang Yun to name a few. In the scores I listened to, I couldn't hear anything that struck me as distinctly Japanese. But I am in no way an expert, nor are my ears trained to listen for these specific instruments yet. But regardless, there is just something so special about these artistic scores that I just love.
Now Studio Ghibli films are not the only pieces of anime out there. Not by a long shot. When asked what her favorite anime soundtrack was, my sister said the Attack on Titan theme. Which is a bop! But this shows another side of anime soundtracks that is more pop-y and really pumps you up. Since my sister brought it up, I thought I'd mention it to show that even though I talked about the Studio Ghibli films, they're just a small piece of the puzzle and I highly encourage you to delve a little into the world of anime.
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This is a really great blog, Hannah--so much information and so much enthusiasm! Since you're so into throat singing (and I had no idea of the Big Bang Theory connection...), you might try checking out Alaskan Inuit throat singing. It's mostly done by women, and has a very different sound to it.
Sheldon Cooper's throat singing was cool...Sounded like the Aborigine native instrument. Joe Hisaishi plays the piano beautifully and I loved the animated videos.