Asiaaudiovisualexc09restu's Blog

Qasidah

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:57:06 +0000

Qasidah modern is a type of Indonesian music which originates from the word, Qasidah, an ancient Arabic word for religious poetry accompanied by chanting and percussion. Qasidah modern applies this to a greater audience. This form is popular throughout Egypt to Indonesia and embraces the local languages. Qasidah modern generally involves romantic poetry. The all-woman group, Nasida Ria, exemplifies the music’s popular representation in Indonesia. Instruments generally include the flute, guitar, mandolin, violin and more.

Qasida (also spelled qasidah), in Arabic: plural qasā’id, in Persian: ( chakameh), is a form of poetry from pre-Islamic Arabia. It typically runs more than 50 lines, and sometimes more than 100. It was later inherited by the Persians, where it became sometimes longer than 100 lines and was used and developed immensely.

Qasida is often panegyric written in praise of a king or a nobleman. This kind of qasidah is known as a madih meaning praise. Qasidas have a single presiding subject, logically developed and concluded.

The classic form of qasida maintains a single elaborate meter throughout the poem, and every line rhymes. These poems are considered some of the most elaborate in the world.

In his 9th century Kitab al-shi’r wa-al-shu’ara’ (Book of Poetry and Poets) the Arabic writer ibn Qutaybah says that (Arabic) qasida are formed of three parts: – They start, he says, with a nostalgic opening in which the poets reflects on what has passed, known as nasib. A common concept is the pursuit of the poet of the caravan of his love; by the time he reaches their campsite they have already moved on. – The nasib is usually followed by the takhallus – a release or disengagement. The poet often achieved this disengagement by describing his transition from the nostalgia of the nasib to the next portion of the poem. The second section is rahil (travel section) in which the poet contemplates the harshness of nature and life away from the tribe. – Finally there is the message of the poem, which can take several forms: praise of the tribe, fakhr; satire about other tribes, hija; or some moral maxims, hikam.

While a lot of poets have intentionally or unintentionally deviated from this plan in their qasida it is recognisable in many.

One of the most popular and well known qasidas is the Qasida Burda (“Poem of the Mantle”) by Imam al-Busiri.

www.wikipedia.org

Dangdut

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:46:25 +0000

Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines.

A dangdut band typically consists of a lead singer, male or female, backed by four to eight musicians. Instruments usually include a tabla, mandolin, guitars, and synthesizers. The term has been expanded from the desert-style music, to embrace other musical style. Modern dangdut incorporates influences from Middle Eastern pop music, Western ‘rock,’ house music, hip-hop, R&B, and reggae

Most major cities, especially on Java, have one or more venues that have a dangdut show several times a week. The concerts of major dangdut stars are also broadcast on television.

Beginning in 2003, dangdut became the focus of a national controversy in Indonesia over religion in public life and images of sexuality in media in response to performances by singer Inul Daratista that religious conservatives described as “pornography”. Street protests called for Daratista’s banning from television, and legislation, not passed as of 2007, was introduced in the People’s Consultative Assembly calling for the abolition of a broad range of activities described as pornography.

Because the popularity of the genre, some movies and TV show use Dangdut themes such as Rhoma Irama’s movies and Rudy Soedjarwo‘s Mendadak Dangdut.

www.wikipedia.org

Keroncong

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:30:10 +0000

Keroncong terbentuk sejak orang-orang Portugis memasuki Indonesia, yang juga membawa alat musik Eropa. Pada permulaan 1900-an, musik ini dianggap sebagai musik berkualitas rendah. Hal ini berubah pada 1930-an, ketika perfilman Indonesia mulai bergabung dengan musik keroncong, dan mulai berjaya pada dekade berikutnya, ketika musik ini terhubung dengan perjuangaan kemerdekaan.

Salah satu lagu keroncong paling terkenal adalah Bengawan Solo, yang ditulis pada tahun 1940 oleh Gesang Martohartono, seorang pemusik dari Solo. Lagu ini ditulis ketika Angkatan Darat Kekaisaran Jepang menguasai pulau Jawa pada Perang Dunia II, lagu tersebut (tentang sungai Bengawan Solo, sungai terpanjang dan terpenting di Jawa) menjadi populer di kalangan orang Jawa, dan terkenal di seluruh Indonesia ketika mulai didengarkan di radio. Lagu ini juga populer di kalangan tentara Jepang, sehingga ketika mereka kembali ke Jepang setelah perang, banyak penyanyi Jepang menyanyikan lagu tersebut dan membuatnya sebagai best-seller.

Akar keroncong berasal dari sejenis musik Portugis yang dikenal sebagai fado yang diperkenalkan oleh para pelaut dan budak kapal niaga bangsa itu sejak abad ke-16 ke Nusantara. Dari daratan India (Goa) masuklah musik ini pertama kali di Malaka dan kemudian dimainkan oleh para budak dari Maluku. Melemahnya pengaruh Portugis pada abad ke-17 di Nusantara tidak dengan serta-merta berarti hilang pula musik ini. Bentuk awal musik ini disebut moresco, yang diiringi oleh alat musik dawai. Musik keroncong yang berasal dari Tugu disebut keroncong Tugu. Dalam perkembangannya, masuk sejumlah unsur tradisional Nusantara, seperti penggunaan seruling serta beberapa komponen gamelan. Pada sekitar abad ke-19 bentuk musik campuran ini sudah populer di banyak tempat di Nusantara, bahkan hingga ke Semenanjung Malaya. Masa keemasan ini berlanjut hingga sekitar tahun 1960-an, dan kemudian meredup akibat masuknya gelombang musik populer (musik rock yang berkembang sejak 1950, dan berjayanya musik Beatle dan sejenisnya sejak tahun 1961 hingga sekarang). Meskipun demikian, musik keroncong masih tetap dimainkan dan dinikmati oleh berbagai lapisan masyarakat di Indonesia dan Malaysia hingga sekarang.

h musik dawai, seperti biola, ukulele, serta selo. Perkusi juga kadang-kadang dipakai. Set orkes semacam ini masih dipakai oleh keroncong Tugu, bentuk keroncong yang masih dimainkan oleh komunitas keturunan budak Portugis dari Ambon yang tinggal di Kampung Tugu, Jakarta Utara, yang kemudian berkembang ke arah selatan di Kemayoran dan Gambir oleh orang Betawi berbaur dengan musik Tanjidor (tahun 1880-1920). Tahun 1920-1960 pusat perkembangan pindah ke Solo, dan beradaptasi dengan irama yang lebih lambat sesuai sifat orang Jawa.

Gamelan

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:05:25 +0000

Salah satu bentuk musik yang paling dikenal adalah gamelan, musik ini dimainkan oleh beberapa orang bersama alat musik perkusi, seperti metalofon, gong dan rebab bersama dengan suling bambu. Pertunjukan seperti ini umum di negara seperti Indonesia dan Malaysia, namun gamelan berasal dari pulau Jawa, Bali dan Lombok.

Gamelan adalah ensembel musik yang biasanya menonjolkan metalofon, gambang, gendang, dan gong. Istilah gamelan merujuk pada instrumennya / alatnya, yang mana merupakan satu kesatuan utuh yang diwujudkan dan dibunyikan bersama. Kata Gamelan sendiri berasal dari bahasa Jawa gamel yang berarti memukul / menabuh, diikuti akhiran an yang menjadikannya kata benda. Orkes gamelan kebanyakan terdapat di pulau Jawa, Madura, Bali, dan Lombok di Indonesia dalam berbagai jenis ukuran dan bentuk ensembel. Di Bali dan Lombok saat ini, dan di Jawa lewat abad ke-18, istilah gong lebih dianggap sinonim dengan gamelan.

Kemunculan gamelan didahului dengan budaya Hindu-Budha yang mendominasi Indonesia pada awal masa pencatatan sejarah, yang juga mewakili seni asli indonesia. Instrumennya dikembangkan hingga bentuknya sampai seperti sekarang ini pada zaman Kerajaan Majapahit. Dalam perbedaannya dengan musik India, satu-satunya dampak ke-India-an dalam musik gamelan adalah bagaimana cara menyanikannya. Dalam mitologi Jawa, gamelan dicipatakan oleh Sang Hyang Guru pada Era Saka, dewa yang menguasai seluruh tanah Jawa, dengan istana di gunung Mahendra di Medangkamulan (sekarang Gunung Lawu). Sang Hyang Guru pertama-tama menciptakan gong untuk memanggil para dewa. Untuk pesan yang lebih spesifik kemudian menciptakan dua gong, lalu akhirnya terbentuk set gamelan.

Gambaran tentang alat musik ensembel pertama ditemukan di Candi Borobudur, Magelang Jawa Tengah, yang telah berdiri sejak abad ke-8. Alat musik semisal suling bambu, lonceng, kendhang dalam berbagai ukuran, kecapi, alat musik berdawai yang digesek dan dipetik, ditemukan dalam relief tersebut. Namun, sedikit ditemukan elemen alat musik logamnya. Bagaimanapun, relief tentang alat musik tersebut dikatakan sebagai asal mula gamelan.

Penalaan dan pembuatan orkes gamelan adalah suatu proses yang kompleks. Gamelan menggunakan empat cara penalaan, yaitu sléndro, pélog, “Degung” (khusus daerah Sunda, atau Jawa Barat), dan “madenda” (juga dikenal sebagai diatonis, sama seperti skala minor asli yang banyak dipakai di Eropa.

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/wikipedia-indonesia

Musik di Indonesia

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:50:48 +0000

Musik sangat beragam, hal ini dikarenakan suku-suku di Indonesia yang bermacam-macam, sehingga boleh dikatakan seluruh 17.508 pulaunya memiliki budaya dan seninya sendiri. Indonesia memiliki ribuan jenis musik, terkadang diikuti dengan tarian dan pentas. Musik tradisional yang paling banyak digemari adalah gamelan dan keroncong, sementara musik modern adalah pop dan dangdut.

Musik tradisional adalah musik yang hidup di masyarakat secara turun temurun, dipertahankan sebagai sarana hiburan. Tiga komponen yang saling mempengaruhi di antaranya Seniman, musik itu sendiri dan masyarakat penikmatnya. Sedangkan maksudnya untuk memper-satukan persepsi antara pemikiran seniman dan masyarakat tentang usaha bersama dalam mengembangkan dan melestarikan seni musik tradisional. Menjadikan musik trasidional sebagai perbendaharaan seni di masyarakat sehingga musik tradisional lebih menyentuh pada sektor komersial umum.

Kegiatan ini diharapkan mampu memberi kontribusi bagi peserta juga kepada masyarakat luas sehingga musik tradisional dapat berperan sebagai hiburan untuk menjalankan bisnis para pengusaha.

The Decline of Britpop

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:11:36 +0000

Oasis’ third album Be Here Now (1997) was highly anticipated. Despite initially attracting positive reviews and selling strongly, the record was soon subjected to strong criticism from music critics, record-buyers and even Noel Gallagher himself for its overproduced and bloated sound. Music critic Jon Savage pinpointed Be Here Now as the moment where Britpop ended; Savage said that while the album “isn’t the great disaster that everybody says,” he noted that “[i]t was supposed to be the big, big triumphal record” of the period. At the same time, Damon Albarn sought to distance Blur from Britpop with the band’s fifth album, Blur (1997). On the album, Blur moved away from their Parklife-era sound, and their music began to assimilate American lo-fi influences, particularly that of Pavement. Albarn explained to the NME in January 1997 that “We created a movement: as far as the lineage of British bands goes, there’ll always be a place for us”, but added, “We genuinely started to see that world in a slightly different way.”
As the movement began to slow down, many acts began to falter and broke up. While established acts struggled, attention began to turn to the likes of Radiohead and The Verve, who had been previously overlooked by the British media. These two bands—in particular Radiohead—showed considerably more esoteric influences from the 1960s and 1970s, influences that were uncommon among earlier Britpop acts. In 1997, Radiohead and The Verve released their respective efforts OK Computer and Urban Hymns, both of which were widely acclaimed. Meanwhile, the popularity of the pop group the Spice Girls “snatched the spirit of the age from those responsible for Britpop.”

History of Britpop

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:46:32 +0000

The origins of Britpop lie primarily in the indie scene of the early 1990s, and in particular around a group of bands involved in a vibrant social scene focused in the Camden Town area of London. This scene was dubbed “The Scene That Celebrates Itself” by Melody Maker. Some members of this scene (Blur, Lush, Suede) would go on to play a leading part in Britpop. Others such as Kingmaker, Slowdive, Spitfire and Ride would not. The dominant musical force of the period was the grunge invasion from the United States, which filled the void left in the indie scene by the Stone Roses’ inactivity.
Journalist John Harris has suggested that Britpop began when Blur’s single “Popscene” and Suede’s “The Drowners” were released around the same time in the spring of 1992. He stated, “[I]f Britpop started anywhere, it was the deluge of acclaim that greeted Suede’s first records: all of them audacious, successful and very, very British”. Suede were the first of the new crop of guitar-oriented bands to be embraced by the UK music media as Britain’s answer to Seattle’s grunge sound. Their debut album Suede became the fastest-selling debut album in the history of the UK.[13] In April 1993, Select magazine featured Suede’s lead singer Brett Anderson on the cover with a Union Flag in the background and the headline “Yanks go home!”. The issue included features on Suede, The Auteurs, Denim, Saint Etienne and Pulp and helped foment the idea of an emerging movement.
Blur, a group that formerly mixed elements of shoegazing and baggy, took on an Anglocentric aesthetic with their second album Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993). Blur’s new approach was inspired by their tour of the United States in the spring of 1992. During the tour, frontman Damon Albarn began to resent American culture and found the need to comment on that culture’s influence seeping into Britain. Albarn’s girlfriend Justine Frischmann (formerly of Suede and leader of Elastica) explained, “Damon and I felt like we were in the thick of it at that point [. . .] it occurred to us that Nirvana were out there, and people were very interested in American music, and there should be some sort of manifesto for the return of Britishness.” John Harris wrote in an NME article just prior to the release of Modern Life is Rubbish, “[Blur's] timing has been fortuitously perfect. Why? Because, as with baggies and shoegazers, loud, long-haired Americans have just found themselves condemned to the ignominious corner labeled ‘yesterday’s thing’”. The music press also fixated on what the NME had dubbed the New Wave of New Wave, a term applied to the more punk-derivative acts such as Elastica, S*M*A*S*H and These Animal Men.
While Modern Life is Rubbish was a moderate success, it was Blur’s third album Parklife that made them arguably the most popular band in the UK in 1994. Parklife continued the fiercely British nature of its predecessor, and coupled with the death of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain in April of that year it seemed that British alternative rock had finally turned back the tide of grunge dominance. That same year Oasis released their debut album Definitely Maybe, which broke Suede’s record for fastest-selling debut album.
The movement was soon dubbed Britpop. The term “Britpop” had been used in the late 1980s (in Sounds magazine by journalist, Goldblade frontman and TV pundit John Robb referring to bands such as The La’s, Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and The Bridewell Taxis). “Britpop” arose around the same time as the term “Britart” (which referred to the work of British modern artists such as Damien Hirst). However, it would not be until 1994 when the term entered the popular consciousness, being used extensively by the music press and radio DJs. A rash of bands emerged aligned with the new movement. At the start of 1995 Britpop bands including Sleeper, Supergrass, and Menswear scored pop hits. Elastica released their debut album Elastica that March; its first week sales surpassed the record set by Definitely Maybe the previous year. The music press viewed the scene around Camden Town as a musical centre; frequented by Britpop groups like Blur, Elastica, and Menswear, Melody Maker declared “Camden is to 1995 what Seattle was to 1992, what Manchester was to 1989, and what Mr Blobby was to 1993.”

* Cavanagh, David. The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry for the Prize, 2001.
* Harris, John. Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock. Da Capo Press, 2004. ISBN 0-306-81367-X
* Harris, John. “Modern Life is Brilliant!” NME. 7 January 1995.
* Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop. Passion Pictures, 2004.

Style, Rotts and Influences

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:38:49 +0000

Britpop bands were influenced by British guitar music of the past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion, glam rock, and punk rock. Specific influences varied: Blur and Oasis drew from The Kinks and The Beatles, respectively, while Elastica had a fondness for arty punk rock. Regardless, all Britpop artists projected a sense of reverence for the sounds of the past.
Alternative rock acts from the 1980s and early 1990s indie scene were the direct ancestors of the Britpop movement. The influence of The Smiths was common to the majority of Britpop artists. The Madchester scene, fronted by The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Inspiral Carpets (for whom Oasis’ Noel Gallagher had worked as a roadie during the Madchester years), was the immediate root of Britpop since its emphasis on good times and catchy songs provided an alternative to shoegazing.
Stylistically, Britpop bands relied on catchy hooks and wrote lyrics that were meant to be relevant to British young people of their own generation. Britpop bands conversely denounced grunge as irrelevant and having nothing to say about their lives. Damon Albarn of Blur summed up the attitude in 1993 when after being asked if Blur were an “anti-grunge band” he said, “Well, that’s good. If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I’m getting rid of grunge.” In spite of the professed disdain for the genres, some elements of both crept into the more enduring facets of Britpop. Noel Gallagher has since championed Ride. Noel Gallagher stated in a 1996 interview that Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain was the only songwriter he had respect for in the last ten years, and that he felt their music was similar enough that Cobain could have written “Wonderwall”.
The imagery associated with Britpop was equally British and working class. Music critic Jon Savage asserted that Britpop was “an outer-suburban, middle-class fantasy of central London streetlife, with exclusively metropolitan models.” A rise in unabashed maleness, exemplified by Loaded magazine and lad culture in general, would be very much part of the Britpop era. The Union Flag also became a prominent symbol of the movement, and its use as a symbol of pride and nationalism contrasted deeply with the controversy that erupted just a few short years before when former Smiths singer Morrissey performed draped in it. The emphasis on British reference points made it difficult for the genre to achieve success in the US.

www.wikipedia.org

Britpop

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:22:35 +0000

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. The movement developed as a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the grunge phenomenon from the United States. In the wake of the musical invasion into the United Kingdom of American grunge bands, new British groups such as Suede and Blur launched the movement by positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. These bands were soon joined by others including Oasis, Pulp, Supergrass and Elastica.

Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia. Although its more popular bands were able to spread their commercial success overseas, especially to the United States, the movement largely fell apart by the end of the decade.

Stuart Maconie, British broadcaster and music journalist, is attributed with the first usage of the phrase Britpop in its modern sense.

VH1

asiaaudiovisualexc09restu — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:19:53 +0000

VH1 (known as VH-1: Video Hits One from 1985 to 1994 and VH1: Music First until 2003) is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting‘s short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly older demographic than its sister channel, focusing on the lighter, softer side of popular music. The channel was originally created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communications and owner of MTV. Both VH1 and its sister channel MTV are currently part of the MTV Networks division of corporate parent Viacom. While VH1 still occasionally plays music videos and the Top 20 Video Countdown, its more recent claim to fame has been in the area of music-related reality programming, such as Behind the Music, the I Love the… series, the Celebreality block of programming, and the channel’s overall focus on popular culture.