Week 6

In the movie Latcho Drom, we saw how the gypsies incorporated music from the cultures they encountered into their own culture. In the first scene the instruments and music style seems to be similar to Indian Hindustani music; the expression and sound of the dance and music resembled to some degree the music we heard from the Bengali musician master Babukishan. The instruments being used were something similar to a dhol (drum), a pot, which was also used as a drum, small hand cymbals, a sitar, and voice. The second scene of the dancing between the Egyptian couple showed Islamic and Middle East musical influence. Here there is a drum, clapping, and a musical instrument called the rebab. Even though some of the instruments and dancing were similar to the first scene, the musical celebration was Middle Eastern. The last scene shows the music of a takht ensemble in a teahouse in Turkey. Here the instruments present were those found in typical takht ensemble; the ud, qanun, nay, riqq, and a violin. One thing that was common to all these musical pieces was the vibrance of the music. The vibrance and euphoria of the music captured in the celebration under the full moon, was the same transferred to other musical contexts in the other two performances. I think the thing that I liked the most was this point, of how even though the actual music and instruments changed depending on where the gypsies went, the love and integrity of the music was constant and unchanging. I think the director wanted to make this point, by showing how gypsies incorporated different music and culture into their lives, that all music are ultimately based on other music, and at its core, music is simply awe-inspiring. This can be seen from what we have studied so far, as while there are differences in the music of different culture, there are tremendous similarities and adaptations.