Category Archives: Musical

Playground Song – United States

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 30, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Playground Song- United States

“Circle, Circle, Dot, Dot, Now I got my cootie shot”

John told me that he learned this when he was way young. He learned this in elementary school from his classmates. He said that they used to do this to protect themselves from the cooties that girls had. He said that while he was saying the song, he would get a pen and draw the action of the word. He would draw two circles and two dots. The dots represented the needle mark that shots left behind. He said that this give them immunity from the cooties.

I remember doing this in elementary school too. However, instead of drawing the circles and the dots, we would just use our finger to draw on ourselves. I remember thinking that this would protect us from the girls. I also remember another variation of the cootie shot. Instead of “dot, dot”; we would pinch ourselves. The pinch represented a stronger dosage of the cootie shot. So therefore we were immune and protect from the cooties for a much longer period of times. Other variations of the cooties shots were found online on the Wikipedia site.

“Circle circle, knife knife, Now I’ve got my shot for life.

Circle circle, Square, square. Now I have it everywhere. (Or “Now it will stay there.”)

Circle, circle, Line, line,  Now I have it all the time. (Or “Now I’m protected all the time.”)” [1]

Source

1) “Circle circle dot dot”. Wikipedia. 18 April 2008. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_Circle_Dot_Dot> 30 April 2008.

Folk Song – Scottish

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Nationality: Norwegian, Scottish
Age: 48
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Portland, OR
Performance Date: April 23, 2008
Primary Language: English

The Bonnie Banks o’Loch Lomand

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes

Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond

Where me and my true love will ne-er meet again (alternate: Where me and my true love were eer lak/wont to gae)

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond.

Chorus:

O you’ll tak’ the high road and I’ll tak’ the low road

And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye

For me and my true love will ne-er meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond.

‘Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen

On the steep, steep sides o’ Ben Lomond

Where deep in purple hue, the hieland hills we view

And the moon comin’ out in the gloamin’.

Chorus: (repeat)

The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring

And in sunshine the waters are sleeping

But the broken heart, it kens nae second spring again

Tho’ the waeful may cease frae their greeting. (alternate: Tho’ the world knows not how we are grieving)

When my mother was a little girl, she used to have a lot of relatives come over from Scotland. My mother explained that the Gray family would sit around and talk and eat for hours. Undoubtedly, the “old folks” would break into song and one of her favorites ballads was the song “The Bonnie Banks o’Loch Lomand.” She can still sing the whole song, and remembers vividly her whole family singing, with my Grandfather leading the way. When she was singing in unison with the rest of her Scottish relatives, my mother recalls feeling a sense of connection with her heritage.

Singing was a big part of the Scottish culture and this song was based off the belief that the Celtics and Scots shared. When man meets his death in a foreign land (like during war) his spirit travels back to his birthplace by an underground ferry way. This is called “The Low Road.” In 1745, Scotland invaded England and many of the soldiers were captured and thrown into prison, or killed. The song is about two soldiers, one who escapes and takes the “high” road back to Scotland, and one who is executed and whose spirit travels the “low” road back. The spirit gets back to Scotland first. This story behind this folk song and lyrics can also be found in Scottish Lore and Folklore.

Annotation: Douglas, Ronald Macdonald. Scottish Lore and Folklore. Crown Publishers: New York: 1982

Aging ritual–Salsa Dancers

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Nationality: Salvadoran
Age: 32
Occupation: Truck Driver
Residence: Torrance, CA
Performance Date: March 15, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

At many salsa dance scenes, if it is someone’s birthday, the band will play a version of the “Happy Birthday Song” to the salsa rhythm. If the birthday person is a woman, her male friends will form a ring around her while stepping to the music; other people and friends may or may not form a larger ring around this as well. Then a man will step into the ring one by one to dance with the birthday person, and then passes her off to another dancer in the circle. Sometimes the next man will simply find the right timing and snatch the birthday girl—but all in good fun. If the birthday person is a man, then his female friends will ring around him and do the same thing. Occasionally, if he is an advanced dancer, he will dance with two ladies at once, leading them with one arm each. The birthday person will switch partners until the end of the song, which is usually about 4-6 minutes long.

Jorge has been active in the Los Angeles salsa scene for about 11 years now. He told me that he did not see this happening at all at first, and it was about six years ago when he started seeing this unique custom—“and it spread like nothing!” The first place he saw it happen was at a Los Angeles club called Rodolfo. When asked what he thinks it means, he said it is simply to show that “this is her [the birthday girl’s] night,” and to make sure she is, literally, at the center of attention.

That most certainly seems to be the case—as a dancer, what could be more delightful than to have an entire ring of other dancers waiting just to dance with you? At least for this one song, the birthday person is the queen or king of the dance floor, and can dance with as many people during that song as she or he wants. It is also a chance for the dancer to show off, as almost the entire crowd will be watching and cheering. Beginner or champion, they get to show what they can do, and perhaps try to outdo what they did last year.

I also think it is a way for salsa dancers to celebrate the spontaneity and leadability of salsa. This is a birthday ritual that I have not seen in other dances, such as dancesport or Argentinean tango, for example. Compared to other such dances, to be able to improvise and to lead complete strangers are important skills in salsa, and spontaneity and flexibility are highly valued. Therefore, it really does make sense that such a custom—in which one dancer must be able to quickly adapt to a number of different partners, make smooth changes, spontaneously improvise in case of bad timing—would have developed and been so popular in salsa. It is a way for them to show off to other dancers, and confirm to themselves, their mastery of improvisation.

The flexible nature of salsa which allows for improvisation, also allows for creativity and invention. New moves, new tricks, new combinations are being invented everyday right on the dance floor—salseros and salseras are always experimenting, which is why one will often see one man leading two women at once, or two couple rapidly switching around, and frequently the switch itself can become a complex, fancy move as dancers experiment with different techniques for changing partners. Again, this ritual, then, is a great time to show off these invented skills, as normally on the dance floor there are not multiple dancers to switch around at one’s convenience.

Finally, I think the flexible attitude of the salsa dancers helped spread this ritual so widely in just six years. I was surprised to hear it was so young, because I have seen people do this in New York—even in Korea. Interestingly, each place I’ve seen it does it a bit differently. The New Yorkers that I’ve seen were in a ring as well, but instead of facing the dancers in the circle, they will walk, making a bit of a dizzier scene—the dancers focus a bit more on stylish walks, but seem to care less about a flashy partner switch. In Korea, they will not form a ring, but stand in a line instead. This makes for a much more orderly ritual, because there is rarely the case where two dancers accidentally approach the birthday person at one time. Again, instead of focusing so much on slick changes, the Korean dancers like to show off very fast spins.

Folk Song/Chant—Childrens

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Nationality: Salvadoran
Age: 9
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Fernando
Performance Date: Feb 17, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“Peace”

(hold up forefinger and middle finger, palm facing out)

“Number One”

(hold up only forefinger)

“Save the Hippies”

“The world is a round.”

(using forefinger of each hand, draw a square in the air. Two fingers start at the middle top of the square, and the square is drawn symmetrically.)

Kimberly told me that her friend at school taught her this short chant. Her friend learned this from her older brother in 5th grade. They all go to school together on Harding Street, El Selmar. She chants this with her friend during recess or PE classes. They do this especially during PE, because that is when kids from other classes will see it—Kimberly and her friend hope to get this chant to spread in their school.

When asked what this chant means, she just shrugged and said “I don’t know, it’s just for fun.” But then she said it is “a little bit about charity,”—just saying they’d like peace and people should help the hippies. When I asked her what hippies are, she told me that they are “people on the streets” who are homeless and poor.

I chuckled at this answer, and thought immediately that this children’s chant reflects our changed attitudes towards hippies. Hippies were never mainstream, but at one time they were politically cutting edge, they had radical messages of peace and love, and they were some of the first conservationists. Today, however, I notice that the word ‘hippies’ paints a picture of a very different people—and they need to be ‘saved.’ Modern stereotypes of hippies have very little to do with liberal politics, instead hippies are now associated with drug use, unreasonable new age beliefs, and poor tastes in attire. It is no wonder that 4th grader Kimberly thought that “the hippies” were “people on the streets” who need to be “saved.”

Yet interestingly enough, despite Kimberly’s interpretations, I still feel like this chant retains some of the original ideas of hippies—particularly in regards to pacifism and environmentalism. “Peace, number one,” it goes—it sounds like peace should be our number one priority. Then “Save the Hippies” echoes many conservationist mottos, such as “Save the whales,” “save the trees,” or “save our planet.” I think it could be either an urge to save the hippies by supporting their cause to save the earth—or a parody that makes fun of ‘the hippies,’ suggesting that although they try to save the earth, ‘the hippies’ need to be saved themselves. Lastly, the enigmatic last line: “The world is a round,” while the fingers draw a square. Perhaps this is a reminder that everything in our world is connected—like a circle? Perhaps this is saying that in our world, what goes around comes around? Perhaps it means that our world must be round, but something is terribly wrong with it, because the hand movements suggest that it is not at all round? I’ve not a sure guess exactly what this last line means, or if it even has a meaningful implication, being a child’s chant, after all—but my gut feeling says that there is a concern with the environment somewhere in there. This would make sense, because even the kids must have caught on that the present society have recently become obsessed with “being green.”

Indian Folk Music

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Nationality: Indian
Age: 43
Occupation: Music Creator, Self-Naturopathist (one who deals with medical issues using naturopathy)
Residence: Bangalore, India
Performance Date: 19 April 2010
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English, Kannada, Sanskrit

The ancient Hindu shloka (song) defines infinity. Shlokas are used far more frequently than any other meter in classical Sanskrit poetry. The traditional view is that this form of verse occurred to Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, on seeing a hunter shoot down one of two birds in love.

For example, the first verse of this song is that same shloka. Shekhar explained to me that music was learned in many parts of India but has been residing in Bangalore for the last 25 years. Chidananda Roopa Shivoham is a chant from Indian music historical culture. A lot can be written and said about music. Shekhar expressed that, “Music is life, especially Indian classical music. This chant brings peace to heart and mind.”

It is important to note that this meter is used in multiple ways: in poetry, in books, in music. Many composers, authors, and poets use the shloka meter, yet it is un-owned and instead belongs to the people. People find both creative and subtle ways of incorporating it into their piece of work. It is difficult for me to fully grasp the meaning and correct usage (if there is one) of shloka.