Category Archives: Musical

Kathak

Nationality: Pakistani and Indian American
Age: 18
Occupation: student
Residence: Porter Ranch, CA
Performance Date: 04/18/2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Gujarati
  1. The main piece: Kathak

“Um… Kathak is a classical North Indian dance form. It’s like… thousands of years old or something like that. And it’s pretty much… it has to do w like storytelling and like… kinda like describing the tales of India and Pakistan and stuff. Um, so, there’s a lot about the sounds that your feet make. Like the sounds your toes, or the soles of your feet make. You kind of stomp a lot. Most of it is like one rhythm, but you change the speeds and you change your hands to portray a story. Like going super fast is like building up tension, like the snakes are about to eat you. Slow is like, you know, nicely walking through a field of flowers, so nice and pleasant. Yeah, that’s literally it.”

  1. Background information about the performance from the informant: why do they know or like this piece? Where/who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them? Context of the performance?

“When we finally stopped moving around and settled in Porter Ranch, we didn’t really know anyone. My parents didn’t have any Pakistani or Gujarati friends nearby, and, well, I literally knew nothing about my culture. So they signed me up for kathak classes, which really hurt your feet by the way, and that’s where I met a bunch of my really close family friends and my best friend.”

  1. Finally, your thoughts about the piece

This piece shows the importance that dance has as an artform in folklore. Dance combines the retelling of folk narratives, in this case legends and myths of Hindu gods and Pakistani heroes, with an aesthetically pleasing and dynamic medium of expression. It is different from normal storytelling because it is entirely nonverbal, yet it aims to recapture the emotions and visual aspects of folk narratives, making them more real to all of the community members watching.

  1. Informant Details

The informant is an 18 year old Indian and Pakistani American female who grew up in the United States, but moved a lot as a child. While she didn’t feel close to her parents, she met her childhood best friends through local Pakistani and Indian cultural lessons such as dance classes and singing lessons, and prizes her memories of those classes.

Lithuanian Folk Song

Nationality: Lithuanian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Francisco, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/18
Primary Language: English
Language: Lithuanian, French

Collection: Lithuanian Folk SongThe informant detailed various songs that most Lithuanians know from their childhood which are not believed to have an author.

Context: Folk music can be interpreted in various ways including rhythm and tone. This folk song’s lyrics are significant for interpreting the context. According to the informant, everyone in the United States’ Lithuanian community seems to know the folk music including this song. This particular song originates from Lithuanian immigrants who sang about their desire to return to their homeland. As a result, the song ties those in the United States to older traditions and to the people back in Lithuania.

 

Lithuanian Festivals

Nationality: Lithuanian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Francisco, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/18
Primary Language: English
Language: Lithuanian, French

Collection: Lithuanian festivals in Lithuania

A: “In Lithuania, are there any festivals?”

B: “Oh, let me tell you. We have a singing festival and a dancing festival, and these happen um every two years and and then I guess every two years, one of them is in Lithuania and one is somewhere around the world. So this year there is going to be one in Lithuania, whereas last year there was one in Baltimore. They have had them in Japan, China, Australia, Boston, places like that. So basically, it’s a joint festival where folk dancers or folk dancing groups from around the world, that practice — I’m in one in L.A. called Spindulys. Um *giggles* — practice every week and learn all these dances. And they come together and perform these dances; there are like 3,000 dancers all in sync in the national clothing, I guess the folkloric outfit. *laughs* And it’s a three-day event, so there is two day like two hour performances of the dances, and they have a showcase of singing all of the songs, but I’m not in a singing group. And they sing the traditional Lithuanian songs.”

A: “So essentially, it’s two of the same festival in two different places each year? Or one is dancing and one is singing?”

B: “Um… one is dancing and one is singing, but it’s the same festival kind of. I guess it’s just put together, so I guess it’s one festival.”

The informant went on to describe another version of the traditional Lithuanian festival which takes place in California called L.T. Days. The community within the United States created a local Lithuanian gathering which happens once a year. This festival has around 500 people, but the larger festival in Lithuania gets around 15,000 attendees. At L.T. Days, the informant participates in the traditional folk dancing with her group.

Context: According to the informant, the original Lithuanian festivals stemmed from Soviet control over Lithuania; Lithuanians held “small festivals underground… to keep the song and dance of Lithuania alive and to keep the language alive. And they did it behind the backs of the policeman.” Nowadays, the festivals are held to celebrate traditional Lithuanian customs and practices.

Interpretation: The community often plays a major role in festivals as demonstrated by the informant’s discussion. Also, festivals are known to  have symbolic references to protect or preserve community ideals and identity, just as the Lithuanian festivals hold onto song, dance, apparel, and more.

Annotated Bibliography:

“ FROM THE HISTORY OF SONG CELEBRATIONS.” Song Festival 2018.

According to the Lithuanian Song Celebration website, festivals praises “creative self-expression, vitality of the national culture, love for the homeland and solidarity of its people.” Further, festivals are one of the most significant ways to connect distant people both geographically and culturally. The article also references the Soviet period in which Lithuanians celebrated discretely to maintain their culture.

 

SAE Fraternity Memorial Celebration

Nationality: USA
Age: 24, 24, 23, 23, 17, 53
Occupation: Student, Student, Student, Student, Sister, Father
Residence: Nashville TN, Fredericksburg TX, Austin TX,
Performance Date: 4/15/18
Primary Language: English

At the University of the South (informally known as Sewanee) in rural Tennessee, I witnessed and participated in a large informal celebration held in memory of my late brother, with the university his alma mater. The celebration was preceded by a more formal memorial charity golf tournament held earlier in the day. The party detailed below followed not long after at the university’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE for short, also my late brother’s fraternity). The fraternity also arranged the golf tournament itself and arranged for a recreational social gathering to follow. The entirety of my late brother’s former fraternity members (known as a pledge class) were present, along with former classmates.

 

Earlier in the evening, a small concert led by popular local musicians was held on the porch, along with barbequed food consisting of brisket, sausage, and potato salad (among others).

 

Following the departure of the band and caterers, the approach of the crowd in the building shifted as higher levels of activity (and intoxication) became acceptable now that the night had progressed, and daylight had passed completely into night.

 

A crowd of around 50 to 75 remaining partygoers congregated completely into a large corner room of the building, an area adjacent to the kitchen where food is typically served for similar events. For such functions, there is a large rectangular table centered in the room bearing the yellow and purple colors of the house along with their coat of arms and titular house letters.

 

With large speakers taking the place of the band and copious amounts of beer taking place of the caterers, the entire crowd then gathered around the center table to the tune of a pre-arranged musical playlist of Harry’s favorite songs, occasionally breaking up any potential melancholy brought about by the playlist with popular dancing songs in order to keep energy levels consistent.

 

In tandem with the music starting, people in pairs or trios came to take turns dancing on the tabletop for a few minutes at a time, usually remaining for the duration of two to three songs before excusing themselves from the center of attention and being helped down, to be quickly followed by another pair or trio hopping up.

 

The entire party lasted until the hours between 12am and 1am, when large activities are legally required to shut down. Given that the gathering in the table-centered area began around 9:30 to 10:00 pm, this particular activity therefore extended for roughly 2 to 2.5 hours in total.

 

Although this congregation of friends and family came about in remembrance of tragic circumstances (ie someone’s untimely death), the resulting proximity of so many at once where they may have otherwise not been brought together in such a way prompts not only a celebration of the life of he who passed, but also a celebration of the many lives that have continued on.

 

Such a situation goes to show how happiness in large groups is capable of wholly overwhelming any notions of sadness, and that such celebrations in the wake of tragedies can be considered appropriate when such an effect is properly achieved and initially intended.

Los Deditos

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 18
Occupation: University Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 04/22/2018
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Main Piece: Los Deditos

The following was an interview of a Participant/interviewee about a folk song, which is a bedtime song. She is marked as LT, and I am marked as DM.

LT: So the type of folklore I have is um yeah I’m just gonna say it “Este dedito fue al mercado/ Este dedito compró un huevito/ Este dedito lo cocinó/ Este dedito lo pelo/ Y este dedote se lo comió” so it kind of like uh it rhythms kind of if you sing it um multiple times I heard it first from my dad um he used to sing it to me when I was younger um and usually they sing it while they like they’re playing with your feet so uh the first “este dedito fue al mercado is with your pinky of your feet and then it moves on to the big thumb finishing with “este dedito se lo comio” because its big toe and it eats the egg and stuff um so and then my dad he tells me that he heard it from his mom so my grandma and um when he was back in Mexico when he was younger and my grandma used to do the same thing um to him and his sister as well so uh he would have that always that kinda like something that he heard in his childhood and he brought it up with me and my sister and yeah it was just me and my sister

Translation of the Song:

This little toe went to the market/ This little toe bought an egg/ This little toe cooked it/ This little toe peeled it/ And this big toe ate it

Background/Context:

The participant is eighteen years old. She is a Mexican student at the University of Southern California. She told me about how her family has been passing down the same bedtime song. This song is played

DM: Why do like having this piece of folklore tied to your family?

LT:Um I think it’s like really funny um something that you can like play with your own kids my dad did with me and it was something like bonding time I guess and it really makes up of who I am like it reminds me of my background, which is being Mexican um and it reminds me of the family that I have when my grandma was back in Mexico too

DM: Why is this piece of folklore so important to you?

LT: Um I mean it’s something that my parent cause I used to sing it after my dad would sing it to me I would sing it all the time after like it was something that they knew me for um and in fact last week my dad reminded me of it and he would just tell me like oh remember when you used to sing this one and he used to make fun of he would make fun of me like not make fun of me but he just reminded me of what I used to sing a lot um and its I remember it because of that because my dad sang it so many times that I used to sing it and I still sing it sometimes or just hum it sometimes and my dad would remember or remind me of it like oh yeah you used to sing that song

Analysis/ My Thoughts:

I have also heard this song, but I know a different version. I don’t remember the exact lyrics, but I know it was not the lyrics above. Hearing a different version of a childhood song I knew is a weird feeling because I thought it was something just within my family. It is just interesting to see someone else having the same traditions but different traditions than you. One gets so used to doing something a certain way that when they see it a different way it is an uncomfortable feeling.