Category Archives: Musical

Soren Banjomus

Nationality: Danish
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/15/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Danish

Skillema-dinke-dinke-du, skillema-dinke-du!
Hør på Søren Banjomus, han spiller nemlig nu.
Skillema-dinke-dinke-du, skillema-dinke-du!
Kom og syng og dans med os, det syn’s vi, at I sku’.
Vi glæder os til juleaften, så bli’r træet tændt,
og vi får fine julegaver, ih! hvor er vi spændt.
Skillema-dinke-dinke-du, skillema-dinke-du!
Bar’ det altså snart var nu.

Interviewer: What is being performed?

 

Informant: A Danish Folksong Soren Banjomus by Jens Sweeney

 

Interviewer: What is the background information about the performance? Why do you know or like this piece? Where     or who did you learn it from?

 

Informant: From my mother. It’s a Christmas Carol about singing and dancing in the joy of Christmas.

 

Interviewer: What country and what region of that country are you from?

 

Informant: West Jutland

 

Interviewer: Do you belong to a specific religious or social sub group that tells this story?

 

Informant: Danish heritage

 

Interviewer: Where did you first hear the story?

 

Informant: Christmas time. From my first memory.

 

Interviewer: What do you think the origins of this story might be?

 

Informant: It’s a Danish children’s song, sung on Christmas.

 

Interviewer: What does it mean to you?

 

Informant: Home, Family, Warmth, Love, Joy

 

Context of the performance-  conversation with a classmate

 

      Thoughts about the piece-  If you listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hasJBmVzt-U you may find that you recognize it. I thought it was a preschool nonsense song that I learned as a child from Barney (the purple dinosaur) “Skidamarink a dink a dink, Skidamarink ado, I love you.”  It turns out that the Danish was actually adapted from an American Broadway musical from 1910!

Hockey pregame song

Nationality: Canadian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/23/2017
Primary Language: English

Tim Marino is a 20 year old engineering student at USC. He was born in Calgary, Alberta and had lived there his entire life. Tim grew up a victim of Canadian stereotypes, playing hockey and eating maple syrup. Because he played hockey, I asked Tim if him or his team had any rituals they would do before games. Tim said before every game they would sing the same song, and it goes as follows:

“There was a dirty bird (repeat), that had a dirty bill (repeat), that sat upon (repeat), my window sill (repeat), so I lured him in (repeat), with a piece of bread (repeat), SO I COULD SMASH (repeat), HIS FUCKING HEAD (repeat)”

Tim said they would sing this repeat after me song before every game as it would get him excited and get his blood boiling. Because it was an aggressive song, and because his entire team would get very into it, he said it would help them have more energy when they entered the game. I personally think the lyrics don’t matter as much as the team environment, with everyone chanting one thing in unison and yelling it as loud as they can. I just wonder why they chose these lyrics to sing.

Brazilian Toad Song

Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: Portuguese
Language: English

Ricardo is a 20 year old student at USC. Before USC, he lived in San Paolo, Brazil his entire life. He grew up with little to no American influence. One thing he spoke of were songs that he learned when he was very young from his parents. One song in particular, the toad song goes as follows:

“O sapo não limpa os pés dele, ele não limpa os pés dele porque ele não quer limpar seus pés, ele vive para baixo no lago, ele não limpa os pés dele porque ele não quer limpar seus pés”

In English this means:

“The toad does not clean his feet, he does not clean his feet because he does not want to clean his feet, he lives down on the lake, he does not clean his feet because he does not want to clean his feet”

Ricardo said he loved these lyrics and used to sing this song all the time when he was younger. He said he learned this song when he would go play outside as a kid and would refuse to take a shower, that is when his mom taught it to him. He said many of his friends knew it and they would sing it in school too. I personally think the lyrics are very weird, as there really isn’t a message to it either. It repeats one line for half of the entire song.

Guyfawkes 5th of November celebration in London

Nationality: British
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/26/2017
Primary Language: English

Michael is a 23 year old from London, England. Michael grew up In London with an American mom and a British father. He said a lot mainly translated from England to here, except for a few holidays. One holiday he spoke of was the 5th of November.

Song “Remember, remember, the 5th of November, gunpowder treason and plot, I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot”

“He tried the blow up houses of parliament, and guards caught him last minute, and he was hung drawn and courted, hung by neck but not until dead, then cut down, cut his innards out, and got ripped and got spread to all 4 corners of the campus. Every year we build a scarecrow, and build “Guyfawkes” and burn him.

Michael said this was a very defining thing to do, because their country is bound upon parliament, so anyone who attacks it is viewed negatively. He said many people would do this as it was more of ritualistic act. I see this as a form of propaganda almost, that they symbolically burn someone who tried to burn down their parliament, which could almost create an image in their minds at a young age that their parliament should never be questioned. I think this is a cool tradition nonetheless.

Dale, Dale, Dale – Piñata Song

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mexico City
Performance Date: 03/16/17
Primary Language: Spanish

Informant: Maria Burguete. 20 years old. Born and raised in Mexico City

Informant: “Mexican parties are very fun. If there is a piñata involved we all sing a specific song while the person hits it with a stick. Once the  song is over, the person stops hitting the piñata”

Original:

“Dale, dale, dale! no pierdas el tino,

Porque si lo pierdes… pierdes el camino;

Ya le diste una!

ya le diste dos!

ya le diste tres!…y tu tiempo se acabo!!”

 

Translation:

“Hit it, hit it, hit it! Don’t loose the aim,

Because if you loose it, you loose the way;

You already hit it once!

You already hit it twice!

You already hit it three! and your time is up!

 

Collector: “Do you recall when you first heard this song?”

Informant: “No, this song has literally been in my life forever. When I was a baby and I could not hit the piñata, my dad would carry me and everyone would sing it. Over time, this song has stayed with me and everyone I know. It is really part of our culture.”

Thoughts: This song is really important in Mexican culture. Whenever there is a piñata at a party, everyone immediately sings. It really has been engraved in the culture forever. Piñatas are an important part of a celebration in Mexico and although it usually involves kids, adults also partake in the activity.