Tag Archives: music

Christmas Music Car Ritual

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C: “My Grandma started this ritual because she was a very big fan of the Thanksgiving holiday and a very firm believer that like, Christmas season doesn’t start until Thanksgiving passes. Um, and so she started this thing in the car that you are not allowed to listen to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving. Um, and then it’s like- it was believed it was bad luck, like it’s not proper, like, um, I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s like we’re not celebrating the holidays in the proper way. And if someone requests it it’s like- like I have personally before been like ‘should we listen to Christmas music’ and been like shunned by my brothers being like ‘No! Grandma says we do not listen to Christmas music in the car until after Thanksgiving, like Grandma does not allow that.’ So it is like a holiday ritual now that we follow.”

Interviewer: “And was it like a big deal when you could listen to Christmas music again?”

C: “Mhm! Especially when it would be with my Grandma, because she would have in her car this, like, plastic container that was at least a foot long that had all of the CDs of Christmas albums, like, stacked. So like, it was when that got transferred from her garage into the car after Thanksgiving, that was the signal of ‘okay, now it’s time’ and then it like- it was like finally, we can ask and we don’t have to be afraid of her being like, ‘no, it’s not Thanksgiving yet.’”

Interviewer: “Would that be something, like, an act that you witnessed, or would it be like a fun surprise?”

C: “No, we would see her do it, because we practically lived with her for most of my childhood, so we would see her from the garage get- like, we knew where it was in the garage- get it and put it in. And then it was a thing of like, we can each grab one of the CDs and pick the ones we wanted, and then she would put them in and then take the next one out and be like ‘what’s the next song to have on?’ So it was like an actual little ritual thing.”

Context
C is a current student at the University of Southern California and grew up in Palm Desert, California. She explained that the ritual always occurred the day after Thanksgiving. When asked if anyone had ever broken the rule about no Christmas music in the car before Thanksgiving, C laughed nervously and admitted that she is a massive fan of Christmas music and sometimes listens to it in her AirPods during the summer, but that she “will NOT tell anyone” in her family, as they would still react poorly. Her pre-Thanksgiving Christmas music listening is restricted to her AirPods, however; she described one instance in which she began to listen to Christmas music in the car with her boyfriend before Thanksgiving, but felt “too guilty” and had to turn it off. Despite her love of Christmas music, C believes she will continue the tradition and ritual with her future family.

Analysis
This ritual seems to be a very calendric/seasonally-based ritual enforced, as C mentioned, to ensure the ‘proper’ and time-appropriate celebration of the seasons. I have noticed that the United States, especially in commercial settings, tends to begin preparing for Christmas well in advance of the holiday, often de-emphasizing Thanksgiving celebrations by barely squeezing it in between Christmas and Halloween. By establishing listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving as a forbidden practice, C’s grandmother is able to keep the lines between different seasons and celebrations distinct and honor each in their own time. In doing so, she also created a ritual that, from C’s description, served as a fun and fondly-remembered marker of the beginning of the Christmas season for her and her grandchildren.

Carnaval Brazilian Festival

Informant: Carnaval, the most famous Brazilian Festival. You probably know it. Huge party every year. In Carnaval you play music in groups and do specific group dancing. its about celebrating your community and having fun with others around you.

Context: My informant was born in Brazil and spent the majority of his childhood there. Obviously he celebrated the Carnaval every single year. He would go with his family and dance all night and all day and listen to good music and eat good food. He hasn’t been back to Brazil in quite some time so he is looking forward to that.

Analysis: It is always interesting looking at the holidays of other cultures. You start to see the differences and similarities between what they celebrate it and why. Most American holidays are celebrated because of some holy person or because some tragedy that led us to being American. I quit like how this holiday according to my informant is just celebrating the community and having good times with everyone close by.

Flower Moon Music and Arts Festival (Chapman University)

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Collector: “Do you participate in any specific rituals or festivals?”

Informant: “We have Flower Moon. It’s a Music and Arts Festival that’s been happening every year for the last three years on the last week of April. It’s usually at the same venue the Garden Amphitheater in Garden Grove, California. It has three stages. And we have 15 different artists, five artists per stage. And it’s not just the music it’s also the arts because we get six different vendors who are all champions to us in the arts. Artists, by the way, are all Chapman students and alumni. And we also get vendors to come sell clothes, jewelry, and food. And it’s like basically like our version of Coachella because it’s the weekend after both the Coachella weekends happen so we call it Coachella weekend three.”

Collector: “How much does it cost for a ticket?”

Informant: “$20 for Chapman students and $30 for general admission. And it’s sponsored by our school, we get sponsors from SGA. So Student Government.”

Context

The informant is a female undergraduate student at Chapman University in Orange, California. She is co-president of The Collective, a music club on campus that’s responsible for organizing the Flower Moon Festival each year.

Analysis

The Festival showcases Chapman Student’s artistic and musical abilities. The financial sponsorship from Chapman University shows that the school enables artistic expression. They provide a space where student’s talents can be appreciated and commodified. The showcase restricts artists to a very niche group: Chapman students and alumni. In my opinion, this makes the event more attractive to people in that university folk group. Ticket price differences urge students to attend, as they get in at a discount. 

The Big D

Nationality: Dallas, TX
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Language: English

Text:

Residents of Dallas refer to it as “the Big D.”

Context:

The informant lived in Dallas for 17 years, and grew up knowing this nickname for her hometown.

Interpretation:

Preliminary research points towards this nickname originating from the song with the same name, “Big D” from the 1956 musical The Most Happy Fella. The name popularized when Bing Crosby recorded the song, and stuck when a columnist at Dallas Morning News titled his column “Big D.” Since then, residents of Dallas have continued to call their city “the Big D” without necessarily knowing the origin of the nickname.

The longevity of the nickname may be more due to its function as a double entendre than the timelessness origins. Though the nickname remains the same, the meaning behind it changes, so that new generations believe their hometown nickname is unironically an epithet for genitalia.

The Song of Petra

The informant is one of my family members that has been brought up listening to these songs in her household. It is seen as one of the ballads that she most remembers growing up.

Narrative

The narrative is about the kingdom of Petra in Jordon and discusses “the king’s journey to fight against the Romans that tried to invade the kingdom and left the queen Shekeilah” to rule the kingdom. He also “left his seven-year-old daughter, Petra.” Roman soldiers come to the kingdom with troops and want to “hide the gold that they have in Petra’s safe, which was widely known to be a safe place. They kidnap the princess and keep her for ransom.” Everyone searched for the princess and could not find her. The informant states that the ballad continues with “the Romans ordering the queen to stop the king from attacking Rome’s occupying kingdoms.” If the queen did not, they would kill Petra. The ballad resumes with the Jordanian king conquering the Romans and returning home but “the queen halts the celebrations because she lets him know that they had to sacrifice their daughter for the victory of their kingdom”

Context:

The informant describes this as a “very popular song that was played for many years and all ages, telling the dreadful story of how ‘with victory, comes sacrifice’ in the death of a woman named Petra.” After a few years, the most widely known classical singer, Fairouz had taken the song and incorporated it into a musical that framed the entire story, placing this song as the finale, to highlight the importance of the ballad in the musical. The musical “opened for everyone to see and gain an authentic understanding of what the song truly meant and the importance of the princess in the story of victory” It was recorded and premiered across the Arab world in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and others, showing the beauty of Arabic ballads on stage.

Analysis:

This ballad is meant to portray the significance of the princess in the narrative as she is not only a member of the royal family of Jordan but a symbol of change in the kingdom of Petra, even through her death. Being made into a musical does not diminish the gruesome element of her death but instead portrays it through other art on a stage, making it more accessible to wider audiences. This allows them to gain an understanding of how powerful the Arab world may be, but it must come with a sacrifice. Children are able to watch the musical and learn the consequences of their actions, through the ballad and the lyrics that explain her death, and the royal’s reaction to her sacrifice. This also plays a role in the history of the Arab world as it has gone through many invasions from other countries and emphasises the strength that they have, however, also a piece of themselves that had been taken long ago.