Music and Us: Our Playlist

 Everything we have covered in this class so far has been fascinating. I've learned more about different cultures by listening to their music and diving into their history this semester than I have in any other class! With that being said, there are so many cultures and so little time to cover them all. So, I chose four different cultures that I am interested in learning about that we were not able to cover in class! These cultures are found in Russia, Papua New Guinea, Uzbekistan, and Greenland.

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Starting off with Russia. Russia is a transcontinental country, being part of both Europe and Asia. I chose this one first because I speak Russian! The song below is called, "Калинка," which translates to "Snowball Tree" aka the Guelder-rose. This is a very beautiful flower tree that also produces berries that you can cook and eat! This song is a super duper well known tranditional song amongst Russian speakers. It is referenced and remixed all the time in modern music, shows, etc. Here is a video of some girls dancing to the song! Under that, I also included a picture of the Snowball Tree and its berries!

The next country I chose is Papua New Guniea! To be honest, the only reason I even knew about this country was because a girl that I met at my cousin's birthday party went here on a 6-month missions trip. Papua New Guniea is part of Oceania, a geographical region by Australia. Below I also included a map and circled where Papua New Guinea is. 

After doing some research about the culture of Papua New Guinea, I found out some very cool facts! First off, Papua New Guinea is the MOST linguistically diverse country in the entire world, having about 840 languages! Many of these distinct languages are from indigenous tribes, like the Mamuna tribe. Below I included a video of a traditional song from this tribe! I chose this song because it is very beautiful and if I did not specifically research the traditional music of Papua New Guinea, I don't think I would ever come across it in my life! The harmonies in it are my favorite part, which tells me that there is likely some European influence in the song!

The next country I chose is Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is part of central Asia. I decided to look into this culture because I have some very close friends who are Uzbek and they have taught me to say multiple words and phrases, but what I know is mostly slang lol. Many Uzbeks also know Russian, like my friends' parents. This is a culture that is very colorful and beautiful and often not very well known by people in the United States. I asked one of my friends to send me her favorite song in Uzbek and she sent, "O'ylamading" by Munia Rizayeva and Konsta. This is a modern song about falling in love and breaking up. It is so good that I added it to my playlist on Spotify. Give it a listen and tell me what you think!

Last but certainly not least, Greenland. Greenland is considered to be part of North America. I chose this culture because I previously did not know anything about it! Just a fun fact: Greenland is the largest island in the world! and contrary to its name, Greenland is covered in ice and the people there are part of the inuit culture. The inuit are an indigenous people who live in Artic regions; they are known for hunting, fishing, and spiritual views.  During my research of the music of this culture, I found a modern Greenlandic indie rock band called Nanook. Below I included their song, "Ingerlaliinnaleqaagut," which translates to "we keep on going." As you can see, the music video is even filmed outside in the snow.

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Researching about the music of these four different countries and cultures opened my eyes to how different music can be around the world, but also how we are all similar in that we all create music one way or another. These four songs were my addition to our cultural playlist and I cannot wait to read about and listen to everyone else's!!!