Question from IS4, Tarbalout Daoudi Junior high school, Morocco
In Morocco, while celebrating a wedding or other special ceremonies, each region of the country has got its traditional folk groups or bands , and they are usually invited to entertain people. They can also participate for celebrating religious ceremonies. While giving the show ,there are rules they have to follow so that to give a correct performance and people enjoy singing or even dancing with the groups.
What are the traditional folk groups in your country?
What are the ceremonies or festivals in which they participate?
Talk about their dances and songs.
What are the musical instruments they use and the clothes they wear?
Answer from IS1
What are the traditional folk groups in your country?
In Hungary there are many traditional folk groups and composers, so it was really difficult for us to choose one or two of them to talk about. We have finally decided to write about a beautiful, world-famous singer called Márta Sebestyén whose collaboration with the French group Green Forest resulted a Grammy Award in 1996. In addition to this, she was also the voice of the English Patient awarded with nine Oscars (also for the music!) in 1997.
There were two influential composers in Hungary who collected and renewed folk music; Zoltán Kodály, whose philosophies of music education served as an inspiration for the so called Kodály Method, and Béla Bartók, who is considered to be the one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. If you are interested in and want to read more about the approach that was adopted in all Hungarian schools and according to which we are taught music, read about the method by clicking on the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kod%C3%A1ly_Method
Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was a Hungarian composer and pianist, who is regarded, along with Liszt, Hungary's greatest composer. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of ethnomusicology.
What are the ceremonies and festivals in which your folk bands participate?
There are lots of folk festivals all over the country during the year. We have chosen an autumn festival, the grape harvest to introduce you here. A big-big celebration is held after harvesting the grapes, where people dance and sing together with the bands providing the music. Not only do these bands play music, but they also teach little children how their ancestors celebrated the harvest. Folk bands such as Kaláka (picture 1) and Kolompos (picture 2) are there to create a special, entertaining atmosphere.
1 Kaláka 2 Kolompos
What are the clothes they wear and the musical instruments they use?
In Hungary each region has its own special folk costume together with its own embroidered motifs. Naturally, there are various regional songs and dances as well. In the video film you can watch if you click on the link below, you can see one type of traditional clothing. The girls wear a long skirt with an apron and a white blouse with a waistcoat and the boys wear a white chemise, black trousers and a hat, on their feet there are boots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z3CYObujoc
Hungarian folk instruments are many and varied as well. The hammered dulcimer, the Hungarian bagpipe, the drums and the violins are traditionally part of a Hungarian folk band.
This double flute or recorder was used in Transylvania and Transdanubia. These kinds of recorders are carved by hand and Hungarian folk motifs are used to decorate them.
Dances and Songs
Hungarians love dancing and singing. There is a special dance called "csárdás", which is a traditional folk dance everyone in Hungary knows how to dance. The name of the dance itself derives from the Hungarian word for pub. It originated in Hungary and was popularised by gypsy music. It is characterized by a variation in tempo; it starts out slowly and ends in a very fast tempo. There are many tempo variations, the music is in 2/4 or 4/4 time.
Kerekes Dóra and Gellai Gábor
Answer from IS2
1. What are the traditional folk groups in Latvia?
Auli, is a bagpipe and drum music group founded in 2003. Auli's repertoire contains mainly Latvian traditional tunes, but also contemporary pieces with strong rhythm and varied bagpipe sound, as well as tunes of other European peoples.
Ilgi, from the beginning, Ilgi was mainly interested in the most ancient and sacred levels of folk music. In time, however, they gradually transformed from a traditional folk ensemble into a band that used folklore as a jumping off point for creating a contemporary music distinctly their own.
Laiksne, their repertoire consists of Latvian seasonal ritual and lyric songs as well as traditional folk dance music. The group's vocal style is firmly rooted in Latvian tradition but Laiksne also allows present day influences to creep in, by using several Latvian traditional instruments as well as some modern instruments.
Laimas Muzykanti, initially the band was formed as folklore ensemble but with the time were involved the most distinguished rock musicians of Latgale. As a result the band created their specific music style named "ethnorock". They play and sing Latgalian folksongs which were collected during folklore expeditions in Latgale.
Maskackas spelmani, from Riga. In their repertoire, there are original songs from different parts of Latvia, accompanied by various instruments (squeeze-box, violin, zither, flute, bagpipe, bas, psaltery, drums and others), and, of course, dances.
Skyforger, is a Pagan/Folk Metal band. They present proud, nationalistic music without any political leanings, and their passion for the land of their fathers can be heard like the surging of the tide, underpinning the warships of their songs.
2. Talk about their dances and sogs.
In several regions of Latvia one can still encounter singers, mostly women, who have orally inherited the tradition of singing. Often they sing in folklore ensembles side by side. About one hundred fifty singing folklore ensembles are presently active in Latvia. The folklore festival Baltica, which takes place in Latvia every three years, is the main forum that supplies the tradition of singing with a stage and an extensive circle of listeners and supporters. Still, performances of folklore ensembles are also popular at smaller cultural events.
3. What are the musical instruments they use and the clothes they wear?
Ancient Latvian folk musical instruments are whistles, pipes, harp and kokle. Bone whistles and pipes Latvian territory has already been distributed in at least the IX century.
Latvian folk costume is one of our national treasures, which reflect the people's mentality. Own hand-made, they approximate our nation lives ritumā century.
Ticking away for centuries, since the Latvian peasants everyday wear folk costumes. However, circumstances and ceremonies of big national holiday to dress in these costumes is a tradition. Song Festival, international folk festivals, art decade can not be envisaged without a representative of this dress.
Important is everything - the color, it sets, writing, fabrication technique, the material.
Each region to Latvian - Vidzeme, Latgale, Augszemes, Zemgale and Kurzeme has its own fabrication and worn traditions. Moreover, even within the county, there are differences.
Women's and men's shirts made from bleached linen fabric. Often parts decorated with white or colored embroidery.
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Answer from IS3
Traditional folk groups and dances: There are two main folk groups in Lebanon: the “Cedars” and “Caracalla”. They participate in the main Lebanese music festivals like “Baalbek” and “Byblos”.
The Cedars is a folk group that performs the dance “dabke”. The folk dancers usually wear the traditional costume of Lebanon. Dabke is a dance which is widely performed at weddings and joyous occasions. Dabke in Arabic is literally "stamping of the feet."
Caracalla performs a contemporary dance that blends the great of the Orient with the earthiness of Western modern dance. Its international debut was at the Festival of Osaka in Tokyo in 1972. Since then, it has traveled extensively all over the world, and in particular in North America and Europe. The dancers wear colorful loose clothes where their style depends on the theme of the dance.
the music for the dance is performed on drums as well as derbakke (the Arabic traditional percussion instrument) and often will include pipes, smaller reeds, and other native musical instrument.
One popular instrumet used in Lebanese music is the Lute. the lute is shaped like a half pear with a short fretted neck. It has a six courses of two strings and played with a plectrum, usually a trimmed eagle's feather. this instrument creates a deep and mellow sound.
The mijwiz which literally means double, in Arabic, is a very popular instrumentused in Lebanese music.It is a type of reed clarinet. It is played by breathing smoothly through a circularaperture at the end and by moving the fingers over the holes down the front of the tube in order to create the different notes. the minjayrah is similar to the mijwiz, an open ended reed flute played in the same style. It is very popular among mountain villagers of Lebanon.
the tabla is a small hand-drum also known as the derbakkeh. Most tablahs are beautifully embroidered and decorated, some with wood,tile or bone inlay, etched metal, or paintings in designs typical of the Near East.
Answer from IS5
Traditional groups in Holland are more regional, so not really nationally celebrated. We do have a singing tradition of the "Levenslied" (Life song) about troubles and loves in life.
Recently some of those singers formed a pop band, called The Toppers. They are very popular in the Netherlands. The Toppers consist of three singers: Rene Froger, Jeroen van der Boom and Gordon. Gerard Joling in 2008 was replaced by Jeroen van der Boom. Joling and Gordon came in 2005 during a concert as guests of Rene Froger. The response was so good that the same three as the Toppers gave their first concert. From 2005 The Toppers perform each year to a sold out Amsterdam ArenA.
They participated in 2009 with the song contest and they do shows throughout the country.
This is their song from the Eurovision Song Contest 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te1w81E8L5A
The Toppers make an effort to have grand costumes, but not in traditional Dutch clothes, although they do have costumes with traditional Dutch china patterns on them.
You can see some of the costumes in the video above and these are some pictures:
costumes with traditional Dutch china patterns
This was our response to your questions!
best regards,
Niels, Isabel, Marlou
Answer from IS6
Ukrainians are known to be a musically gifted nation: they like singing and dancing and there are a lot of folk music groups in Ukraine. They participate in numerous festivals and contests.
One of such groups is the winner of the all Ukrainian and international competitions and festivals, regional philharmonic society band of song and dance "Legend" founded in 2002 in Lugansk one of the regional centre in Ukraine. There are 20 people in this group. The name of collective was chosen not by chance: "Legend, that is passed from a generation in a generation, keeps history of the soul of people, and today, can be for them life-giving force...", - these words of M.Golubovicha can be with a complete confidence counted the creative credos of this youngest in Ukraine professional collective.
"Legend" performs in Lugansk, Lugansk region, and also in the whole Ukraine. It actively comes forward with concerts, participates in numerous festivals
"Legend" was enthusiastically met by the habitants of Moscow on celebration of the Day of City. They sing the songs in Ukrainian and Russian. The songs are connected with the history of Ukrainians, their customs and traditions Combining a vocal with a choreography, artists create theatrical mini performances. In the repertoire of the group there are merry, lyric deeply touching songs. Every song and dance has a deep sense, it is full of love, life and feelings.
They wear traditional Ukrainian clothes. We should mention here that the national costumes in different parts of Ukraine are a little bit different and that's why the whole performance is courful and picturesque.
They play traditional Ukrainian musical instruments among them the violin, the accordion, the kobza, the bandura and others.
Answer from IS7
Traditional folk groups
A
There are a lot of traditional folk groups in South Africa.It would seem that every culture has its own different kind of dance and musical instruments that they use.i.e Dikapakapa and Lady Smith Black Mambazo
B
They normally dance at special occasions such as weddings and funerals.
C
Although there are numerous cultures and music traditions within those cultures in South Arica, there are some commolities found throughout the country. Among the Zulu the call and response often overlap so that the soloist begins before the chorus has finished its line. Dance is usually accompanied by choral singing and dancers often have rattles tied to their legs to produce different sounds.
D
Another common tread through South African music traditions can be seen in the instruments of the area.South African usually use a bow.It is made of a curved piece of wood with a string attached to each end
Answer from IS8
There are five main ethnical groups in our country. The first and the largest oke is the Ukrainians. Other four groups live mainly in the western part of Ukraine, and can be treated as ethnical minorities. These four groups are called: Lemkos, Boykos, Hutsuls, Poleszuks. Customs of these five folk groups are quite similar.
Each ethnical group has its own traditions, which are connected with their traditional way of life. Historically Ukraine is an agricultural country, and there are a lot of customs connected with certain seasons and periods of agricultural work. Also some traditions are connected with popular beliefs. Anyway, almost every event is connected with some kind of ceremonies. For example in Slavic countries there is a widespread holiday of Maslenitsa which marks the end of winter, the feast of the Sun called Ivana Kupala, which mark the day of solstice, The Harvest festival which marks the end of the harvest. There are also a lot of winter holidays, such as are the twelve-day period with culminating points on 25th of December and 6th of January which became the base for many ceremonies. Besides from the national holidays there are some ceremonies supporting every event in human’s life: birth, wedding, death etc.
Most of holidays and ceremonies involve traditional costumes, dances and songs. There are three main types of traditional dances: ritual dances (Obryadovi tantsi), social dances (Pobutovi tantsi), and story dances. Also there are kinds of dances specific for some folks groups. So, for example, kolomiyka and arkan are specific mostly for Hutsuls, mazurochki are specific for Polissian region and Poleszuks. Traditional songs in Ukraine are also connected with the ceremonies and holidays, such as Kolyadki, Schedrivki, Vesnyanki or Hayivki.
There are many traditional musical instruments in Ukraine. Widespread instruments are kobza, bandura, buben, drymba. Trembita, sopilka, tsymbaly are special for WesternUkraine.
The traditions of costume are quite similar for Ukrainian folk groups. The man costume include a comfortable shirt, a sash (poyas) tied around the waist, and loose, billowy riding trousers (sharovary). The women's costumes have subtler variations, since the woman's blouse generally displays more embroidery than the men's shirt, the skirt (plakhta) is woven with various geometric and color patterns, and they wear a headpiece of flowers and ribbons (vinok). In different places this picture may vary, e. g. Hutsuls wear leather moccasins known as postoly, and decorated vests known as keptari.
Customs and traditions in our country can be described endlessly.
Answer from IS9
The traditional groups in SA are Phuzikhemisi, Ihashe Elimhlophe fall under Umbhaqanga a traditional type of music mostly sang in Zulu. We also have afro jazz singers who are the late Miriam Makeba and Yvonne Chaka Chaka. We also have Reggae singers like the late Lucky Dube. South Africa also has kwaito singers like Brenda Fassie.
These talented people perform in many different festivals for example Randshow and Grahamstown Arts Festivals but they also perform overseas in other countries. They also perform in political gatherings such as elections, inaugurations and party gatherings but they also perform on peoples (famous) birthdays.
They normally have back up dancers but you can always spot them joining in on the fun. They sing songs that inspire, tribute too many legends who existed in their time, teach life experiences, teach about love and they teach us to respect people.
They use many instruments to entertain us such as the western drums, African drums, trumpet, accordion and many more. They dress in different attires such as Xhosa attire, Zulu attire, animal skin and normal close.
This is the Zulu attire.
This is a picture of a lady of the Zulu culture.
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