Author: Peter Wentworth

Happy New Year everybody! – Sorry for not

Surely, you have a lot of friends and relatives who like music. Be it talented or not, there are indeed many music lovers all around the world. It is one thing that different people from different countries approve and get along with. Music indeed is a universal language that every human being appreciates. People show talents and their love for music in so many different ways. And one of the many ways is celebrating music festivals. There are too many music festivals all around the world and the festivals also depend on the genre and season it is being held. The following are the top ten of the world’s music festivals held every summer:

1. The Sitka Summer Music Festival Extraordinaire. This festival started in 1972 and held in Alaska. It shows the talents of the Alaska state.
2. Rock al Parque festival. This festival is celebrated in the capital city of Colombia, a place called Bogot. It has been celebrated since the year 1995. Rock al Parque festival is actually the largest festival in the entire South American continent. Though the first festival only featured only rock music, the next editions featured genres like salsa, hip-hop, Zarzuela, and Colombian music, which is referred to as Colombia al parquet, featured.
   

   People would indeed have a truly unique experience in this summer adventure. People could bring families along in this festival for there are no charges at the entrance. Attending the festival would be a great starting point for people who have interest in the South American culture. It is good to know that the Colombian government always puts it on the list of its priorities.

3. The World Sacred Music Festival. The festival is held in Los Angeles, California. It is celebrated for sixteen days. More than 1,000 artists celebrate the festival and show culture and their artistic talents through different music genres.
4. Fuji Rock Festival in Naeba, Japan. In Japan, the Fuji Rock festival takes place. The festival features as many as two hundred Japanese and even international musicians and performers. The summer festival is indeed the greatest social gathering in Japan and premiered in 1998. Not only Japanese people love it but also people from Europe and North America.
5. The Lollapalooza Summer Music Festival. Began as a tourist show in 1991, it became a dream of every person who loves summer fun. It made Chicago into one gathering place that people have fun during summer.
6. Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England. This fun and exciting festival takes place in Europe. It brings the Somerset neighborhood to life with performances of arts and nonstop music for three days. It takes place in the main arena and other smaller tents. The largest tent in the world is shown in the festival and makes it the most awaited point.
7. The EXIT Festival. This festival takes place in Serbia. It was founded in the year 2000 by two university students. Political consciousness has been blended with the celebration and the genres rock, techno, electronica and techno were played. The festival is always held in Petrovaradin Fortress.
8. The Roskilde Festival in Denmark. The festival has music, culture and awareness on humanism as highlights. The spotlight has the Scandinavian origin as their focus.
9. The Austere Milwaukee Summerfest. According to the Guinness Book of Records, this festival is the largest music festival in the world. It lasts for eleven days and features more than seven hundred bands. It is always held in Milwaukee, USA and was held through the efforts of Henry Maier, Milwaukee mayor in 1960.
10. Central Park Summerstage Music Fest. This music festival happens in New York. At first it was held in at Avenue Park in 1986 but eight years later, it was then transferred and held at the City Park Foundation. The festival wishes to bring people close together on the same platform. The history and backgrounds of the participants makes the whole festival a more exciting one. Another thing that makes it good is that the festival is free and has high quality entertainment. National and even international composers and performers get to play on the same platform.
11. Finally, let’s not forget the two Musical Saw festivals held every year. One in San Jose, California and the other in New York. Both held in August.

There are different genres of music which serve different purposes. Some genres express love, some express hate, while some express the need for change in whatever perspective. Ethnic music, also called musics plural, is considered a larger term which represents music that in turn has the following objectives:

• It states the historical differences in one or more cultures or places.
• It build identities for a much modern and urban society which has different musical genres introduced compared to older societies.

Music has become a significant part of people’s lives. It has developed through centuries of progress in the society, and has given birth to so many instruments which are being used in different parts of the world. These instruments depend on its basic structure, as with the string instruments. But no matter what kind of musical instruments they may be, they all work with one purpose

As music is part of every known culture, and with this, a part of every human being, there are people who choose to make music as their profession. They are called musicians. They compose music with different orders of rhythms, tones and tempo. Most of them put these compositions on record and sell them in millions of copies all over the world. This makes musicians popular and wealthy. Too many musicians have gone to the hall of fame, and have become the most famous people who leave statements all over the world through their music. Some have even become famous Hollywood stars and made it to the big screen. Music became their stepping stone to fame and fortune. Yet some musicians make it big one moment, and the next thing they know, they are out of the picture. Some musicians, such as The Beatles, make it big and put into record and history the type of music that they produce.

Joshua Kerviv, the street musician

Yet what most people take for granted to put on record and cultural history are the musicians who opt to take the smaller stage. Joshua Kerviv, a street musician who plays the violin, is one of those who oddly take the streets as their stage for their live performance. Joshua Kerviv learned how to play the violin from his father who graduated from the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia. Ironically, despite Joshua’s mastery in playing the instrument, he prefers to make too little money by playing it on the streets. He gets out into the streets with probably the simplest clothes or outfits, and chooses to play his violin in a busy and noisy place. As he moves his bow across his violin and plays a recent composition called Nocturne X, the noises seem to fade away and his music sweeps across the place along with the air. Yet this does not mean the busy passers-by are amazed. They continue their errands, walk hurriedly and think of their daily routine. He is twenty six years old and said he had never expected to play his violin in the middle of a busy suburban train station where people get to hear his music without even paying attention to it. He dreams of playing at Carnegie Hall, but the dream, as he says, is actually a little high. Joshua is keeping his hopes high, but as of the present, he said he will be playing anywhere possible for the love of his passion and some money.

Joshua played for three straight hours and got five dollars from an onlooker as he played

The world is made up of different continents, and each continent is made up of various countries, which in turn are made up of cities, regions, states, or smaller localities. Each of them has their own history and traditions. Each of them has their own culture. Some even have their own language. Whatever their uniqueness are, there is still one thing that is common among all cultures known on Earth

For seasoned and amateur performers, stage fright is one of the greatest problems they tackle whenever they

Every style of music today has roots. Ethnic music is too often overlooked as an important contributor to folk music. We cannot possibly discuss the origins of American folk music without giving credit to African-Americans. Without the African-American influence, American folk music would sound and feel entirely different today.


The Early African Influence

African-American folk music was borne out of the spirituals sung by slaves working the plantations. Their oppression and appalling work conditions created some of the most beautiful music ever created by an American spirit. During this era in American history, music made by slaves began as calls to one another in the fields. These early call and response

How is Folk Music Defined?

Simply put, folk music is the music of the people. Every culture has its own musical traditions that are handed down from generation to generation. What then is the difference between formal music and folk music? Formal music styles are written down. Folk music is a tradition passed down through the generations by

Looking back at the history of folk music in America, there are thousands of artists who shared their folk music with anyone within their reach. They traveled across this vast country revealing their unique original folk music as well as their own adaptations of the traditional folk songs.

When we talk about influential artists, we look at how the artist not only influenced the listeners but also how they influenced the future of songwriting and artists in the genre. Many of the most influential folk artists in America affected our views on a vast array of subjects from daily life to war and everything in between.

Most Influential Male Artists in Folk Music

Let’s take a look at the male folk artists who have had the most impact on folk music through the years. The fabulous ladies of folk music deserve their own accolades and we will talk about them in our next post.

• Woody Guthrie