There is something very pleasurable about singing wholeheartedly along with a group of men singing wholeheartedly, whether it is old hymns sung with vigor or Stan Rogers classics like "Barratts Privateers".
That's not a sea shanty to me, although it's a nice sailing song. I always thought a sea shanty was sung to keep the men working in unison as they hauled ropes and worked the sails, like the drum-beater on a galley. The key piece is the lead with short verse and frequent recurring group refrain to reinforce the rhythm. Not full verses with a chorus, a traditional folk song form.
When I hear' sea shanty 'I think of something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS5xR7jBxDw
or this: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2vaj7h
The remix section bothers me. Not that it's bad per se. It's fun in its own right, and I probably wouldn't have noticed this if I'd only heard just the remix portion. Coming after the vanilla version, though, makes me notice how much adding a beat and electronic instrumentation takes away from the primary draw of this kind of music: the harmony of human voices.
Coming after the vanilla version, though, makes me notice how much adding a beat and electronic instrumentation takes away from the primary draw of this kind of music: the harmony of human voices.
I am reminded of my reaction to the way fado songs are done. As far as I am concerned, Amalia Rodrigues wrote the book on fado. All you heard were her voice and a guitar. I went to a concert by the fado singer Mariza. She had a good voice- even compared to Amalia. However, she added a bass to her songs- perhaps even a drum. I didn't like the bass added to the songs(nor the drum, if it had been added..memory). Not at all. From a cursory YouTube search, I get the impression that Mariza later arrived at a similar decision and has gone back to simple guitar accompaniment. Though in later songs on YouTube, she added a piano-which I didn't object to.
There is something very pleasurable about singing wholeheartedly along with a group of men singing wholeheartedly, whether it is old hymns sung with vigor or Stan Rogers classics like "Barratts Privateers".
ReplyDeleteDouglas2
That's not a sea shanty to me, although it's a nice sailing song. I always thought a sea shanty was sung to keep the men working in unison as they hauled ropes and worked the sails, like the drum-beater on a galley. The key piece is the lead with short verse and frequent recurring group refrain to reinforce the rhythm. Not full verses with a chorus, a traditional folk song form.
ReplyDeleteWhen I hear' sea shanty 'I think of something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS5xR7jBxDw
or this:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2vaj7h
The remix section bothers me. Not that it's bad per se. It's fun in its own right, and I probably wouldn't have noticed this if I'd only heard just the remix portion. Coming after the vanilla version, though, makes me notice how much adding a beat and electronic instrumentation takes away from the primary draw of this kind of music: the harmony of human voices.
ReplyDeleteComing after the vanilla version, though, makes me notice how much adding a beat and electronic instrumentation takes away from the primary draw of this kind of music: the harmony of human voices.
ReplyDeleteI am reminded of my reaction to the way fado songs are done. As far as I am concerned, Amalia Rodrigues wrote the book on fado. All you heard were her voice and a guitar. I went to a concert by the fado singer Mariza. She had a good voice- even compared to Amalia. However, she added a bass to her songs- perhaps even a drum. I didn't like the bass added to the songs(nor the drum, if it had been added..memory). Not at all. From a cursory YouTube search, I get the impression that Mariza later arrived at a similar decision and has gone back to simple guitar accompaniment. Though in later songs on YouTube, she added a piano-which I didn't object to.