Interactive Poll: Sounds of Asia

The ethnic music in its pure form tells us a lot about the specific culture not only in terms of music but also in terms of the cultural characteristics and inner being of people from that cultural group. I think I can recognize this in particular with respect to Eastern and Southeastern Asian culture (Kodo JPN, Dewa Alit & Gamelan Salukat and  Balinese Monkey Chant). Corporate music exists in different shapes but here we can see it in its distinctive form. The collective is clearly placed above the self which is reflected in East and Southeast Asian social structure to date.

Therefore, the increased need for individual expression doesn’t surprise me, it is rather a logical result. Japan is f.e. a pioneer in the field of video game music which offers plenty of space for individual work. My suggested but not nominated piece by Kikuo ft. Hanatan is a good example here. In an intensified form we can see it in the field of improvisational music. The Onkyo music movement emerging from Japan in the late 1990s aptly demonstrate this (Toshimaru Nakamura). Geinoh Yamashirogumi is another variety of this desire to experiment, here within a collective, and in the form of their re-interpretation of folk music, as well as their fusion of various traditional musical styles with modern instrumentation. Of course, technical progress does affect the creative process everywhere and in many fields but it seems to me that this development particularely corresponds the East Asian way of being.

I wonder whether I am on the right track or is it rather a preconceived idea that I have about East Asian nature?

The ethnic music in its pure form tells us a lot about the specific culture not only in terms of music but also in terms of the cultural characteristics and inner being of people from that cultural group. I think I can recognize this in particular with respect to Eastern and Southeastern Asian culture (Kodo JPN, Dewa Alit & Gamelan Salukat and  Balinese Monkey Chant). Corporate music exists in different shapes but here we can see it in its distinctive form. The collective is clearly placed above the self which is reflected in East and Southeast Asian social structure to date.

Therefore, the increased need for individual expression doesn’t surprise me, it is rather a logical result. Japan is f.e. a pioneer in the field of video game music which offers plenty of space for individual work. My suggested but not nominated piece by Kikuo ft. Hanatan is a good example here. In an intensified form we can see it in the field of improvisational music. The Onkyo music movement emerging from Japan in the late 1990s aptly demonstrate this (Toshimaru Nakamura). Geinoh Yamashirogumi is another variety of this desire to experiment, here within a collective, and in the form of their re-interpretation of folk music, as well as their fusion of various traditional musical styles with modern instrumentation. Of course, technical progress does affect the creative process everywhere and in many fields but it seems to me that this development particularely corresponds the East Asian way of being.

I wonder whether I am on the right track or is it rather a preconceived idea that I have about East Asian nature?