One of my best friends in elementary school was Indian. While I visited my friend's house, her parents would occassionally have the tv cued to some Indian sitcom, a reality show, or even a channel similar to MTV. I would sit in awe at the fact that someone could sing in another language and how absolutely beautiful the music was as well.
While I was in elementary school, I was in music visions. During this time, we would learn some songs in a couple of different languages. For some reason, the song above has always stuck in my mind. I hear it as I'm sitting in the local Mexican restaurant and so many songs have this kind of feel to them. I love it!
In high school, I was exposed to a variety of non-Western music due to the fact that I was in a choral program that strived to learn a wide variety of music, including those of non-Western cultures. One of my favorites to listen to Hotaru Koi. It is a fun, short piece that always puts me in a good mood. The harmony isn't extremely difficult, but the dissonance is so beautiful throughout the entire piece.
During my time at Converse, I have been exposed to different music of different cultures, but have also been able to really enjoy the rest of Western art music. I know this is still considered Western Art music, but I absolutely love how beautiful this piece is and have learned to enjoy operas in languages, other than the four typical languages you learn your music in (English, German, French, Italian). Russian and Czech have been getting increasingly more performed. The above piece is from Tchaikovsky's opera The Enchantress. At this point in the opera, Kuma awaits Yury, intending to flee with him. The princess will poison her and she will die in Yury's arms, whereupon he will curse his mother and his father will kill him and go mad.
Here is the translation for the piece:
Where are you, my beloved?
I am here.
Make haste and come to me,
light of my soul, beauty,
joy of my eyes!
With impatience I burn to see you
and to press you to my burning heart,
Without you my soul is faint
with grief; come, come!
Make haste and come to me;
we will whirl away
far from here, from harm and trouble.
Make haste and come to me,
come to me, my darling,
and we will whirl away
far from here,
from harm and trouble!
Come to me! Bright falcon!
Beauty and joy, light of my soul,
With impatience I burn to see you!
In high school, I was exposed to a variety of non-Western music due to the fact that I was in a choral program that strived to learn a wide variety of music, including those of non-Western cultures. One of my favorites to listen to Hotaru Koi. It is a fun, short piece that always puts me in a good mood. The harmony isn't extremely difficult, but the dissonance is so beautiful throughout the entire piece.
During my time at Converse, I have been exposed to different music of different cultures, but have also been able to really enjoy the rest of Western art music. I know this is still considered Western Art music, but I absolutely love how beautiful this piece is and have learned to enjoy operas in languages, other than the four typical languages you learn your music in (English, German, French, Italian). Russian and Czech have been getting increasingly more performed. The above piece is from Tchaikovsky's opera The Enchantress. At this point in the opera, Kuma awaits Yury, intending to flee with him. The princess will poison her and she will die in Yury's arms, whereupon he will curse his mother and his father will kill him and go mad.
Here is the translation for the piece:
Where are you, my beloved?
I am here.
Make haste and come to me,
light of my soul, beauty,
joy of my eyes!
With impatience I burn to see you
and to press you to my burning heart,
Without you my soul is faint
with grief; come, come!
Make haste and come to me;
we will whirl away
far from here, from harm and trouble.
Make haste and come to me,
come to me, my darling,
and we will whirl away
far from here,
from harm and trouble!
Come to me! Bright falcon!
Beauty and joy, light of my soul,
With impatience I burn to see you!
This is all great, Rebekah. What makes me especially happy is knowing how you were introduced to at least some of this music while living right here in Spartanburg. I've never heard "Hotaru Koi" before, and it's really interesting! Thanks for actually posting the videos of the music.
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