Anya's Blog for Musical Explorations!

  Some Background     Robert Nesta Marley was born February 6, 1945, in the rural town of Nine Miles located in St. Ann, Jamaica. He grew up and attended school in Nine Miles during his early childhood and preadolescent years. This is also where he developed a friendship with Neville "Bunny" Livingston as they both shared a passion for music. Bunny was also the one to inspire Marley to learn to play the guitar ( Biography ). Trench Town     Marley moved to Kingston as a teenager where he lived in Trench Town, one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, and served as a pivotal moment in his music career. Marley struggled with poverty but was able to serve in an apprenticeship as a welder. It was at this apprenticeship where the unique sound of Bob Marley was cultivated and developed. He was exposed to different music genres that would go on to influence his sound. The first notable genre was Ska, a combination of Caribbean mento and calypso with jazz, rhythm, and blues influe

      Burlesque is a musical movie that was released in 2010 and was directed by Steve Antin. The film stars Christina Aquilera, Cher, and several other notable actors/singers. The movie follows the cliché storyline where Ali (Aguilera), a small-town girl from Iowa moves to Los Angeles to make it big as a performer. Cher plays Tess who is the owner of the Burlesque Lounge which is facing foreclosure by the bank. The music for the film is the result of a huge conglomerate of writers with each song having its own set of composers. However, the majority of the songs are performed by either Christina Aguilera or Cher ( IMDb ). The piece I want to delve into further is called "Bound To You" which was one of the three original songs which Christina Aguilera contributed to the film. It was written by Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler, and Samuel Dixon who also produced the piece ( Wikipedia ).     "Bound To You" serves as the part of the story where the main character, Ali, b

Introduction       Whitney Houston led an iconic musical career that was so successful that even younger generations know who she was or have heard some of her work. Despite her popularity, many are still surprised (including me) when they find out that Whitney generally did not write her own songs. However, she had co-written with several great songwriters so her perspective was still included in the pieces. Biography     Whitney Houston was born on August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey. From the beginning, it could be said that Whitey was destined for musical greatness as her mother was Cissy Houston, who rose to fame in the Drinkards gospel quartet. She was also first cousins with Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, who have both achieved successful independent musical careers. In her teens, Whitney was already very active in the music scene and was performing throughout New York City in the '70s and early '80s. One fateful evening in 1983, Arista Records producer, Clive Davis, hea

Sampling the Afro-Cuban Musical Experience Some Background      Traditional Cuban music stems from the Spanish and African heritage that is deeply rooted within Cuban culture. This fusion of cultural backgrounds was a result of the African slave trade when Spanish settlers brought their slaves to cultivate the island of Cuba ( Hosted In Havana ). There are five basic genres of Afro-Cuban music: rumba, son, cancion Cubana, danzon, and punto guarjira ( Brozensky et al ). However, the three most common genres which will be discussed further are the rumba, son, and danzon. What is unique about the Afro-Cuban genres is that each genre has its own associated dance each of which has individually laid the foundation for numerous contemporary dances that are still popular today. Rumba     Some of you may be familiar with rumba as it has become very popular in the U.S. as a ballroom dance.  However, traditional rumba is actually split into sub-genres in which the rhythm and meter can vary quite

An Evolution Of Pop Music - 1950s - Now      The term "pop music" originally referred to the music that was simply popular at the time, regardless of the genre that the individual songs were classified under. However, as time went on popular music genres and styles intermingled, creating a unique blend of influences that characterizes modern pop music as its own genre. The pop genre was distinguished by its largely teen and young adult fan base who were typically more open to radical changes that go against the current of more traditional genres. The 1950s     The '50s marked the infancy of true pop music as this was a time that artists began playing with stylistic choices and deviating from the confines of a single genre. An influential player in the blurring of genre lines was Mitch Miller, a producer working with Columbia Records, who was known for combining country, blues, and folk music with mainstream rock'n'roll to create a new element that was unique to th

  "How Do You Sleep?" Sam Smith Listen Here Some Background        "How Do You Sleep?" was written by Sam Smith along with Savan Kotecha, Max Martin, and Ilya Salmanzadeh. It was released on July 19, 2019 and originated from England. "How Do You Sleep?" was also included on Sam Smith's third album, Love Goes , which was released in 2020 ( Wikipedia ). Additionally, Sam Smith announced that they identify as nonbinary in 2019, so I will be referring to Sam with them/their pronouns throughout this blog post. My Feelings I have been a big fan of Sam Smith for years, I admire their musical abilities and I love the style of music they produce.That being said, I don't really connect with this song emotionally regarding the lyrics, but I enjoy the composition of all the moving parts of the piece, including the music video I have linked in this post. I appreciate that this song was a result of a turning point in Sam Smith's life. As mentioned above, the