Songs are sung all over the world with many different purposes. Some people act though that songs are to be sung sacredly and only done for religion, others believe anytime is a good time to sing a song. This week’s reading is Armbruster’s Before Seattle Rocked: A city and it’s music. In the first few chapters it touches on the Duwamish Native American Tribe with their music as well as the fusion of the settlers music/work songs.
The Duwamish Tribe, much like some of the citizens of Ghana see music as an incorporation of everyday life. There is not a second thought on wether or not a certain time is a good time for sining, and there seem to be no insecurities on what exactly to sing about. For example: basket weaving songs, fishing songs, gambling songs, welcoming songs, etc. all played to the beat of a few drums and many voices (Armbruster, pg. 13, 2007). Armbruster also makes mention of songs being sung during different seasons “…singing seemed to peak in the warm months…’they sympathize too much with Nature to sing in the winter’ “(Armbruster, pg. 12, 2007). This again brings a point to certain spots in time where songs and music can indeed be led by nature and weather patterns.
Jim Pepper was a Native American songwriter and Saxophonist who tested the boundaries of scared music and fusion, and to his surprise his music became popular with the elders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2YeEUlyhQw&list=RDS2YeEUlyhQw#t=443
The development of Seattle was conducted by Mr. Arthur Denny and brought many lumber and coal jobs to the new area. Both the Duwamish and the settlers came to the new land seeking these jobs and during this time work songs were sung. Some of the instruments used were flute, fiddle, and reed organ and were played often in the first parlors and saloons of Seattle (Armbruster, pg. 20, 2007).
Seattle was built with a foundation of music, it’s structure and culture reflects directly on the history of the music in the city. People lived their life based upon music and in the 1860′s The Seattle Brass Band was formed and gave way to a mesmerizing sound that guided the community through laborious endeavors. This sound was inspiring to more than just one group of people and introduced a new feeling to the community that pushed the forward industrially.
Earlier this week Industrial Revelation from Seattle came to Olympia’s Rhythm and Rye for the second time and performed with great virtuosity and extreme passion. All members of the band graduated college in Seattle, either at Cornish or University of Washington and have been playing together for at least 10 years, and it shows.
The synchronicity in their Jazz/Blues/Symphonic/African and Brazilian fusion music is done so naturally and organically that as an audience member and professional musician was not only inspiring and bonding but allowed room for collaboration with the audience and proper energy flow increasing entertainment value. The group dynamics between the four members are close and eye contact isn’t even needed for the refrain after ever member has showcased their skills while the other members holler and clap encouragingly for every song. The band draws most of their influence from major artists such as Chick Webb, Duke Ellington, Coltrane, etc, but more interestingly the drummer has musical roots dating back to his grandparents, some influential folks to the industry at the time in the Pacific Northwest.
http://www.industrialrevelation.com/band-biography/
Since the Rhythm and Rye has allowed me to help out with event promotion I was able to capture a few great videos of the performance, as well as stay until close and talk to Josh Rawlings the Fender Rhodes performer.
Josh was kind enough to answer some of my field study related questions such as “Does Industrial Revelation’s music change from city to city and how big of a factor is the audience during this change?” He said some venues in Seattle or other cities haven’t put off as much energy as given at the Rhythm and Rye. That the audience matters and they change small details to the songs according to the entire vibe of the venue. Some audiences don’t dance or holler which makes the energy low and show shorter than normal. But each song that night lasted around 10-13 mins because the band was feeding off the energy that the crowd was giving them.
About a month earlier Hillstomp (Portland, OR) rolled through and brought well over 200 audience members to Rhythm and Rye and gave one of their best performances. I was able to talk with Henry Christian, guitarist and thanked him for his performance and he said something to the fact that the audience is everything and how all you can do on that stage is just feed off the energy.
This leads me to a new question, does the size of Olympia compared to neighboring larger cities such as Portland, and Seattle change the appreciation of certain types of music? Has some of the larger cities taken for granted their musicians or are the cities just growing too fast that audience members can’t keep up with the music scene?