I was honoured to be invited for a video interview/chat recently with New Zealand singer, musician and composer Tony Backhouse.
One of the things we discussed was how we like music to be honest, gutsy, muscular and authentic. But how to describe exactly what we mean?
I’ve written before that even if it’s a folk song, somebody wrote it.
The identity of that individual may have been lost over time, but to honour the song, you still have the responsibility to try to find out who it was.
When using songs from cultures different to ours, we have the responsibility to teach or perform them as accurately as we can.
We honour the song by being as authentic as possible when pronouncing the words, and reproducing the melody and harmonies.
When honouring the origins of any song, you need to be as precise as you can about where the song came from.
It might be hard to find out, but there is no excuse for being lazy and saying something like “This song is from Africa.” Here are some things to consider when tracing a song’s origins.
Many songs get handed down by ear and labelled ‘traditional’ without any clear understanding of where they come from.
It’s important to honour the source of all songs and the cultures they originate from. Here’s a guide to the things that you need to consider.
When I’m promoting a singing workshop or recruiting for a choir, I want a shorthand way of describing the kind of songs I teach.
There is such a range of different ‘choirs’ out there (which is great!), that we need to distinguish between them so people can make an informed choice. But does ‘world music choir’ actually mean anything useful?
