| Taking the pop out of pop music | | Posted Tuesday, February 07, 2006 10:12:04 AM by Rose Martins | Where does the word POP music originate? It's pretty simple, really. Pop is short for popular music. But with time, the term pop music has taken on a whole new meaning. Pop music has become a specific genre of music as we know it today. With the availability of music on the internet for download, pop music has become even more popular.  Different countries worldwide have their own indigenous pop music, sung in the language of their country and often carrying a theme that is relevant to their culture and habitat.
There is Japanese, Spanish, French, Russian, Korean, English, American, Danish and Swedish pop music, just to name a few. The history of pop music makes an interesting read. One can research how the music of the pop artists of yester year has changed and developed over the years into the popular new pop music of today.
It seems that the language of pop music has remained unchanged, but the way of pop music production and the way it's been received, has undergone a radical upheaval. Modern pop is essentially processed music, in which the major chord is engineered into fast-food flavors and packaged behind a juvenile face.
The pop music of today is often inseparable from the video, or impossible to perform without the sound engineers who are the real creative artists.
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| | | Editorial: What Ever Happened To The Future Of Music? | | Posted Friday, November 03, 2006 7:22:31 PM by Blog57 Team | | (Guest editorial from Robert Kramer) As an "over-40" independent musician/composer and recording artist, it has concerned me for a long time that there seems to be very little new "popular" rock and pop music being released that appeals to the over-40 group. In addition, much of the music being pushed today is dark, brooding,and depressing, filled with images of violence and anger. Positive human emotions and character are seen as weaknesses, while anger, violence and lack of compassion are promoted in todays music and videos as signs of strength and virility. Music has ceased to be "fun". Much of it is loaded with "manufactured angst", and despite wonderful advances in digital recording techniques, the overall quality of songwriting and the performance of music itself has steadily declined.... | |
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| | | Nigerian pop music | | Posted Thursday, November 02, 2006 1:27:31 PM by Blog57 Team | | We danced our pop music and socialised amicably creating an atmosphere of jollity and love. Nigerian pop music was dance music. We used our drums heavily for identity and joyful dancing. We talked through them and danced them with, soul and spirit. Our pop music was a great source of joy. Today, we are at a loss, caught that flat in a wilderness of foreign sound waves. What with undanceable, incomprehensible rap in Jamaican patois, mixed up English American jabbering that does not express anything concerning our affairs, our life style or our achievements or advancements. We branch off in the middle of the mix up to sing “Our government bad o" We don't even know whether we are talking of Jamaican, American government or what governments. We are not speaking or singing our language anymore.... | |
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| | | Godinez Brothers: funk, pop and R&B music on the menu | | Posted Saturday, September 23, 2006 11:03:04 AM by Blog57 Team | | For the Godinez Brothers, the musical mission is simple: they want to "make music that makes you move." It is was they did in the late '90s, when they played frequently throughout the area and were known as Bottom, and it is still, in 2006, what inspires them the most. For this unit - which describes itself as pop, funk and R&B - it's all about the groove, and getting you to groove. The band features Rodney Godinez on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Jonathan Godinez on bass and backing vocals, and Rick Statsman on drums. Other contributing musicians include Nick Driscoll on saxophone, piano and keyboards and "Big Ben" Hillman on keyboards and vocals. The group's history dates back to the mid-'90s when brothers Rodney and Jonathan Godinez, after playing with numerous local cover bands, decided to focus on original music.... | |
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| | | Korea Becomes Pop Music Source in East Asia | | Posted Thursday, August 10, 2006 5:24:31 PM by Blog57 Team | | To the surprise of people whose image of Korea is that of a rather serious-minded economic powerhouse, Korea is becoming a favorite source for popular music throughout East Asia. Hearing Korean singers crooning in the taxicabs of Beijing or Tokyo is becoming an increasingly common experience. But at the same time, Korea is now a global pace-setter in state-of-the-art technologies — nowhere more so than in the area of information and telecommunications technologies that enable the rapid, seamless and enjoyable dissemination of digital content, including music. Famously, Korea has the highest broadband penetration in the world. In this era of state-of-the-art technology, it is time for Korea to adopt state-of-the-art strategies in protecting the intellectual property rights of its music industry.... | |
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| | | No mere "Idol," Kelly Clarkson is a real pop winner | | Posted Saturday, August 05, 2006 11:04:21 AM by Blog57 Team | | Despite all the hype and hoopla and giant TV ratings, the only real pop-music idol "American Idol" has produced in its five seasons is Kelly Clarkson, the first winner. She's endured not because of the "Idol" connection but in spite of it. She survived that horrible movie quickie, "From Justin to Kelly" (Justin Guarini was not so lucky), and cut her ties to 19 Entertainment, the management and production company "Idol" winners are required to work for (it's owned by "Idol" creator Simon Fuller), as soon as she could. Fuller probably would've kept her singing "A Moment Like This," the power ballad that made her the "Idol" winner, forever. Clarkson not only doesn't do that song anymore, she performs only a few songs from her post-"Idol" album, "Thankful" (which sold more than 2 million).... | |
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| | | LatAm Ears for Pop Music in Cuba | | Posted Saturday, July 01, 2006 9:04:59 PM by Blog57 Team | | Havana, Jun 20 (Prensa Latina) Experts from 17 nations are in Cuba looking at popular music as part of the 7th Latin American Congress of the International Association for the Study of that artistic expression. According to Casa de las Americas, the events sponsor and venue, attendees will debate the impact of neoliberalism on regional cultures until June 25. Monday, while opening the sessions, Abel Acosta, local Vice Culture minister and head of the national Institute of Music (ICM), outlined the plans the ICM is implementing to beef up its entities. Among the islands projects, he highlighted that of preservation of acoustic heritage. For his part, Chilean Juan Pablo Gonzalez, chair of the Latin American branch, reminded that the Congress returns to Havana 12 years after being created to exchange on the regional musical panorama.... | |
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