Flamenco - Where to Enjoy Spain's Soul Music

Where can you witness the best flamenco? Surprisingly, the answer often enough is: "In New York City!" That's because the best practitioners of this passionate art form spend a good part of their career performing for high pay at venues outside their home country.

And there's another aspect. Tourists visiting Spain are often lured to third-rate performances, tour operators knowing that the average visitor can't distinguish between the good and the mediocre.

There is far more to this constantly-evolving art than swirling skirts, flashy foot-stamping, and throbbing guitars. Its true home is in southern Spain, particularly in the area of Seville, Cadiz and Huelva.

If you visit that region, check out what's on at the various "penas", or flamenco clubs. These are where local enthusiasts gather and where you are likely to catch authentic flamenco song and dance. Also, particularly in summer, many towns hold flamenco festivals. Be warned: they start late and carry on until the early hours.

Much of the passion of flamenco reflects the sufferings of the gypsies and the poor of southern Spain down the centuries. Its origins are complex, with roots in the many cultures that have made their mark on Andalusia. Gypsies are believed to have started entering Spain from the eighth century, bringing with them the influences of Indian and Byzantine music. Their song and dance mixed with those of Arabs and Sephardic Jews and with Christian religious and folk music.

Jews, Moslems and gypsies had one thing in common, their persecution by the Kingdom of Castile, and this helped form flamenco, making it the voice of the oppressed.

Aficionados (enthusiasts) divide flamenco singing into three categories, cante jondo, intermedio, and chico. Cante jondo, literally deep song, has been compared with the blues of America's blacks. Singers of cante jondo seem to tear at their own entrails as they strive to express their anguish and communicate it to their listeners.

A genuine performance is a rare experience, for the truly emotional, magical moments only occur when duende (roughly, the spirit) moves the singer.

Intermedio is less profound flamenco and easier to perform. Chico (small) is happy, sensuous and frivolous.

Sadly, what you are most likely to see and hear in or out of Spain is pop flamenco, a mish-mash of the above three forms with non-flamenco pop rhythms thrown in and with little feeling or depth.

At any fiesta, however, you can enjoy the sevillana. This is a light-hearted, fast-moving dance. Purists don't take it seriously, but it's lots of fun.

For an idea of what serious flamenco is all about, listen to the earlier work of wild-living singer Camaron de la Isla, regarded as a true phenomenon of cante jondo until drugs and alcohol got to him. Or delight to the music of the great guitar maestro Paco de Lucia, on the cutting edge of modern flamenco.

Journalist and author David Baird specialises in books about Spain, fact and fiction. His book Between Two Fires - Guerrilla War in the Spanish sierras has won praise from leading historians. For a humorous insight into life in rural Spain, read Sunny Side Up. His latest books are works of fiction: Typhoon Season, a nerve-tingling thriller set in Hong Kong, and Don't Miss The Fiesta!, passion and adventure played out in southern Spain. More information at the Maroma Press website, http://maromapress.wordpress.com/

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Where Are the Korean Female Hip Hop Rappers At?

Female hip hop rappers have been making their mark in the USA for years. But what about abroad? Rap music is coming up in Korea and has been since the 90s. Seoul, Busan, and Daegu are hot spots for this in Korea. While many artists do their best to reproduce the music of the west, others embrace both their own roots and their love of hip hop, and combine the two. There are artists out there who use traditional Korean instruments in this art form. One is Seo Taiji.

There are also many hip hop dance units that compete. This is very popular in Japan as well.

But where are the REAL female artists? There are all-girl groups that comes up when searching for female Korean hip hop, such as the Wonder Girls, but they are clearly more of a pop group similar to the pretty boy groups of the USA, complete with snazzy outfits and all. The original messages of the original art form are completely lost here, where struggles and street life were vented and expressed. Although this can easily be debated across the board as how music heard on the radio today talks more and more about how great the artist has it with money, material goods, and women, rather than the struggles and messages of empowerment we heard of back in the 90s.

Well, I know of one Korean female rapper that clearly holds her own and maintains the true spirit of original hip hop. Not only can she rap and deliver a fierce free-style, she can sing beautifully as well. Skim is Korean rapper currently based in Los Angeles, and she is fierce. She is definitely not of the conventional mainstream (being openly queer is one of these unconventional traits), but that is what makes her all the better and extremely refreshing, in my opinion.

She incorporates Korean folk music and drumming into her performances and sings while doing this. She is all about empowering women of not only her own culture, but of others as well, and reaches out as a true activist fighting sexism, racism, homophobia, and other social ills. She collaborates with amazing musicians of various cultures and continues to redefine hip hop, especially from a woman.

Skim is an amazing poet and artist having opened for KRS One and with her ever-growing schedule of tours, shows, and amazing collaborations such as with Shin Kawasaki, Jeffrey Soulspeak, November Morris from Hawaii, and Saltation Ignite. One recent collaboration combined Hawaiian reggae, electronica, and hip hop to create a message of multicultural empowerment.

This collaboration was a song called "Dark Skin" with Saltation Ignite. Skim delivered her rapping on top of ukeleles, tablas, and various drums, including an 808, all to spread the empowering message for people to feel comfortable in the skin they were born in, rather than trying to assimilate into something else. She is truly one of the most unique female hip hop rappers out there.

"Dark Skin" can be heard at: http://saltationignite.bandcamp.com/

You can also read more about Skim at http://skimvillage.wordpress.com/about-skim/

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Finding Free Karaoke Music Online - Where Is It?

There is no shortage of free karaoke music to be found online today. If you are looking for this kind of source for you entertainment needs, then there are a few avenues that will make your search easier. There are also a few tips about what to expect and how to get the best quality music for your entertainment needs. The details are not complex, but there are a few basics that should know about finding this sort of music online.

Where do you find free karaoke music online? The answer to that question is almost anywhere that you would find other music, but there are a few tips to make sure you find what you want. The best resources for free music for sing along devices can be found on sites that already specialise in downloadable music. There are many major retailers that will sell you online tracks and sets off their main websites which may be purchased with simple registration and providing your payment information.

There are also other sites that specialise in the needs of sing along devices and their music for download. These are similar to social networking sites which they have a community of users that are all interested in entertainment modules and music for their equipment. The catch is usually, that they are also selling other things related to karaoke. They may have portable players, in-house systems or monitors available. They may have used equipment for sale. Very often they do have some free music for downloading, but this is an enticement and the rest of their catalogue is for purchase only. Either way you will still be able to use some free music for your trouble.

What should you know about free karaoke music before you download it? Make sure that you verify that the music you are accessing for download is compatible with the particular system or player that you will be using it with. There are different formats in some countries and it is not always clearly marked online for you. The transaction ends at that point, and usually there is no refund policy.

Most downloads will have formats available in mp4, mp3, mp3+g, and midi. They should be marked as such for you to find them. Generally midi sounds a bit like keyboard music or Muzak, but it is often very cheaply mass-produced. The formats marked mp3+g will have the ability to output the song titles and lyrics as included, to your television or video monitor. Those that are in mp4 formatting will have music with some kind of music video compliment. Which is best depends upon the personal equipment setup.

This should help you find great music for your karaoke needs online.

For further information on free karaoke music, karaoke machines, online karaoke or any other topics raised in the article, visit Sing To The World who have experience in the relevant field.

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