Amber Discovers a New World of Music

Learning about African Music was a bit hard for me to understand. Maybe because, this music I am not used to listening to. It is definitely not Taylor Swift! None the less, I can still appreciate hard work and effort that is put behind each musical creation. While pondering what I should write about and just googling random topics, I did come across a couple of items that I thought was interesting and wanted to share with you. 1. New Wave Dance Music From South Africa I am not going to lie, this one I had to listen to a few times to really appreciate it. But first, let me give you some background. This music is traditional South African music compiled with electronic sounds to create this fast paced, exciting sound all together. According to the Shangaan Electro Album, this type of music is popular between Johannesburg, Limpopo and Mozambique. This fast paced music creates a highly energetic sound that makes many people want to dance. When Listening, at first I almost wanted to know wh...

The South American culture is a unique and diverse culture. Because of the mix of indigenous people, European  and Asian colonizers, and the African slaves, the culture is a great representation of how all of these different styles of living combined into one beautiful culture. As I have mentioned before I am a flute player so obviously, I decided to research some about the flutes of South America.  Pan Flute Vs. Quena Pan Flute: The pan flute is made up of pipes ranging in diameter some smaller, some larger. The pipes are usually wooden and made up of bamboo or cane. However, now they can be made of plastic. Normally, the pipes are lined up horizontally and played like a harmonica. A sliding motion is used to create a new pitch. The timbre of this instrument is a lot more breathier than that of a Quena.  Quena Flute: The Quena flute is the traditional flute of the Andes. Traditionally, it is made of wood and normally has about 6 holes and 1 thumb hole. There is an openin...

  Growing up, I vaguely remember going to church with my whole family. There was a time where my family was going regularly but only for a short period. Mostly, I hopped from church to church just trying to find the one that I felt most connected to. Unfortunately, most of the time I was walking in to a church with by myself. Ive been to Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, back to Baptist and then to Unitarian. And, although I do not currently attend a church at the moment, Unitarian is where I felt more like I was accepted for who I was and one step closer to spiritual growth. With that being said, worshipping is probably the time where I feel the most connected to the God. Some days, I prefer the more contemporary music and then other days, I take it back to the classic hymnals especially when I need a gentle reminder of some particular topic! So, I'm going to share with you two of my favorite worship pieces and hopefully you can experience the love and comfort they remind me of! #1...

As a student majoring in both biology and music, many people ask me why both? There was no exact reason as to why I am doing both, except for the fact that I genuinely love both. So, to make it easier on me I try to find connections between the two. Sometimes, if you look hard enough, they are really there. Since my primary focus for biology is to one day become a pediatrician, I can't help but think about the children of the tribes. We really only talked about the adult population of Native Americans, but what about the children? Growing up, didn't your parents sing to you any lullabies? I know mine did! So, after some digging, I learned there is not a lot of information on the web about children's lullaby songs. However, I did find something! Lullabies for Children In 2011, The Cherokee Nation Foundation released a CD with some of their most traditional lullabies on it. The lullaby above is titled Usdi Yona which translates to "little bear" in English.  It is o...