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I am working on a project for my Multi Cultural music class this semester. The topic that I chose is: The Tuba as a multicultural instrument. I wanted to get any of your thoughts on this because there is such a wide variety of of players with years of expertise. You can make your statement as long or as brief as you would like as long as it has your thoughts on the subject. Also please indicate how many years you have played the tuba at the end of your statement. Any help that I can get for this project would be greatly appreciated.

bloke wrote:a few examples of ethnic use:

- NOLA brass bands
- UK brass bands
- American concert/marching bands
- western art music
- continental European beer hall bands
- Mexican banda

...expand/elaborate...

This is something I have been researching (and playing music I have found on my radio show) for a while.
Here are just a few more places to find tubas and related instruments in other cultures:
- Indian Brass (has changed a lot since the British ruled - also former colonies in the Caribbean and other parts of the world.)
- Bamboo "Brass" in the Philippines and other Pacific regions
- South American Brass (much different than what is going on in Mexico.)
- Balkan Brass (more Helicons than Sousaphones)
- Fanfare/Guggen/Honk!/Dweilorkeste alternative and carnival/fasnacht Street Bands all over Europe and North America.

Look up music and writings by Frank London and Gregg Moore - they have been exploring this for years.

If you can find the two "Frozen Brass" CDs you will find a whole lot of interesting field recordings of tubas (in bands) in an amazing variety of cultures. They are out of print but some libraries might have them.

There is a very recent group on posts on this net about tubas becoming popular in the latino community in LA.

David Richoux wrote: - South American Brass (much different than what is going on in Mexico.)

... and probably different than South America. I mean, if you were for example to compare Surinam vs. Brazil. I think it's Surinam, where I've read about some kind of religious practice involving the sousaphone, you lower the bell over a person's head while playing.

bloke wrote:

Donn wrote:I think it's Surinam, where I've read about some kind of religious practice involving the sousaphone, you lower the bell over a person's head while playing.

That's just great, Donn. Someone will now write a doctoral thesis on this.

DIBS!

Not Surinam, but this article is about the use of the Sousaphone (and trombones) in Pentecostal services on the North American East Coast.

I have heard rumors of that South American "Cult of the Sousaphone" thing - I think it went around here a while back. Long before I heard that, I had created my own version of it at Burning Man.

I also remember seeing a PBS documentary many years ago about Peru or Bolivia that included a segment where the local brass musicians run up the side of a mountain while playing at full volume as part of a religious service. I have never seen anything else about this since...

The origins of the Surinam Kawina music is west african, largely from Ghana. This is singing and drumming with the largest drum, the Skraty (baas drum), having the responsibility of playing the participants of the ceremony (Winti Pre) into a trance were in they've been possessed by one of the Surinam gods.
This music is widely translated into a song, brass (also saxes) & drums variant with the horns taking over the roll of the vocals and/or accompanying it.

And now for the board; Ma Aisa is a goddess who's attracted to brass. If and when she arrives the sousaphone (Koprotu) takes over the roll of the Skraty, playing rhythmically and in the upper register. And yes, if the possessed person is brought forward, the sousaphone bell is lowered above the head and played quite loud. By the way, commonly there is an electric bass player doing his duty on the 1 & 3.

In the "pop" variant, the Kaseko music uses a lot of the same melodies as during the Winti Pre, maybe with the exception of playing the melodies in 4 instead of in 6. If such an orchestra has a sousaphone player, than he plays in the same way; like a drummer. Here again, el. bass on the 1 & 3.

There are also exclusive brass and drum bands without the bass and generally no singing (bands discretion). In this instance the sousaphone player takes on the 1 & 3 roll, BUT, they are allowed to (tastefully) use all of the rhythmic variations that they use in the above mentioned situations.

An entire culture with the sousaphone as VIP. Nice. Great music, by the way. And great food!

-Pat

A Dutch sociologist Rob Boonzajer Plaes has written a book called Brass Unbound: Secret Children of the Colonial Brass Band. It comes wtih a CD. Publisher is KIT Publications. There is also a 1993 documentary film with the same name, directed by Johan van der Kueken. The book has chapters on Ghana, Minahasa, India and Nepal, Surinam, etc. I've tried unsuccessfully to acquire a copy of the film- tracked it as far as a library in Europe. The gist of the story is that when Europe colonized these countries, they brought along their brass band tradition. When the Europeans left, the local folks adapted the music and instruments for their own uses- weddings, other celebrations, etc. As the instruments wore out, they were repaired and/or replaced with whatever was handy- bamboo, sheet metal, etc.

Advertising for vegetables in 1899.

Klaus

The film also goes under the name Frozen Brass. The original Dutch title is Bewogen Koper.
I looked for you, but I couldn't find a copy of the DVD here in Holland either.
Good luck.
-Patrick

by the way;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkZIrLoe ... re=related" target="_blank

Its a bit tame, and many players approach the sousaphone parts an octave higher and more aggressive, but you get the idea.

=Pat

pjv wrote:by the way;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkZIrLoeb9Q

Its a bit tame, and many players approach the sousaphone parts an octave higher and more aggressive, but you get the idea.

=Pat

Interesting! There seems to be very little about Stimofo on the internet, but it looks like it is from the Marianas Trust (Guam or another island.)

I did find a possible source for Frozen Brass and Brass Unbound: http://panrecords.nl/content/

I have not dealt with this company but this is what they list for brass bands in their catalogue:
2020 Frozen Brass—Asia Anthology of brass band music #1
2091 The Devil's Horn Brassband traditions from the highlands of Bolivia
177 Les Miserables Brass Band
2026 Frozen Brass—Africa & Latin America Anthology of brass band music #2
2044 Ifi Palasa—Tongan Brass Anthology of Pacific music #4
153 Bulgarian Brass
166 Etropole Brass Band—Horos and wedding music
175 Vassourinhas de Olinda—Hot brassband dance music from Pernambuco

some notes:

This CD accompanies the book “Brass Unbound. Secret children of the colonial brass band”, by R. Boonzajer Flaes.
Brass bands accompanied the armies that colonised Africa, Asia and America. Local musicians quickly discovered that their instruments could also be used for more than just European music. Anthropologist Rob Boonzajer Flaes shows how brass band music was picked up and changed into African highlife, Indian and Nepalese band parties, Surinamese winti bands and Indonesian bamboo and zinc orchestras. Previously published in Dutch as “Bewogen Koper” by ‘De Balie’, the English edition now makes this fascinating phenomenon accessible to an international audience.
ISBN 90 6832 278 8. Hardcover; 165 pp.; ill.; CD included.
“Brass Unbound” is sold out, “Bewogen Koper” is still available via PAN Records.

so if you can read Dutch...
also:

2020 Frozen Brass—Asia
Anthology of brass band music #1
Frozen Brass was a research project of Rob Boonzajer Flaes at the Center for Visual Anthropology of the University of Amsterdam. Up to now a surprisingly large number of popular brass bands were found in countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Surinam, Mexico, Samoa, Fiji, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, and Tanzania. In many cases PAN Records' co-operators were the first researchers ever to document this kind of music, thus gathering a unique body of research data and visual material.
This CD contains brass bands from Nepal, India, Sumatra, Central Java, West Java, Moluccas (unique historical recordings), Minahassa, Philippines. 74+ min, AAD/DDD, 16-p. booklet.
...These volumes are not only of unusual interest but also well presented with comprehensive English language booklets... (PAN 2020 & 2026, Phil Wilson, Folk Roots 124, October 1993).
2026 Frozen Brass—Africa & Latin America
Anthology of brass band music #2
See PAN 2020.
Brass bands from Ghana, Surinam, Bolivia, Peru. 73+ min, AAD/DDD, 16-p. booklet.

Its still possible to get the CD.

Sti Mofo is from Surinam.

Also from Surinam;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzPJiHmd ... re=related" target="_blank

and Surinam culture in Holland;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3okZRPT ... re=related" target="_blank

Cheers,
Patrick

I realize this thread has been mostly serious(up until now), but I have been mulling over the following thought. How can the tuba be a multicultural(or multi-cultural) instrument? Many people refuse to acknowledge it as a CULTURAL instrument.

pjv wrote:Its still possible to get the CD.

Sti Mofo is from Surinam.

snip
Cheers,
Patrick

OK, but this is what I found on the Internets: So you might see why I wrote what I did

thanks for all the different info and sites. I should have rephrased what I was asking. Do you believe that the tuba is truly a multicultural instrument? If so, why?

TubaRay wrote:I realize this thread has been mostly serious(up until now), but I have been mulling over the following thought. How can the tuba be a multicultural(or multi-cultural) instrument? Many people refuse to acknowledge it as a CULTURAL instrument.

Oh, come on. Tubas are ideally suited to both kinds of music...


...wait for it...


Rick "polkas and waltzes" Denney

Rick Denney wrote:

TubaRay wrote:I realize this thread has been mostly serious(up until now), but I have been mulling over the following thought. How can the tuba be a multicultural(or multi-cultural) instrument? Many people refuse to acknowledge it as a CULTURAL instrument.

Oh, come on. Tubas are ideally suited to both kinds of music...


...wait for it...


Rick "polkas and waltzes" Denney

Also: Country & Western, Rock & Roll
Whatever the shtick need is.