Lesson 12: Music that Travels

Goran Bregovic was suggested to me as a composer to represent Roma music.  As soon as I started listening to his pieces, I was caught up in the strong, evocative melodies and arrangements. Bregovic was born in 1950 in (then) Yugoslavia.  His mother was Serbian, his father, Croatian.  He studied music in Sarajevo, but left Bosnia and Herzegovina before the Bosnian War.  He has since returned to Sarajevo and started a Roma education foundation.

We listened to a boisterous piece called "Wedding Cocek".  A "Cocek" is a dance and music genre from the 19th century Balkans.  It came originally from Ottoman military bands, migrated with the bands over Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania.  Romani (Roma people, not Romanian) traveled around the area and kept the music alive by playing it at weddings and funerals.

Bregovic has a rich collection of recorded music, but researching tunes to play, the translated lyrics were not always 100% appropriate for young children, so I chose an instrumental tune.  If you don't mind your child hearing about slightly racy topics in a language they do not understand, I highly recommend searching for more of his music.  Below is a great video of the piece being performed with a female chorus- unfortunately I was not successful at tracking down the lyrics.  If you have the translation, please let me know!

"Alma Llanera" means "soul of the plains", and is Venezuela's "unofficial second national anthem".  It was written by Pedro Elias Gutierrez and Rafael Bolivar Coronado in 1914.  Originally the song was part of a Zarzuela (a Spanish sort of musical theater that appeared at the start of the 1700s).  Of course I had to mention that they all knew at least one musical theater production... Frozen!

"Alma Llanera" itself is actually a "joropo", a dance and music genre specifically of Venezuela.  Just as the Ottoman military bands and Roma people traveled with the "Cocek", the Zarzuela and joropo emerged from people traveling from Spain to Venezuela and creating something new.

We heard it sung by Alfredo Sadel, a Venezuelan singer and movie star.  I pointed out the guitar, harp and percussion while we listened.  I could not find a YouTube video of that particular recording, but above is a clip of him performing the song in a film.  I talked of how both songs were of a dance genre important to a specific culture, and how they came to be by people traveling around, dancing and singing in celebration.

The songs:

Alma Llanera, sung by Alfredo Sadel
Wedding Cocek, Goran Bregovic

Lesson Materials:

Lesson Plan
Powerpoint Slides
Drawing page

Enjoy!