Which Are the Amazing Sounds?

By: Jorge Munnshe.

To define something as subjective as music it always happens to be difficult. In the case of alternative musics the difficulty is even greater, since these are not a given style, but many, usually having very different characteristics. Numerous are the labels applied to each one of these genres. The borders separating them are not airtight, and often a musician and even one given piece flow along different paths. This is the most obvious example that artistic creativity cannot be stylistically hindered by ropes that tie it to some given patterns. Sooner or later, geniality comes to surface outside these patterns. Breaking moulds, this could be the general definition of alternative musics.

With respect to which trends or labels integrate the alternative musics, these amazing sounds that have the leading role in this virtual magazine, here is a list, necessarily incomplete as it is, of the most representative ones.

PSYCHEDELIC ROCK. Connected to SYMPHONIC / PROGRESSIVE ROCK, this is the most avant-garde area of rock. It is near to Cosmic Music in some aspects. It appeared by the late '60s., with pioneer bands, the most well known of which is Pink Floyd. Artists like Mike Oldfield, Alan Parsons and Brian Eno also have been classified within this trend. In Germany a local movement began, known as KRAUT ROCK, which later led to the rise of Cosmic and Techno music.

COSMIC / AMBIENT / SPACE MUSIC. The styles defined with these labels as a general rule utilize synthesizers. The music tends to be ethereal, unearthly, and easily awakes in the imagination of the listeners sensations that they are travelling in space, living adventures typical of science-fiction, or having other experiences outside what is normal. It appeared in the early '70s, and its main initiators were Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze and Ash Ra Tempel, who later moved on towards other styles.

TECHNO. It is an almost exclusively electronic music, very rhythmic and as a general rule very apt for dancing. It appeared in the early '70s with the band Kraftwerk as the main pioneers, and during the '80s and the '90s it has fostered the rise of numerous styles connected to its basic concept and with other influences such as for instance punk, heavy metal or pop in general. These new labels are: INDUSTRIAL, TRANCE, TECHNO-AMBIENT, TECHNO-JAZZ, ELECTRONIC BODY MUSIC, CYBERPUNK, CYBERDELIA, ACID HOUSE, TRIP HOP, HARDCORE and others.

AVANT-GARDE POP. It is connected to diverse innovative styles, mostly related to Techno, as for instance several of those mentioned in the previous paragraph. The label ELECTRONIC MUSIC has also been used to define several of the genres commented on before. COMPUTER MUSIC has been used to distinguish the music created mainly by means of a computer.

The WORLD MUSIC is based on the concept of creating new musical forms by mixing the folk music from different countries. Thus for example, when mixing elements of Japanese traditional music with African percussive rhythms and European medieval melodies, the result is a new, different music. This genre was born in the late '60s, propitiated by the cultural encounter of East and West that was initiated in that time. The World Music has always had a markedly pacifist, cosmopolitan character, symbolizing with its artistic personality the need to abolish frontiers among the peoples all over the world. Artists like Paul Winter and Peter Michael Hamel, among them, were the initiators of this genre.

The term NEW AGE began to be used in the late '70s to identify a lifestyle more or less derived from the hippie culture, and also to define several of these new musical styles, considered to be related to this philosophy. Artists like Kitaro were immediately classified under this label, thus becoming its visible heads. However, the label has ended up by being applied in numerous countries as a sort of megalabel for practically all the new or unusual styles, with the only exception of those more linked to Techno and sung pop.

Within the sector more clearly identified with New Age, there are three tendencies that not being separated musical styles in an obvious way, do show their own personalities, quite connected to philosophies of the New Age culture. Next we describe them:

1. THE ECOLOGICAL TENDENCY. An important element within the New Age lifestyle is the love for nature and the support given to the preservation of the ecosystem. The musical reflection of such is obvious in the artists that incorporate in their recordings the sounds of birds, waterfalls, the tops of trees caressed by the breeze, and others of this kind. Their music is in accordance with this accompaniment, turning out to be pleasant, romantic, almost heavenly. Sometimes even the release of these records is an act to vindicate the protection of live species in danger of extinction, or in support of other similar initiatives. This tendency appeared in the early '70s. Musicians such as Georg Deuter have become their symbols.
2. THE MYSTIC TENDENCY. A sector of the New Age culture is linked to mystic questions, from those influenced by the eastern philosophies, to others that have existed independently from the New Age but that in the latest years tend to be grouped around this label. This aspect usually is reflected in music under the form of recordings to accompany rituals, the music resulting from spiritual experiences, or simply that of pieces with titles inspired in these themes. This tendency appeared in the late '60s. Artists like Paul Horn and Popol Vuh, among others, are clear samples of this trend.
3. MUSIC FOR RELAXATION, MEDITATION AND THERAPY. A part of the music made known under the label New Age does not have as its main aim to entertain the audience, but rather to liberate positive curative effects on their mental health. The stress of everyday life makes it difficult for many people to relax after a stressing day. Listening to music especially designed to relax can be the ideal way to free oneself from a very harmful nervousness. Other applications can be to induce states of mind inclined to creativity or to meditating with sufficient concentration on complex issues. Also recordings have been made as a support to mental therapies in hospitals. This musical concept began to be applied in the late '60s. Among its main followers, we must mention Steven Halpern and the record label New World.

NEW INSTRUMENTAL MELODIC MUSIC. As an alternative to the sung music and the conventional instrumental genres, an increasing number of artists compose music that has been described as the CLASSICAL MUSIC OF THE PRESENT, as it is considered that Classical Music has more in common with it than with the apparently official continuations promoted from the scholarly sectors. The New Instrumental Melodic Music can also have Pop and Jazz traits as well in those trends farthest from Classical Music and nearer to modern music. Among the stars of the New Instrumental Melodic Music most noteworthy are Suzanne Ciani, Yanni, Ray Lynch, Bill Douglas, Rick Wakeman, Andreas Vollenweider, Mark Isham, David Arkenstone, and David Lanz, among many others. The MOST INNOVATIVE SECTOR OF JAZZ has also exchanged influences with the avant-garde styles.

Some trends with far less followers than those here mentioned so far have nevertheless existed for much longer. These are in no way artistic trends with a true transcendental presence in society, but rather they are directions of experimentation kept by a minority of musicians and researchers. CONTEMPORARY MUSIC is characterized by its unusual, innovative constructions, elaborated from rather acoustic instruments. Linked to it there is ELECTROACOUSTIC MUSIC, which pursues the same objectives yet it widens its field of action to the joint activity of acoustic and electronic instruments. CONCRETE MUSIC, born in France, experiences with sounds. TAPE MUSIC is specialized in the processing of sound and the construction of musical structures from the recording of tapes and their further manipulation. All these trends began to appear mostly by the late '40s. Musicians such as for instance John Cage were doing an important pioneer work.

MINIMALIST MUSIC. This is a genre that appeared from all the experimental directions commented in the previous paragraph. Unlike the other trends, this one has registered a remarkable success among the audience, becoming a genre with a clear social impact. Minimalist Music is based on the repetition of sequences of notes or basic elements, with slightly different shades, in such a way that an hypnotic environment is created. It is also known as REPETITIVE MUSIC. Among its main followers we must mention Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Wim Mertens.

Lastly, EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC in general and FOLK MUSIC can be considered within the scope of the alternative musics as well. The former, because of its obvious activity in search of new musical forms. The latter, because the folklore of a given country tends to be unknown, and therefore, new, exotic, for the listeners from other countries. This has been the case of CELTIC MUSIC, and that coming from places like India and the Tibet, among others.

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