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World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world", "somebody else's local music" or "non-western music". In the classic definition, world music is the traditional music or folk music of a culture that is created and played by indigenous musicians and is closely related to the music of the regions of their origin.^[1] The term was originally intended for ethnic-specific music, though globalization is expanding its scope; it now often includes hybrid sub-genres such as World fusion,Global fusion, Ethnic fusion^[2] and Worldbeat^[3][4] These terms may also be considered sub-genres of pop music, illustrating that the term world music refers to music that is also classified under other genres.

Terminology[link]

The term has been credited to ethnomusicologist Robert E. Brown, who coined it in the early 1960s at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where he developed undergraduate through doctoral programs in the discipline. To enhance the process of learning, he invited more than a dozen visiting performers from Africa and Asia and began a world music concert series.^[5][6] The term became current in the 1980s as a marketing/classificatory device in the media and the music industry, and it is often used to classify any kind of non-Western music.^{[citation needed]}

There are several conflicting definitions for world music. One is that it consists of "all the music in the world", though such a broad definition renders the word virtually meaningless.^[7][8] The term also is taken as a classification of music that combines Western popular music styles with one of many genres of non-Western music that are also described as folk music or ethnic music. However, world music is not exclusively traditional folk music. It may include cutting edge pop music styles as well. Succinctly, it can be described as "local music from out there",^[9] or "someone else's local music".^[10] It is a very nebulous genre term with an increasing number of sub-genres that fall under the umbrella of world music to capture musical trends of combined ethnic style and texture, including Western elements (examples noted in this section).

World music may incorporate distinctive non-Western scales, modes and/or musical inflections, and often features distinctive traditional ethnic instruments, such as the kora (West African harp), the steel drum, the sitar or the didgeridoo.

Music from around the world exerts wide cross-cultural influence as styles naturally influence one another, and in recent years world music has also been marketed as a successful genre in itself. Academic study of world music, as well as the musical genres and individual artists with which it has been associated, can be found in such disciplines as anthropology, folkloristics, performance studies and ethnomusicology.

Evolving terminology[link]

In the age of digital music production the increased availability of high-quality, ethnic music samples, sound bites and loops from every known region are commonly used in commercial music production, which has exposed a vast spectrum of indigenous music texture to developing, independent artists. These influences proliferate quickly in a web-based music industry that is now percolating as a much larger, predominantly self-promoted menu, via an increasing number of indie-artist-friendly, streaming internet options, such as Last.fm, Rhapsody, Live365, Jango Artist Airplay and ReverbNation. An amalgamation of roots music in the global, contemporary listening palette has become apparent, which weakens the role major entertainment labels can play in the cultural perception of genre boundaries. As a result, definitions of the genre have become particularly varied, and determined by particularly wide-ranging and varied opinions.

Similar terminology between distinctly different sub-categories under primary music genres, such as world, rock and pop can be as ambiguous and confusing to industry moguls as it is to consumers. This is especially true in the context of world music, where branches of ethnically influenced pop trends are as genre-defined by consumer perception as they are by the music industry forums that govern the basis for categorical distinction. Academic scholars tend to agree that, in today's world of consumer music reviews and blogging, global music culture's public perception is what ultimately distils a prevailing basis for definition from genre ambiguity, regardless of how clearly a category has been outlined by corporate marketing forums and music journalism. The world music genre's gradual migration from a clear spectrum of roots music traditions to an extended list of hybrid sub-genres is a good example of the motion genre boundaries can exhibit in a globalizing pop culture. The classic, original definition of world music was in part created to instill a perceived authenticity and distinction between indigenous music traditions and those that eventually become diluted by pop culture, and the modern debate over how possible it is to maintain that perception in the richly diverse genre of world music is ongoing.^[11][12]

Examples[link]

Omer Ihsas & Peace Messengers

Examples of popular forms of world music include the various forms of non-European classical music (e.g. Japanese koto music, Indian raga music, Tibetan chants), Eastern European folk music (e.g. the village music of the Balkans), Nordic folk music and the many forms of folk and tribal music of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Oceania and Central and South America. The Breton musician Alan Stivell pioneered the connection between traditional folk music, modern rock music and world music with his 1970's album Renaissance of the Celtic Harp.^[13]

The broad category of world music includes isolated forms of ethnic music from diverse geographical regions. These dissimilar strains of ethnic music are commonly categorized together by virtue of their indigenous roots. Over the 20th century, the invention of sound recording, low-cost international air travel and common access to global communication among artists and the general public has given rise to a related phenomenon called "crossover" music. Musicians from diverse cultures and locations could readily access recorded music from around the world, see and hear visiting musicians from other cultures and visit other countries to play their own music, creating a melting pot of stylistic influences.

While communication technology allows greater access to obscure forms of music, the pressures of commercialization also present the risk of increasing musical homogeneity, the blurring of regional identities, and the gradual extinction of traditional local music-making practices.

Hybrid examples[link]

Since the music industry established this term, the fuller scope of what an average music consumer defines as "world" music in today's market has grown to include various blends of ethnic music tradition, style and interpretation,^[14] and derivative world music genres have been coined to represent these hybrids, such as World fusion, Global fusion, Ethnic fusion or Worldbeat. Good examples of hybrid, world fusion are the Irish / West African meld of Afro Celt Sound System,^[15] the pan-cultural sound of Aomusic^[16] and the jazz / Finnish folk music of Värttinä,^[17] each of which bare tinges of contemporary, Western influence—an increasingly noticeable element in the expansion genres of world music. World fusion / Worldbeat / Ethnic fusion / Global fusion can also blend specific indigenous sounds with more blatant elements of Western pop. Good examples are Paul Simon's Graceland album, on which South African Mbaqanga music is heard, Peter Gabriel's work with Pakistani Sufi singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Deep Forest project, in which vocal loops from West Africa are blended with Western, contemporary rhythmic textures and harmony structure.

Depending on style and context, world music can sometimes share the New age music genre, which is a category that often includes Ambient music and textural expressions from indigenous roots sources. Good examples are Tibeten bowls, Tuvan throat singing, Gregorian Chant or Native American flute music. World music blended with New age music is a sound, loosely classified as the hybrid genre, Ethnic fusion. Examples of Ethnic fusion are Nicholas Gunn's "Face-to-Face" from Beyond Grand Canyon, featuring authentic Native American flute combined with synthesizers, and "Four Worlds" from The Music of the Grand Canyon, featuring spoken word from Razor Saltboy of the Navajo Indian Nation.

World fusion[link]

The sub-genre World fusion is often, mistakenly assumed to refer exclusively to a blending of Western jazz fusion elements with world music. Although such a hybrid expression falls easily into the World fusion category, the suffix "fusion" in the term World fusion should not be assumed to mean only jazz fusion. Western jazz combined with strong elements of world music is more accurately termed, World fusion jazz, Ethnic jazz or non-Western jazz.^[18] World fusion and Global fusion are nearly synonymous with the genre term Worldbeat, and though these are considered sub-genres of popular music, they may also imply universal expressions of the more general term, World music.^[19] Throughout the 70s and 80s, fusion in the jazz music genre implied a blending of jazz and rock music, which is where the misleading assumption is rooted.^[20]

Popular non-Western genres[link]

Although it primarily describes traditional music, the world music category also includes popular music from non-Western urban communities (e.g. South African "township" music) and non-European music forms that have been influenced by other so-called third-world musics (e.g. Afro-Cuban music), although Western-style popular song sourced from non-English-speaking countries in Western Europe (e.g. French pop music) would not generally be considered world music.

Paris is one of the great European capitals for world music. For many years, the city has attracted numerous musicians from former colonies in West Africa and North Africa. This thriving scene is aided by the fact that there are many concerts and institutions that help promote the music.

Algerian and Moroccan music have an important presence in the French capital. Hundreds of thousands of Algerian and Moroccan immigrants have settled in Paris, bringing the sounds of Amazigh (Berber), raï, and Gnawa music. Algerian raï also found a large French audience.

The West African community is also very large, integrated by people from Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea. They have introduced manding jeli music, mbalax and other styles.

After 1987: WOMAD and beyond[link]

One origin of the term was the initiation of World Music Day (Fête de la Musique) in 1982 in France. World Music Day has been celebrated on 21 June every year since then. On Monday 29 June 1987 a meeting of interested parties gathered to capitalize on the marketing of this genre. Arguably popular interest was sparked with the release in 1986 of Paul Simon's Graceland album. The concept behind the album was to express his own sensibilities using the sounds he had fallen in love with while listening to artists from Southern Africa, including Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Savuka. This project and the work of Peter Gabriel and Johnny Clegg among others had, to some degree, introduced non-Western music to a wider audience. They saw this as an opportunity which should not be ignored.

Before 1987, world music had a following but it was still difficult for interested parties to sell their music to the larger music stores. Although specialist music stores had been important in developing the genre over many years, the record companies, broadcasters and journalists had been finding it difficult to build a following because the music, itself, seemed too scarce. However, they were aware that the jazz and classical markets had developed a crossover audience and decided that the best way forward would be to have a collective strategy in order to bring the music to a wider audience.

At around this time, Cultural Co-operation started the Music Village Festival. A regular series of free world music festivals which are running to this day. A network of world music artists was also created to help promote their work.

1987 meeting[link]

At the outset of the 1987 meeting, the musician Roger Armstrong advised the reason why something needed to be done:

[He] felt that the main problem in selling our kind of material lay with the UK retail outlets and, specifically, the fact that they did not know how to rack it coherently. This discouraged [the retail stores] from stocking the material in any depth and made it more difficult for the record buyers to become acquainted with our catalogs.^[21]

The first concern of the meetings was to select the umbrella name that this "new" music would be listed under. Suggestions included world beat and prefixing words such as "hot" or "tropical" to existing genre titles. World music won after a show of hands, but initially it was not meant to be the title for a whole new genre, rather something which all of the record labels could place on the sleeves of records in order to distinguish them during the forthcoming campaign. Afterward they agreed that despite the publicity campaign, this wasn't an exclusive club and that for the good of all, any label which was selling this type of music would be able to take advantage.

Another issue which needed to be addressed was the distribution methods which existed at the time. Most of the main labels were unhappy with the lack of specialist knowledge displayed by sales persons which led to poor service; there was also a reluctance amongst many of the larger outlets to carry the music, because they understandably liked larger releases which could be promoted within store. It was difficult to justify a large presentation expense if the stock going into stores was limited.

Marketing[link]

One of the marketing strategies used in the vinyl market at the time was the use of browser cards, which would appear in the record racks. As part of the world music campaign it was decided that these would be a two color affair designed to carry a special offer package; to aid the retailer a selection of labels would also be included, presumably for shelf or rack edging.

In an unprecedented move, all of the world music labels coordinated together and developed a compilation cassette for the cover of the music magazine NME. The overall running time was ninety minutes, each package containing a mini-catalog showing the other releases on offer.

By the time of a second meeting it was becoming clear that in order for the campaign to be successful, it should have its own dedicated press officer. The press officer would be able to juggle the various deadlines and also be able to sell the music as a concept to not just the national stations, but also regional DJs who were keen to expand the variety of music they could offer. The DJs were a key resource as it was important for "world music" to be seen as something which could be important to people outside London - most regions after all had a similarly rich folk heritage which could be tapped into. A cost effective way of achieving all this would be a leafleting campaign.

The next step was to develop a world music chart, gathering together selling information from around fifty shops, so that it would finally be possible to see which were big sellers in the genre — allowing new listeners to see what was particularly popular. It was agreed that the NME could again be involved in printing the chart and also Music Week and the London listings magazine City Limits. It was also suggested that Andy Kershaw might be persuaded to do a run down of this chart on his show regularly.

World Music Month[link]

October 1987 was designated 'World Music Month'. A music festival, Crossing the Border, was held at the Town & Country Club in London, and it was the start of the winter season for both WOMAD and Arts Worldwide. The main press release stressed the issues inherent in the campaign.

Since the early 80s the enthusiasm for music from 'outside' Western pop culture has been steadily mounting. More and more international artists, many of whom are big stars in their own countries, are coming to England and North America on tour. They started off, like the Bhundu Boys, playing small clubs and pubs, but now many acts are so popular that they are filling larger venues.

Examples of radio shows that feature world music include World of Music on Voice of America, Transpacific Sound Paradise on WFMU, The Planet on Australia's ABC Radio National, DJ Edu presenting D.N.A: DestiNation Africa on BBC Radio 1Xtra, Adil Ray on the BBC Asian Network, Andy Kershaw's show on BBC Radio 3 and Charlie Gillett's show^[22] on the BBC World Service.

Today[link]

World music radio programs these days often play African hip hop or reggae artists, crossover Bhangra and Latin American jazz groups, etc. Common media for world music include Public radio, webcasting, the BBC, NPR, and ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). The scope of what is considered world music has increased. By default, non-region-specific or multi-cultural world music projects are often listed under the generic category of world music.

Criticisms[link]

The generally accepted geographic standard for what designates world music is withstanding criticism for its universal asymmetry, where nearly every classifiable region under the term is defined, relative to Western music culture; primarily due to the fact that dominant corporate structures for music distribution and promotion originate in Western Europe and North America, as do the forums for establishing industry genre categories. Therefore, in market context, ethnic music is synthetically defined by a radius that extends from a Western center.

Some musicians and curators of music have come to dislike the term "world music". To these critics, "world music" is a parochial, catch-all marketing term for non-Western music of all genres. On October 3, 1999, David Byrne, the founder of the Luaka Bop music label, wrote an editorial in The New York Times entitled "I Hate World Music"^[23] explaining his objections to the term. Byrne argued that the labeling and categorization of other cultures as "exotic" serves to attract an insincere consumership and deter other potential consumers.

Srilankan Buddhist Music[link]

^[24]Srilankan 21st century composer Dinesh Subasinghe composed the first ever Buddhist Oratorio in the world.^[25] He has blended many world musical styles and many spiritual genres in his Buddhist Oratorio,^[26], ^[27]

Sri lankan Ravanahatha

Awards[link]

[edit] BBC Radio 3 Awards for World music

The BBC Radio 3 Awards for world music was an award given to world music artists between 2002 and 2008, sponsored by BBC Radio 3. The award was thought up by fRoots magazine's editor Ian Anderson, inspired by the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Award categories included: Africa, Asia/Pacific, Americas, Europe, Mid East and North Africa, Newcomer, Culture Crossing, Club Global, Album of the Year, and Audience Award. Initial lists of nominees in each category were selected annually by a panel of several thousand industry experts. Shortlisted nominees were voted on by a twelve-member jury, which selected the winners in every category except for the Audience Award category. These jury members were appointed and presided over by the BBC.^[28] The annual awards ceremony was held at the BBC Proms and winners were given an award called a "Planet". In March 2009, the BBC made a decision to axe the BBC Radio 3 Awards for world music.^[29][30]

Songlines Music Awards[link]

In response to the BBC's decision to end its awards program, the British world music magazine Songlines launched the Songlines Music Awards in 2009 "to recognise outstanding talent in world music".^[31]

WOMEX Awards[link]

The WOMEX (The World Music Expo) Award was first introduced in 1999 to honor the high points of world music on an international level and to acknowledge musical excellence, social importance, commercial success, political impact and lifetime achievement.^[32] Every October at the WOMEX event, the award figurine - an ancient mother goddess statue dating back about 6000 years to the Neolithic age - is presented in an award ceremony to a worthy member of the world music community.

Festivals[link]

Many festivals are identified as being world music; here is a small representative selection:

• The WOMAD Foundation organizes festivals in countries around the world. These festivals have featured artists including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Youssou N'Dour, Peter Gabriel and Jaojoby.^[33]

Bangladesh[link]

• The Dhaka World Music Festival takes place in Dhaka.

Belgium[link]

• Sfinks Festival in Boechout, Belgium is a 4-day world music festival.

Croatia[link]

• Ethnoambient is a two or three-day world music festival held every summer (started 1998) in Solin, a town in center part of Dalmatia, south part of Croatia.

France[link]

• The Festival de l'Inde takes place in Evian, Haute-Savoie.

Germany[link]

• The TFF Rudolstadt takes place annually on the first full July weekend in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany.
• The German World Music Festival der Klangfreunde takes place every first weekend of August, at Schlosspark Loshausen. Klangfreunde e. V. is a non-profit organization.
• Wilde Töne, Festival für Folk- und Weltmusik in Braunschweig Germany^[34]

Italy[link]

• The Ariano Folkfestival is a five-day world music festival held every summer in Ariano Irpino, a small town in southern Italy.
• The World Music Festival Lo Sguardo di Ulisse was first held in 1997 in Campania, Italy.

Malaysia[link]

• Rainforest World Music Festival is another world music festival held in Malaysia.

Mali (West Africa)[link]

• The Festival in the Desert takes place every year at Essakane, near Timbuktu, in Mali, West Africa and has achieved international status in spite of the difficulties of reaching its location.^[35]

Morocco[link]

• Mawazine is a festival of world music that takes place annually in Rabat, Morocco, featuring Arab and international music icons.^[36]

New Zealand[link]

• Festival in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Early March each year. [1]

Poland[link]

• The Cross-Culture Warsaw Festival, Poland. September each year. [2]
• Ethno Port, Poznan, Poland. June each year. [3]
• Ethno Jazz Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. Several events throughout the whole year. [4]
• Different Sounds (Inne brzmienia), Lublin, Poland. July each year. [5]
• Francophonic Festival in Warsaw, Poland. March each year. [6]
• Nowa Tradycja (New Tradition), Warsaw, Poland. May each year. [7]
• Siesta Festival, Gdansk, Poland. First edition in April/May 2011. [8]

Portugal[link]

• Festival Músicas do Mundo, Sines, Setúbal District is a world music festival first held in 1998, in a beautiful village near the coast of Portugal.

Romania[link]

• Plai Festival in Timisoara

Serbia[link]

• The Serbia World Music Festival is a three-day world music festival held every summer in Takovo, a small village in central Serbia.

Spain[link]

Spain's most important world music festivals are:

• Etnosur, in Alcalá la Real, Jaén (Andalucía region)
• Pirineos Sur, in Aragón region
• Festival Internacional de Música Popular Tradicional in Vilanova i la Geltrú / Vilanova International World Music Festival (Catalonia)
• La Mar de Músicas, in Cartagena (Murcia region)
• Fira Mediterrània in Manresa (Catalonia)
• The WOMEX when in Seville (2003, 2006, 2007, 2008)

Sweden[link]

• Urkult Näsåker, Ångermanland August each year. [9]

Turkey[link]

• Konya Mystic Music Festival, held annually in Konya since 2004, in recent years in commemoration of Rumi's birthday. The festival features traditional music from around the world with a mystical theme, religious function and/or sacred content.^[37]

Ukraine[link]

• Svirzh World Music Festival (Lviv region)

United Kingdom[link]

• Glastonbury Festival held at Worthy Farm near Glastonbury each year
• Isle of Wight Festival
• Music Village Festival is Europe's longest running festival of world cultures. It is held every two years in London and has been running since 1983. It is organised by the Cultural Co-operation.
• Radio 1's Big Weekend is held in May annually. It moves from town to town, and is the biggest free ticketed event in Europe.

United States of America[link]

• The California World Music Festival is held each July at the Nevada County Fairgrounds.
• The World Sacred Music Festival is held annually in Olympia, Washington State, sponsored by Interfaith Works.
• FloydFest in Floyd, Virginia, United States, has featured artists from a wide diversity of styles including Ani DiFranco, Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie, Trumystic, Nickel Creek and Akoya Afrobeat Enemble.
• The Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, New York, United States, has featured artists from a variety of world and ethnic music genres including Tinariwen, Thomas Mapfumo, Michael Franti, D'Gary, Boubacar Traore, Mamadou Diabate, and many more from around the world.
• Stern Grove Festival is a San Francisco celebration of musical and cultural diversity. Examples: Lucinda Williams, John Doe, Ojos de Brujo, O-Maya, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Funk Brothers and also symphony orchestras and operatic stars.
• The Starwood Festival has been held in July every year since 1981 at various locations in the USA. It has featured such world music acts as Amampondo, Babatunde Olatunji, Badal Roy, Sikiru Adepoju, the Prodigals, Yaya Diallo, Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band, Baka Beyond, Stephen Kent, Cyro Baptista, Airto Moreira, Muruga Booker, Gaelic Storm, and Halim El-Dabh.

See also[link]

• Musicology
• World cinema

Notes[link]

References (multi-use)[link]

• Nidel, Richard (2004). World Music: The Basics. ISBN 0-415-96801-1. [10] accessdate 2010-04-24

For further reading[link]

• Manuel, Peter (1988). Popular Musics of the Non-Western World: An Introductory Survey. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505342-7.
• N'Dour, Youssou. "Foreword" to Nickson, Chris (2004). The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to World Music. ISBN 0-399-53032-0.
• Sorce Keller, Marcello (1996). "Of Minority Musics, Preservation, and Multiculturalism: Some Considerations". In Echo der Vielfalt: traditionelle Musik von Minderheiten/ethnischen Gruppen = Echoes of Diversity: Traditional Music of Ethnic Groups/Minorities, Schriften zur Volksmusik 16, edited by Ursula Hemetek and Emil H. Lubej, 41–47. Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar: Böhlau Verlag. ISBN 3-205-98594-X. Reprinted in Sonus 18, no. 2 (Spring 1998): 33–41.
• Wergin, Carsten (2007). World Music: A Medium for Unity and Difference? EASA Media Anthropology Network: http://www.media-anthropology.net/wergin_worldmusic.pdf.
• Putumayo World Music - http://www.putumayo.com/

External links[link]

• Regional and Ethnic Music at the Open Directory Project
• Sounds and Colours - magazine about South American music and culture
• World Music at SKY.FM - A free World Music radio channel
• World Music Central - World Music news, reviews, articles and resources
• Rhythm Passport world music / global beats event listings website for the UK
• Wilde Töne – Festival for Folk- and Weltmusic Braunschweig | Germany
• List of free world music podcasts

Ini Kamoze
Background information
Birth name	Cecil Campbell
Born	(1957-10-09) 9 October 1957 (age 54)
Origin	Saint Mary, Jamaica
Genres	Reggae, dancehall, reggaefusion
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1981–present
Labels	9 SoundClik Columbia/SME Records EastWest Records Mango Records Island Records
Website	www.inikamoze.com

Cecil Campbell (born 9 October 1957),^[1] better known by his stage name Ini Kamoze ( /ˈaɪni kəˈmoʊzi/) is a Jamaican reggae singer. He is best known for his signature song, "Here Comes the Hotstepper", which was released in 1994, and subsequently topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also reached number one in Australia and New Zealand, and number four in the UK Singles Chart.^[2]

Career[link]

He made his first single, "World Affairs," in 1981.^[1] Kamoze released a 12-inch single "Trouble You A Trouble Me / General",^[1] released under the name Inai Kamosa.

His self-titled debut album was released in 1984 as a six track mini-LP on Island Records.^[1] In the album notes he describes himself as a "pencil thin... disentangled... six-foot vegetarian".^[3] The album includes the song "World a Reggae (Out In The Streets They Call It Merther)" which was to be sampled by Damian Marley on his 2005 hit, "Welcome to Jamrock". The album was recorded with and produced by Sly and Robbie, with whom he also toured internationally along with Yellowman and Half Pint.^[3] By 1988, however, Kamoze had effectively disappeared from the music scene following lukewarm reactions to his intermittent releases.^[3]

Kamoze founded his own label, releasing a compilation album Selekta Showcase which featured a popular Kamoze single titled "Stress".^[1] Four years later he released his next album, 16 Vibes of Ini Kamoze, which sold well.^[1]

In 1994, Kamoze released the song which would become his signature, "Here Comes the Hotstepper". Adopting another nickname from the song title, Kamoze would become known as the "Hotstepper", from the patois for a man on the run from the law. The song was recorded with Philip "Fatis" Burrell and initially featured on a reggae music compilation Stir It Up, produced on the Epic label.^[1] "Here Comes the Hotstepper" was not an entirely new composition, having roots in the song "Land of 1000 Dances", which was a #1 R&B hit for Wilson Pickett in 1966 and was first recorded by Chris Kenner in 1962 and reprised in 1963 by Fats Domino.^[1] The song appeared on the soundtrack to the fashion-industry satire feature film Prêt-à-Porter.^[3] "Here Comes the Hotstepper" remains Kamoze's only US number one hit (see Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1994).^[3]

Kamoze's career after this high-water mark featured the album Here Comes the Hotstepper which was released in 1995, and featured the production work of Salaam Remi.^[1]

Both the riddim (known as "World Jam") and the hook of Damian Marley's 2005 hit, "Welcome to Jamrock" were sampled from Kamoze's 1984 track "World-A-Music", giving Kamoze co-writing credits.^[4] The opening lyrics — "Out in the streets, they call it merther" — has been sampled in countless drum and bass and dubstep tracks. His dub version of "Here Comes the Hotstepper", otherwise known as "I'm Steppin' it Hotter This Year", released in 1993, remains a dancehall anthem.

In 2006, Kamoze recorded and released a double album, Debut, on which he re-recorded a number of his tracks. Debut was released on the 9 Sound Clik label, with which he was closely associated.

The artist's most recent album release is 2009's 51 50 Rule, an all-new studio release. The CD had tracks such as "Rapunzel" (feat. Maya Azucena) and "Hungry Daze." The album also had some guest features from Sizzla ("R.A.W"), and Busy Signal ("Ta Da Bang"). This was his second album released on the 9 Sound Clik label.

Album discography[link]

• Ini Kamoze (1984) - Island Records
• Statement (1984) - Mango Records
• Pirate (1986) - Mango Records
• Shocking Out (1988) - RAS Records
• 16 Vibes of Ini Kamoze (1992) - Sonic Sounds
• Here Comes the Hotstepper (1995) - Columbia/SME Records
• Lyrical Gangsta (1995) - East West America/Elektra Records
• Shocking Hours (1995) - Greensleeves Records
• Debut (2006) - 9 Sound Clik
• 51 50 Rule (2009) - 9 Sound Clik^[5]

See also[link]

• Music of Jamaica
• List of Jamaicans
• List of reggae musicians
• List of roots reggae artists
• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• List of 1990s one-hit wonders in the United States

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ini Kamoze website
• Ini Kamoze MySpace
• Biography at Allmusic.com

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (November 2007)

Perfect World (Chinese: 完美世界, commonly abbreviated as PW and W2), is a 3D adventure and fantasy MMORPG with traditional Chinese settings. Players can take on various roles depending on choice of race and choice of class within that race.

Characters develop skills over time with experience and level up via questing rewards and can use and upgrade physical and magical weapons, and team up with other players to fight against monsters in instances, bosses on the open world as well as other players.

Each player can join a guild (if accepted) and thereby be part of a 200 maximum player base with common goals to achieve. The PW map is broken into a large number of territories which gives guilds an option to conquer and govern such territories via Territory War for reward of ownership usually in the form of coins which are used back to benefit the guild and its players.

Territory War is 80 players VS 80 players, strategic battle which has a 3 hour maximum time cap with each class belonging to a race having unique roles to perform and team work and strategy is key to sustain victory.

Perfect World is heavily based on Chinese mythology and is set in the mythical world of Pangu. It was launched in January 2006.^[1]

Perfect World Boutique/Item Mall[link]

While Perfect World is free to play, the game relies on items sold in an in-game cash shop to make profit. Use of the cash shop is optional, but some items purchased there can improve a player's gameplay, while other items have purely cosmetic functions.

Currency used in the cash shop can be bought from the respective websites of each company running a version of the game. Alternatively, cash shop currency can be bought in the auction house from other players in exchange for in-game currency.

Perfect World International offers pre-charged cards that can be bought from 7-11, Target, and GameStop locations.^[2] The Malaysian version allows a player to "Top Up" via CubiCards. Players may also use other payment forms such as Ultimate Game Cards to purchase cash shop currency by using the PayByCash option^[3].

Phone Lock System[link]

As a prevention system against account hackers, Perfect World has a Phone Lock feature^[4] for those who wish to use it. The Phone Lock, when activated, will freeze an account until the player of that account dials in using the registered phone number. Once the number is recognized, the account is temporarily activated for login. The player must login within 10 minutes of activation before the account login is frozen again. The player may continue to play despite the freeze. If the player logs out after the 10 minutes are up, that player must once again dial in to temporarily deactivate the Phone Lock. The phone lock feature is exclusive to the Chinese Malaysian version of the game.

See also[link]

• List of free MMOGs
• Perfect World (company)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Perfect World 2012 - Genesis

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2010)

Richard Galliano
Galliano performing in Stockholm in July 2009
Background information
Born	(1950-12-12) 12 December 1950 (age 61) France
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Accordion, trombone, piano, bandoneón
Years active	1964–
Associated acts	Claude Nougaro
Website	Galliano's home page

Photo by Andrea Colombara

Richard Galliano (born December 12, 1950, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French accordionist.^[1]

Biography[link]

He was drawn to music at an early age, starting with the accordion at 4,^[2] influenced by his father Lucien, an accordionist originally from Italy, living in Nice.

After a long and intense period of study (he took up lessons on the trombone, harmony, and counterpoint at the Academy of Music in Nice), at 14, in a search to expand his ideas on the accordion, he began listening to jazz and heard on records the great trumpet player Clifford Brown. "I copied all the choruses of Clifford Brown, impressed by his tone and his drive, his way of phrasing over the thunderous playing of Max Roach." Fascinated by this new world, Richard was amazed that the accordion had never been part of this musical adventure.

Some later collaborations include George Mraz, Brigitte Fontaine, Al Foster, Juliette Greco, Charles Aznavour, Ron Carter, Chet Baker, Enrico Rava, Martial Solal, Miroslav Vitouš, Trilok Gurtu, Jan Garbarek, Michel Petrucciani, Michel Portal, Eddy Louiss, Ivan Paduart, Anouar Brahem, Wynton Marsalis, and Toots Thielemans. He was a key member of Claude Nougaro's band for several years as a pianist and accordionist.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• Flyin' the Coop (1991), with Jimmy Gourley, 52e Rue Est
• New Musette (1991), with Pierre Michelot, Phillip Catherine, Aldo Romano
• Viaggio (1993), with Charles Bellonzi, Pierre Michelot and Bireli Lagrene
• Laurita (1995), with Palle Danielsson and Joey Baron, and guests Michel Portal, Toots Thielemans and Didier Lockwood
• New York Tango (1996), with Bireli Lagrene, George Mraz and Al Foster
• Panmanhattan (re-release) (1996), with Ron Carter
• Blow Up (1997), with clarinet, soprano saxophone and bandoneon player Michel Portal
• French Touch (1998), with Michel Portal, Jean-François Jenny-Clark and Daniel Humair (first session; May 1998), and André Ceccarelli, Remi Vignolo and J. M. Ecay (second session; June 1998)
• Spleen (1999)
• Passatori (1999)
• Gallianissimo!—The best of Richard Galliano (2001)
• Face to Face (2001), with organist Eddy Louiss
• Piazzolla Forever (2003), with string quartet, piano and double bass
• Concerts (2004), with Michel Portal
• Ruby, My Dear (2005), with Larry Grenadier and Clarence Penn, as the New York Trio
• Luz Negra (2006)
• Mare Nostrum (2007), with Jan Lundgren and Paolo Fresu
• L'Hymne a l'amour (2007), with Gary Burton, George Mraz, Clarence Penn
• Love Day (2008)

As sideman[link]

With Anouar Brahem

• Khomsa (ECM, 1994)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Galliano's home page

Ástor Piazzolla
Ástor Piazzolla with his bandoneón in 1971.
Background information
Birth name	Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla
Born	(1921-03-11)March 11, 1921 Mar del Plata, Argentina
Died	July 4, 1992(1992-07-04) (aged 71) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Genres	Nuevo tango
Occupations	Composer, Bandoneón player

Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla (March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneónist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles.

Biography[link]

Childhood[link]

Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921, the only child of Italian immigrant parents, Vicente "Nonino" Piazzolla and Asunta Manetti. His grandfather, a sailor and fisherman named Pantaleón Piazzolla, had immigrated to Mar del Plata from Trani, a seaport in the southeastern Italian region of Apulia, at the end of the 19th century.

In 1925 Ástor Piazzolla moved with his family to Greenwich Village in New York City, which in those days was a violent neighbourhood inhabited by a volatile mixture of gangsters and hard-working immigrants. His parents worked long hours and Piazzolla soon learnt how to take care of himself on the streets despite having a limp. At home he would listen to his father's records of the tango orchestras of Carlos Gardel and Julio de Caro, and was also exposed to jazz and classical music, including Bach, from an early age. He began to play the bandoneón after his father spotted one in a New York pawn shop in1929.

After their return to New York City from a brief visit to Mar del Plata in 1930, the family went to live in Little Italy in lower Manhattan, and in 1932 Piazzolla composed his first tango La catinga. The following year Piazzolla took music lessons with the Hungarian classical pianist Bela Wilda, a student of Rachmaninov, who taught him to play Bach on his bandoneón. In 1934 he met Carlos Gardel, one of the most important figures in the history of tango, who invited the young bandoneón player to join him on his current tour. Much to Piazzolla's dismay, his father decided that he was not old enough to go along, although the following year he did play a cameo role as a young paper boy in Gardel's movie El día que me quieras [1]. This early disappointment of not being allowed to join the tour proved to be a blessing in disguise, as it was on this tour that Gardel and his entire orchestra perished in a plane crash in 1935. In later years, Piazzolla made light of this near miss, joking that had his father not been so careful, he would now be playing the harp, rather than the bandoneón.

Early Musical Career[link]

In 1936, he returned with his family to Mar del Plata, where he began to play in a variety of tango orchestras and around this time he discovered the music of Elvino Vardaro’s sextet on the radio. Vardaro’s novel interpretation of tango made a great impression on Piazzolla and years later he would become Piazzolla’s violinist in his Orquesta de Cuerdas and his First Quintet.

Inspired by Vardaro’s style of tango, and still only 17 years old, Piazzolla moved to Buenos Aires in 1938 where, the following year, he realized a dream when he joined the orchestra of the bandoneónist Anibal Troilo, which would become one of the greatest tango orchestras of that time. Piazzolla was employed as a temporary replacement for Toto Rodríguez who was ill, but when Rodríguez returned to work Troilo decided to retain Piazzolla as a fourth bandoneónist. Apart from playing the bandoneón, Piazzolla also became Troilo’s arranger and would occasionally play the piano for him. By 1941 he was earning a good wage, enough to pay for music lessons with Alberto Ginastera, an eminent Argentine composer of classical music. It was the pianist Arthur Rubinstein, then living in Buenos Aires, who had advised him to study with Ginastera and delving into scores of Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and others, Piazzolla rose early each morning to hear the Teatro Colón orchestra rehearse while continuing a gruelling performing schedule in the tango clubs at night. During his 5 years of study with Ginastera he would master orchestration which he later considered to be one of his strong points. In 1943 he started piano lessons with the Argentine classical pianist Raúl Spivak, which would continue for the next five years, and wrote his first classical works Preludio No. 1 for Violin and Piano and Suite for Strings and Harps. That same year he married his first wife, Dedé Wolff, an artist, with whom he would have two children, Diana and Daniel.

As time went by Troilo began to fear that the advanced musical ideas of the young bandoneónist might undermine the style of his orchestra and make it less appealing to dancers of tango. Tensions mounted between the two bandoneónists until, in 1944, Piazzolla announced his intention to leave Troilo and join the orchestra of the tango singer and bandoneónist Francisco Fiorentino. Piazzolla would lead Fiorentino's orchestra until 1946 and make many recordings with him, including his first two instrumental tangos, La chiflada and Color de rosa.

In 1946 Piazzolla formed his, Orquesta Típica, which although having a similar formation to other tango orchestras of the day, gave him his first opportunity to experiment with his own approach to the orchestration and musical content of tango. That same year he composed, El Desbande, which he considered to be his first formal tango, and then began to compose musical scores for films, starting with Con los mismos colores in 1949 and Bólidos de acero in 1950, both films directed by Carlos Torres Ríos.

Having disbanded his first orchestra in 1950 he almost abandoned tango altogether as he continued to study Bartok and Stravinsky, and orchestra direction with Herman Scherchen. He spent a lot of time listening to jazz and searching for a musical style of his own beyond the realms of tango. He decided to drop the bandoneon and to dedicate himself to writing and to studying music. Between 1950 and 1954 he composed a series of works that began to develop his unique style: Para lucirse, Tanguango, Prepárense, Contrabajeando, Triunfal and Lo que vendrá.

Studies in Paris[link]

At Ginastera's urging, Piazzolla entered his classical composition Buenos Aires Symphony, in three movements, for the Fabian Sevitzky Award on 16 August 1953. The performance took place at the Law School in Buenos Aires with the symphony orchestra of Radio del Estadio under the direction of Sevitzky himself. At the end of the concert a fight broke out among some members of the audience who were offended by the inclusion of two bandoneons in a traditional symphony orchestra. In spite of this Piazzolla's composition won a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the legendary French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger at the Fontainebleau conservatory.

In 1954 he and his wife left their two children (Diana aged 11 and Daniel aged 10) behind with Piazzolla's parents and travelled to Paris. At this stage in his life Piazzolla was tired of tango and at first, he tried to hide his tanguero past and his bandoneon compositions from Boulanger, thinking that his destiny lay in classical music. By way of introduction to his work, Piazzolla played her a number of his classically-inspired compositions but it was not until he finally played her his tango Triunfal that she immediately congratulated him and encouraged him to pursue his career in tango, recognising that this was where his true musical talent lay. This was to prove an historic encounter and a cross-roads in Piazzolla's career.

During his time with Boulanger he studied classical composition including counterpoint which was to play a key role in his later tango compositions. Before leaving Paris he heard, and was deeply impressed by, the octet of the American jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan which was to give him the idea of forming his own octet on his return to Buenos Aires. At this time he composed and recorded a series of tangos with the String Orchestra of the Paris Opera and began to play the bandoneon while standing up, putting his right foot on a chair and the bellows of the instrument across his right thigh. Until that time bandoneonists played sitting down.

In the Vanguard of Nuevo Tango[link]

Back in Argentina, Piazzolla formed his Orquesta de Cuerdas (String Orchestra), which performed with the singer Jorge Sobral, and his Octeto Buenos Aires in 1955. With two bandoneons (Piazzolla and Leopoldo Federico), two violins (Enrique Mario Francini and Hugo Baralis), double bass (Juan Vasallo), cello (José Bragato), piano (Atilio Stampone), and an electric guitar (Horacio Malvicino), his Octeto effectively broke the mould of the traditional orquesta típica and created a new sound akin to chamber music, without a singer and with jazz-like improvisations. This was to be a turning point in his career and a watershed in the history of tango. Piazzolla's new approach to the tango, nuevo tango, made him a controversial figure in his native land both musically and politically. However, his music gained acceptance in Europe and North America, and his reworking of the tango was embraced by some liberal segments of Argentine society, who were pushing for political changes in parallel to his musical revolution.

In 1958 he disbanded both the Octeto and the String Orchestra and returned to New York City with his family where he struggled to make a living as a musician and arranger. Briefly forming his own group, the Jazz Tango Quintet with whom he made just two recordings, his attempts to blend jazz and tango where not successful. He received the news of the death of his father in October 1959 whilst performing with Juan Carlos Copes and María Nieves in Puerto Rico and on his return to New York City a few days later, he asked to be left alone in his apartment and in less than an hour wrote his famous tango, Adiós Nonino, in homage to his father.

Back in Buenos Aires in 1960 he put together the first, and perhaps most famous, of his quintets, the first Quinteto, initially comprising bandoneon (Piazzolla), piano (Jaime Gosis), violin (Simón Bajour), electric guitar (Horacio Malvicino ) and double bass (Kicho Díaz). Of the many ensembles that Piazzolla set up during his career it was the quintet formation which best expressed his approach to tango.

In 1963 he set up his Nuevo Octeto and the same year premiered his Tres Tangos Sinfonicos, under the direction of Paul Klecky, for which he was awarded the Hirsch Prize.

In 1965 he released El Tango, an album for which he collaborated with the Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges. The recording featured his Quinteto together with an orchestra, the singer Edmundo Rivero and Luis Medina Castro reciting texts.

In 1966 he left Dedé Wolff and the following year signed a five year contract with the poet Horacio Ferrer with whom he composed the operetta Maria de Buenos Aires, with lyrics by Ferrer. The work was premiered in May 1968 with the singer Amelita Baltar and introduced a new style of tango, the tango song. Soon after this he began a relationship with Amelita Baltar. The following year he wrote Balada para un loco with lyrics by Ferrer which was premiered at the First Iberoamerican Music Festival with Amelita Baltar and Piazzolla himself conducting the orchestra. Piazzolla was awarded second prize and the composition would prove to be his first popular success.

In 1970 Piazzolla returned to Paris where with Ferrer he wrote the oratorio El pueblo joven premiered in Saarbrucken, Germany in 1971. Back in Buenos Aires he founded his Conjunto 9 (aka Nonet), a chamber music formation, which was a realisation of a dream for Piazzolla and for which he composed some of his most sophisticated music. He now put aside his first Quinteto and made several recordings with his new ensemble in Italy. Within a year the Conjunto 9 had run into financial problems and was dissolved and in 1972 he participated in his first concert at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, sharing the bill with other Tango orchestras.

After a period of great productivity as a composer, he suffered a heart attack in 1973 and that same year he moved to Italy where he began a series of recordings which would span a period of five years. The music publisher Aldo Pagani, a partner in Curti-Pagani Music, had offered Piazzolla a 15 year contract in Rome to record anything he could write. His famous album Libertango was recorded in Milan^[1] in May 1974 and later that year he separated from Amelita Baltar and in September recorded the album Summit-Reunion Cumbre with the saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and an Italian orchestra, including jazz musicians such as bassist Pino Presti and drummer Tullio De Piscopo,^[2] in Milan. The album includes the composition Aire de Buenos Aires by Mulligan.

In 1975 he set up his Electronic Octet an octet made up of bandoneon, electric piano and/or acoustic piano, organ, guitar, electric bass, drums, synthesizer and violin, which was later replaced by a flute or saxophone. Later that year Aníbal Troilo died and Piazzolla composed the Suite Troileana in his memory, a work in four parts, which he recorded with the Conjunto Electronico. At this time Piazzolla started a collaboration with the singer Jose A. Trelles with whom he made a number of recordings.

In December 1976 he played at a concert at the Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, where he presented his work, “500 motivaciones”, written especially for the Conjunto Electronico, and in 1977 he played another memorable concert at the Olympia in Paris, with a new formation of the Conjunto Electronico.

In 1978 he formed his second Quintet, with which he would tour the world for 11 years, and would make him world renowned. He also returned to writing chamber music and symphonic works.

During the period of Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, Piazzolla lived in Italy, but returned many times to Argentina, recorded there, and on at least one occasion had lunch with the dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. However, his relationship with the dictator might have been less than friendly, as recounted in Ástor Piazzolla, A manera de memorias (a comprehensive collection of interviews, constituting a memoir):^[3]

One year before the Los Largartos issue you went to Videla's house and had lunch with him, why did you accept that invitation? What an invitation! They sent a couple of guys in black suits and a letter with my name on it that said that Videla expected me a particular day in a particular place. I have a book around in some place, with pictures of all the guests: Eladia Blázquez, Daniel Tinayre, Olga Ferri, the composer Juan Carlos Tauriello, there were painters, actors […]

—Ástor Piazzolla, A manera de memorias

Travelling the World[link]

In 1982 he recorded the album Oblivion with an orquestra in Italy for the film Enrico IV, directed by Marco Bellochio, and in May 1982, in the middle of the Falklands War, he played in a concert at the Teatro Regina, Buenos Aires with the second Quinteto and the singer Roberto Goyeneche. That same year he wrote Le Grand Tango for cello and piano, dedicated to Russian cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich which would be premiered by him in 1990 in New Orleans.

On 11 June 1983 he put on one of the best concerts of his life when he played a program of his music at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. For the occasion he regrouped the Conjunto 9 and played solo with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, directed by Pedro Ignacio Calderón. The programme included his 3 movement Concerto for bandoneon and orquestra and his 3 movement Concierto de Nacar.

In June 1984 Piazzolla appeared at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and on 29 September that same year he appeared with his Quinteto and the Italian singer Milva at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris.

In 1985 he was named Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires and premiered his Concerto for bandoneon and guitar at the Fifth International Belgian Guitar Festival on 15 Mar 1985, with the Philharmonic conducted by Leo Brouwer. He made his London debut with his second Quinteto at the Almeida Theatre in London at the end of June.

With the film score for El exilio de Gardel he won the French critics Cesar Award in Paris for best film music in 1986.

He appeared at Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland, with vibraphonist Gary Burton in July 1986 and on 6 September 1987 gave a concert in New York’s Central Park, in the city where he spent his childhood.

In September 1987 he recorded his Concierto para bandoneon y orquesta and Tres tangos para bandoneon y orquesta with Lalo Schifrin conducting the St. Luke’s Orchestra, in the Richardson Auditorium at Princetown University.

In 1988 he wrote music for the film Sur and married the singer and television personality Laura Escalada on 11 April. In May that year he recorded his album La Camorra in New York, a suite of three pieces, the last time he would record with the second Quinteto. During a tour of Japan with Milva he played at a concert in Tokyo in June 1988 and that same year underwent a quadruple by-pass operation.

Early in 1989 he formed his Sexteto, his last ensemble, with two bandoneons, piano, electric guitar, bass and cello. With them he appeared at the Teatro Opera in Buenos Aires in the presence of the newly-elected Argentine President Carlos Menem on Fri 9 June 1989. This would be Piazzolla's last concert in Argentina.

There followed a concert at the Royal Carre Theatre in Amsterdam with his Sexteto and Osvaldo Pugliese’s Orquestra on 26 June 1989, a live recording at the BBC Bristol Studios in June 1989 and a concert at the Wembley Conference Centre on 30 June 1989. Towards the end of the year he dissolved his sexteto and continued playing solo with classical string quartets and symphonic orchestras. He joined Anahi Carfi's Mantova String Quartet and toured Italy and Finland with them and in November 1989 he hade his last album Five Tango Sensations, with the Kronos Quartet in the US. His 1982 composition, Le grand tango, for cello and piano was premiered in New Orleons by the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the pianist Igor Uriash before the end of the year.

On 3 July 1990 he gave his last concert in Athens, Greece, with Athens Orquestra of Colours, conducted by Manos Hatzidakis.

He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage in Paris on 4 August 1990, which left him in a coma, and died in Buenos Aires, just under two years later on 4 July 1992, without regaining consciousness.

Among his followers, his own protégé Marcelo Nisinman is the best known innovator of the tango music of the new millennium, while Pablo Ziegler, pianist with Piazzolla's second quintet, has assumed the role of principal custodian of nuevo tango, extending the jazz influence in the style. The Brazilian guitarist Sergio Assad has also experimented with folk-derived, complex virtuoso compositions that show Piazzolla's structural influence while steering clear of tango sounds; and Osvaldo Golijov has acknowledged Piazzolla as perhaps the greatest influence on his globally oriented, eclectic compositions for classical and klezmer performers.

Musical style[link]

Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer around 1970.

Piazzolla's nuevo tango was distinct from the traditional tango in its incorporation of elements of jazz, its use of extended harmonies and dissonance, its use of counterpoint, and its ventures into extended compositional forms. As Argentine psychoanalyst Carlos Kuri has pointed out, Piazzolla's fusion of tango with this wide range of other recognizable Western musical elements was so successful that it produced a new individual style transcending these influences.^[4] It is precisely this success, and individuality, that makes it hard to pin down where particular influences reside in his compositions, but some aspects are clear. The use of the passacaglia technique of a circulating bass line and harmonic sequence, invented and much used in 17th and 18th century baroque music but also central to the idea of jazz "changes", predominates in most of Piazzolla's mature compositions. Another clear reference to the baroque is the often complex and virtuosic counterpoint that sometimes follows strict fugal behavior but more often simply allows each performer in the group to assert his voice. A further technique that emphasises this sense of democracy and freedom among the musicians is improvisation that is borrowed from jazz in concept, but in practice involves a different vocabulary of scales and rhythms that stay within the parameters of the established tango sound-world. Pablo Ziegler has been particularly responsible for developing this aspect of the style both within Piazzolla's groups and since the composer's death.

With the composition of Adiós Nonino in 1959, Piazzolla established a standard structural pattern for his compositions, involving a formal pattern of fast-slow-fast-slow-coda, with the fast sections emphasizing gritty tango rhythms and harsh, angular melodic figures, and the slower sections usually making use of the string instrument in the group and/or Piazzolla's own bandoneón as lyrical soloists. The piano tends to be used throughout as a percussive rhythmic backbone, while the electric guitar either joins in this role or spins filigree improvisations; the double bass parts are usually of little interest, but provide an indispensable rugged thickness to the sound of the ensemble. The quintet of bandoneón, violin, piano, electric guitar and double bass was Piazzolla's preferred setup on two extended occasions during his career, and most critics consider it to be the most successful instrumentation for his works.^[5] This is due partly to its great efficiency in terms of sound – it covers or imitates most sections of a symphony orchestra, including the percussion which is improvised by all players on the bodies of their instruments – and the strong expressive identity it permits each individual musician. With a style that is both rugged and intricate, such a setup augments the compositions' inherent characteristics.

Despite the prevalence of the quintet formation and the ABABC compositional structure, Piazzolla consistently experimented with other musical forms and instrumental combinations. In 1965 an album was released containing collaborations between Piazzolla and Jorge Luis Borges where Borges's poetry was narrated over very avant-garde music by Piazzolla including the use of dodecaphonic (twelve-tone) rows, free non-melodic improvisation on all instruments, and modal harmonies and scales.^[6] In 1968 Piazzolla wrote and produced an "operita", María de Buenos Aires, that employed a larger ensemble including flute, percussion, multiple strings and three vocalists, and juxtaposed movements in Piazzolla's own style with several pastiche numbers ranging from waltz and hurdy-gurdy to a piano/narrator bar-room scena straight out of Casablanca.

By the 1970s Piazzolla was living in Rome, managed by the Italian agent Aldo Pagani, and exploring a leaner, more fluid musical style drawing on more jazz influence, and with simpler, more continuous forms. Pieces that exemplify this new direction include Libertango and most of the Suite Troileana, written in memory of the late Aníbal Troilo. In the 1980s Piazzolla was wealthy enough, for the first time, to become relatively autonomous artistically, and wrote some of his most ambitious multi-movement works. These included Tango Suite for the virtuoso guitar duo Sergio and Odair Assad; Histoire du Tango, where a flutist and guitarist tell the history of tango in four chunks of music styled at thirty-year intervals; and La Camorra, a suite in three ten minute movements, inspired by the Neapolitan crime family and exploring symphonic concepts of large-scale form, thematic development, contrasts of texture and massive accumulations of ensemble sound. After making three albums in New York with the second quintet and producer Kip Hanrahan, two of which he described on separate occasions as "the greatest thing I've done", he disbanded the quintet, formed a sextet with an extra bandoneón, cello, bass, electric guitar, and piano, and wrote music for this ensemble that was even more adventurous harmonically and structurally than any of his previous works (Preludio y Fuga; Sex-tet). Had he not suffered an incapacitating stroke on the way to Notre Dame mass in 1990, it is likely that he would have continued to use his popularity as a performer of his own works to experiment in relative safety with even more audacious musical techniques, while possibly responding to the surging popularity of non-Western musics by finding ways to incorporate new styles into his own. In his musical professionalism and open-minded attitude to existing styles he held the mindset of an 18th century composing performer such as Handel or Mozart, who were anxious to assimilate all national "flavors" of their day into their own compositions, and who always wrote with both first-hand performing experience and a sense of direct social relationship with their audiences. This may have resulted in a backlash amongst conservative tango aficionados in Argentina, but in the rest of the West it was the key to his extremely sympathetic reception among classical and jazz musicians, both seeing some of the best aspects of their musical practices reflected in his work.^[7]

Musical career[link]

Astor Piazzolla and Gerry Mulligan at the "Summit" recording, Milan, Italy 1974.
Photograph by Pino Presti

Piazzolla, after leaving Troilo's orchestra in the 1940s, led numerous ensembles beginning with the 1946 Orchestra, the 1955 Octeto Buenos Aires, the 1960 "First Quintet", the 1971 Conjunto 9 ("Noneto"), the 1978 "Second Quintet" and the 1989 New Tango Sextet. As well as providing original compositions and arrangements, he was the director and bandoneón player in all of them. He also recorded the album Summit with jazz baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. His numerous compositions include orchestral work such as the "Concierto para bandoneón, orquesta, cuerdas y percusión", "Doble concierto para bandoneón y guitarra", "Tres tangos sinfónicos" and "Concierto de Nácar para 9 tanguistas y orquesta", pieces for the solo classical guitar—the Cinco Piezas (1980), as well as song-form compositions that still today are well known by the general public in his country, like "Balada para un loco" (Ballad for a madman) and Adiós Nonino (dedicated to his father) which he recorded many times with different musicians and ensembles. Biographers estimate that Piazzolla wrote around 3,000 pieces and recorded around 500.

In the summer of 1985 he appeared with his Quinteto Tango Nuevo at the Almeida Theatre in London for a week-long engagement. On September 6, 1987, his quintet gave a concert in New York's Central Park, which was recorded and, in 1994, released in compact disk format as The Central Park Concert. [2]

Piazzolla’s Ensembles[link]

• Orquesta Típica (in English: Piazzolla's Traditional Orchestra), aka the 1946 Orchestra, 1946-50.
• Orquesta de Cuerdas (in English: String Orchestra), 1955-1958.
• Octeto Buenos Aires (in English: Buenos Aires Octet) 1955-58.
• Jazz Tango Quintet, 1959.
• Quinteto (in English: Quintet), aka the first Quintet, 1960-70.
• Nuevo Octeto (in English: New Octet), 1963.
• Conjunto 9 (in English: Ensemble 9), aka Noneto, 1971-72 & 1983.
• Conjunto Electronico (in English: Electronic Ensemble), aka Electronic Octet, 1975.
• Quinteto Tango Nuevo (in English: New Tango Quintet), aka the second Quintet, 1978-1988.
• Sexteto Nuevo Tango (in English: New Tango Sextet), 1989.

Film Music[link]