Harlem shake

Harlem shake may refer to:

See also

Harlem shake (dance)

The Harlem shake, originally called the Albee, is a dance introduced in 1981 by a Harlem resident named "Al B". The dance was initially referred to as "albee" after his name, but later became known as the Harlem shake as its prominence grew beyond the neighborhood. The dance became mainstream in 2001 when G. Dep featured the Harlem shake in his music video "Let's Get It".

History

According to ABC News, while the dance originated during the 1980s in Harlem, New York, it is based on an Ethiopian dance called Eskista. Since its beginnings it has spread to other urban areas and became popular in music videos. The self-purported inventor of the dance was "Al B", a Harlem resident. Because of its founder, the dance was originally called the "Albee" in Rucker and Harlem, but then later became known as the Harlem shake.

Al B is quoted saying that the dance is "a drunken shake that will make you die if you ever attempt it, and you could easily go to jail anyway. It's a dirt bag troll that is really hardcore and will make you have seizures but it's fantastic. Everybody appreciates it." He said it comes from the ancient Egyptians and describes it as what the mummies used to do. Because they were all wrapped up, they couldn’t really move, all they could do was shake. Al B states that he has been doing the Harlem shake since 1981. The dance first caught on at the Entertainer's Basketball Classic or EBC and spread from there to other areas.

Harlem Shake (meme)

The Harlem Shake is an Internet meme in the form of a video in which a group of people perform a comedy sketch accompanied by a short excerpt from the song "Harlem Shake". As a meme, the video was replicated by many people, using the same concept, and this led to it becoming viral in early February 2013, with thousands of "Harlem Shake" videos being made and uploaded to YouTube every day at the height of its popularity.

The form of the meme was established in a video uploaded on January 30, 2013 by YouTuber George Miller's character Filthy Frank, to the channel DizastaMusic, entitled "FILTHY COMPILATION #6 - SMELL MY FINGERS," which featured a section where several costumed people danced to the song "Harlem Shake" by Baauer. The video opens with the first use of the Harlem Shake meme. The video was then parodied in another video made by five teenagers from Queensland, Australia known on YouTube as The Sunny Coast Skate. This video started a viral trend of people uploading their own "Harlem Shake" videos to YouTube.

Harlem

Coordinates: 40°48′32.52″N 73°56′54.14″W / 40.8090333°N 73.9483722°W / 40.8090333; -73.9483722

Harlem is a large neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle.

African-American residents began to arrive en masse in 1905, with numbers fed by the Great Migration. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the focus of the "Harlem Renaissance", an outpouring of artistic work without precedent in the American black community. However, with job losses in the time of the Great Depression and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. Harlem's black population peaked in the 1950s. In 2008, the United States Census found that for the first time since the 1930s, less than half of residents were black, and black residents only counted for 40% of the population.

Harlem (Ellington)

Harlem is a symphonic jazz composition by the American composer Duke Ellington.

Originally commissioned by Arturo Toscanini in 1950 to be part of a larger New York-inspired orchestral suite, Toscanini never conducted it. Ellington himself first recorded it in 1951 (as "A Tone Parallel to Harlem (Harlem Suite)" in his Ellington Uptown album), and it was given its live premiere in 1955 at Carnegie Hall by Don Gillis and the Symphony of the Air.

The piece lasts for around fifteen minutes and exists in Ellington's large jazz orchestra version as well as a full symphonic version orchestrated by Luther Henderson. Both versions begin with a distinctive trumpet solo which intones the word 'Harlem'.

In his own memoirs Ellington wrote:

Ellington re-recorded it in Paris in 1963 (on The Symphonic Ellington album). It has since been recorded by several ensembles and conductors including Maurice Peress (in his own orchestration) with the American Composers Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Simon Rattle with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and John Mauceri with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Mauceri also produced a new edition of the full symphonic score. In 2012, it was recorded by JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the Peress orchestration.

Harlem (band)

Harlem is an American garage rock band comprising vocalist/guitarist/drummer Michael Coomers, vocalist/guitarist/drummer Curtis O'Mara and bassist Jose Boyer, formerly of Chapel Hill-based The Gondoliers and The Kashmir.

History

Harlem started in Tucson, AZ before relocating to Austin where they generated a mountain of attention, both with their live shows and their self-issued 2008 album Free Drugs ;-), mastered by Nathan Sabatino at Loveland Recording Studios.

Matador signed the Austin, Texas trio to a multi-record, worldwide deal. Harlem recorded their 2nd album in the summer of 2009.Hippies, was released on April 6, 2010. It was recorded by Mike McHugh at "The Distillery" in Costa Mesa, California. As of April 2012, the band is on an indefinite hiatus as all members are busy with other projects.

Discography

Albums

EPs

References

External links