Music in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Music in China - Essay Example The towns in China have had the chance to embrace modernity and with the same form of energy from the western counterparts that have embraced the upcoming genres of music. In the small villages and towns there are often loud speakers releasing chunks of sound that carry music especially the latest pop songs. Besides the pop genre, the Pavarotti and Muzak are some of the genres that still carry instances of traditional systems of sound. (Shen 41-44) The music system of China has been basically influenced by the Western music over the past few decades. So much of the western ideas have been embraced mostly by the university students that take up lessons and composition classes that basically contain a model influenced generally by the western genres of music with only a few opting to take up the lessons on the composition of Chinese traditional music. On the other hand, the shops that are basically supposed to be selling music productions have also gone the western way with most of the compositions ranging from the romantic kinds as well as the Italian operas. Furthermore, in the streets whereby there is a booming sale of pirated CDs with low prices as well as the tapes are mostly expected to show higher orders from the young who have it upon themselves to request for the hits from the US and from Europe. There have been instances whereby the authorities have tried to put a stop to this kind of illegal trade but it has still mana ged to thrive underground. (Shen 45-51) In the 90s, there were frequent births of various rock bands of Chinese origins that have grown to become so popular and worth mentioning when we are talking about music in general and how much it has come of age especially in contemporary China. An example of such a band is the Cobra band that was an all women band that has gained a formal level of notoriety for their professionalism in doing their best for this genre of music. During this period, there was little understanding as the Chinese artists were trying to come up with the kinds of materials to reach the level of what was being heard in the west. The most controversial and one of the most famous artists during this time was Cui Jian who was credited as the pioneer that brought rock music to the limelight. He has a similar style in the kind of music he put out though some critics saw his ideas to have a basic antagonistic approach to the Chinese traditions and that some of the songs w ere basically politically oriented in their compositions. He was basically trained as player of the trumpet and he held some form of orchestra leadership position after which he was dismissed in the 80s (Rees 28-36). The traditional music on the other hand has its own form of history and has completely followed a different journey. There were various genres of folk songs that have a close relation to the imperial traditions such as that of temple and courtly music merely survived the great fall of the imperial dynasty and hence some of the traditional forms of music especially the strong folks that were basically revived since the durations of the Cultural Revolution in the villages. Some of the traditional forms of music that are basically available in many public places in china and which are mostly available on CD as well as in cassettes in the United Kingdom include the ritual music. (Rees 37-40) The ritual music comprises of the songs that were performed initially mostly in the Daoist and Buddhist temples. The rituals involved the monks and nuns who basically