Music of Asia

 As Asia is a super mega diverse continent with many different cultures and traditions, the music is also very diverse. To expand on some of the interesting music, we are going to venture first to North Korea!

Our knowledge of music in North Korea is just about as plentiful as you would expect, but there's still some really interesting stuff about it. This North Korean travel guide tells us about the music of North Korea, and how it is mostly centered around military and patriotism. You can visit Children's Palaces to see these ballads composed by children, gymnastics performances, instruments, all performed at a professional level by children at ages as young as kindergarten. 

To continue with the military theme of the music, North Korea has a band (composed of high ranked
military officers) that was formed by Kim Jong-un called The Moranbong Band. The performers are dressed in more Western fashion styles, and almost mimic a North Korean version of K-pop. Below is a performance by them, which is very interesting to say the least. In it, you can get an idea of the prideful and patriotic nature of the music. 

Moving to Japan! In Japan, there is a genre of music called noise music. As defined by this guide on Japanese noise music, “noise music challenges the boundary between noise and music. It straddles a range of musical styles and creative practices.” The intention is to explore music that is not restricted by the traditional melodic rules, using a large variety of instruments and objects. 

The genre is, like “regular” music, littered with an abundance of sub genres. Below is just an example of what this noise music can look like. This particular one, happens to be a heavier example.

 

Now, we finish in Thailand, just to check out what their music is all about. The music of Thailand originated as an oral culture with no written form. Traditional Thai instrument ensembles, called piphat, used woodwinds and percussion instruments to accompany religious practice and theatre. The music itself is polyphonic and steady in its time signature. The video below gives a good example of the lack of harmony, and the type of ensemble Thai music entails. 

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/271e6e43-bf76-4517-89cf-64759c6a40d6