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Tag Archives: Spain

Throwing “Nuts,” the Voter Purge, and the “Folia”

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Music, United States

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Arcangelo Corelli, Baroque, CNN, Henryk Szeryng, Republican National Convention, Spain, Tampa Florida, Voter Suppression

La Folia

During the Baroque era in music (1600-1750), the Folia, a musical piece that probably originated in Spain, became very popular.  I did not intend ever to mention the Folia until I went to my WordPress Reader yesterday and found myself reading about instances of genuine folie or madness.  There is nothing mad about the Folia, but there is madness among Republicans.  Let us look at two events I found “unsavoury.”

 

The Camerawoman Incident

Reading through various posts, I learned that two women attending the Republican National Convention, in Tampa, Florida, had thrown nuts at an African-American CNN camerawoman shouting “this is how we feed animals.”  For details, see CNN Camerawoman Hit With Nuts (EnStarz).  Needless to say, I quickly reworded the headline so it would read CNN camerawoman Hit by Nuts,” using nuts in its pejorative acceptation.  Folias in music are lighthearted, but throwing nuts at a coloured camerawoman and calling her an animal shows genuine folie, madness, not to mention sufficient bigotry to sink a battleship.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (29 August 1809 – 7 October 1894) stated that “[t]he mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.”  That definition would apply to the nut-throwing incident that took place in Tampa.  The bottom line here is that we are witnessing bigotry and racism.

The Voter Purge Incident

As I continued reading your posts, I learned that a woman would not be permitted to vote because she could not produce the photo ID (identification) Florida (R) and perhaps other states are now requiring of voters.  Does exercising one’s right to vote require of voters that they possess a driver’s license or a passport?  Some persons are too poor to own a car and  therefore do not have a driver’s licence.  Moreover, some persons are also too poor to travel.  Consequently, they do not have a passport.  Demanding a photo ID therefore seems an unreasonable request and voter suppression could prevent President Obama from being re-elected, which would be a catastrophe.

This second incident, the photo ID (identification) incident, demonstrates that Voter Suppression is not only unreasonable but that it constitutes a discrimatory practice that could keep away from Election Polls the elderly, the disabled, the poor and persons, in particular coloured individuals, who may feel their social status does not allow them to exercise their right to choose a leader, a misconception voter suppression is bringing to the fore.  These people were slaves and two idiots threw nuts at them calling them animals. 

In fact, Voter Suppression may well be in direct violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 “a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.” (Voting Rights Act of 1965, Wikipedia)  Voting is an unalienable right in the United States of America.

But enough is enough.  Let us hear a Folia that is not madness: folie.  The Folia moved beyond Spain, so we will listen to a Folia Variations composed by Arcangelo Corelli (17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713), an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque era.[i]  Our main performer is Russian violinist Nathan Millstein (13 January 1904  – 21 December 1992).

Related Post:
The Right to Vote: “It is wrong – deadly wrong… ”
 
Photo credit: Wikipedia
 
© Micheline Walker
30 August  2012
WordPress
____________________
[i] For information on the Folia, see Hemiola07’s Blog, a WordPress publication: http://hemiola07.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/food-for-thoughtcorellis-la-folia/ 
 
Related articles
  • True Colors: RNC Attendee Throws Nuts At CNN Black Camerawoman “How We Feed Animal” (oldschool945.com)
  • Two RNC Attendees Hurled Nuts And Racist Remarks At Black CNN Camerawoman (perezhilton.com)
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Boccherini’s Iberian Music: the Passacaglia & the Fandango

11 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Music

≈ Comments Off on Boccherini’s Iberian Music: the Passacaglia & the Fandango

Tags

Encyclopædia Britannica, Fandango, François Couperin, Iberian Peninsula, Latin America, Louis XIII of France, Luigi Boccherini, Merlaison, Passacaglia, Spain

Luigi Boccherini by an unknown artist (c. 1764 – 67)
 
Photo credit: 
Boccherini: Wikipedia 
Francisco Goya: Wikipedia 
(please click on the small picture below to enlarge it)
 

The “Ballet de cour” and the “Suite”

We explored the ballet de cour, an example of which is Louis XIII‘s Ballet de (la) Merlaison, and we know that the composers of this period wrote Suites or Ordres, as François Couperin named his Suites.  Among these dances is the passacalle (from passar), or pasacaille, or passacaglia.

I am including two related blogs, but posts dealing with the flamenco are not listed.  This post is about dance music and more specifically music for ballet, such as Louis XIII Ballet de la Merlaison, and musical works consisting of a series of dances:  the Suite or Masque.

We have therefore identified two dances: the passacaglia (the chaconne) and the fandango, both of which are dances akin to the dances of Suites, one of which, the fandango, is related to the flamenco.

The Passacaglia

The passacaglia is Spanish in origin, but it quickly spread to other countries.  According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, “[t]he dance’s original name survives in the passacalle, a lively folk dance for couples popular in western South America.”  As it first appeared in 17th-century Spain, “[it] was of unsavoury reputation and possibly quite fiery.”[i] However, “[i]n the French theatre of the 17th and 18th centuries it was a dance of imposing majesty.”  The passacaglia is almost identical to the chaconne and as a chaconne it can be part of a Suite.

The Fandango

As for the fandango, the Encyclopædia Britannica tells that it is an “exuberant Spanish courtship dance and a genre of Spanish folksong.  The dance, probably of Moorish origin, was popular in Europe in the 18th century and survives in the 20th century as a folk dance in Spain, Portugal, southern France, and Latin America. Usually danced by couples (men), it begins slowly, with the rhythm marked by castanets, clapping of hands, snapping of fingers, and the stamping of feet; the speed gradually increases.”[ii]

In Italian-born Classical composer Luigi Boccherini‘s répertoire, we find traces of the music of the land where he lived and worked: Iberia (Spain and Portugal).  The fandango is an Iberian dance and is related to the Andalusian malagueña and flamenco.

____________________

[i] “passacaglia.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 11 Aug. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/445625/passacaglia>.

[ii] “fandango.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 11 Aug. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/201489/fandango>.

© Micheline Walker
11 August 2012
WordPress 
 
The images are by Francisco Goya (2nd video)
 

 

 

 

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