Shows
continental drift 9/25/23 – denmark
Welcome back to Continental Drift, where today, we shall be drifting continentally to Denmark! You can find the playlist here and listen to the episode here.
The Kingdom of Denmark is a country comprising the Northern European mainland of Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and the North American island of Greenland. The mainland, simply called Denmark, lies south of the other 2 Scandinavian countries, Norway and Sweden, and is bordered by Germany to the south. Its capital is Copenhagen, and with a population of around 6 million, most of which is concentrated in the mainland, Denmark’s population is 112th in terms of size. The official language of Denmark is Danish, but other recognized languages throughout the kingdom include Faroese, Greenlandic, and German.
Bronze Age Lur found in Denmark
The musical history of Denmark dates as far back as the Bronze Age; there’s a type of horn called a lur and the first few to be discovered date back to 800 BCE. Of the 56 total lurs that have been discovered, 35 of them are Danish (and actually some of them are still playable!) I sadly do not have any lur music for you, however, so today’s episode will start with classical music.
Classical Music Segment
5 Klaverstykker, Op. 3: No. 1 // Carl Nielsen
Aquarellen, Op. 19, Book 1: No. 1. Elegie in E Minor // Niels Gade
Morgenstund har guld i mund // Thomas Laub
Champangegaloppen // Hans Christian Lumbye
Funny story about that last piece; basically the composer was invited to a formal celebration at some embassy, but then he flaked and never went, so when he came home and his family asked about the celebration, he went to his piano and improvised what would eventually become that piece. In other words, IT WAS FOUNDED ON A LIE (lol jk but that story is true)
Worth noting is that of the composers from this past section, half of them, specifically Carl Nielsen and Niels Gade, were some of the most powerful men in the Copenhagen music scene. They were both at one point directors of Musikforeningen, which was like Denmark’s most important concert hall from the 1830s to the 1930s, founded on a desire to preserve Danish musical works. Thomas Laub was also something of a conservationist, but in the sense of trying to preserve the integrity of various Protestant hymns. Just goes to show that the importance of music preservation isn’t an especially new concern.
Folk Music Segment
Entertaining Song // Hendrik Singerdât
Livsvandet // Phønix
Mítt føðiland tað fátækt er // Regin Dahl
So, the thing about countries like Denmark is that they aren’t localized to any one area. That means different groups native to the area are going to have different folk music. For instance, the last song in this segment was Faroese, and has a very different vibe from the song before it, which was from Denmark proper. Greenland also has this sort of unique musical landscape in that its traditional music can come from either the Danish population or the Inuit population of the island, the latter of which was played at the beginning of this segment. But now we must move away from tradition and into the clutches of the jazz era.
Jazz Segment
St. James Infirmary // Theis Jensen
All the Things You Are // Max Brüel
Regnvejr Og Blaest // Erik Moseholm
Dansevise // Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann
The Danish jazz scene really began to flourish in the 1930s, but then in the 1940s, the Third Reich took control of Denmark, and that meant jazz as a musical practice was discouraged in the area, but this did little to stifle creativity, as many musicians would either escape to Sweden and perform there, or just continue to perform regardless. This point in time is actually considered Denmark’s golden age of jazz, and after World War 2 was properly over, Danish jazz musicians would sort of schism into 2 groups which preferred either New Orleans jazz or the then-new jazz style bebop. Ultimately, in the 70s, the popularity of jazz started to fall with the advent of rock.
Rock Segment
Den Dejligste Morgen // Gnags
Timmissat Taartut // Nanook
Lust // The Raveonettes
The Danish rock scene has always been somewhat closely intertwined with American and British musical stylings. Denmark started importing American rock and roll in the 1950s, whereupon Danish jazz musicians would bring the style before a new Danish audience. After this, Danish rock musicians, a new group in their own right, would begin to be influenced by British music, and then again by American rock, through the latter half of the 20th century. You can sort of see this in the way that it starts to be more common that Danish artists like The Raveonettes would perform with English lyrics. You also see a little of that in Danish pop that springs up, especially in the 21st century.
Pop Segment
Smuk som et stjerneskud // Olsen Brothers
Only Teardrops // Emmelie de Forest
I feel like I almost had to include these songs at the very end because as it turns out, Denmark won Eurovision 3 times, and all 3 of their winning songs have been featured in tonight’s show; two of them in this past segment, and the third being Dansevisen at the end of the jazz segment. One last interesting fact is that the first song by the Olsen Brothers has an English version that they used for Eurovision; it’s called “Fly on the Wings of Love” in English.
That’ll be all for this week’s episode of Continental Drift!
mode8 #33: chip-retu(r)n
No episode last week, but this week I felt like returning to mode8’s roots and playing some chiptune tracks again! Picture of Bob Odenkirk and David Cross unrelated.
Last Goodbye (Extended Version) — SiIvagunner (Undertale remix of Air On Line)
Linda’s Castle // Snowboard Kids
Come Along — Posy
RUSH JOB — Siren (Alexander Brandon)
midnight ride on my vespa — tohomoko
Judgement — Kubbi
Objection! — MERCURIUS FM (Ace Attorney club mix)
Into the Neverwood — tohomoko
Orange Juice Overload — ProtoDome
Y So Secretive — Zackery Wilson
(T-T)b — Anamanaguchi
Slimers — (T-T)b
Splash Nebula — Slime Girls
Four — Disasterpeace
Paper Dolls — 4mat
girl rock! 9/19/23
datsu . hikage no onna // Otoboke Beaver
Weird // Hana Eid
Relics// Patio
Legs Crossed // Whissell
Move Like U Stole It // ZZ Ward
luka // The Secret Sisters
Therese // Maya Hawke
Girl God Gun // Gen and the Degenerates
Donuts Mind If I Do // CHAI
So I Don’t Feel Useless // Dianna Lopez
Slip! // Aziya
Jo // Haley Heynderickx
Hard Times // Ethel Cain
Say a Little Prayer – Live // Lianne La Havas
fairy // Luna Li
Mirage // Orion Sun
gimme all ur luv // hemlocke springs
Theatre // Etta Marcus
My Love Mine All Mine // The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
continental drift 9/11/23 – cabo verde
Today, we’re switching back over to the Western hemisphere to talk about Cabo Verde! You can find the playlist here and listen back to the episode here.
The Republic of Cabo Verde is an island country off the west coast of Africa, consisting of a ten-island archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of almost 600 thousand, its population is 172nd in terms of size, but interestingly, far more Cabo Verdeans exist outside of Cabo Verde than in it. The official language of Cape Verde is Portuguese, though most Cape Verdeans additionally speak a Portuguese-based creole language which is actually significant from a linguistics standpoint as the oldest extant creole language.
The islands that make up Cabo Verde were actually completely uninhabited until the Portuguese set up shop on the island of Santiago in 1462. Eventually, as more Europeans started jumping on the transatlantic bandwagon, Cape Verde began to flourish economically, as their placement made them very useful for the slave trade. As tends to occur, the slave trade led to the fusion of European and African cultural elements, resulting in an emergent cultural identity that includes the music of today’s episode.
Funaná Segment
Bitori Nha Bininha // Bitori
Ká Bô Bem Dzoriental // Tchiss Lopes
Odio Sem Valor // Pedrinho
All 3 of the previous songs belong to a genre of music called funaná, which is very heavily associated with accordions that are usually accompanied rhythmically by an instrument called a ferrinho (literally, “little iron”), which is a metal bar that you can whack or scrape with another metal object. On top of that, though, it has a sort of characteristic rhythmic element to it. There’s multiple types of funaná, but the most popular type has a rhythmic setup that looks something like the picture below this paragraph:
A common funaná rhythm
All of this episode’s music genres have some kind of characteristic rhythm to them, as we’ll see the further we progress.
Batuque Segment
Dispidida // Mayra Andrade
Maria Julia // Gil Semedo
Batuque is characterized by a triple-meter rhythm that looks like this:
Batuque rhythm
Batuque encodes a 3:2 polyrhythm in the songs, either implicitly or explicitly, so there’ll be one percussion part keeping 3/4 time, and then either the rhythm of the song or a second percussion part will highlight a secondary rhythm that completes 2 evenly-spaced beats every time the main rhythm completes 3 evenly-spaced beats. The other Cabo Verdean genres don’t have this tendency, so it’s cool to see it arise somewhere!
Coladeira Segment
Tchapeu di padja // Simentera
Beju Cu Jetu // Rene Cabral
One of the more recent Cabo Verdean genres is coladeira, which tends to have a somewhat lively tempo and lyrics. Its rhythmic pattern can vary, but in general will tend to look like either of the following patterns:
Coladeira Rhythm 1
Coladeira Rhythm 2
Coladeira is unique among this episode’s genres because it actually gets its sound from a different Cabo Verdean genre known as morna.
Morna Segment
Petit pays // Cesaria Evora
Pontin Pontin // Bana
Both of the artists featured in this segment are well-known internationally; Cesaria Evora herself is the best-known Morna artist outside of Cabo Verde. Morna is like the “signature” music of Cabo Verde, simply because of how popular it and its performers are both inside and outside of the country. Morna tends to have a slow, somber feel, with wistful, emotionally heavy themes like love and longing and missing your home. Morna and coladeira are actually pretty similar rhythmically, it’s just that coladeira is played with a faster tempo.
Last Song Because I Wanted It But Couldn’t Easily Categorize It
Afeto // Mayra Andrade
And that’ll be the episode!
Girl Rock 9/8/2023
Worship The Whip // Be Your Own Pet
On Hold // Rosie Ryden
Trampoline to Me // Kindsight
Nothing Left To Lose // Bleach Lab
i’m not crying you’re crying // Pinkshift
yellow is the color of her eyes // Soccer Mommy
Sappho // Frankie Cosmos
Why Am I Like This? // Orla Gartland
Dog Eat Dog // Tommy Lefroy
Empty Air // Valeria Stoica
confident // Her Skin
Swimming Pools // Francis On My Mind
Trouble in Mind // Larkin Poe
Whiskey Please // Whissell
Tennessee Rive Runs Low // The Secret Sisters
Pet Carrot // Palehound
House Song // Searows
Tell That Devil // Jill Andrews
