Music and society

Music is always present in our lives, from the happiest moment to the worst one. We can listen to music to relax after a hard day, have fun at a party or sing loud our favorite song. To have an idea, the primitive human beings had already used music to express joy, pleasure, love, pain and even religion.

            Thus, over the years there were several musical styles, each one sought to express the feelings and aspirations of their original community. Music became as a means of spreading ideas and lifestyles. Due to this, here we show some interesting facts which connect music and society. No matter how or where, music has always a way to influence or be influenced by what we do.

           

Music and dictatorship

Music isn´t only noise. Many people consider it as a way to protest or denounce something in the politics, society or the world.

I believe that when we talk about music, we have to remember the importance of it in our history. Music is a form of expression and a good example is the musical consequence to the dictatorship in Brazil. Many artists like Chico Buarque, Caetatno Veloso, Gilberto Gil and others used music to protest. They talked about the suffering of the population and life under pressure. In the 60´s some songs were censored by the military forces and the people who denounced the government could be killed or exiled. The musicians wanted to call people´s attention to what was going on in their place and time.

Music is more important than we imagined, there isn´t any simple song. Arthur Schopenhauer said: “The song expresses the highest philosophy in a language that does not understand the reason.”

Music and social responsibility

If you think I´m going to spend my time talking about melting icebergs, look for another post! I´m here to talk about another fact which is present in our MP3 players, radio and video clips.

As time goes by, we see more celebrities in the music area who mark their territory through their irreverence, influencing people towards their attitudes and opinions. These celebrities´ way of living and thinking fascinates people, turning them into followers who live by their concepts; it means that famous people have got an impact on how society behaves.

Because of it, I found myself thinking: Are we moving the world to a place where people sing with their soul and, consequently, conquer R-E-S-P-E-C-T or are we still stuck in our old mistakes because of our bad romance?

Music and the hippie movement: Woodstock

            Woodstock, a great example of music as a cultural manifestation, was a strong vehicle of hippie´s philosophy and it even inspired a film.

            This festival was in-between the Vietnam´s War (which would be a world loss later on) and it was, due to that, a protest by the young american society. Preaching peace, love and power to the folks, it attracted half million people – more than twice  of expected viewers – on a meetup of great musicians from that time.

Joe Baez, pregnant, protested at her concert against her husband´s arrest, who was a Human Right´s activist; Country Joe McDonald eternalized himself by making people sing the ironic and contusing lyrics “Feel like I´m fixing to die”. These people are a proof of the insatisfaction with Harry Truman´s government.

Even 42 years later, Woodstock still has an effect in that generation´s minds, as this video below confirms:

As we have seen, music is an admired element around the world, and it's followed by countless fans. From Country Music to Heavy Metal, artists keep on innovating the themes of their creations for generations. Each one expresses feelings, thoughts, ideologies and so on. Anyway, enjoying what music has to offer is at the same time serious and fun. After all, who has never said: "This is my music?"

POSTED BY CE5 - Friday 8:00 - Vivian Alonso

What's your favorite song?

Who has never cried listening to a song? Who isn’t able to remember an important moment in his/her life while listening to a melody? Who hasn’t sung a lovely song to his/her lover yet ? Music is everywhere in our lives. That’s why, we made up our minds about sharing our memorable  songs. The ones that for some reasons touched our soul and became unforgettable in our  lives. Enjoy yourselves by bringing back old memories!

 By the way, do you know what song was considered the greatest song of all time?

 Here you give you three options:

a)    Imagine (John Lennon)

b)   Like a Rolling Stone ( Bob Dylan)

c)    I can’t get no satisfaction (The Rolling Stones)

 Watch the video and check if you were right.

         Although that song was the best of the century, we have different opinions to share. Our favorite songs are the following:

   

This song means a lot to me for several reasons. I chose it because whenever I listen to  it I feel light and happy as I can go back and remember the wonderful moments of my childhood.I remember the Christmas holidays with family and friends and my parents dancing together, listening to this song. And of course,  it reminds me of my boyfriend.  I love the voice of Barry White.  

Besides having beautiful lyrics and melody, the song "My Girl", which  was  originally  recorded by the band The Temptations,  has had several versions. It also has great emotional value to me. When I was a child , every night before  going  to bed, my dad used to sing this song to  me. Now, my father sings it  to my daughter. We are  his girls.

The song  of my life is "I will always love you" (Whitney Houston) because it reminds me of my boyfriend. When we met, this song  was playing. It  is very special to  me.

One song which I like very much is “À Amizade” by  Fundo de Quintal band. It’s an interesting samba music that is  about friendship. I agree with the idea of this song: not only are friends with you at good time, but also at bad time.

A song by the Arctic Monkeys called Reckless Serenade reminds me of my college because

every free time I had with my best friends during the first term, we used to go to the CA (Academic Center) in order to listen to this song. Actually, we would listen to the full 4th Arctic monkeys' album called "Suck it and see", but we did love this song specially because it's really beautiful and there are great metaphors like this one: “called up to listen to the voice of reason and got the answering machine”

Besides that, Arctic Monkeys is a great band and I  recommend them to everybody!

What about you? What’s your favorite song?

CE5 - Tue/Thur - 17:45 - Andrea Figueiredo

Back to Rio

History

         Rock in Rio is the greatest music festival of the world. The main idea was celebrating the Brazilian freedom of dictatorship. It has been created by Roberto Medina who made the first edition in 1985 in Rio de Janeiro. There has been nine editions (3 in Brazil, 4 in Portugal and 2 in Spain), and this event gathered 5 million people and there were more than 656 artists.

         The event cares about other things like sustainability and problems about the world, for instance, the environment. In 7 editions, in 10 years, it has raised more than 4 billion euros for many socio environmental causes. It shows that Rock in Rio has increased to a good way to change the world, but there will be more. 

Festivals

            In 2001, it was the last time that Rock in Rio was in Rio de Janeiro. The Rock City was in Jacarepaguá and it was able to receive 250 thousand people per day. People were looking forward to seeing Iron Maiden, Guns N' Roses, Oasis, R.E.M., Foo Fighters, Cássia Eller, Sandy & Junior, Britney Spears and others.

          In 2011, the Rock City will have ferris wheel, free fall, roller coaster and tyrolean. They’re all for free but the main attractions are the two stages called 'Palco Mundo' and 'Palco Sunset' and the House tend. It can receive 150 thousand people. People were looking forward to seeing Rihanna, Katy Perry, Shakira, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Maroon 5, Coldplay, and others.

Where’s the Rock?

There's a big difference between Rock in Rio 2001 and 2011, like WHERE'S THE ROCK?

Why does the event have a POP day? It is not faithful to the name anymore. We are missing some bands and artists that will not be there, for example, HIM, Foo Fighters, AC/DC, Creed, Fall Out Boys, Kings Of Leon, The Killers, Oasis, 30 Seconds To Mars, Panic! At The Disco, or even Cazuza, Amy Winehouse, Nirvana, The Beatles... We are kidding, but it is not a bad idea.

Now, let’s talk about the days that Rock will not be present. FIRST: What does Claudia Leitte has to do with Rock? Or Ivete Sangalo? We can change the name of the event, so... Axé in Rio, what do you think about that? What about the bands with strange names? Would you go there to see Macaco, BNegão, Buraka Som Sistema, Mix Hell, Afrika Bambaataa, Curumin, Júpiter Maçã, Falanja, let me see more... Cidadão Instigado, WHAT THE HELL? If you don't know these bands, would you go there on the days they are performing? Yeaaaaah, we don't. By the way, we have to agree that there are great bands, like Gun's And Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Maroon 5, Joss Stone, Metallica, System Of A Down, Coldplay, Jamiroquai...Oh yeah, great bands, great songs, real Rock.

To sum up, we can see that this festival is for everybody. It is not just for Rockers anymore, everybody can go, everybody can enjoy without restrictions.

The 4^th edition had already finished. So, tell us about your expectations about the next festival in Rio de Janeiro. Who would you like to see there?

P1 Tue/Thu 16.00 Carolina Manoel

English music in the Brazilian culture: negative and positive points. What do you think about it?

NEGATIVE POINTS

Do you know what you mean when you sing English songs?

Who never sang an English song in spite of you didn’t know the lyrics very well or didn’t know the meaning?

Many Brazilian people think when they sing in English they evidence something about their personality, like for example their intelligence.

Everyday we listen to millions of foreign songs, but it isn’t necessary only to listen, it’s more important to search and understand the meaning and, sure, to know the lyrics.

It’s a very funny situation, because some Brazilian people who barely know Portuguese, want to speak English. An example of this is what happened with the ex big brother Solange, who sang wrongly the song “We are the world”. Did she want to show herself or she really didn’t know the song lyrics? It’s something which we'll never know.

Actually what we need to remember is that the most important isn’t to repeat the other cultures, but we must know our culture and then we can learn others.

POSITIVE POINTS

Implementing the use of familiar or easy-to-learn songs is a great way to introduce principles of speaking, hearing and understanding the English language.

The function of using songs while teaching English classes is to engage students in speaking and understanding the English language, while reinforcing the fundamentals of language and communication. Songs contain lyrics that are easy for students to follow and memorize and, therefore, easy to learn and understand. Teachers can use any variety of musical styles to encourage language comprehension.

The main benefit of using songs in the classroom is the repetitive nature of singing and learning them. Repetition has been often proved invaluable in a classroom setting, especially for developing vocabulary and language skills. As students repeat lyrics, they begin to understand the meaning of the words until it becomes a natural act. With this, students can understand the way English is used without even realizing they are learning.

Through listening to and performing songs, students are introduced to grammar, diction, idioms and dialects that increase comprehension and widen their understanding of how English is used.

Using music when teaching English, especially as a second language to non-native speakers, is a great way to create a friendly, comfortable atmosphere for students to learn. When students feel at ease and in a safe environment, they have the potential to better retain information. The nature of the music changes the act of learning English to the act of experiencing English, which may allow students to focus on the core principles of the language in a manner unlike traditional grammar lessons or drills.

What about you? Do you think you're influenced by English music?

CE5 Tue/Thu 9:30 Teacher: Rachel Delphim

"I (sickly) love you"

Fans, where the admiration ends and begins the obsession, some fans make sacrifices in the name of his idol. According the dictionary, the word sacrifice comes from combining two Latin words "sacro" + "facere", in other words, became a sacred act. We can cite same examples: a young girl who wrote the name "Neymar" in her lip, another girl tattooed on his back a love letter written by the character Edward Twilight movie and finally a girl killed her pet cat and painted his body with blood of the animal imitating the performance of Lady Gaga.

Here comes a ranking of what fans have been up to in order to reach their idols!

5) Liptattoo me! 
A crazy fan of Demi Lovato’s has tattooed her lip with the star’s name.

Demi Lovato saw the tatto and post on the Twitter and responded with, ” ….. AHHH!! THAT’S AWESOME!! hahaha wow. I’m honored!!!”

4) Justin Bieber's crazy fans

  Probably 90% of Justin Bieber fans are girls. With that number we can understand why some crazy things happen. The girls become really excited with all the figure of popstar and do things without thinking or before thinking. There's a shocking but good example of an out of mind act of fans. An unknown fan cut its own arm and wrote with blood: "JB I love". It is understandable to like an idol so much that people go beyond they usually went for a person, but it is important to establish some limits of what's acceptable and what's is not. To take pictures, camp around the area of the show in order to wait until it begins, to carry posters, to attach posters in all the bedroom or in the car is not so bad, or even sick. However, if someone loves so much a certain idol and do things that threaten the physical integrity of the individual and/or more people, it has to stop. To like people is healthful, if it gives a good sensation, making people's lives happier, without pain and hurt.   

3) Cat-astrophe

"A diehard Miley Cyrus fan has threatened to make a meal out of her pet cat if the teen star doesn’t go back on Twitter". This statement opens an article which relates the despearate attempt of a fan who believes not be able to live without Miley's tweets.
It could just be "a prank or a hoax" but not even the girl says that she is not joking but it is also a case of animal cruelty. Therefore it calls our attention to the fact that the insanity of some fans does not respect even the society concerns about animal rights.
On the other hand,as The Humane Society (a U.S. animal protection organization) clarified, threatening to kill animals is not criminal. Moreover, “'only seven states in the U.S. have laws against eating dogs and cats', which, unfortunately, does not include the state where 'Cat lady' resides".
Anyway, there is a point which remains unnoticed and which is more important than the animal rights: Can a fan threaten his idol at all?
Once it happens it is very terrifying to think that it can become an routine.
To sum up: are the fans allowed to charge theirs idols? To threaten someone is a legitimate way of making public our clamours? 

2) Human teeth necklace

We know there are many artists who have strange habits or manias, but Ke$ha has a different if not bizarre one: collect human teeth. Everything started when a "crazy" fan sent a tooth to her, and she made a necklace with this tooth, since then many fans in the world have been sending their teeth to Ke$ha's house or giving it to her during her shows. So nowadays she wants to make a dress with the fans' teeth because she has a lot of them.

         Ke$ha is in Brazil to sing at Rock In Rio and appeals to her fans for throwing their teeth on the stage. She said once on Twitter: "I got a tooth from a fan and I made a necklace with it. But now what I really want is to create a necklace of teeth to use in any awards ceremony... What I am saying is: please send me your teeth... I need your teeth." And you? Are you a Ke$ha's fan? Can you help her make her dream a reality?

1) Virginity on sale

Media has named them as "beliebers", meaning those who believe in Justin Bieber.
What is there in him to be believed in? Are we talking about any sort
of religion? A dogma? This term, though shocking, seems be quite realistic.
Sad and realistic. On September 12th many people started wondering  why was the phrase 'Rosaura de Justin Bieber' trending on Twitter. The mystery was about to be unfolded.
Rosaura from Monterrey, Mexico freaked out the moment she found out Justin's gig's tickets
had all been sold out in a blink of eyes. A great deal of teen hysteria followed, culminating in this offer on Facebook Marketplace, an informal auctioning app.
"My virginity in exchange for a ticket. I need it so badly", she said. "Unbeliebable"!
What do you think of this story? Leave a comment!

P2 - Mon/Wed 15:45 - Mauro Pinheiro

Lady Gaga, Who?

 Meat dress, bloody performance , dressed like a man. What is the message that Lady Gaga wants to send to the world with this? We don't know, but Gaga's fans give the support for these crazy ideas of hers. These fans want to be what Lady Gaga wants to be. But we can't deny how successful Lady Gaga is. Her videoclips, each one with a little bit of insanity, had a million exhibitions. "Bad Romance", for example, is the second most-viewed video on YouTube, just losing for "Baby", Justin Bieber's video. This succesful Gaga's video won a lot of awards and put her on top. But this craziness is natural of Gaga's personality or it's just a good idea to make her an icon? Lady Gaga said in so many interviews that she was born this way, name that is the title of her second and polemical album, "Born This Way". But this, just Gaga knows, and she is on the right track, baby.


Gaga's Insanity

Everybody knows that Lady Gaga is such an insane woman. But how insane is she really? Gaga, like everyone calls her, on her first videoclip that was successful, "Just Dance", showed us a sexual woman that seems not to be afraid of anything. Someone who does and says whatever comes to her mind. Wait... In her mind or in her label mind? With "just dance" Gaga exploded on the radios, TV and everyone was waiting for what she would do on her next video. Another surprise, "Poker Face" came and it was even more successful that "Just Dance"! Come on, now her label knows exactly what she has to do to be more and more successful. Today, although Lady Gaga is one of the most influential personalities around the world, she is not so original like almost everyone thinks. Look at these pictures and see by yourself.

We can see her last video, "You and I". Please, check "Just Dance", "Born this way" and then "You and I". What do you think about the difference? Tell us on your comment.

Lady Gaga launches Gaga Goo Goo babywear
The eccentric singer has made her most iconic outfits available for small children. *But it's only a spoof. Do you have the courage put these clothes on your children?
Check this video!
 
Clothes gone gaga

Lady Gaga! Does that name ring a bell? Eccentricity, innovation, style, questionable courage ...? What is certain is that Gaga’s style influence, and a lot, the world of fashion and fashion designers. At the moment the pop diva Lady Gaga launches its clothing line in partnership with designers of designer McQueen. The collection is an expansion of the brand that recently lost its creator. Clothes promise eccentricity and style Gaga. Check out some of Gaga style:

Joe Calderone

Gaga in 2009 VMA

Lady Gaga's accessories are nuts!

Lady Gaga isn’t known only for her music, but mainly because of weird way to dress. Whether awards, parties or even the daily routine, she always surprises us. See below the accessories worn by Lady Gaga.

To start, Gaga used in the “Telephone” music video glasses made of cigarettes.

After a photo shoot in New York, Gaga came out with these “discreet” red sunglasses.

Lady gaga landed in Sydney, Australia, with soda cans stuck to the hair. The same hairstyle can be seen in the video music "Telephone".

 The meat look used by Lady Gaga in an award, counted with a bag, a shoes and a hat made of meat too.

In a simple walk Gagacan impress us.

For us to wait for the next looks of Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga's crazy hairstyle!

This singer has some very strange wigs, but her hair is very cute! It's so flashy, but on the other hand it is very charming. Cute hairstyles for Lady Gaga are rare.

Gaga is known for her extravagant and quirky visuals. One of these hairstyles is that weird ice-cream-cone shaped hairdo. Not nice!

 

She really has a lot of creativity! Besides the ice cream cone, there is this button hair !

Someday if you drop a button on your blouse, be careful it's a piece of Lady Gaga !

 

YE5 Mon/Wed 14:15 – Mauro Pinheiro