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Different New York boroughs, Different Music?

March 17, 2011 By admin

I researched “New York Music” and was pleasantly surprised to find out that different boroughs of the state had different types of music.  New York is the USA’s largest city and the most multi-cultural.  It is regarded as one of the top musical centres in the world and is home to a variety of musical genres such as hip hop, electronic music, salsa, soul, punk, rock and roll, metal and pop music which crosses all five of the borough lines. The jazz scene is mainly concentrated in the legendary Greenwich Village area of the city.  Other cities in the State like Albany and Buffalo have their own genres of music, and there are classical symphonies, religious choirs and folk groups dotted around the State.

Listed below are the major cities around New York State and I will describe the scene and major artists associated with it.

Albany

Albany is the state capital and this is where the Albany State Orchestra was founded in 1931.  There is a local rock scene and is home to bands such as Count the Stars, Wreckloose, Moonshine, Moving to Orange and Aneurica, who have all had commercial success.

Buffalo

Buffalo is home to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra founded in 1934 by Cameron Baird, Frederick Slee and Samuel Capen.  Baird and Slee’s names are now on the front of the music department’s buildings, whilst the main administration department building is named after Capen.  They first performed in the 1935-1936 season under the direction of Lajos Shuk and moved to Kleinhans Music Hall which is now their primary performing venue when it opened in 1947.  Today the orchestra plays in many parks across Western New York in the summer months playing classical, pop, ballet and opera.

There is also a vibrant local rock scene which has produced such artists as The Goo Goo Dolls, Ani DiFranco, Cannibal Corpse, Every Time I Die, Blackest Red, Forgotten Dreams, Seven Day Faith, Joyryde, Mercury Rev, and Hit “N” Run.

Amityville

Amityville is known for its punk rock and has produced the successful punk rock band Taking Back Sunday.  Other punk rock groups from the area are Brand New, Straylight Run and Texas is the Reason.

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New York City Music

March 10, 2011 By admin
We are scientists

We are scientists are a New York based band

New York City has long been known as one of the world’s top centres for music and has been home to the popular music industry in the USA since Tin Pan Alley.  The Tin Pan Alley were a group of songwriters who dominated the popular music industry in the late 19th and early 20th Century.  Their origins can be traced back as early as 1885, where it was believed that a group of publishers and songwriters set up their own shops in the same street in Manhattan. 

Soon after New York became home to the jazz and blues scenes and musical theatre which was particularly successful on Broadway.

Latin music came to New York in the 1950s as immigrants from across the Caribbean, South and Central America made New York their home.  They brought with them many new styles such as Cuban, Dominican, Columbian and Puerto Rican music.  This resulted in a new style called salsa music becoming popular.  Salsa originated primarily from Cuban and Puerto Rican music styles in the early 1970s.

Hip hop also became part of New York Music in the 1970s.  Hip hop was primarily a cultural group with the music at its centre.  Hip hop originated from The Bronx.  At block parties DJs would isolate the percussion breaks of well known funk and disco songs and MCs began rapping over the beats.  By the end of the 1970s the genre had spread across the country and then the world.  New York City was still the centre of hip hop and a style called East Coast hip hop became very popular.  However, in the early 1990s hip hop from the West Coast gained in popularity.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, New York music included garage rock and post-punk revivals that became part of the indie rock scene.  Bands who arose out of this scene include The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ben Kweller, Grizzly Bear, We are Scientists, The Bravery, Liars, TV on the Radio, The Cloud Room, MGMT and Interpol.

Native American Music

New York is the home of The Iroquois Confederacy who are known as the Five Nations, they are the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca.  These tribes produced their own brand of New York Music. Social songs were particularly popular.  These songs were relaxed and featured a wide vocal range and different instruments.  Solo flute songs were also popular.  The singer Joanne Shenandoah in the band Syracuse is the main artist of Native American music in New York.

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