Defining a path for immigrants to achieve  U.S. citizenship is one of chief challenges being faced by Congress now. So, the character strength  of CITIZENSHIP (and its core virtue of Justice), seems an appropriate choice for this month’s post. The yearly fireworks of July 4 are a perfect emblem for this strength. Josh became a U.S. citizen in the late 1960’s. We still remember how deeply affecting the naturalization ceremony was for both of us.

Musically, the quintet “Los Tigres del Norte,” recognized as “the voice of the immigrant people,” made headlines in 2010 by joining a massive boycott of the State of Arizona for its controversial, punitive immigration policy.  Now, with over 32 million records to their credit, they have  won five Latin Grammy Awards. Among their hits are songs about the plight of Latino immigrants: “El Tamal,” “La Jaula de Oro,” “Contrabando Y Traicion,” and “Tres Veces Mojado.”

“Tres Veces Mojado” (“Three Times a Wetback”) from 1989 is a  corrido (ballad) that vividly expresses the determination of an  immigrant to achieve legal status. “Wetback,” an ethnic slur originally applied to those  who swam rivers like the Rio Grande to freedom, takes on  special meaning here.

We learn this from the song’s opening words, which may be summarized as follows: “When I came from my country El Salvador in order to reach the United States, I knew I would need more than courage…I had three borders to cross…walked undocumented…three times I had to risk my life. So say I’m three times wet.”

The closing words speak of good fortune and express the spirit of dedication to the cause. “Luckily a Mexican called Juan gave me a hand….I’ve become legalized at last….I dedicate  my song to those, who like me, are wet three times.”

The emotional tone of the music is upbeat, conveying a transformative  power not unlike that of The Blues, which also carry an underlying message of survival and commitment to move on to a better place. An example of what is called Tejano or Norteno style, the song here  is strophic–that is, the melody is repeated  with each change of verses. At the same time, the song shows a unique kind of acculturation.  Its Polka beat and the use of the accordion reflect the long-term  effect of  Polish and German immigration to south Texas and Mexico that dates back to the late 19th century. As you will hear, it also tells a story.

This video by Los Tigres del Norte singing “Tres Veces Mojado” (“Three Times a Wetback”) turns the term “illegal immigrants” into people.

A personal note:  we live in a small town with a large immigrant Latino population. So we have some of the best Latino food in the area.  We also have an organization called Neighborhood Link, that provides services for the community. When we applied to volunteer there to bring music to their children’s programs, we were told that so many of the mothers were extremely depressed because of terrible things, including rape, they had suffered crossing the border. That raised our awareness of the high costs of their journey. Let’s hope those will soon become part of the past.

“Which is your favorite of all your musicals?” was one of the most frequent questions Richard Rodgers used to be asked. His answer always was Carousel  (1945). In his words:  “Oscar [Hammerstein II] never wrote more meaningful or more moving lyrics and, to me, my score is more satisfying than any I’ve ever written…. It affects me deeply every time I see it performed.”

The character strength of  HOPE, our choice for this month, is richly developed through the story of a carousel barker, Billy Bigelow, who grows from a childish braggart into a man who ultimately redeems his soul by instilling hope in the very people he hurts the most: the naive young millworker Julie Jordan, who becomes his wife, and Louise, the teenage daughter he meets only after his death.

Rodgers and Hammerstein beautifully dramatize this growth through their music and lyrics, especially in three defining songs: “If I Loved You,” “Soliloquy,” and “You’ll  Never Walk Alone.”

The first meeting of Billy and Julie, in an extended twelve-minute scene in the first act, centers around the duet,  “If I Loved You.”  Hammerstein famously called this a “conditional love song.” The troubled relationship between these two, which will lead to tragedy, is suggested in the music as well as the words. Although he follows the standard 32-bar structure common to many Broadway show tunes of the time (an AABA form made up of 8+8+8+8 measures), Rodgers’ mastery of melodic and harmonic writing creates a marvel  of  hesitation and ambivalence.

For instance, as you listen to the video,  notice that the opening two measures, which contain the hook “If I Loved You,” barely hint at the primary key of C in the  words “If I,”while the crucial actions words that follow–“loved you”–are harmonized with what is known in the trade as a diminished seventh chord (C, E-flat, F#, and A–the last the melody note). Significantly, this is a chord traditionally associated with tension and ambiguity. In fact, it is one of the musical cliches heard in silent movies when a damsel in distress, tied to the  railroad tracks, faces an oncoming train!  Also, in the bridge (B), Rodgers again superbly sets Hammerstein’s lyrics “Longin’  to tell you, but afraid and shy, I’d let my golden chances pass me by,” drawing upon sharp and flat keys that are relatively distant from his home key to continue this subtle tension.

A turning point in Billy’s growth comes at the end of the first act with  the unique “Soliloquy,” an extended rumination running to some seven and a half minutes  as he reflects on the wondrous thought that he is to be a father. In the grand tradition of Shakespeare’s soliloquies, it ‘s a remarkable dramatic construction moving from idea to idea, mood to mood. Beginning  in one emotional place, the song ends up in quite another.

He starts out daydreaming about a son who will live the kind of life Billy would have liked, who will be able to do whatever he wants and be successful at it. But slightly beyond the midpoint the music makes a sudden shift with the words, “Wait a minute ! Could it be –  ? What  the hell! What if he is a girl!”  And then a  key questions comes up  : “What could I do for her? A bum with no money!  You can have fun with a son, but you got to be a father to a girl!”  The tone of the song changes as the tempo becomes more driven, reflecting Billy’s desperate determination to provide for his daughter. In fact, his closing words foreshadow what is about to happen in the plot— “I never knew how to get money, but I’ll try–By God I’ll try! I’ll go out and make it  or steal it or take it or die !”  Listen to this tortuous emotional  journey which ends on such a dark note:

As those familiar with Carousel know, Billy spends the next seventeen years in Purgatory without much change in his view of himself. Then one day he is called to the Heavenly Accountant and told his daughter is in trouble and needs help from him.  He’ll be allowed to return to earth for one day only, to see what he can do for her.  He’s ambivalent about this until he sees his daughter for the first time and recognizes her pain. He tries to give her a star he has brought as a gift, to show her she is special to him. When she becomes frightened at this stranger’s insistence, and refuses to accept it, he slaps her as he used to slap her mother when he was frustrated. This is the old Billy who never knew how to handle his emotions.

But this time he stops himself from running away. He asks his guardian angel for more time to “make things right.” And he does. He goes to her high school graduation ceremony and stands invisibly beside her to whisper in her ear: “When you walk through a storm, keep your chin up high and don’t be afraid of the dark.”  She hears this as an inner voice and draws strength from it. He has given her something intangible yet precious to carry her through life.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” is stirring  song , meant to be sung “with great warmth, like a hymn.”  It builds gradually over the span of an octave and fifth, from middle C to the G atop  the treble staff, to reach its climax on the key words “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”  Its inspirational, confidence-building  power is of a piece with  other Rodgers and Hammerstein songs like   “Climb Every Mountain,”  (The Sound of Music ) and   “I Whistle a Happy Tune”  (The King and I). In so many of their works, they are  messengers of HOPE.

This Youtube selection follows the arc of the story we have described from beginning to end in a little over 12 minutes. Listen for the new words to “If I Loved You” in one of the last scenes, as Billy is at last able to express his love directly to Julie. Compare the first rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” sung just after Billy dies, with the final triumphant one as he stands with Louise and pours his love into her. For the first time he is able to feel a real sense of hope himself.  No wonder Richard Rodgers was so deeply affected!

From Josh: I spent the first 22 years of my life in South Africa, growing up under the apartheid regime. As part of my involvement in the student protest movement,  there were the inevitable brushes with the police and those strongly supporting government policy.  I soon became  painfully aware of how much  courage it takes to stand up for principles of equality in that kind of environment.

These memories of my formative years are very much on my mind as we examine the character strength of courage this month and see how it is expressed in the songs  of some iconic African musicians. In South Africa Miriam Makeba (1935-2008) was a role model for us all.  “Mama Africa” was the civil rights activist par excellence there, known for songs like “Pata Pata” and for her collaboration with Paul Simon in “Under African Skies,” sung at the African Concert in Zimbabwe in 1987–part of the celebrated Graceland album.

Here is a vintage video clip of that great performance:

Skin color is the most common  marker of racial differences. From an Afrocentric point of view, beauty is  most often  identified with degrees of blackness. As I point out in my book, The Louis Armstrong Companion, Ebony ran a feature by Armstrong in August 1954 entitled “Why I Like Dark Women”–a tell-all story about his four wives. In it he elaborated on his attraction to dark-skinned women, quoting the familiar phrase, “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice.”

In tragic contrast, African albinos have been–and continue to be–subjected to brutal acts of persecution and rampant killing because of their lack of skin pigment. For this reason we are here honoring Malian Afro-pop singer-songwriter Salif Keita (b. 1949), known as the “Golden Voice of Africa,” as a very special Profile in Courage.

Born an albino, he was seen as an omen of bad luck and was cast out by both his Mandinka family and his home town of Djoliba.  As a teenager he was able to make his way to the town of Bamako, across the Niger river to the northwest. There he joined the  popular government-sponsored Rail Band de Bamako. This started him on  the first rung of his ladder to success in West Africa and beyond. He moved to Paris in 1984, dividing his time since then between tours abroad and work in Bamako.

There is now a Salif Keita Global Foundation, a US-based non-profit that brings media  attention to the global plight of babies born albino. In Africa alone  the ratio is as high as 1 in 1,000. In the words of Salif Keita, their deaths happen “because they are black people who have white skin –whether it’s due to discrimination or the hot sun, they are in perpetual danger. Creating thoughts of love towards those with the condition is the first priority and the strongest power in changing the lives of those with albinism…. After that, every other change will have to follow automatically.”

Keita’s 2009 album with its title track, La Difference,  (“The Difference”) combines modern Malian pop with Western influences such as touches of American blues and the French chanson.  Set to a simple, catchy melody made up of a few well-chosen notes, the song  is gently passionate. Its lyrics are, symbolically, in three languages: French, Bambara, and Mandinka. It begins with the words, Je suis un noir, ma peau est blanche (“I am black , my skin is white”), and continues, “so I am white and my blood is black.” At  0:48, as you will hear, the song grows in intensity, culminating in the hopeful refrain, first heard at 1:22:  La vie sera belle, chacun a son tour aura son amour. (“Life will be beautiful, everyone in his turn will have [dignity and] love.”)

“La Difference” illustrates one of the many ways the virtue of Courage can be expressed in music  and can contribute to social change.  

Salif Keita, LA DIFFERENCE

This month we  focus on the character strength of  ZEST or VITALITY. This is a core quality to cultivate, especially if it doesn’t come naturally to you.  ZEST is associated with greater well being, a higher quality of life, better self care, more positive engagement with the world–all things that protect your brain’s health.

Music can energize you, even if you do not easily feel zestful. When you pick the right kind of music,  exercise is more effective for your body, your spirits lift, your mind becomes more alert.

As you listen to the music we have chosen to give you an experience of ZEST, notice the changes to your own body, mind and spirit. What kinds of music energize you?

It’s worth tuning in to your own responses and making more conscious listening choices to increase your zest level.

Georges Bizet (1838-1875) is one of those remarkable musical geniuses who, like Mozart, Mendelssohn,  and Pergolesi, died too young.  And like them, ironically, he produced some of the most sparkling music we know. One of the greatest ironies of his brief life was that he died shortly after the catastrophic premiere of  his opera CARMEN–so he did not know it would become so beloved, one of his greatest successes.

He began his composing career in 1855 with a spectacular piece that does not seem to have been played in public until 1935.  He apparently held it back because of his anxiety about competing with his mentor, Charles Gounod. As he later wrote to Gounod: “You were the beginning of my life as an artist. I can now admit I was afraid of  being  absorbed.”

This work, his Symphony in C–the only symphony he ever wrote–is an absolute gem. As you will hear, it is rhythmically vibrant and full of beguiling melodies.

Amazingly, he composed it when he was still  a  student at the Paris Conservatory. He started  it on October  29, 1855, four days after his seventeenth  birthday, and completed it by the end of  that November!

Written in the springtime of his life, it is full of youthful brio. You’ll feel your blood warm up and your spirits rise from the first notes of the exuberant work.

Here is the perky first movement. Listen for the contrasting lyrical second theme spotlighting the oboe.

The second movement, the  Adagio, is essentially a gorgeous solo serenade for oboe. There is a contrasting middle section where the strings soar with a beautiful melodic line that anticipates what Bizet will do later in Carmen. A fugato eventually brings you gently back to a reprise of the opening oboe melody, now deliciously accompanied by pizzicato strings.

The third movement is an earthy uptempo number. In the trio section, Bizet injects a folk idiom, with the melody going through its turns over a drone.

The finale is a wonderful mix of  fluttering and lilting melodies, recalling in spirit the recently composed Midsummer Night’s Dream by Mendelssohn, which the young Bizet had probably heard.

You can find the next 3 movements at this url:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh97WKonKZU

Music is, by its very nature, Creative. We could illustrate this truism with a thousand pieces. But–to keep your brain stimulated by taking you out of your comfort zone–we have made a pick that you might at first react to with a loud “Not!”

See if Josh can convince you to listen with different ears to our selection:

Thinking back to the decade of the 60’s and its many fierce struggles around such issues as civil rights, the Viet Nam War, and drugs, one piece of popular music is still a standout–serenely positive,  clean, zestful, and thoroughly innovative:  the Beach Boys “Good Vibrations.” With music by Brain Wilson and lyrics by Mike Love, this song from late 1966 reached Number One on the charts and has remained the iconic song of this California group.

You might not realize it at first, but nearly every aspect of “Good Vibrations” is unusual, from the vocal arrangement and the chords used to the overall form. Especially striking is the otherworldly sound in parts of  the song, created by the use  of the electro-theremin— an  adaptation of a strange new instrument called the theremin, named after a Russian inventor of the 1920’s and 30’s. The  original theremin was  a space-controlled electronic instrument,  with two metal antennas connected to oscillators. These antennas responded to the motion and position of the two hands, the right hand controlling pitch, the left, volume. Movies such as The Day the Earth Stood Still  and Spellbound famously include its eerie sounds in their soundtracks.

Now, the use of the electro-theremin in “Good Vibrations”  is part of  an inspiring back  story  that has prompted me to write about it  in the first place–a  story about resilience, creativity and inter-generational influence.

A little over a month ago, the last surviving member of the Glenn Miller Band, Paul  Tanner,  passed away at 95. After the break-up of the Miller band, Tanner did a lot of Hollywood studio work  and then, in 1956 at 39, he enrolled at UCLA, earned a graduate degree there and joined the teaching faculty. Around that time, his interest in electronic music led to the invention of the electro-theremin,  a more user-friendly version of the Russian original.

With its keyboard combined with a slide bar for pitch control,  it soon caught on among movie composers—it is used in the 1964 film Strait-Jacket with Joan Crawford, for instance–and young rock musicians like Brain Wilson, 25 years Tanner’s junior, took to it as well.

As you listen to a YouTube performance of “Good Vibrations,” listen carefully for the electro-theremin.  To help you discover the creativity to be found in this piece, I have provided a listening outline, adapted from a superb pop  music survey text I cannot praise highly enough–Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman’s American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3. (Oxford University Press, 2010).

LISTENING GUIDE

0:00           A    Lyric: “I love colorful clothes..” Sung in  a high solo voice, accompanied by organ, flutes, and eventually percussion. Minor key.

0:30           B    …….: “I’m picking up good vibrations.” Bass voice enters, accompanied by cello, theremin, percussion, then rest of group. Major key.

0:55            A ……….”Close my eyes, she’s somehow closer now.” Like opening “A.”

1:20            B………. “I’m picking up good vibrations.”  Like preceding “B.”

1:46            C…….soft humming, then “I don’t know where, but she sends me there…” Steady pulse as tensions builds; unstable

Instrumental interlude featuring organ  and percussion,  in new key. Sense of being in church.

2:19           D……”Gotta keep those lovin’ good vibrations happenin’ with her. ” Solo voice, then group, with organ accompaniment. Text repeats, then fades out   as   organ finishes section.

2:56          Transition……”Aah!”….. Sound gradually builds

3:30          Variation on B….”I’m picking up good vibrations…” Full group singing in major key; then voices drop out, leaving cello and theremin. They are joined by percussion before fading out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes we dismiss popular music rightly as banal, repetitious, simplistic. Yet, developing our ability to discriminate the trivial from the good and great in any area of music–and life– is a key to keeping us open to new ideas, feelings, and sources of CREATIVITY in ourselves. That is one major way we can stay ageless.