It’s Harder Than You’d Think

Time, I think, for a little test of musical discernment. So, Korean or Hasidic? 

Comments

[David]

7/10, before you ask.

[Dom]

6/10. But ALL of it sounded Korean to me. I just threw in a few Hasidic guesses.

[Alice]

Also...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGZV6fsotYo

[John D]

4/10.

Gutted.

[David]

Also...

Heh. I keep meaning to track down some reruns of Frasier. Up until around the arrival of Daphne’s mother, it was reliably good.

[Jon Powers]

3/10. Correction booth?

[David]

3/10. Correction booth?

I’m in a forgiving mood. Even, dare I say, jolly.

[R. Sherman]

5/10, but one of those correct responses resulted from my accidently hitting the "Korean" button instead of "play." What do I win for honesty?

[Tom]

6/10 and it was entirely luck.

The couple I thought were definitely Hasidic were most definitely not Hasidic. I was gunshy by track 4 and started to second-guess myself.

Waiting for the K-Pop\H-Pop crossovers now...

[Dom]

"Up until around the arrival of Daphne’s mother, it was reliably good.". I loved. Daphne's mother, but I thought the drunken brother was amazingly good.

Guest: Hello Roz Are you still producing?
Daphne's brother: She sure is!

[David]

Waiting for the K-Pop\H-Pop crossovers now...

I think I’d fare better on a K-Pop test, albeit unintentionally. The Other Half has been mastering foreign tongues, a process that entails our car journeys being enlivened with the popular beat combos of the mysterious East.

The time does fly.

[George]

... the popular beat combos of the mysterious East.

My teenage daughters had me listening to that very song a couple of weeks ago. Not too bad actually, although your Korean or Hasidic? selection was pretty much generic globocheese that could have been produced pretty much anywhere East of the Balkans...

[Jen]

Cheese or font?

http://cheeseorfont.com/

(Actually I think I found this here ages ago.)

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

...generic globocheese that could have been produced pretty much anywhere East of the Balkans...

Globocheese that could have been produced anywhere. With the exceptions of 5 and 7, all of the selections used western scales and a ton and a half of effects. Traditional Jewish music is generally built around what is the harmonic minor (and its modes) in "western" music, whereas traditional Korean has a six note scale with no [western] second, or seventh, and a flat third (or not - there are only two variants). The Korean with the flat third is fun to slip in when someone is expecting that you are going to play a straight pentatonic.

Regardless - some traditional Jewish music with so much cultural appropriation you'll plotz.

[George]

@Farnsworth M Muldoon

My reference to 'East of the Balkans' wasn't prompted by the structure of the music but by the instrumentation and sounds. Nobody in the 'West' (certainly nobody with a recording contract) has made stuff like that for decades. My initial reaction was to think "I could imagine all of these being played at Borat's wedding".

[Farnsworth M. Muldoon]

Nobody in the 'West' (certainly nobody with a recording contract) has made stuff like that for decades.

Well, if you added in a little more horns and electric piano, you'd find yourself in the middle of a Eurovision Song Contest, but I guess they don't have contracts - yet. The stuff also sounds like a lot of the cheesier (but not Velveetish) noise out of Latin America, but I'm with you on the music for Borat.

[WTP]

4/10. I might as well be deaf.

[David]

East of the Balkans...

And don’t forget the ditty named Balkan Hot Step.

[Trevor]

... the popular beat combos of the mysterious East.

A belated thanks from me. You first posted this rather charming ditty under Friday Ephemera, I think. I was so taken with it that I sought out similar items, and in doing so happened upon another product of Korea whose simple life-affirming essence brings me much joy: meet Emily Kim, aka Maangchi.

[David]

Maangchi

And speaking of Korean cooking, don’t forget the odd social phenomenon of Mukbang.

[Sporkatus]

Apropos of the current topic somewhat, how is the access to Korean food in your area, David? I (in the US) don't have much in the immediate area, but when I was in college there was quite a grand Korean supermarket nearby (in Atlanta) and I typically visit when I'm seeing friends there to load up on supplies.

[David]

how is the access to Korean food in your area, David?

So far as I’m aware there’s one decent Korean restaurant in the centre of town, which I haven’t tried but comes recommended, and a handful of other places that aren’t specifically Korean but include Korean dishes on the menu.

There is, happily, an excellent Thai place just up the road.

[Sporkatus]

Good Korean dishes to start with other than kimchi (which they'll serve you anyway) would be bulgogi, bibimpap, and kalbi, the first and last being "Korean barbecue" and more or less Korean barbecue ribs. "Bibimpap" is basic meat and vegetables served alongside rice, usually with doenjang (spicy fermented bean paste) on the side.

There are also some rather nice Korean soups and things, dumplings (either fried or steamed - yakimandu or gunmandu), and so on. Also seasoned rice served in an egg skin, and things like that.

Bulgogi is actually quite easy to do at home for the lazy, if one can find a market selling the marinade premixed and thin-sliced pork or beef.

[David]

Bulgogi is actually quite easy to do at home

Given my cooking and its limits, it’s easier to get in the car and have someone else do it, properly.

[Farnsworth M. Muldoon]

...the first and last being "Korean barbecue"...

OTOH, Korean girls try American BBQ, and former North Koreans try American BBQ.

[David]

See, now I’m hungry.

[Sporkatus]

See, now I’m hungry.

My own hunger was responsible for at least some of this. Skipped breakfast, I did.

[PiperPaul]

Kimchi!

[ACTOldFart]

While we are discussing all things Korean, let's not forget one of David's discoveries, Luna Lee and her Gayageum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfOHjeI-Bns

[Captain Nemo]

6/10. I'm quite pleased with that.