Word Music Blog Week #1

1. Title: Insensatez

2. Performer: Wes Montgomery

3. Culture of origin: Portuguese

4. Instrumentation: Guitar, drums, strings

This performance of what is not considered a jazz standard, is a bossa nova native to Portugal, even though bossa nova itself is native to Brazil. Pedagogically, bossa nova is a combination of native samba music, and a form of cool jazz from California during the 20th century. Bossa nova contains repetitive rhythms based on syncopation and back beats, which are easily attributed as bossa nova among performing musicians and composers. This very distinct characteristic and rhythmic combination is what drives ethnomusicologists in their study of different music and different cultures. This wealth of information drives music pedagogy in the same way, in which our knowledge of such rhythmic characteristics and their application drive further competition and creation of music: