Music has evolved and undergone through many stages since it first started. In the ancient times, music was majorly drum-based, percussion instruments such as sticks and rocks since they were the instruments that were readily available. Music was majorly used for religious purposes in the past. There were no notations or written music in these times. However, the evolution of music and instruments has been steady. Egyptians had created flutes and harps by 4000 BC. The Hittites first used the guitar, which is one of the most popular instruments used today in music, in 1500 BC. The first recovered music was found in 800 BC, which was written in cuneiform. Pope Gregory of the Catholic Church built the first musical school in Europe in 600 BC. Several styles of music have since then evolved with different composition and purposes other than those for which music was first intended.
A combination of music and imagery has lately been used in music to produce video versions of the music we listen to. Some videos have synchronized images that correspond to the music that is played. This combination of music and video has its importance in entertaining and informing the viewers. When the imagery corresponds to the music, viewers often get the messages better and understand the intended purposes of the particular piece of music. However, in some pieces of music, the messages heard through the lyrics of the music and the imagery used are isolated or even contradict. These types of music serve a wide a range of purposes. They inform or entertain people through their lyrics and the imagery while covering a wide range of information.
For the purposes of this assignment, I chose a song done by Romain Virgo and Etana; VP Records produce the song, which is from the Serve and Protect Riddim (YouTube 2013). This type of music – riddims has been most commonly used in the recent society. The song that I chose – Who Feels it knows it – talks about the hard struggles of life that people go through in the current societies. Just as the title of the song explains, only the people that go through these struggles in life know the pain that they bear and all that they go through in their life. I chose this particular song since it has a good message and the imagery used in the video is consistent with the lyrics of the music.
The song begins with a dedication to all the hard working people in the streets and the image that is shown of a man weighing fish to sell, and a taxi man. This song also says at the beginning that some people do not know what it feels like, which implies that those who do white color jobs do not know what it feels like to work in the blue color industry and would always despise these people who work hard to earn a living.
The most evident imagery used in the video is a landlord and a female tenant who knows that her landlord would be coming to collect the rent, which she cannot raise, the lady locks herself inside the house with her child so that the landlord could not find them when he eventually shows up. The lyrics used in this respect are consistent with the imagery. Towards the end of the video, the artist again repeats the lyrics about the landlord and the tenant who hid in her house so that she could not pay rent. At this point, the expression on the face of the landlord and the comments he makes indicates that it is not easy even for the property owners. This shows that there is interdependence between the poor and the rich. The poor need the rich as well as the rich need the poor. If the peasants cannot pay for the bills which are imposed on them by the well of members of the society, even these property owners would eventually suffer since their properties would not assist them.
The artist mentions farmers as having to struggle in their farms to have the produce, which they rely on. In the video, as the artist makes a mention of this, a farmer is also shown in hi farm working very hard. Additionally when he mentions taxi business, the taxicab operators are shown. These combinations of imager and lyrics would help any viewer who might not clearly understand the lyrics to figure a slight idea of what the song talks about and the message it intends to pass.
Generally, throughout this video, the artist explains almost everything that he sings in the lyrics through the imagery. The artist uses this synchronization in order for the listeners and the viewers to have a clear message that he intends to pass to this audience. This video can even be watched by a person with hearing impairments and derive an idea of the message that the artist is passing out to the audience. It is important to synchronize the lyrics with the imagery in music. Nevertheless, certain artists and producers would decide otherwise according to what purpose they intend their music to serve.
Work cited:
Romain Virgo & Etana: Who feels it knows it. YouTube. Web. 3 April 2013
