Popular ethnic music in Figure Skating? | Page 6 | Golden Skate

Popular ethnic music in Figure Skating?

VickB

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2020
Country
Canada
The female Arabian singer and theater works of Fairouz is legendary..
Hanna El Sekran would be excellent to dance to and skate to.
🇱🇧 👸 👑


Dance ..
💃 🕺 OR ⛸️ ⛸️

Translation

From Legacy site.....


Although Christian (Greek Orthodox) and Lebanese, her songs were adopted by all sides in the Civil War (1975–90), be they Christian or Muslim, Lebanese, Palestinian, or Syrian. To avoid the appearance of taking sides, she did not perform in the country during the war, only abroad

Honors and awards
From Wikipedia....


See also: List of awards received by Fairuz
For decades, most radio stations in the Arab world have started their morning broadcast with a Fairuz song, and her songs were wildly popular during the Lebanese Civil War, as the people could expect to hear a patriotic melody of peace and love.The Guardian stated that "she sang the story of a Lebanon that never really existed" and "essentially helped build the identity of Lebanon, just 14 years after it became an independent country." Fairuz is held in high regard in Lebanese culture because, in a region divided by many conflicts and opinions, she acts as a symbol of unity.In 1997, Billboard stated "even after five decades at the top, [Fairuz] remains the supreme Diva of Lebanon".In 1999, The New York Times described her as "a living icon without equal" and stated that her emergence as a singer paralleled Lebanon's transformation from a backwater to the vibrant financial and cultural heart of the Arab world.[80]

In a 2008 article, BBC described her as "the legendary Lebanese singer and greatest living Arab diva".In an article about world music, The Independent stated, "All young female singers in this region seem to be clones of her" and that "she's such an important artist that you have to get to grips with her".

Fairuz has been honored by many countries, such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Tunisia, the United States, Egypt, and France, in which François Mitterrand awarded her the Order of Arts and Letters in 1988 and Jacques Chirac first awarded her the Legion of Honour in 1998
 

BlissfulSynergy

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Country
Olympics
When Arlet Levandi of Estonia first burst onto the junior skating scene in 2021-2022, he skated his sp to a Carmen rendition arranged by French artist, Stromae (whose music Levandi also skated to for his exhibition). He also wore a unique, 'ethnic-flavored' sp costume.


Levandi uses a lot of so-called 'ethnic music' from French artists, Stromae, and Armand Amar, along with music by Japanese composer, Shigeru Umebayashi (Yumeji's Theme). In addition, Levandi has skated to Baïkal (from In the Forests of Siberia) by Ibrahim Maalouf, as well as to music by Philip Glass as performed by Vikingur Ólafsson. Benoit Richaud has often created choreo for Levandi. His other choreographers have been Vakhtang Murvanidze, Florent Amodio, and himself (mostly for his exhibition programs).

Even though the funky soul music of James Brown, used by a number of skaters, is considered popular western music, it is obviously derived from African beats, rhythms, blues, and soul. Rap and jazz are also ethnic genres, although also considered popular western music. In many ways, all music is 'ethnic.' We just tend to place labels on music derived from different ethnic groups, which have varied, yet often similar, cultural influences and origins.
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
I remember there was one season when Evgeny Plushenko skated to "Hava Nagila." This is music you would normally hear @ a Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebration (after the religious services) or @ a Jewish wedding reception (I've even heard it played @ baseball games). I didn't see that one coming!
 

sadya

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Country
Netherlands
Hava Nagila has also been used by Abitbol/Bernadis during their 1995/1996 LP:

Abitbol & Bernadis (FRA) - 1996 Continents Cup, Figure Skating, Pair's Free Skate


Shmerkin skated to it as well. I think I saw 70s or 80s skaters using Hava Nagila, but perhaps my memory is wrong in this.


I just asked ChatGPT:
In the 1970s and 1980s, several figure skaters used "Hava Nagila," a traditional Jewish folk song, in their routines. Some notable skaters who incorporated this music into their programs during that era include:

  1. Cathy Lee Irwin (USA) - Cathy Lee Irwin, an American figure skater, used "Hava Nagila" in her free skating program at the 1973 World Figure Skating Championships.
  2. Janet Lynn (USA) - Janet Lynn, one of the most artistic and expressive skaters of her time, performed to "Hava Nagila" during an exhibition in the early 1970s. While this wasn't part of her competitive programs, her exhibition performances were quite influential and popular.

I don't remember Janet Lynn skating to Hava Nagila and now I'm curious. I'm not familiar with the skating of Cathy Lee Irwin.
I asked ChatGPT about the decades before the 70s:
(...)
However, there are a few notable examples of skaters who did use "Hava Nagila" in their performances before the 1970s:

  1. Jackie Cabasso (USA) - Jackie Cabasso, an American skater, is perhaps the earliest recorded figure skater to have performed to "Hava Nagila" in competition. She used the music for her free skating program at the 1967 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. This performance is notable as it predates the more widespread use of "Hava Nagila" in figure skating.
  2. Alena Vrzanova (Aja Zanova) (Czechoslovakia) - Alena Vrzanova, known as Aja Zanova, was a two-time World Champion in 1949 and 1950. While there is no specific record of her using "Hava Nagila" in a competitive program, she was known for her diverse musical selections during exhibitions. It's possible she could have used folk music, including "Hava Nagila," in exhibitions or non-competitive performances, but there's no specific documentation.
Before the 1970s, figure skating programs often featured classical music and waltzes, reflecting the more formal nature of the sport at that time. The transition to more diverse music choices, including folk and popular songs like "Hava Nagila," began in the 1960s and 1970s as the sport evolved to include more expressive and theatrical performances. (...)


On a different note, is Zorba the Greek considered ethnic music? I have no knowledge of traditional Greek music, to me it's ethnic (someone correct me if I'm wrong):

[HD] Nicole Bobek - 1998 Nagano Olympics - SP​


Romanova & Yaroshenko (UKR) - 1996 World Figure Skating Championships, Free Dance​

 
Last edited:

BlissfulSynergy

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Country
Olympics
When Arlet Levandi of Estonia first burst onto the junior skating scene in 2021-2022, he skated his sp to a Carmen rendition arranged by French artist, Stromae (whose music Levandi also skated to for his exhibition). He also wore a unique, 'ethnic-flavored' sp costume.


Levandi uses a lot of so-called 'ethnic music' from French artists, Stromae, and Armand Amar, along with music by Japanese composer, Shigeru Umebayashi (Yumeji's Theme). In addition, Levandi has skated to Baïkal (from In the Forests of Siberia) by Ibrahim Maalouf, as well as to music by Philip Glass as performed by Vikingur Ólafsson. Benoit Richaud has often created choreo for Levandi. His other choreographers have been Vakhtang Murvanidze, Florent Amodio, and himself (mostly for his exhibition programs).

Even though the funky soul music of James Brown, used by a number of skaters, is considered popular western music, it is obviously derived from African beats, rhythms, blues, and soul. Rap and jazz are also ethnic genres, although also considered popular western music. In many ways, all music is 'ethnic.' We just tend to place labels on music derived from different ethnic groups, which have varied, yet often similar, cultural influences and origins.
LOL at some posters' reactions to my comments. Ya know, there's always something new to learn. I'm excited about taking a Music History class at a local university this fall semester, taught by a professor who is from Switzerland, but he's had an interesting, eclectic background in life and in his academic studies. 😃
 

BlissfulSynergy

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Country
Olympics
When Arlet Levandi of Estonia first burst onto the junior skating scene in 2021-2022, he skated his sp to a Carmen rendition arranged by French artist, Stromae (whose music Levandi also skated to for his exhibition). He also wore a unique, 'ethnic-flavored' sp costume.
What a way to circumvent the warhorse same old, same old! I did not even truly realize that Levandi had been skating to a uniquely arranged version of Carmen. 😂
 

saine

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2023
Country
Canada
I'll add in programs that use music by Jeremy Dutcher, who sings in Wolastoq to help preserve the language:

Nexxice Sr - Mehcinut

Lily Hensen/Nathan Lickers - Oqiton; Pomok naka Potkoinskwes; Honor Song
 

VickB

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2020
Country
Canada
Artasak Part 3
🇦🇲⛸️
Oksana Baiul

Peter Gabriel

And his explanations...
 
Last edited:

Diana Delafield

Frequent flyer
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2022
Country
Canada
BTW, the one who changed header is not me.
'ethnic music' is not my word of choice.

I can not judge if this generalization is suitable.
It's like arguments about accent in linguistics. Everyone speaks their own language with an accent, but the common attitude is that having an accent means "my language as spoken by anyone from some other region or whose first language was something different". Every country's music is ethnic, the adjective is just commonly used to mean "music from another country than mine". In an earlier post I mentioned Scottish music. I'm Scottish myself and that's the music I first heard, and first learned as a dancer along with all my other little friends. Now that I've lived in Canada for most of my life, I hear it as "ethnic music".

It seems in this thread as if we're using ethnic to mean non-Western, or even non-North American, preferably something that sounds exotic to our ears, like Asian or Middle Eastern, played on instruments from those parts of the world. Indigenous music from North America is getting included just because it "sounds different". Not standard pop music played everywhere on this continent for decades.
 
Last edited:

saine

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2023
Country
Canada
Indigenous music from North America is getting included just because it "sounds different". Not standard pop music played everywhere on this continent for decades.
Since I used Indigenous music as an example, I want to clarify my thought process in including it. I'll go back to a line on the first page of the thread that made me think of those examples, concerning Yuzuru Hanyu's Seimei:
But has it really encouraged others to use more ethnic music rooted in their own cultural traditions? I wonder.
I thought of the Hensen/Lickers program since it was an example of this as Nathan Lickers is from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation. It's an example of a skater using music rooted in their culture, though maybe not inspired by Yuzuru.

So for me, it doesn't mean 'does it sound different?' But does it pay tribute to cultural traditions? And does it do so in an appropriate way if it is not the cultural traditions of the skater? Nexxice worked with Jeremy Dutcher in creating their program to ensure that. But it could easily go wrong if care isn't taken.
 

lariko

Medalist
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
Canada
But it could easily go wrong if care isn't taken.
The trouble is who is to judge if care was taken, and if it went wrong. No one culture is monolith, let alone the artistic elite of that culture (and let's face it, most creatives think that their own presentation is the best and love to nitpick despite in most cases doing the same things), and polarized, angry opinions is the flavor of our times. On top of it, FS by necessity has to adopt the theme to present it to the world audience and the judging panel, individual interpretation of the music and style along with the skater's degree of talent... then, there is a costume, which is its own can of worms. Some renditions of classical ballets lift the costuming straight out of the era of gleeful colonial consumption of the other cultures (not to mention 19th century take on fanservice) that are directly opposite to current views on appropriation and white-washing. The acrimony around the own voice seems to have settled a little lately, but it was a nerve-wrecking, uncertain times for content creators, when accusations were flying and peeps got canceled, creating the dogma of 'do research!' while there was no institution that certified that the sufficient research was done to protect a creator from the social media vitriol by vocal crusaders that freaks out everyone who likes what was presented just fine. Until the times are more conductive to cooperation and forgiveness of mistakes, anything--for the lack of a better term--unsafe ethnic, for a culture that is known to be guarded about appropriation, is a high-risk, high-reward.
 
Last edited:

Flying Feijoa

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Country
New-Zealand
Popping back into this thread to see if anything's changed...
Would 'ethnic' as used here simply be more precisely termed 'folk' or 'folk music-influenced'?
 

denise3lz

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 10, 2018
Country
Japan
I wonder if anyone ever skated to Um Kulthoum.
Just saying.
Egyptian skater Hannah DABEES at JGP Riga skated to Enta Omry.
(Actually, she skated same SP in JGP Bangkok last season. Unfortunately stream was trouble that time.)

According to ISU Bio, she skated to two modern renditions.
Dj Hijazi feat Noel Kharman - Desert Rose Enta Omry
Hiba Tawaji - Enta Omri/Elli ya habibi / هبه طوجي - انت عمري/ قللي يا حبيبي

Wikipedia Inta_Omri
Original version Umm Kulthum - Enta Omry
 
Last edited:

VickB

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2020
Country
Canada
Alabina / Ishtar Part 1
🇱🇧 👸 👑 💪 Legend

Esther "Eti" Zach
(Hebrew):known by her stage name Ishtar is a French-Israeli vocalist who performs in Arabic, Hebrew, Bulgarian, French, Spanish, Russian and English. She is best known for her work as the front vocalist of the French-based band Alabina.

Song habibi de mis amores (habibi ya nour el ein)

Dance 💃 🕺 OR ⛸️ ⛸️ ...


Dance 💃 🕺 ...


Translation...
 

lariko

Medalist
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
Canada
Surprised that nobody had mentioned it, but the young Japanese duo just skated an ID to the anime(adjacent) music (One Piece), and it was a blast. It was a great decision by their team.
 

denise3lz

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 10, 2018
Country
Japan
Surprised that nobody had mentioned it, but the young Japanese duo just skated an ID to the anime(adjacent) music (One Piece), and it was a blast. It was a great decision by their team.
Though the music is not Japanese product.
 

VickB

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2020
Country
Canada
Despina Vandi Part 1
The Greek Superstar
🇬🇷 🔥 🔥 🔥

⛸️ ⛸️ OR 💃 🕺

[Official Video]

Mix

Translation
 

CaroLiza_fan

MINIOL ALATMI REKRIS · EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Ah, since we have reached Greek music, may I throw my tuppence in.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou

There are versions of the traditional song "Misirlou" in quite a few languages across the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Here is the Cypriot singer Anna Vissi singing the Greek version four years ago:

Anna Vissi - "Lambo" and "Misirlou" medley

(This performance is actually a medley of two songs. The links take you directly to the start of each song).

And here she is doing a more up-tempo arrangement of the Greek version when she was younger, at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony:

Anna Vissi - "Misirlou"

It is the instrumental track that Anna is singing to that is most often skated to.

Here is a different instrumental version which I love, performed at the 2018 BBC Proms In The Park in Glasgow:

The Ayoub Sisters and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra - "Misirlou"

This is very appropriate to the story that the song tells. Sarah and Laura Ayoub are Egyptian girls that were born in Glasgow.

And especially for you @VickB , here is the Arabic version performed by somebody who is Lebanese:

Maestro Clovis - "Ya Amal"

Enjoy!

CaroLiza_fan
 
Top