SUPER-MEGA-ULTRA COMPARISON OF… drum roll please…

1. SUPER-MEGA-ULTRA COMPARISON OF…drum roll please… Habanera-George Bizet vs. Gipsy kings

2. DEMOGRAPHICS • Population : 112,336,538 • Ethnicities: Mestizos,, Arabs, Africans, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans • Religions: 84% Catholic, 5.2% Protestant, .05% Jewish, 2.1% “Non-Evangical Biblical” • Land Mass: 1,972,550 sq. mile (55.7 per sq. km) • Geographical Influence: Agricultural society due to ancient indigenous peoples domesticated corn. • Politics, Socioeconomic, Religious influence: NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) trading route led to mass immigration. The result of the immigration resulted in a flow of religions from all over the world. The politics were greatly influenced from the Mexican Rev. resulting in a Federal Representative Republic (much like America’s)

3. Flamenco music • Flamenco is a folk art and culture originating from Spain • Flamenco music originated from Spain but has spread to areas based off of the Latin American culture (i.e. Mexico, South America) • Flamenco music has common time signatures of cut time(2/2), 3/4, and 4/4 • Bem Bem Maria being: 2/2 (cut time) • …

4. instruments • Flamenco guitar: • Voice: • Dance: • (Flamenco is also, in the Latin American culture, referred as an emotion that can be expressed in a number of ways such as song, dance, and language.)

5. Biography • The Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, who perform in Spanish with an Andalucía accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, they are known for bringing Rumba Catalana, a pop-oriented music derived from traditional flamenco music, to worldwide audiences. • They were first known as Los Reyes, they traveled in a gipsy lifestyle, so, they adopted the name Gipsy Kings, though not gaining as big a crowd as wanted. • Their father being a world renowned flamenco artist, Jose Reyes, led to their wanting to continue a musical art that had spread throughout the family. • Their most prominent works being, Djobi Djoba, Bamboleo, and the romantic ballad, Un Armor. This album made them spread their notoriety to Africa, Europe, and the middle east. • Bem Bem Maria being a song that prolonged their popularity and has also changed the face of the modern flamenco genre.

6. Bem bem maria • *(1) (repeat) • Don't go away, come back now • don't leave me • don't tell me, ole, • the same way as a little girl • Don't go away, come back now • don't leave me • don't tell me, ole, • the same way that you already abandoned me • *(1) • Well, well, well, Maria I love you • well, well, ...... Maria I adore you • change, • ay, don't deceive me • that precise lie • I already know that you have already abandoned me • Main focus is want of love and affection • - Contemplating love

7. George Bizet • Born in France in 1838 and died in 1875 • Noted for being an outstanding pianist • Achieved few successes during his lifetime • Diverted from classical opera to establish a new “feel” to the operatic genre • Was bold in his works resulting in the repression of publicizing his work Carmen, which was about betrayal and murder • Won the prestigious award of Prix de Rome (a scholarship for students in the arts) • After his death, his works were, apart from Carmen, neglected. They gained greater popularity from performances in the latter 20th century

8. George Bizet’s Habanera • Habanera is a song from the world renowned opera Carmen. Unfortunately, it didn’t reach its popularity until the death of Bizet. Bizet died of a heart attack, aged 36, on 3 June 1875, never knowing how popular Carmen would become. In October 1875 it was produced in Vienna, to critical and popular success, which began its path to worldwide popularity. It was not staged again at the Opera Cacique until 1883. • Bizet's final opera not only transformed the opera cacique genre that had been static for half a century, it virtually killed it. Within a few years, the traditional distinction between opera (serious, heroic and declamatory) and opera cacique (light-hearted, bourgeois and conversational with spoken dialogue) disappeared. Moreover, Carmen nourished a movement that was to win both celebrity and notoriety first in Italy and then elsewhere.

9. COMPARISON • BEM BEM MARIA • 2/2 time signature • Use of eighth note slurs • Homophonic • Performed with traditional Spanish instruments (flamenco guitar, maracas, vocals, and piano) • Has one form of sheet music • 100 BPM • 4 notes per measure • Stays in f minor • HABANERA • 2/4 time signature • Little use of ties for eighth notes and sixteenth notes • 66-72 BPM • 5-7 notes per measure • Changes from Dm to DM (d minor to d major) • WHAT’S ALIKE? • Both about betrayal of love • Both have the same counting structure • Both originate from French descent • Both deviate from classical forms of their genre