New Uniqueness, Crossover Music
New Uniqueness, Crossover Music
  • Reporter Park Min-young
  • 승인 2015.09.09 20:15
  • 댓글 0
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We are living in an increasingly global society. We can watch a football game played on the opposite side of the Earth and easily make foreign friends. In this context, various kinds of genres inevitably intermingle. Already, mixing between the east and the west such as fusion cuisines holds a special place in people’s heart. In the same way, various genres of music are being mixed and charming people’s ears. This is, fusion music.
"Fusion" is the mixing of different qualities, ideas, or things to create something new. Fusion music is the music formed by mixing 2 or more genres. “Crossover” is a synonym of fusion and refers to a type of fusion that combines various genres of music. Because music is invisible and can maximize imagination, it has wide field for making crossover. Music can be translated with a dichotomous view. Art music and popular music, elegant music and conventional music, high class and low class music, etc. are examples. Therefore, when these different properties are mixed, crossover in music can show fine effects.
Around the globe, classical music is most often mixed with other genres. Rock or jazz musicians can generally play classical music. Also, classical musicians can play other kinds of music genres. For example, violinist Nigel Kennedy played Jimmi Hendrix’s electric guitar music. A guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen also played Niccolo Paganini’s violin concerto. Many classical musicians break genre boundaries to create fusion music. This mixing of genres creates a new mood that could not be found in classical music or any other single genre.
On top of the music previously mentioned, there are countless kinds of crossovers. Crossover doesn’t only refer to pop music. It surpasses pop music. For example, a vocalist may join a pop singer. Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor, sang the song titled "Panis Angelicus" with Sting, Gordon Matthew Sumner. Pavarotti’s skilled vocal music utterance and Sting’s misty voice harmonize well. Sting’s music has very wide repertories. With these repertories, he overcomes the pop music area and makes fusion with Arabian music, Indian music, and so on.
In Korea, many Koreans, especially the youth, tend to prefer popular music like Idol music to traditional or classic music. So, it is challenging to make traditional or classic music popular among people. Recently, however, traditional music is frequently used in crossover music. This overcomes the limits of traditional music in a capitalist society and increases its popularity among people including the youth. Around the world, the Internet and electronic equipments enable listeners to choose various music genres. They can put classical music as well as pop music into their phones. They listen to various genres of music alternately and simultaneously, which can be a starting point for new crossovers.