"Funky" redirects here. For other uses, see Funk (disambiguation).
| Funk | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Soul music with a greater emphasis on beats, influences from rhythm and blues, jazz, and psychedelic rock |
| Cultural origins | Mid 1960s,[1] United States |
| Typical instruments | Bass guitar – Electric guitar – Drums – Keyboards (Hammond organ, clavinet, synthesizer) – Horns – Congas |
| Mainstream popularity | late 1960s to early 1980s |
| Derivative forms | Disco – Hip hop – Boogie – Electro – Contemporary R&B – House music – New jack swing – Liquid funk |
| Subgenres | |
| Go-go – P-Funk – Deep funk – Nu-funk (complete list) |
|
| Fusion genres | |
| Afrobeat – Funk metal – Funk rock – Jazz funk – Acid jazz – G-funk – Go-go – Funky house – UK funky | |
| Other topics | |
| Musicians | |
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord, distinguishing it from R&B and soul songs, which are centered on chord progressions.
Like much African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands sometimes have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic "hits".
Many of the most famous bands in the genre also played disco and soul extensively. Funk samples have been used extensively in genres including hip hop, house music and drum and bass. It is also the main influence of go-go, a subgenre associated with funk.[2]
Contents |
Etymology
 |
Look up funk in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
The word funk as applied in the music world initially referred to a strong odor. The anthropologist/art historian Robert Farris Thompson, in his work Flash Of The Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy, postulates that funky has its semantic roots in the Kikongo
word "lu-fuki", which means "bad body odor". He says: "Both jazzmen and
Bakongo use funky and lu-fuki to praise persons for the integrity of
their art, for having 'worked out' to achieve their aims" supposedly
meant to signify "the irradiation of positive energy of a person. Hence
'funk' in American jazz parlance can mean earthiness, a return to
fundamentals".[3] African-American jazz musicians originally applied the term to music with a slow, mellow groove.
Then it evolved to a rather hard-driving, insistent rhythm, implying a
more carnal quality. This early form of the music set the pattern for
later musicians.[4] The music was identified as slow, "sexy", loose, riff-oriented and danceable. Funky typically described these qualities rather than a distinct genre. In early jam sessions, musicians would encourage one another to "get down" by telling one another, "Now, put some stank on it!". At least as early as 1907, jazz songs carried titles such as "Funky Butt", a piece by Buddy Bolden.[5] As late as the 1950s and early 1960s, when "funk" and "funky" were used increasingly in the context of soul music, the terms still were considered indelicate and inappropriate for use in polite company. According to one source, New Orleans-born drummer Earl Palmer
"was the first to use the word 'funky' to explain to other musicians
that their music should be made more syncopated and danceable."[6]
Characteristics
Rhythm
A great deal of funk is rhythmically based on a two-celled onbeat/offbeat structure, which originated in sub-Saharan African music traditions. New Orleans appropriated the bifurcated structure from the Afro-Cuban mambo and conga in the late 1940s, and made it its own.[7]
New Orleans funk, as it was called, gained international acclaim
largely because James Brown's rhythm section used it to great effect.[8]
Funk creates an intense groove by using strong guitar riffs and bass lines. Like Motown recordings, funk songs used bass lines as the centerpiece of songs. Slap
bass's mixture of thumb-slapped low notes and finger "popped" (or
plucked) high notes allowed the bass to have a drum-like rhythmic role,
which became a distinctive element of funk.
In funk bands, guitarists typically play in a percussive style, often using the wah-wah sound effect and muting the notes in their riffs to create a percussive sound. Guitarist Ernie Isley of The Isley Brothers and Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic were notably influenced by Jimi Hendrix's
improvised solos. Eddie Hazel, who worked with George Clinton, is one
of the most notable guitar soloists in funk. Ernie Isley was tutored at
an early age by Jimi Hendrix himself, when he was a part of The Isley
Brothers backing band and lived in the attic temporarily at the Isleys'
household. Jimmy Nolen and Phelps Collins are famous funk rhythm guitarists who both worked with James Brown.
On Brown's "Give it Up or Turn it Lose" (1969), Jimmy Nolen's guitar
part has a bare bones tonal structure. The pattern of attack-points is
the emphasis, not the pattern of pitches. It's as if the guitar is an
African drum, or idiophone. Note that the measures alternate between
beginning on the beat, and beginning on offbeats.
Harmony
Funk utilized the same extended chords found in bebop
jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or
dominant seventh chords with altered ninths. However, unlike bebop jazz,
with its complex, rapid-fire chord changes, funk virtually abandoned
chord changes, creating static single chord vamps
with little harmonic movement, but with a complex and driving rhythmic
feel. Some of the best known and most skilful soloists in funk have jazz backgrounds. Trombonist Fred Wesley and saxophonist Maceo Parker are among the most notable musicians in the funk music genre, with both of them working with James Brown, George Clinton and Prince.
The chords used in funk songs typically imply a dorian or mixolydian mode,
as opposed to the major or natural minor tonalities of most popular
music. Melodic content was derived by mixing these modes with the blues scale. In the 1970s, jazz music drew upon funk to create a new subgenre of jazz-funk, which can be heard in recordings by Miles Davis (Live-Evil, On the Corner), and Herbie Hancock (Head Hunters).
History
The distinctive characteristics of African-American musical expression are rooted in sub-Saharan African music traditions, and find their earliest expression in spirituals, work chants/songs, praise shouts, gospel, blues, and "body rhythms" (hambone, patting juba, and ring shout clapping and stomping patterns). Funk music is an amalgam of soul music, soul jazz, R&B, and Afro-Cuban rhythms absorbed and reconstituted in New Orleans.
New Orleans
Gerhard Kubik
notes that with the exception of New Orleans, early blues lacked
complex polyrhythms, and there was a "very specific absence of
asymmetric time-line patterns (key patterns)
in virtually all early twentieth century African American music . . .
only in some New Orleans genres does a hint of simple time line patterns
occasionally appear in the form of transient so-called 'stomp' patterns
or stop-time chorus. These do do not function in the same way as
African time lines."[9]
In the late 1940s this changed somewhat when the two-celled time line
structure was brought into New Orleans blues. New Orleans musicians
were especially receptive to Afro-Cuban influences precisely at the time
when R&B was first forming.[10] Dave Bartholomew and Professor Longhair (Henry Roeland Byrd) incorporated Afro-Cuban instruments, as well as the clave
pattern and related two-celled figures in songs such as "Carnival Day,"
(Bartholomew 1949) and "Mardi Gras In New Orleans" (Longhair 1949). Robert Palmer
reports that, in the 1940s, Professor Longhair listened to and played
with musicians from the islands and "fell under the spell of Perez Prado's mambo records."[7] Professor Longhair's particular style was known locally as rumba-boogie.[11]
One of Longhair's great contributions was his particular approach of
adopting two-celled, clave-based patterns into New Orleans rhythm and blues (R&B). Longhair's rhythmic approach became a basic template of funk. According to Dr. John
(Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr.), the Professor "put funk into music
. . . Longhair's thing had a direct bearing I'd say on a large portion
of the funk music that evolved in New Orleans."[12] In his "Mardi Gras in New Orleans," the pianist employs the 2-3 clave onbeat/offbeat motif in a rumba-boogie "guajeo" (below).[13] The 2-3 clave time-line is written above the piano excerpt for reference.
The syncopated, but straight subdivision feel of Cuban music (as opposed to swung
subdivisions) took root in New Orleans R&B during this time.
Stewart states: "Eventually, musicians from outside of New Orleans began
to learn some of the rhythmic practices [of the Crescent City]. Most
important of these were James Brown and the drummers and arrangers he
employed. Brown's early repertoire had used mostly shuffle rhythms, and
some of his most successful songs were 12/8 ballads (e.g. 'Please,
Please, Please' (1956), 'Bewildered' (1961), 'I Don't Mind' (1961)).
Brown's change to a funkier brand of soul required 4/4 metre and a
different style of drumming."[14]
Stewart makes the point: "The singular style of rhythm & blues that
emerged from New Orleans in the years after World War II played an
important role in the development of funk. In a related development, the
underlying rhythms of American popular music underwent a basic, yet
generally unacknowledged transition from triplet or shuffle feel to even
or straight eighth notes."[15]
After 1965, Brown's bandleader and arranger was Alfred 'Pee Wee'
Ellis. Ellis credits Clyde Stubblefield's adoption of New Orleans
drumming techniques, as the basis of modern funk: "If, in a studio, you
said 'play it funky' that could imply almost anything. But 'give me a
New Orleans beat' - you got exactly what you wanted. And Clyde
Stubblefield was just the epitome of this funky drumming."[16] Watch: "Clyde Stubblefield/ Funky Drummer."
Stewart states that the popular feel was passed along from "New
Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s."[15] Concerning the various funk motifs, Stewart states: "This model, it should be noted, is different from a time line (such as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle."[17]
1960s: James Brown and the development of funk
Little Richard's
saxophone-studded, mid-1950s R&B road band was credited by James
Brown and others as being the first to put the funk in the rock'n'roll
beat.[18]
Following his temporary exit from secular music to become an evangelist
in 1957, some of Little Richard's band members joined Brown and The Famous Flames, beginning a long string of hits for them in 1958.
By the mid-1960s, James Brown had developed his signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure to etch his distinctive sound, rather than the backbeat that typified African American music.[19] Brown often cued his band with the command "On the one!," changing the percussion emphasis/accent from the one-two-three-four backbeat of traditional soul music to the one-two-three-four downbeat – but with an even-note syncopated guitar rhythm (on quarter notes two and four) featuring a hard-driving, repetitive brassy swing. This one-three beat launched the shift in Brown's signature music style, starting with his 1964 hit single, "Out of Sight" and his 1965 hit, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag".
Brown's style of funk was based on interlocking, contrapuntal parts:
funky bass lines, drum patterns, and syncopated guitar riffs.[20]
The main guitar ostinatos for "Aint" it Funky" (c. late 1960s) is an
example of Brown's refinement of New Orleans funk— an irresistibly
danceable riff, stripped down to its rhythmic essence. On "Aint" it
Funky" the tonal structure is bare bones.
"Bring it Up" has an Afro-Cuban guajeo-like structure. If fact, on a 1976 version, Cuban bongos are used.
Brown's innovations led to him and his band becoming the seminal funk
act; they also pushed the funk music style further to the forefront
with releases such as "Cold Sweat" (1967), "Mother Popcorn" (1969) and "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine"
(1970), discarding even the twelve-bar blues featured in his earlier
music. Instead, Brown's music was overlaid with "catchy, anthemic
vocals" based on "extensive vamps" in which he also used his voice as "a
percussive instrument with frequent rhythmic grunts and with
rhythm-section patterns ... [resembling] West African polyrhythms" – a
tradition evident in African American work songs and chants.[21]
Throughout his career, Brown's frenzied vocals, frequently punctuated
with screams and grunts, channeled the "ecstatic ambiance of the black
church" in a secular context.[21]
In a 1990 interview, Brown offered his reason for switching the
rhythm of his music: "I changed from the upbeat to the downbeat....
Simple as that, really."[22] According to Maceo Parker,
Brown's former saxophonist, playing on the downbeat was at first hard
for him and took some getting used to. Reflecting back to his early days
with Brown's band, Parker reported that he had difficulty playing "on
the one" during solo performances, since he was used to hearing and
playing with the accent on the second beat.[23]
Late 1960s – early 1970s
Other musical groups picked up on the rhythms, and vocal style developed by James Brown and his band, and the funk style began to grow. Dyke & the Blazers based in Phoenix, Arizona, released "Funky Broadway" in 1967, perhaps the first record of the soul era to have "funky" in the title. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band was releasing funk tracks beginning with its first album in 1967, culminating in the classic single "Express Yourself" in 1971.
Also from the West Coast area, more specifically Oakland, San Francisco, came the band Tower of Power, which formed in 1968. Their debut album East Bay Grease,
released 1970, is considered by many enthusiasts as an important
milestone in funk. Throughout the '70s, TOP had many hits, and the band
helped to make funk music a successful genre, with a broader audience.
In 1970, Sly & the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" reached #1 on the charts, as did "Family Affair"
in 1971. Notably, these afforded the group and the genre crossover
success and greater recognition, yet such success escaped comparatively
talented and moderately popular funk band peers. The Meters defined funk in New Orleans,
starting with their top ten R&B hits "Sophisticated Cissy" and
"Cissy Strut" in 1969. Another group who defined funk around this time
were The Isley Brothers, whose funky 1969 #1 R&B hit, "It's Your Thing", signaled a breakthrough in African-American music, bridging the gaps of the jazzy sounds of Brown, the psychedelic rock of Jimi Hendrix, and the upbeat soul of Sly & the Family Stone and Mother's Finest.
P-Funk: Parliament-Funkadelic
A new group of musicians began to further develop the "funk rock" approach. Innovations were prominently made by George Clinton, with his bands Parliament and Funkadelic. Together, they produced a new kind of funk sound heavily influenced by jazz and psychedelic rock. The two groups shared members and are often referred to collectively as "Parliament-Funkadelic."
The breakout popularity of Parliament-Funkadelic gave rise to the term "P-Funk",
which referred to the music by George Clinton's bands, and defined a
new subgenre. Clinton played a principal role in several other bands,
including Parlet,
the Horny Horns, and the Brides of Funkenstein, all part of the P-Funk
conglomerate. "P-funk" also came to mean something in its quintessence,
of superior quality, or sui generis.
1970s
See also: Disco
The 1970s were the era of highest mainstream visibility for funk music. In addition to Parliament Funkadelic, artists like Sly and the Family Stone, Rufus & Chaka Khan, the Isley Brothers, Ohio Players, Confunkshun, Kool & The Gang, The Bar-Kays, Commodores, Roy Ayers,
among others, were successful in getting radio play. However, according
to Billboard Magazine, only Sly & the Family Stone and the Ohio
Players had singles which made it to #1 on its U.S. singles chart.[citation needed]
Disco
music owed a great deal to funk. Many early disco songs and performers
came directly from funk-oriented backgrounds. Some disco music hits,
such as all of Barry White's hits, "Kung Fu Fighting" by Biddu and Carl Douglas, Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby", Diana Ross' "Love Hangover", KC & The Sunshine Band's "I'm Your Boogie Man", "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan (also known as The Queen of Funk Soul), and Chic's "Le Freak" conspicuously include riffs and rhythms derived from funk. In 1976, Rose Royce scored a #1 hit with a purely dance-funk record, "Car Wash". Even with the arrival of Disco, funk became increasingly popular well into the early 80s.
Funk music was also exported to Africa, and it melded with African singing and rhythms to form Afrobeat. Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, who was heavily influenced by James Brown's music, is credited with creating the style and terming it "Afrobeat".
Jazz funk
Main article: Jazz-funk
Headhunters
In the 1970s, jazz musicians began to experiment with funk. Pianist Herbie Hancock was the first of many big jazz artists who embraced funk during the decade. Hancock's Headhunters band (1973) was in the jazz-funk style.The Headhunters' lineup and instrumentation, retaining only wind player Bennie Maupin from Hancock's previous sextet, reflected his new musical direction. He used percussionist Bill Summers
in addition to a drum set player. Summers blended African, Afro-Cuban,
and Afro-Brazilian instruments and rhythms into Hancock's jazzy funk
sound.
On the Corner
On the Corner (1972) was Miles Davis's seminal foray into jazz-funk. Like his previous works though, On the Corner was uniquely experimental. Davis stated that On the Corner was an attempt at reconnecting with the young black audience which had largely forsaken jazz for rock and funk. While there is a discernible funk influence in the timbres
of the instruments employed, other tonal and rhythmic textures, such as
the Indian tambora and tablas, and Cuban congas and bongos, create a
multi-layered soundscape. From a musical standpoint, the album was a
culmination of sorts of the musique concrète approach that Davis and producer Teo Macero (who had studied with Otto Luening at Columbia University's Computer Music Center)
had begun to explore in the late 1960s. Both sides of the record were
based around heavy funk drum and bass grooves, with the melodic parts
snipped from hours of jams. Also cited as musical influences on the
album by Davis were the contemporary composer Karlheinz Stockhausen,[24][25]
1980s and stripped-down funk
See also: Electro music
In the 1980s, largely as a reaction against what was seen as the
over-indulgence of disco, many of the core elements that formed the
foundation of the P-Funk formula began to be usurped by electronic machines and synthesizers. Horn sections of saxophones and trumpets were replaced by synth keyboards, and the horns that remained were given simplified lines, and few horn solos. The classic keyboards of funk, like the Hammond B3 organ, the Hohner Clavinet and/or the Fender Rhodes piano began to be replaced by the new digital synthesizers such as the Yamaha DX7. Electronic drum machines such as the Roland TR-808 began to replace the "funky drummers" of the past, and the slap
and pop style of bass playing were often replaced by synth keyboard
bass lines. As well, the lyrics of funk songs began to change from
suggestive double entendres to more graphic and sexually explicit content.
In the late 1970s, the electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) began experimenting with electronic funk music, introducing "videogame-funk" sounds with hits such as "Computer Game" (1978), which had a strong influence on the later electro-funk genre.[26] In 1980, YMO was the first band to use the TR-808 programmable drum machine,[27] while YMO member Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" developed the beats and sounds of electro-funk that same year,[28] influencing later electro-funk artists such as Afrika Bambaataa[28] and Mantronix.[29]
Rick James was the first funk musician of the 1980s to assume the funk mantle dominated by P-Funk in the 1970s. His 1981 album Street Songs with the singles "Give It To Me Baby" and "Super Freak" resulted in James becoming a star, and paved the way for the future direction of explicitness in funk.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Prince
used a stripped-down, yet dynamic, instrumentation similar to James.
However, Prince went on to have as much of an impact on the sound of
funk as any one artist since Brown; he combined eroticism, technology,
an increasing musical complexity, and an outrageous image and stage show
to ultimately create music as ambitious and imaginative as P-Funk.
Prince formed The Time, originally conceived as an opening act for him and based on his "Minneapolis sound", hybrid mixture of funk, R&B, rock, pop & New Wave. Eventually, the band went on to define their own style of stripped-down funk based on tight musicianship and sexual themes.
Similar to Prince, other bands emerged during the P-Funk era and
began to incorporate uninhibited sexuality, dance-oriented themes, synthesizers and other electronic technologies to continue to craft funk hits. These included Cameo, Zapp, The Gap Band, The Bar-Kays, and The Dazz Band all found their biggest hits in the early 1980s. However, by the latter half of the 80s, funk had lost its commercial impact.
Influenced by Yellow Magic Orchestra[28] and Kraftwerk, the American musician Afrika Bambaataa developed electro-funk, a minimalist machine-driven style of funk with his single "Planet Rock" in 1982. Also known simply as electro, this style of funk was driven by synthesizers and the electronic rhythm of the TR-808 drum machine. The single "Renegades of Funk" followed in 1983.
Funk became an international style of music, and is played by bands from such countries as Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Algeria, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Nigeria.
Late 1980s to present
While funk was all but driven from the radio by slick commercial hip hop, contemporary R&B and new jack swing,
its influence continued to spread. Artists like Steve Arrington and
Cameo still received major airplay and had huge global followings. Rock
bands began copying elements of funk to their sound, creating new
combinations of "funk rock" and "funk metal". Extreme, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour, Jane's Addiction, Prince, Primus, Fishbone, Faith No More, Infectious Grooves, and Incubus
spread the approach and styles garnered from funk pioneers to new
audiences in the mid-to-late 1980s and the 1990s. These bands later
inspired the underground mid-1990s funkcore movement and current
funk-inspired artists like Outkast, Malina Moye, Van Hunt, and Gnarls Barkley.
In the 1990s, artists like Me'shell Ndegeocello and the (predominantly UK-based) acid jazz movement including artists and bands such as Jamiroquai, Incognito, Galliano, Omar and The Brand New Heavies
carried on with strong elements of funk. However, they never came close
to reaching the commercial success of funk in its heyday, with the
exception of Jamiroquai whose album Travelling Without Moving sold about 11.5 million units worldwide. Meanwhile in Australia and New Zealand, bands playing the pub circuit, such as Supergroove, Skunkhour and The Truth, preserved a more instrumental form of funk.
Since the late 1980s hip hop artists have regularly sampled old funk tunes. James Brown is said to be the most sampled artist in the history of hip hop, while P-Funk is the second most sampled artist; samples of old Parliament and Funkadelic songs formed the basis of West Coast G-funk.
Original beats that feature funk-styled bass or rhythm guitar riffs are also not uncommon. Dr. Dre
(considered the progenitor of the G-funk genre) has freely acknowledged
to being heavily influenced by George Clinton's psychedelic funk: "Back
in the 70s that's all people were doing: getting high, wearing Afros, bell-bottoms and listening to Parliament-Funkadelic. That's why I called my album The Chronic and based my music and the concepts like I did: because his shit was a big influence on my music. Very big".[30] Digital Underground
was a large contributor to the rebirth of funk in the 1990s by
educating their listeners with knowledge about the history of funk and
its artists. George Clinton branded Digital Underground as "Sons of the P", as their second full length release is also titled. DU's first release, Sex Packets, was full of funk samples, with the most widely known "The Humpty Dance" sampling Parliament's "Let's Play House". A very strong funk album of DU's was their 1996 release Future Rhythm. Much of contemporary club dance music, drum and bass in particular has heavily sampled funk drum breaks.
Funk is a major element of certain artists identified with the jam band scene of the late 1990s and 2000s. Phish began playing funkier jams in their sets around 1996, and 1998's The Story of the Ghost was heavily influenced by funk. Medeski Martin & Wood, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Galactic, Widespread Panic, Jam Underground, Diazpora, Soulive, and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe all drawing heavily from the funk tradition. Lettuce, a band of Berklee College Of Music graduates, was formed in the late 1990s as a pure-funk emergence was being felt through the jam band scene.[citation needed] Many members of the band including keyboardist Neal Evans went on to other projects such as Soulive or the Sam Kininger Band.
Since the mid 1990s the nu-funk scene, centered around the Deep Funk collectors scene, is producing new material influenced by the sounds of rare funk 45s. Labels include Desco, Soul Fire, Daptone,
Timmion, Neapolitan, Bananarama, Kay-Dee, and Tramp. These labels often
release on 45 rpm records. Although specializing in music for rare funk
DJs, there has been some crossover into the mainstream music industry,
such as Sharon Jones' 2005 appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
In the early 2000s, some punk funk bands such as Out Hud and Mongolian MonkFish perform in the indie rock scene. Indie band Rilo Kiley, in keeping with their tendency to explore a variety of rockish styles, incorporated funk in to their song "The Moneymaker" on the album Under the Blacklight. Prince, with his recent albums has given a rebirth to the funk sound with songs like "The Everlasting Now", "Musicology", "Ol' Skool Company", and "Black Sweat".
Funk has also been incorporated into modern R&B music by many female singers such as Beyoncé with her 2003 hit "Crazy In Love" (which samples The Chi-Lites' "Are You My Woman"), Jennifer Lopez in 2005 with "Get Right" (which samples Maceo Parker's "Soul Power '74" horn sound), and also Amerie with her song "1 Thing" (which samples The Meters' "Oh, Calcutta!").
Subgenres
From the early 1970s onwards, funk has developed various subgenres.
While George Clinton and the Parliament were making a harder variation
of funk, bands such as Kool and The Gang, Ohio Players and Earth, Wind and Fire were making disco-influenced funk music.[31]
Funk rock
Main article: Funk rock
Funk rock (also written as funk-rock or funk/rock) fuses funk and rock elements.[32] Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late '60s through the mid-'70s by musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Herbie Hancock, Return to Forever, Gary Wright, David Bowie, Mother's Finest, and Funkadelic on their earlier albums.
Many instruments may be incorporated into funk rock, but the overall sound is defined by a definitive bass or drum beat and electric guitars.
The bass and drum rhythms are influenced by funk music but with more
intensity, while the guitar can be funk-or-rock-influenced, usually with
distortion. Prince, Jesse Johnson, and Fishbone are major artists in funk rock.
Boogie
Main article: Boogie (genre)
Boogie (or electro-funk) is an electronic music mainly influenced by
funk and post-disco. The minimalism approach of boogie consisted of
synthesizers and keyboards helped to establish electro and house music.
Boogie, unlike electro, emphasises the slapping techniques of bass
guitar but also bass synthesizers. Artists include Vicky “D”, Komiko, Peech Boys, Kashif, and later Evelyn King.
Electro music
Main article: Electro music
Electro music is a hybrid of electronic music and funk. It
essentially follows the same form as funk, and retains funk's
characteristics, but is made entirely (or partially) with a use of
electronic instruments such as the TR-808. Vocoders to transform the vocals, were often used. Early artists include Herbie Hancock, Afrika Bambaataa, Vaughan Mason & Crew, Midnight Star, and Cybotron.
Go-go
Main article: Go-go
Go-go originated in the Washington, D.C. area with which it remains associated, along with other spots in the Mid-Atlantic. Inspired by singers such as Chuck Brown, the "Godfather of Go-go", it is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and early hip hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and in-person jamming in place of dance tracks. As such, it is primarily a dance music with an emphasis on live audience call and response. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion.
Funk metal
Main article: Funk metal
Funk metal (sometimes typeset differently such as funk-metal) is a fusion genre of music which emerged in the 1980s.[33] It typically incorporates elements of funk and heavy metal. It features hard-driving heavy metal guitar riffs, the pounding bass rhythms characteristic of funk, and sometimes hip hop-style rhymes into an alternative rock approach to songwriting. A primary example is the all-African-American hard rock band Living Colour, who have been said to be "funk-metal pioneers" by Rolling Stone.[34]
G-funk
Main article: G-funk
G-funk is a fusion genre of music which combines gangsta rap and funk. It is generally considered to have been invented by west coast rappers, made famous by Above the Law.
Timba funk
Main article: Timba
Timba
is a form of funky Cuban popular dance music. By 1990, several Cuban
bands had incorporated elements of funk and hip-hop into their
arrangements, and expanded upon the instrumentation of the traditional
conjunto with American drum set, saxophones and a two-keyboard format.
Timba bands like La Charanga Habanera or Bamboleo often have horns or
other instruments playing short parts of tunes by Earth, Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang or other U.S. funk bands. While many funk motifs exhibit a clave-based structure, they are created intuitively, without a conscious intent of aligning the various parts to a guide-pattern. Timba incorporates funk motifs into an overt and intentional clave structure.
Drumset
Along with the Cuban congas and timbales, the drum set provided
powerful clave-based funk patterns that added more punch to the rhythm
section. Funk is especially evident in timba's breakdown sections. The
following example is Calixto Oviedo's funky drumset pattern for a type
of high-energy breakdown known as presión.[35] Watch: Calixto Oviedo play funky timba drumset.
Bass
Timba bass players incorporated techniques associated with funk, such
as slapping, and pulling the strings in a percussive way. The following
excerpt demonstrates several funk characteristics of timba bass. This
is Alain Pérez's bass tumbao from a performance of Issac Delgado
piece "La vida sin esperanza." Pérez's playful interpretation of the
tumbao is what timba authority Kevin Moore refers to as “controlled
improvisation;" the pattern continuously varies within a set framework.[36] Watch: Alain Pérez play funky timba bass. Watch: Alaín Pérez - Bajista Cubano - Ejemplo Tumbao "No Me Mires" (Issac Delgado)
Funk jam
Funk jam is a fusion genre
of music which emerged in the 2000s. It typically incorporates elements
of funk and often exploratory guitar, along with extended cross genre
improvisations; often including elements of jazz, ambient, electronic, Americana, and hip hop including improvised lyrics.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar