Music

When you think about people's taste in music, they usually 'fit' one or two categories or genres. For instance, a 'Metal-head" mostly listens to Metal Rock, but can be found listening to Rock that is not so hard, or even Classic Rock. The same is usually true for 'Country-lovers' liking Rock or Blues. I, on the other hand, do not fit into related categories; I love almost all genres of music.

Although I most often listen to Alternative Rock, two types of music that I really enjoy is Ancient Middle Eastern and Polynesian Tribal. I first was exposed to Polynesian Tribal as a child because my mother, having once lived in Hawaii, was a big fan of the native music. I came to appreciate Ancient Middle Eastern about ten years ago when I was doing a Bible Study on the culture that Jesus was raised in.

I found that the two genres actually have a lot in common with each other. Composition, story-telling, religious inspiration, the fact that much of both have and had dancing in mind, even to the point of being composed precisely for a dance, and the basic rhythmic drum-beat give these two a familiarity to each other. Most of both are story-telling of the culture/religion/history. The biggest reason for the dance element is that almost all of the music does not have lyrics, and so the dancing must tell the story.

My children and I have actually been a part of The Hula Dance and Praise team at our church and have performed in several venues. My daughters and I also Belly Dance, but that is actually more for the fun of it. All of us really enjoy the music for the sake of the music, but I personally enjoy the movement of the music and its history.