New Rhythms Trivia Quiz

Answer: Portugal

Fado most likely emerged as a mixture of musical elements from Portuguese traditional songs, African rhythms and Arabic music. The genre is characterized by melancholic tunes and sorrowful lyrics - expressing a nostalgic mood known in Portuguese as "saudade". There are two styles of fado - one developed in Lisbon and the other in Coimbra.
Famous fado artists include: Amalia Rodriguez - who successfully promoted fado to the international stage, Arthur and Carlos Paredes, Carlos de Carmo, Jose Alfonso, Mafalda Arnauth, Dulce Pontes.

Answer: New Orleans

Dixieland emerged as the first true type of jazz at the beginning of the XXth century, rapidly spreading from New Orleans to Chicago and New York. The trademark of the genre is the distinctive sound effect obtained by simultaneously playing its three lead instruments: the trombone, the trumpet and the clarinet. Dixieland lost its popularity for a while in favor of the bebop jazz style, only to be revived in the '50s.

The genre further developed in the second half of the XXth century, leading to today's three main active streams: the "Chicago style", the "West Coast Revival" movement and the "New Orleans Traditional" movement. Legendary jazz bands whose names are linked with the Dixieland style are the Original Dixieland Jass Band and Louis Armstrong's All-Stars. Tony Almerico, Bud Freeman, Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Turk Murphy are just several famous exponents of the genre in the post WWII era.

Answer: Cuba

Mambo draws its roots from the danzon - a musical style developed in Cuba, derived from European ballroom dances and enriched with African rhythms.
Alongside with the dance, mambo became very popular in the 50s in Cuba and the USA. Several versions of mambo appeared in the next decade, like the boogaloo and the pachanga.
Famous promoters of the mambo include: Perez Prado, Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Jose Curbelo. Recently, mambo rhythms were once again on the top of the charts with Lou Bega's successful remix of "Mambo No.5".

Answer: Rio de Janeiro

Bossa nova emerged as a distinctive music genre in Brazil in the late 50s, as a mixture of the traditional Brazilian samba and cool jazz. A single fantastic song - "The Girl from Ipanema" - was all what it took to make the genre extremely popular worldwide. In its purest form, Bossa Nova is played with the classical guitar (played finger-style) accompanying the vocals.
Bossa nova artists include: Joao Gilberto (the creator of the genre), Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astrud Gilbeto, Vinicius de Moraes, Carlos Lyra, Baden Powell, Stan Getz, Sergio Mendes.

Answer: Jamaica

Jamaica was the birthplace of numerous popular musical genres, since its musical culture developed at the crossroad of a variety of musical styles originating from the US, Africa and the neighboring Caribbean islands. Ska was created in the early 60s, combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with jazz, rhythm and blues.

The history of the genre comprises three waves. Notable ska bands include The Skatalites, Byron Lee & The Dragonaries (from the first wave), The Specias, The Selector (from the second wave - also known as "Two Tone"), The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, The Suicide Machines, Reel Big Fish (from the third wave).

Answer: United Kingdom

Heavy metal was created in the 70s by the hard rock bands in the UK (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin), which took rock, blues and elements of classical music to fusion them in a new style, dominated by a thick, heavy, distorted guitar-led sound. The typical metal band would include a drummer, a bassist, a rhythm guitarist and a lead guitarist and a vocalist (often one of the instrumentalists).
Classic heavy metal bands and artists include: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne.
The genre has diversified in a pleiad of sub-genres, most notable being the Trash metal (Metallica, Sepultura) and Nu-metal (System of a Down, Marilyn Manson).

Answer: West Coast

Gangsta rap speaks about the world of crime and violence in the ill-famed neighborhoods of the big cities in America. In the late 80s, the genre definitely put the West Coast on the hip-hop map. Its extreme lyrics deal with controversial subjects like violence, drugs and sex.
Some of the most popular exponents of this genre were Ice-T, N.W.A, Dr. Dre, Tupac (from the West Coast), Notorious B.I.G, Puff Daddy, DMX (from the East Coast).

Answer: Detroit

Techno draws its stylistic origins from electro, New Wave, synthpop, funk, progressive rock and several others genres. Techno is mainly instrumental, with keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines and samplers playing the essential roles in obtaining the distinctive electronic sound.
The creators of the genre were Detroit natives Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrik May. Other important promoters of techno music include Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Plastikman as well as the more recent Orbital, Moby and Underworld.

Answer: US - Pacific Northwest

A type of alternative rock, grunge achieved commercial success following the performances of rock bands from Seattle, Olympia and Portland. The genre reached the peak of its popularity in the early 90s. However, as spectacular as its ascension was, its decline came swiftly, in just a few years. The genre gets its major influences from alternative rock, hardcore punk, indie rock and heavy metal.
The most influential grunge bands include: Green River, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam. A rather popular post grunge movement appeared with such bands as Creed, Staind, Nickelback.

Answer: Bristol

In the early 90s, British DJs translated the hip-hop rhythms into a down-tempo movement, based on electronic music. Aside from hip-hop, trip-hop has stylistic influences from various other musical genres including house, break-beat, acid jazz, reggae and dub. The trip hop sound is recognizable by its distinctive moody, dark, yet lyrical sound.
Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, Morcheeba, Thievery Corporation, Hooverphonic are some of the most important trip hop bands.

Hope you have enjoyed the quiz. Main references from www.wikipedia.org.