Life Goes On
So many stories are going around socmed, fanbase groups, GCs
and messaging platforms. PH ARMYs are swapping moments and memories made with
each other and for each other as multitudes trooped to their cinema of choice
yesterday afternoon. This is a first in BTSxARMY history. It is an event too
cool, too memorable and too risky not to be a part of.
Bound by limitations, my ARMY daughter and I decided to skip
this once in a lifetime chance for the online streaming concert on Day 1 and 3
instead. You got to give it to HYBE for offering options to the fandom. They
have indeed designed a business model to meet fans’ affective needs and to earn
big. At the same time, keeping Bangtan’s relationship with ARMY as loyal, as
sincere and fair as possible (the official merch is of high quality, bar none).
It is not surprising how, for the past two years since I started stanning BTS, HYBE has been offering well produced online concerts in lieu of the live performances and world tours. As medical scientists, public health experts and international health agencies speed up research on the mitigation and the prevention of COVID-19 infections, the global entertainment stage has opened up for artists, musicians, content producers and creatives. Life goes on. It must. HYBE made sure of this.
Learning with Bangtan
As a “young” ARMY, what I am really impressed at is
Bangtan’s learning continuum. With the Tannies, learning never ends. They were
on hiatus for three months, more or less. Five of the seven members tested
COVID positive at the start of the year. But we saw the Tannies in their best
form on Day 1 of the concert. There were traces of exhaustion midway in the
show, but they managed to sail through until end. The vocal line was awesome in
Day 1. Their voice control and placement were exceptional. The rap line remains
a solid and formidable triumvirate of swag, oozing masculine confidence and
poetic grace. This is where I zero in on Kim Namjoon whose off-beat rap
surprised ARMYs young and old.
Namjoon’s “lag rap” in Boy With Love from Day 1 of
the Seoul concert caught the attention of fans. He did the same styling in
several songs. I asked my daughter who is four years ahead of me in the fandom what
the change was all about. To this she simply said that Namjoon really does that
— off beat rap. Not satisfied with her answer, I sought my son’s opinion about
off beat rap. He teaches children music and performs with an acapella group as
its vocal percussionist.
From him I learned that off beat rap is a technique called “syncopation”. There is a lot of theory and history in that single word that has something to do with rhythm. To fully understand the concept, a basic knowledge of rhythm is necessary. According to Chase (2021), rhythm is just any regularly repeating pattern of beats. There are measured and timed beats, accented and unaccented. When you nod your head or clap to a song’s beat that is accented beat. The beautiful thing is, the song has other beats surrounding the downbeat and the upbeat. These beats are unaccented. When there is a disturbance in the normal beats in the measure and time of song or music, syncopation happens. Despite this disturbance, the song or music sounds even more aurally appealing and aesthetically enticing.
Syncopation is a style that many musicians, song writers,
musical directors and arrangers, even rap artists do. It is not Kim Namjoon’s
invention nor innovation because syncopation has existed since the Baroque and
Romantic era. Thank you, Bach and Beethoven! Musical geniuses of this age owe
you big time! Eminem, JayZ, Imagine Dragons, to name a few, are the ones who
rap off beat and style their music in syncopation.
Sources of video and photos
@quickli2512 @nysa_ljy @joonies_crab
Related readings on syncopation
Syncopation in Hiphop
https://rateyourmusic.com/.../The.../syncopation-in-hip-hop/
What is syncopation in music?
https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/syncopation/
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