Edexcel GCSE Music Area of Study 4: Fusions overview

What this area of study demands

Area of Study 4 is Fusions: music that combines two or more cultures or styles to make something new. The specification stresses examining how the separate elements are treated. The two set works contrast sharply, an electronic dance fusion and an acoustic jazz fusion. You need the idea of fusion, the common world-music features, and how to compare the two. This overview ties together the four dot-point pages.

What a fusion is and its features

A fusion blends two or more musical cultures or styles; some become genres (Bhangra, Salsa, bossa nova). Common world/fusion features include drones and pedals, ostinati and riffs, call and response, syncopation and cross-rhythms, hand percussion, modal and pentatonic melodies, improvisation, and the use of technology (samples, programmed beats, synths). The exam focus is identifying which feature comes from which culture.

Afro Celt Sound System: Release

Release (1999, from Volume 2: Release) is a three-way fusion of Celtic folk (uilleann pipes, whistles, bodhran, modal melody), West African music (hand percussion, drumming, call and response) and Western dance technology (programmed beats, loops, synths, samples). The texture is layered and cumulative (adding and removing repeating ostinati over a drone), with a syncopated dance groove and static modal harmony. It is upbeat and dance-driven.

Esperanza Spalding: Samba Em Preludio

Samba Em Preludio (2008, from Esperanza) fuses Brazilian bossa nova (gentle syncopated samba rhythm, Portuguese lyrics, nylon-string guitar) with jazz (extended chromatic chords, improvisation, a melodic double bass). It is performed by a small acoustic ensemble, voice, double bass (Spalding) and guitar, in a minor key, intimate and understated, with a light contrapuntal texture.

Comparing the two set works

Both are fusions using world-music features, repetition/groove and improvisation, but they contrast: Release is electronic, dance-driven and densely layered (programmed beats, synths, samples, drones); Samba Em Preludio is acoustic, intimate and sparse (voice, bass, guitar) with rich jazz harmony. Their sources differ (Celtic/African/dance versus Brazilian/jazz), as do their forces, texture, harmony and energy.

Check your knowledge

1. What is a musical fusion? (1 mark)
2. What three sources does Release fuse? (3 marks)
3. How is the texture built up in Release? (1 mark)
4. What two styles does Samba Em Preludio fuse, and what are its forces? (2 marks)
5. Give one major difference between the two fusions. (1 mark)