UK offers vibrant musical culture

For Bruins who studied or interned abroad in Great Britain, Scotland and Ireland, memories of places traveled seem to be associated with their perspective sound, whether it is jazz in a subway station, a British rock band in a nightclub or Gaelic music in a pub or traditional ball.

In a geographic area with a long history and culture, both modernity and tradition grace the music scene, with live performances and street artists appearing as a commonality between the culturally distinct countries. For third-year history student Ameet Chahall, the traditionally American jazz genre heard in a London subway station at which she stopped every morning while commuting to her internship became associated with her memory of the British transit system.

“Every morning at my station there would be jazz musicians playing,” Chahall said. “There are the same types of musicians and music associated with each station, so I got really used to it. It was nice ““ something to look forward to.”

After getting back to the U.S., Chahall became more interested in jazz from simply being exposed to street performers during her London morning commute.

“There was always jazz playing. … When I got back, I got really into John Coltrane. In a way that has influenced me … just being there,” Chahall said.

Music enveloped more than just the subway stations in London. Street performers were a major part of the city, and different genres can be heard on street corners, bars and pubs.

“Everywhere in London … there is always an artist there,” said fourth-year English student Ariz Guzman who participated in the London and Stratford Shakespeare travel study program. “Every tube stop there is a little area on the floor and there is a guy with a guitar or a girl singing opera. There are a lot of street musicians along the Thames (River.)”

While different music can be heard performed throughout London, music venues provide more particular tastes. Third-year communication studies student Dana Malinick found jazz to be a major part of her study-abroad experience in Cambridge, though she had to seek it out.

“I’m really into jazz. … It has always sort of been my favorite type of music,” Malinick said. “I really went out to find jazz, and I had a friend there who also likes jazz so we found a lot of jazz clubs out in London and Prague.”

Though jazz was readily available to be heard in London, in Scotland a different music scene prevailed. Smoke-filled pubs with live bands covering rock or alternative U.K. hits welcomed a crowd every night.

“When we went to Scotland we didn’t find jazz, but we found a lot of great live music venues where they covered bands like Kings of Leon,” Malinick said.

Kings of Leon, who gained major success on British charts, were heard in pubs and the radio alongside Scottish alternative rock band The Fratellis, pop band Kid British and singer Lily Allen, who was described as more of a phenomenon than just a popular artist as in the United States.

“I listen to a lot of British music anyway. … (In London) I had access to bands I was looking after and looking for,” said fourth-year English student Caty Zick, who participated in the London and Stratford Shakespeare travel study program. “Kid British, I certainly got into more when I was there. It was so fun to have access to all the music that I like and had spent so much money and hours looking through the racks for (in the U.S.)”

While a similar type of modern music scene was present throughout the region, U.K., Ireland and Scotland each had its own traditional musical heritage which could be found in various contexts from pubs to elaborate balls.

In Scotland, ceilidh (pronounced “kay-lee”) bands composed of an accordion, piano, fiddle, drums and sometimes a bagpipe or other instrument performed traditional Gaelic music at balls hosted by EAP-chosen universities such as St. Andrews College in the town of St. Andrews.

“We went to Edinburgh for Thanksgiving for a proper meal with turkey and afterwards they brought in a ceilidh band ““ this was the first time I heard it,” said fourth-year biochemistry student Julia Barbarino who participated in the Scotland EAP program. “The ceilidhs were some of the funnest dances I went to … at all the traditional dances there was no grinding. … It was just really fun.”

Students at St. Andrews dressed in formal gowns and kilts for these balls and danced everything from traditional numbers to the Viennese waltz. Though ceilidh bands don’t always feature bagpipes ““ an instrument typically associated with traditional Scottish music, some popular bands such as Clanodonia fell more into the stereotype.

“When I was in Edinburgh one weekend, there was a band (Clanodonia) that looked like they were straight out of “˜Braveheart.’ One guy was playing the bagpipes. … They were shirtless, and the kilts weren’t skirt-like but rugged,” Barbarino said. “They were playing huge drums and they were amazing ““ we watched them for like half an hour.”

Traditional music in Ireland wasn’t found in front of a castle or a ball, but rather in a pub ““ an ever-important venue for music and socializing. “Trad-sessions,” short for traditional sessions, were a popular way to draw people into pubs in order to hear an ensemble composed of a banjo, drum, guitar and singers who crooned old stories of love.

“I think it’s unusual for bars here to have live music all the time, but there pubs would have music every night,” said second-year linguistics and psychology student Kelly Foster, who participated in an archaeology travel study program in Cork, Ireland. “A lot of the songs were ballads ““ kind of slow and about the singing. A lot of them were about lost love.”

Whether modern or traditional, British, Irish or Scottish, UCLA students found that music permeated most every venue, subway station, street corner and pub during their time abroad.

“Music was a bigger part of things there,” Zick said. “It is a bigger part of everything.”