Kpahule | (Benin) a vodun sacred drum |
Kpanlogo | barrel drum with pegs from Ghana, with an antelope skin drum head |
the most recent of all Ga recreational musical types, an offshoot of gome, oge, kolomashie, and konkoma. Referred to as "the dance of the youth," kpanlongo started during the wake of Ghana's independence as a musical type for entertainment in Accra. Kpanlongo is presently performed at life-cycle events, festivals, and political rallies |
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Kpatsa | the principal traditional entertainment music and dance of the Dangme of Ghana, in West Africa. The dance itself involves sideways and forward shuffling movements, making use of short, brisk steps with the body slightly bent. The dance steps move the dancer either diagonally or backwards. With arms bent in front of the body, the right leg steps in concert with the movement of the right arm while the left leg steps at the same time as the left arm; while one foot remains flat on the ground, the heel of the other foot is lifted off the ground |
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Kpezin | (Benin) a vodun sacred drum |
Kpoko-Kpoko | (Nigeria) double ended wooden bell rattle |
Kr | after Carl Krebs the cataloguer of music by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799) |
Kraal | (Dutchm from the Spanish corral) a native village consisting of a collection of huts surrounded by a stockade, with space for cattle in the middle |
Kraar | see krar |
Krachappi | (Southern Issan, Thailand) a word derived from the Japanese which in turn was taken from Indian Pali/Sanskrit meaning 'turtle', a reference to the instrument's body shape. It is in fact a plucked fretted lute with a large circular body made of wood |
Kradung | in Thailand, a bell hung from the four corners of the eaves of Buddhist temples |
- Kradung from which this information has been taken
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Kraft | (German f.) strength, vigour, energy |
(English, French m.) or, in English, kraft paper, strong brown machine-made paper widely used for wrapping purposes, in publisher's bindings for lining the inside cover spine (spine strip) of a case-bound books, to make grocery bags and large envelopes and which is used as an electrical insulating material |
Kraft durch Freude | (German f.) or KdF, the name of an organisation, a part of the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeiterfront (DAF)), the national German labour organization at that time sponsored by the National Socialist Party in Germany, which provided regimented leisure for the masses under government control. From 1933, KdF provided affordable leisure activities such as concerts, day-trips and holidays |
the KdF-Wagen was the official name of the first Volkswagen 'Beetle' car. Originally commissioned by the Nazi Party in the late 1930s, the KdF-Wagen was designed by Ferdinand Porsche snr. as a compact people's car that would be affordable to the vast majority of the German population |
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kräftig | (German) forceful, strong, energetic, vigorous, robust, con forza |
kräftiglich | (German) forceful, strong, energetic, vigorous, robust, con forza |
kräftig Stimme | (German f.) a loud voice |
kräftig und kurz | (German) loud and detached |
Kraft paper | see 'kraft' (English, French m.) |
Kraken | (Norwegian) a mythical sea-monster of enormous size supposed to have been seen off the Norwegian coast |
Krakoviak | also Krakowiak or, in French, Krakovienne, a Polish dance from the region of Kraków, the old capital of Poland (used by the Piast and the Jagiello dynasties) and the centre of southern part of the country, called Malopolska (Little Poland). The common name used in English is cracovienne (from the French); in German the dance is known as Krakauer Tanz. The dance dates back to the 16th- and 17th-centuries when it was included in organ and lute tablatures, as well as songbooks, under such titles as Chorea polnica or Polnish Tanz and it would appear to be the precursor to the Baroque polonaise |
- Krakowiak from which this information has been taken
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Krakowiak | (German m.) Krakoviak |
Kraljice | or 'queens', the sword dance that existed in northern Pannonian region of Croatia and in Slavonia until the mid-twentieth century, was performed exclusively by women as a part of the Whitsun celebrations. The queens' procession was always accompanied by a bagpiper (gajdas), or, in more recent times, by tambura-players. When making their rounds of the village, the 'queens', also called ljelje, sing special songs and perform their dance when they stop in front of the houses |
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Krampus | a mythological hairy horned figure that was a close companion of St. Nicholas. He complimented the giving of of gifts during the Christmas season by beating children who misbehaved with birch branches or by carrying them off in his sack. Krampus is specific to the Austria-Bavaria region but similar figures appear in other parts of Europe under different names. December 5th, the Eve of St. Nicholas, is still set aside to celebrate Krampus where people dress up in grotesque masks and unsuspecting women are whipped |
Krankheit | (German f.) illness, disease (particularly Managerkrankheit physical sickness and mental disturbance resulting from excessive executive reponsibility) |
Krankheitgewinn | (German m.) the benefits (avoidance of responsibility, etc.) resulting from mental illness |
Krankmeldung | (German f.) a sick note |
Kranz | (Afrikaans) or krantz, an overhanging cliff enclosing a valley |
Krar | or kraar, a five or six-stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea, tuned to a pentatonic scale |
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Kratema | an independent melodic unit used to prolong a hymn and consisting of teretismata (meaningless syllables, such as terirem, tenena, tororon) |
Kratematarion | a codex containing a collection of kratemata (sing. kratema) arranged according to the eight modes |
Krautrock | a generic name for the experimental bands who appeared in Germany in the early 1970s. It was originally a somewhat derogatory term coined by the British music press from the slang term Kraut, meaning "a German person" and taken from the traditional German dish of pickled cabbage, Sauerkraut. However, because much of the music produced by these bands has since come to be very highly regarded, the term "krautrock" is now generally seen as an accolade rather than an insult |
- Krautrock from which this extract has been taken
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Krebs | (German m., literally crab') retrograde |
Krebsgang | (German m., literally 'crab walk') a retrograde motion |
krebsgängig | (German) retrograde, backwards, in reference to motion |
Krebskanon | (German m.) crab canon, canon in retrograde |
Kreditkartenabrechnung | (German f.) credit card statement, credit card invoice |
Kredo | (German n.) credo |
Kreeftencanon | (Dutch) crab canon |
kreeftengang | (Dutch) crab motion, cancrizan |
Krees | (Malay) or kris, a Malayan dagger |
Kreidestift | (German m.) chalk |
Kreidezeichnung | (German f.) chalk drawing, crayon |
Kreis | (German m.) cycle, circle |
Kreisatmung | (German f.) circular breathing |
kreischend | (German) shrieking, screeching |
kreisend | (German) circulating |
kreisförmig aufgestellt | (German) standing circle |
Kreiskanon | (German m.) perpetual canon |
Kreistanz | (German m.) circle dance |
Krembala | (ancient Greek) a kind of cymbals mentioned in a Homeric poem to Apollo |
Kremlin | (English, French m.) the citadel of Moscow, housing the offices of the Russian government and formerly those of the Soviet government |
Krepp | (German m.) - crêpe (French m., German m.), or, in English, crepe, a gauze-like silk fabric embossed with fine wrinkles, paper or rubber manufactured with similar small wrinkles |
Kreutzer | a silver coin and unit of currency existing in the Southern German states prior to the unification of Germany and in Austria. |
- Kreutzers from which this extract has been taken
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Kreuz | | (German n.) a sign to show that a note should be raised one semitone in pitch |
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Kreuz-doppeltes | | (German n.) a sign to show that a note should be raised two semitones in pitch |
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Kreuzer | (Italian m.) kreutzer |
Kreuzlieder | (German n. pl.) Medieval songs written by the Minnesingers on some aspect of the crusades |
kreuzsaitig | (German) cross-strung, overstrung, a corde incrocicchiate (Italian), à cordes croissées (French), a cuerdas cruzadas (Spanish) |
Kreuzschlitzschraubenzieher | (German m.) cross-head screw driver, Philips screwdriver |
kreuz und quer fragen | (German) or unangenehme Fragen stellen (German), to heckle |
Krieg | (German m.) war |
kriegerisch | (German) martial, warlike, martially |
Kriegsgefange (m.), Kriegsgefanger (f.) | (German) prisoner of war |
Kriegsgesang | (German m.) a war-song, a miltary song |
Kriegslied | (German n.) a war-song, a miltary song |
Krill Krill | the Krill Krill song cycle is a modern musical innovation from East Kimberley, Australia |
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Kriminalroman | (German m.) a novel about crime (a term that is broader than the English 'detective story' or 'thriller') |
Krin | a section of a tree, the trunk of which has been hollowed out and a slot cut into the side of the trunk. The thickness of the lips of the slot and the place where the drum is struck determine the range of sounds available. This instrument is found in every region of Central and Western Africa under many different names. Krin ensembles usually has not more than three to four musicians |
Kris | see krees |
Krishna | divine hero and central figure of the epic, Mahabharata, who is worshipped by the Hindus as the 8th incarnation of God |
Krishnanattom | a 'morality play' with dance and music, from Kerala in Southern India, that retells, over eight days, the whole of Krishna's life from his birth to Swargarohanam or ascension to the heavens |
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Kritik | (German f.) criticism, review, censure |
kritiklos | (German) indiscriminate, uncritical |
Kritiklosigkeit | (German f.) indiscrimination, lack of critical judgement |
kritischer Bericht | (German m.) critical report, critical commentary |
kritisieren | (German m.) to criticise |
K'rkbs | see karkabas |
kromaattinen Asteikko | (Finnish) chromatic scale |
kromatiikka | (Finnish) chromaticism |
kromatik | (Swedish, Danish) chromaticism |
Kromatisk Skala | (Danish, Swedish) chromatic scale |
Krome | (German) croma, a quaver, an eighth note |
kromhoorn | (Dutch) crumhorn |
Krommoi | see kiromboi |
Krontjong | a mix of Portuguese fado and various influences from Indonesian cultures in the former Dutch East Indies, krontjong music was folk music for the average Eurasian living in the Dutch East Indies and from 1950 also in the Netherlands. Krontjong music has become keroncong in Indonesia, modified by popular Indonesian music, dangdut. Dangdut is now the typical popular music in Indonesia while krontjong music continues to remain popular with Eurasians all over the world |
Kronwerk | (German n., literally 'crown work') sometimes called the 'echo organ', a set of pipes placed high above the organ, operated by its own manual |
Kröpfung | (German f.) crank, offset |
Kross | after Siegried Kross, the cataloguer of music by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) |
Krotala | (ancient Greece) a dancer's instrument like the castanets/rattles, probably a split reed or cane, which clattered when shaken with the hand. According to Eustathius, it was made of shell and brass, as well as wood. Clemens Alexandrinus says that it was an invention of the Sicilians. The word krotalon is used also as a metaphor, for a 'noisy talkative person' |
Kroustá | Greek percussion instruments |
Kruis | | (Dutch) a sign to show that a note should be raised one semitone in pitch |
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kruissnarig | (Dutch) overstrung |
Krumhorn | (German n.) crumhorn |
Krumm | (German) crooked, curved, bent |
Krummbogen | (German m.) crook (used on a brass instrument to alter the pitch) |
Krummbügel | (German m.) crook (used on a brass instrument to alter the pitch) |
Krummhorn (s.), Krummhörner (pl.) | (German n.) crumhorn |
(German n.) an 8 ft. reed stop in an organ |
Krumping | also 'clown dancing' or 'clowning', a popular and fast growing style of hip-hop dance. It originated in the African-American community of South Central Los Angeles, California and is the newest form of the "Urban" Black dance movement. It is free, expressive and highly energetic |
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Krupezion | (ancient Greece) probably a kind of clatter (foot) instrument used by flute players, a metallic piece attached to the sole of the player (podopsophos) |
krustische Instrumente | (German n. pl.) percussion instruments |
Kryds | | (Danish) a sign to show that a note should be raised one semitone in pitch |
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Krypton | (English, French m.) a whitish, largely inert gaseous element (symbol: Kr) used chiefly in gas discharge lamps and fluorescent lamps |
Kryuki | see 'Znamennïy' |
Kshatriya | member of the second (warrior) caste among Hindus |
Ksink-Ksink | see seke-seke |
Kuan | (Chinese) double-reed pipe |
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Kuba-jamisen | (Japan) a toy that has the shape of a small koto, but which is held close to the side of the body, the strings plucked with a plectrum, often accompanying the player as he or she sings |
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Kubing | a highly responsive bamboo jaw harp from Mindanao, the large southern island of the Philippines |
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Kucheng | a 16 or 21-stringed zither. It is currently the most popular plucked traditional Chinese instrument on Taiwan |
Kuchipudi | a classical dance form from Andhra Pradesh, a state of South India. Kuchipudi is the name of a small village in the Divi Taluq of Krishna district that borders the Bay of Bengal and with resident Brahmins practising this traditional dance form, it acquired the present name |
- Kuchipudi from which this extract has been taken
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Kuchi shoga | also known as kuchi showa and kuchi shoka, is a Japanese system for 'pronouncing' the sounds of drums, especially those of the Japanese taiko drums |
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Kuchiyeremá | see biankomeko |
Kuchka | see Kutchka |
Kucho | (Japan) a spiked bowed lute used in classical music of the Okinawan tradition |
- Kucho from which this information has been taken
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Kuckuckspfeife | (German f.) cuckoo pipe |
Kudocast | colloquial term for an awards show |
Kudos | (Greek) credit, fame, reputation |
Kudüm | a pair of small, hemispherical drum which, when used for religious purposes, are known as kudüm, and when used in a secular or mehter context, known as nakkare |
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Kuduro | or kuduru, an energetic, fast-paced Angolan musical style |
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Kuduzela | constructed from the horns of the kudu, an African antelope, a traditional instrument among many African cultures for centuries that was used to call warriors into battle |
Kudyapiq | (Philippines) a boat-shaped plucked lute, the body, neck and tail piece of which are formed from a single hollowed out piece of wood |
- Kudyapiq from which this extract has been taken
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Kugel | (German f.) ball, sphere, bullet, shot |
kugelförmig | (German) spherical |
Kugellager | (German n.) ball bearing, race |
kugeln | (German) to roll, to fall about (laughing), to roll about (laughing) |
kugelrund | (German) spherical, tubby (familiar) |
Kugelschreiber | (German m.) a ballpoint (pen) |
Kugikly | see kuvichky |
Kuh | (German f.) a cow |
Kuhglocke (s.), Kuhglocken (pl.) | (German f.) a cowbell |
Kuhglöckchen | (German n.) a small cowbell |
Kuhhorn | (German n.) cow-horn, a Swiss or Alpine horn |
Kuhreigen | (German f.) or Kuhreihen, the simple melodies played on the Alpine Kuhhorn, in French, ranz des vaches |
Kuhreihen | (German f.) see Kuhreigen |
Kui | (Thailand) a free reed instrument made of water buffalo horn |
- Kui from which this information has been taken
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Kujawiak | (Engoish, German m.) a Polish dance from the region of Kujawy after which it is named (the region is in central Poland, on the Mazovian plains). The name itself appeared for the first time in 1827, in a text by T. F. Jaskólski. According to Ada Dziewanowska's description (in Polish Folk Dances and Songs) the kujawiak was originally danced with a calm dignity and simplicity, in a smooth flowing manner "reminiscent of the tall grain stalks in the fields swaying gently in the wind." The couples were spinning around the circle in a seemingly endless rotation. There were no vigorous stamps and no drastic changes of tempo |
- Kujawiak from which this information has been taken
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Ku Klux Klan | (English, French m.) a secret society whose ultimate goal is to establish white supremacy. Founded in 1866 at Pulaski, Tennessee, the Ku Klux Klan violently attacked and intimidated African Americans and white Republicans (carpetbaggers and Union League members). Ex-Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1862-77), who had massacred black and white Union soldiers at Fort Pillow, was elected its first Grand Wizard |
Kukri | (Hindi) a curved knife, broader near the point than at the haft, with the cutting edge inside the curve, used by the Gurkhas |
Kulak (s.), Kulaki (pl.) | (Russian) a prosperous Russian peasant, a peasant-proprietor (notorious for being tight-fisted) |
kulant | (German) obliging |
Kuli | (German m.) familiar abbreviation for Kugelschreiber (German: ballpoint pen) |
Kulibit | (Philippines) a two-string bamboo tube zither |
- Kulibit from which this information has been taken
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kulinarisch | (German) culinaryor krantz, an overhanging cliff enclosing a valley |
Kulintang | Philippine gong ensemble |
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Kulintangan | (Brunei) a set of small gongs on a wooden frame |
Kulisse | (German f.) wing (of a stage) |
Kulissen | (German f. pl.) scenery (theatre), wings (of a stage) |
hinter den Kulissen (German: behind the scenes) |
Kulitta | Hittite goddess of music, serving Ishtar, the great Babylonian goddess who was worshipped in Anatolia under the Hurrion name of Shaushga |
Kulkul | a larger form of the Balinese kentongan, hung from towers next to assembly room halls used for gatherings |
Kult | (German m.) cult |
kultivieren | (German) to cultivate |
kultiviert | (German) cultured |
Kultrun | sacred Mapuche (Native Chilean Indians) drum |
Kultur | (German f.) culture |
although the term has the general meaning given above, more recently, and particularly from the late nineteenth century, the term took on a more nationalistic tone (indeed, a form of racial arrogance) associated with a desire to impose its values on the rest of the world |
Kulturbeutel | (German m.) toiletbag |
Kulturbolschewismus | (German, literally 'cultural bolshevism') a derogatory term applied in 1930s Germany to what was called 'degenerate art' which included also the music of Schoenberg and Stravinsky |
how serious the Nazi's approach to these matters really was (one of the matters raised in Christopher Hitchens' article, Remembering George Orwell, published in The New York Review of Books Vol. 49 No. 14 [26 Sep. 2002] - from which we have quoted) was questioned by George Orwell in his essay written on New Year's Day 1942 for Partisan Review about the varieties of defeatist opinion to be found among British journalists and intellectuals. His tone was detached; he noted the odd alliances between widely discrepant factions. He also analyzed the temptation among intellectuals to adapt themselves to power, as instanced by developments across the Channel:
"Both Vichy and the Germans have found it quite easy to keep a façade of "French culture" in existence. Plenty of intellectuals were ready to go over, and the Germans were quite ready to make use of them, even when they were "decadent." At this moment Drieu de la Rochelle is editing the Nouvelle Revue Française, Pound is bellowing against the Jews on the Rome radio, and Céline is a valued exhibit in Paris, or at least his books are. All of these would come under the heading of kulturbolschewismus, but they are also useful cards to play against the intelligentsia in Britain and the USA. If the Germans got to England, similar things would happen, and I think I could make out at least a preliminary list of the people who would go over"
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kulturell | (German) cultural |
Kulturelle Hegemonie | (German f.) cultural hegemony |
cultural hegemony is a concept coined by Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci. It means that a diverse culture can be ruled or dominated by one group or class, that everyday practices and shared beliefs provide the foundation for complex systems of domination |
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Kulturen | (German f. pl.) plantations |
Kulturfilm | (German m.) documentary film |
Kulturgeschichte | (German f.) cultural history |
the term 'cultural history' (from the German term Kulturgeschichte), at least in its common definition since the 1970s, often combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. Cultural history involves the records and narrative descriptions of past knowledge, customs, and arts of a group of people. Cultural history encompasses the continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past to the present and even into the future pertaining to a culture. Cultural history, as a discipline, records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a group favors. Jacob Burckhardt helped found cultural history as a discipline. Cultural history studies and interprets the record of human societies by denoting the various distinctive ways of living built up by a group of people under consideration. Cultural history involves the aggregate of past cultural activity, such as ceremony, class in practices, and the interaction with locales |
Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci in the 1920s argued that the reason the proletarian revolution had not advanced in Europe as fast as many Marxists had expected it would was due to cultural hegemony. The theory of cultural hegemony states that a diverse culture can be dominated by one class because of that class's monopoly over the mass media and popular culture. Gramsci therefore argued for a culture war in which anti-capitalist elements seek to gain a dominant voice in mass media, education, and other mass organizations |
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kulturgeschichtlich | (German) pertaining to the history of civilization and of art |
Kulturkampf | (German m.) German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Chancellor of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Catholic Church was still also a political power. The Pope's Papal States were supported by France but ceased to exist as an indirect result of the Franco-Prussian War. The Catholic Church still had a strong influence on many parts of life, though, even in Bismarck's Protestant Prussia. In the newly founded German Empire, Bismarck sought to bolster the power of the secular state and reduce the political and societal influence of the Roman Catholic Church by instituting political control over Church activities |
the struggle of one nation to achieve cultural supremacy over the others |
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Kulturkreis (s.), Kulturkreise (pl.) | (German m.) one of a series of successive overlapping waves of civilization spreading out from a centre, postulated to explain the diffusion of cultures in various parts of the world, a theory developed by the ethnologists Fritz Graebner (1877-1934) and Wilhelm Schmidt (1868-1954) |
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Kulturkritik | (German f.) cultural criticism |
kulturny | (Russian) cultural |
Kultusminister | (German m.) Minister of Education and Arts |
Kum | Korean seven-stringed zither used in court music |
Kumi-daiko | Japanese taiko drum ensemble. The origin of the taiko can be sketched back as far back as the 6th- and 7th-centuries on the basis of a clay figure of a drummer that has survived from that period |
Kumina | both the religion and the music practiced by the people of eastern Jamaica. These people have retained the drumming and dancing of the Bantu-speaking peoples of the Congo. Like the Kongo practitioners from Cuba, they have kept a large amount of the Kongo language alive. In the Americas there are many Kongo-derived religions still being practiced today |
the most African of Jamaican cults. Kumina ceremonies are usually associated with wakes and entombments, but can also be performed at births, anniversaries and thanksgivings. During a Kumina ceremony the exponents call upon their ancestral spirits. The dance and music are two of the Kumina's strong features - the drum playing an integral part in this dance ritual. Other instruments used include shakas and grater. The dancers move in a circular pattern anti-clockwise around the drummers in the centre inching their feet along the ground with the back held in an almost erect posture. The hips, rib cage, shoulders and arms become involved as spins, dips and breaks in the body movements occur throughout the dance |
- Kumina from which the first entry has been taken
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Kummattikkali | a mask dance popular in some of the northern districts of Kerala, India. The dancers, wearing painted wooden masks and sporting sprigs of leaves and grass, go dancing from house to house |
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Kummel | (English, French m., Italian m.) Kümmel (liqueur) |
Kümmel | (German m.) caraway, the name of a caraway-flavoured liqueur |
Kummer | (German m.) sorrow, grief, worry, trouble |
kümmere dich um deine eigenen Angelgenheiten! | (German) mind your own business! |
kümmerlich | (German) puny, meagre, wretched |
kümmern | (German) to concern |
kummervoll | (German) sorrowful, with grief |
Kumpanjija | (Croatia) a word that means both the dance (also called mostre) and the society of men that observe a complex array of customs and rituals which include the performance of a chain-dance with swords and a dance ball involving couple dancing in which the women were mostly the relatives of the sword dancers (kompanjoli") |
- Kumpanjija from which this information has been taken
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Kumpel | (German m.) mate (familiar) |
Kumquat | (English, French m.) any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Fortunella bearing small orange-coloured edible fruits with thick sweet-flavoured skin and sour pulp |
Kumu hula | (Hawaiian Islands) the teacher of hula, a Hawaiian dance form. Kumu means source of knowledge |
Kun | see Kun opera |
Kun-borrk | a musical genre of the Indigenous Australian people around the Adelaide, Mann and Rose Rivers |
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Kunde | (German m.) customer |
Kundendienst | (German m.) (after-sales) service |
Kundi | Central African arched harp |
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Kundigebung | (German f.) (political) rally |
kundig | (German) knowledgeable, expert (at or in), knowing |
Kundu | hourglass shaped drum from Papua New Guinea |
Kundum | music and dance, which is performed as part of the annual Kundum festival of the Ahanta and Nzema people of Ghana originated in a situation of famine and hunger around 1700. Although traditionally a harvest music and dance, kundum can now be seen on all social occasions, although the act of 'plucking' in the fields continueds to be dramatized in the dancers' movements |
kundum is performed in 2/3 sections: |
domo | the first section: a slow movement, in which dancers evoke beauty, majesty and gracefulness with stately postures of tilted bodies |
ewulalå | (literally, 'pumping') the second section: inspires fast and masculine movements |
edudule | the third section: consists of vigorous torso to torso movements, strutting movements of the body |
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Kun opera | (China) also called Kunshanqiang or Kunqu, Kun opera originated in the Kunshan region of Jiangsu. It is one of China's classical opera forms, with a history going back more than 500 years. The Kun opera orchestra consists of traditional instruments including the dizi (a horizontal bamboo flute which plays the lead part), xiao (an end-blown bamboo flute), sheng (a mouth organ) and pipa (a plucked string instrument with a fretted finger board) |
- Kun opera from which this information has been taken
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Kunqu | see Kun opera |
Kunshanqiang | see Kun opera |
Kunst | (German f.) art |
Kunst-Anstalt | (German, literally 'art establishment') a term that appears to refer specifically to the division of a publishing house that produces higher quality art cards |
Kunst der Fuge | (German m.) see 'Art of Fugue' |
Künste, die | (German f. pl.) the arts (generally) |
Künste, die bildenden | (German f. pl.) the imitative arts, the plastic arts (specifically) |
Künste, die schönen | (German f. pl.) the fine arts, the liberal arts (specifically) |
Kunstfuge | (German f.) a demonstration of all the possibilities when writing a fugue, also known as Meisterfuge or Ricercata |
Kunstgeschichte | (German f.) the history of art |
Kunsthistoriker | (German m.) a student of or expert in the history of art |
Kunstkenner | (German m.) connoisseur |
Künstler (m.), Künstlerin (f.) | (German) artist, craftsman, master (of his craft), performer (theatrical), virtuoso |
Künstlerbedarf | (German m.) a shop selling artists' supplies |
Künstler, bildende | (German m.) visual artist |
Künstler des Mittelalters | (German m.) primitive art (art from the pre-renaissance) |
Künstler, darstellende | (German m.) performing artist |
künstlerisch | (German) artistic |
künstlerische Ader | (German f.) artistic bent |
künstlerische Film | (German m.) artistic bent |
künstlerische Gestaltung | (German f.) artistic direction |
künstlerische Interpretation | (German f.) artistic interpretation, rendition |
künstlerische Leitung | (German f.) artistic director |
künstlerische Schaffen | (German n.) artistic creation |
künstlerisch veranlagt sein | (German) to have an artistic bent |
künstlerisch wertlos | (German) with little or no artistic merit, trashy |
künstlerisch wertvoll | (German) of high artistic merit |
Künstlertum | (German n.) artistry |
Künstlerverzeichnis | (German n.) register of artists |
Künstlervolk | (German n.) Bohemians (in an artistic sense) |
Künstlerzimmer | (German n.) greenroom (in a theatre, etc.) |
Kunstlied | (German n.) art song, song |
künstlich | (German) forced, false, affected, imitated, artificial, spurious, synthetic |
künstliche Intelligenz | (German f.) artificial intelligence |
künstlich hergestellt | (German) man-made |
Künstlichkeit | (German f.) artificiality |
Kunstprosa | (German f.) literary prose, prose designed to serve an artistic rather than a utilitarian end |
Kunstverlag | (German m.) a publisher of fine arts, which may include art cards |
Kuomintang | (Chinese) the radical nationalist party formed in China by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 after the fall of the Chinese emperor |
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Kupfer | (German n.) copper (metal) |
Kupferblech | (German n.) copper plate, sheet copper |
Kupferdraht | (German m.) copper wire |
Kupferdruck | (German m.) copperplate engraving |
Kupferlegierung | (German f.) copper alloy |
Kupferlitze | (German f.) copper braid (shielding in a coaxial cable) |
Kupferstecher | (German m.) a copperplate engraver |
Kupferstechkunst | (German f.) copperplate engraving |
Kupferstich | (German m.) copperplate engraving, copperplate |
Kupferteifdruck | (German m.) the method of photogravure as developed by Karl Klic in 1895 in which the exposed gelatin tissues used to transfer a photograph to a copper plate was first infused with a halftone screen. The result was a print with a sharper and finer grain |
(German m.) photoengraving |
Kupu | the Tuvaluan tradition of funereal singing |
Kupurra | drum from Mozambique |
Kur | (German f.) a course of treatment, a cure |
Kür | (German f.) free exercise, free programme (in a sports competition) |
Kurai | a long Bashkir (Russia) a flute made out of grass |
Kurbel | (German f.) a crank (for example, a winding handle) |
kurbeln | (German) to wind (for example, by turning a handle) |
kurbeln oben | (German) to wind up |
kurbeln unten | (German) to wind down |
Kurbelwelle | (German f.) a crankshaft (for example, in a car) |
Kürbis | (German m.) a pumpkin, a marrow |
Kürbisraspel | (German f.) a güiro, a scraper |
Kurd | member of a largely pastoral Islamic people, mainly Sunni Muslims, who live in Kurdistan, the largest ethnic group without their own state |
Kurds were sent into exile into the Balochistan province of Pakistan during the Safavid era (1502-1736). Kurds speak both Balochi and Brahui. The Sarpara, Rodini and Pirkani Baloch tribes are also of Kurd extraction |
Kurde | (French m./f.) Kurd (person) |
(French m.) Kurdish (language) |
kurde | (French) Kurdish (attribute) |
Kurdish | an Iranian language spoken in Turkey and Iran and Iraq and Syria and Russia |
of or pertaining to the Kurdish people |
Kurdish music | |
Kurdistan | (English, French m.) an extensive geographical region in the Middle East to the south of the Caucasus |
Kure-gaku | (Japanese) see gigaku |
Kuri-nuki-daiko | a Japanese drum carved from a log |
Kurgan | (RUssian, originally Tartar) a prehistoric sepulchral tumulus in Southern Russia |
Kurgast | (German m.) a health-resort visitor |
Kurhaus | (German n.) the pump-room in a spa |
Kurier | (German m.) courier |
kurieren | (German) to cure |
kurios | (German) curious, odd |
Kuriosität | (German f.) oddness, a curiosity, a curio |
Kurkapelle | (German f.) a spa orchestra |
Kurkonzert | (German n.) a concert given by a spa orchestra |
Kurort | (German m.) health resort, spa |
Kurpfuscher | (German m.) quack |
Kurs | (German m.) course, (goods) price |
Kursaal | (German m.) a set of public rooms for the entertainment of vistors at a health-resort |
Kursbuch | (German n.) timetable |
kursieren | (German) to circulate |
kursiv | (German) italic, in italics |
Kursivschrift | (German f.) italics |
Kursus | (German m.) course |
Kurswagen | (German m.) through carriage |
Kürt | (Hungary) this instrument, a wooden bugle, is called kürt by the Székelys, and víziduda (water pipe) by the people of the Great Plain. Up to 200 cm long, and can be made of pine, poplar, birch or elder wood. In Transylvania the bark of the lime tree is also used. Horns and bugles were used by all manner of country folk for signaling, to scare off wild animals and as part of the custom for using loud sounds to cleanse, protect from sickness and keep enemies away. Bugles could also be used to salute the New Year and Spring or simply to chat with far away neighbors on quiet evenings |
Kurtaxe | (German f.) visitors' tax |
Kurtosis | a property of distribution curves which has to do with the degree of peaking; if the distribution of the data forms a very flat curve, the curve is said to be platokurtic; if it forms a very sharp peak it is leptokurtic. |
Kurukutu | a small hourglass Hausa (Ghana) drum with goat skin and a gut snare. It is played with two leather sticks |
Kurve | (German f.) curve, bend (in the road) |
Kurve nach innen (German: inward curve) |
Kurve nach aussen (German: outward curve) |
kurz | (German) short, shortly, brief, succinct, quick, detached, staccato, curt, briefly, quickly, curtly, little, narrow, near |
kurz angebunden | (German) curt, brusque, terse |
Kurzarbeit | (German f.) short-time working |
kurzärmelig | (German) short-sleeved |
kurzatmig sein | (German) to be short of breath |
kurz berühren | (German) to touch on |
Kurzbezeichnung | (German f.) a shortcut |
kurz darstellen | (German) to epitomize |
Kürze | (German f.) shortness, brevity, conciseness, curtness, terseness |
kurze Hosen | (German f. pl.) shorts |
Kürzel | (German n.) stenography, shorthand |
kurze Lied | (German n.) lay (song), lai (French) |
kürzen | (German) to shorten, to cut (reduce, decrease), to boil down, to curtail, to abridge, to reduce, to retrench, to tail |
kurze Oktave | (German f.) short octave |
kürzer | (German) shorter |
kürzer Beckenschlag | (German) short blow on the cymbal, a short stroke on the cymbal |
kurzerhand | (German) without further ado |
kürzer Mordent | (German m.) a short mordent |
kürzer Vorschlag | (German m.) acciaccatura |
kürzest | (German) shortest |
Kürzezeichen | (German n.) breve |
kurzfristig | (German) short-term, at short notice |
kurz gefaßt | (German) compendious |
kurz gesagt | (German) in short |
Kurzgeschichte | (German f.) short story |
kurz gestossen | (German) struck detached, staccato |
kurz gestrichen | (German) short strokes (of the bow) |
kurz halten | (German) to skimp |
kurzlebig | (German) short-lived |
kürzlich | (German) recently |
Kurzmeldung | (German f.) newsflash |
kurz nach | (German) a little way shortly after |
Kurznachrichten | (German f. pl.) news headlines |
kurz scheren | (German) to shave |
Kurzschluß | (German m.) short circuit, brainstorm (figurative) |
Kurzschrift | (German f.) shorthand |
kurzsichtig | (German) short-sighted |
Kurzsichtigkeit | (German f.) short-sightedness |
Kurzstreckenrakete | (German f.) short-range missile |
Kurztitel | (German m.) lemma |
kurzum | (German) in short |
kurz und bestimmt | (German) short and determined |
kurz und bündig | (German) short and to the point, succinct, terse |
kurz und dick | (German) stubby, tubby |
kurz und gut | (German) in short |
kurz und rein | (German) distinct and clear |
kurz und treffend | (German) laconic |
Kürzung | (German f.) shortening, cut, cut in (decrease, reduction) |
kurz vor Torschluß | (German) at the last minute |
kurz zusammenfassen | (German) to précis, to recapitulate, to summarise |
kurz zusammengefaßt | (German) in a nutshell |
kurz vor | (German) a little way shortly before |
Kurzwaren | (German f. pl.) haberdashery, notions (U.S.) |
kurzweilig | (German) amusing |
Kurzwelle | (German f.) short wave (radio, etc.) |
Kusine | (German f.) (female) cousin |
Kussier | a Turkish musical instrument with a hollow body covered with skin, over which five strings are stretched |
Kussir | (French) Kussier |
Kussundé | a rhythm associated with the Balanta people of Guinea-Bissau |
Kutchka |
full name Moguchaya Kuchka or Kutchka (Russian, literally 'the heap'), the name given to five composers of Russian nationality who developed their own nationalistic style while rejecting Western stylistic views, also known as 'the Five' or 'the Mighty Handful' |
Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev (1836-1910) |
Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin (1833-1887) |
César Cui [Tsezar Antonovich Kyui] (1835-1918) |
Modest Petrovich Musorgsky (1839-1881) |
Nicolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) |
Stasov acted as propagandist to the group and is nominally the sixth member of the five |
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Kutiriba | a medium-sized Mandinka (Gambia, Senegal) drum. It is played with one hand and a short stick. The top is covered with goat skin |
Kutirindingo | a small Mandinka drum. It is played with one hand and a short stick. The top is covered with goat skin |
Kützial-flöte | (German f.) an organ stop of the flute species |
Kuudeskymmenesneljäsosanuotti | | (Finnish) a hemidemisemiquaver (sixty-fourth note), a note one sixty-fourth the time value of a whole note or semibreve |
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Kuudeskymmenesneljäsosatauko | | (Finnish) a hemidemisemiquaver rest (sixty-fourth rest), a rest one sixty-fourth the time value of a whole rest or semibreve rest |
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Kuudestoistaosanuotti | | (Finnish) a semiquaver (sixteenth note) a note one sixteenth the time value of a whole note or semibreve |
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Kuudesosatauko | | (Finnish) a semiquaver rest (sixteenth rest) a rest one sixteenth the time value of a whole rest or semibreve rest |
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Kuvichky | also called kuvikly, kugikly or tsevnitsa, the kuvikly is a multi-piped flute, produced from stems of kuga or other cane or reed plants. A set of kuvikly usually consists of 2 - 5 pipes of the same diameter, with lengths varying from 100 to 160 mm. The pipes have one end open and the other closed. The three- and five-piped instruments are the most common. The pipes of kuvikly are not fastened together, as they would be in a pan-pipe, so the performer holds them freely in hands, and advances the open end of one of the pipes to his or her lips and blows along the open edge of the pipe to produce a sound. The repertoire of kuvikly players, women only, consists mainly of dances. The kuvikly is wide spread throughout the Kursk and Briansk regions of Russia |
Kuvikly | see Kuvichky |
Kuzhal | (Malayalam) a 9-holed bamboo flute also known as the 'Carnatic flute'. The performer blows air through one end and using his fingers he open and closes small holes in the instrument |
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KV | Köchel-Verzeichnis catalogue of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) prepared by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel (1800-1877) |
Kvart | (Danish, Swedish) interval of a fourth |
Kvartalsskrift | (Danish, Norwegian) quarterly (a publication) |
kvartalsvis | (Swedish) quarterly |
kvartarlig | (Danish) quarterly |
Kvartol | (Danish, Swedish) quadruplet |
Kvartoli | (Finnish) quadruplet |
Kvartti | (Finnish) interval of a fourth |
Kvas | (Russian) rye beer |
Kveding | old Norwegian vocal tradition |
Kvint | (Swedish, Danish) interval of a fifth |
Kvintol | (Danish, Swedish) quintuplet |
Kvintoli | (Finnish) quintuplet |
Kvintti | (Finnish) interval of a fifth |
Kwadraatnotenshrift | (Dutch) square note notation |
Kwae | (Korean) fixed frets, for example those on a komun'go |
Kwaito | an urban South African genre developed in the 1990s, a fusion of various musical sounds that were popular in the 1990s, including South African dance music, hip hop, Jamaican influences, house music and rhythm and blues |
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Kwaljarin | or kuljurin, Maltese hunting whistle that imitates the cry of the quail |
see quagliere |
Kwalli | see 'kohl' |
Kwanggari | (Korean) also called maegu, kkwaengmaegi, kkwaengsoe or sogeum, a percussion instrument made of various metal alloys, played by being struck with a hardwood beater |
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kwart | (Dutch) fourth |
Kwartaalblad | (Dutch) quarterly |
Kwartet | (Dutch) quartet |
Kwart noot | | (Dutch) crotchet or quarter note, a note one quarter the time value of a semibreve or whole note |
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Kwartool | (Dutch) quadruplet |
Kwart rust | | or | | (Dutch) crotchet rest or quarter rest, a rest one quarter the time value of a semibreve rest or whole rest |
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Kwassa-kwassa | dance style, a variety of soukous, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, that developed in the 1980s and became particularly popular in Malawi |
Kwela | (Zulu, literally 'to climb', carrying the connotations of social mobility) South African pennywhistle (tin flute) music also known as Afro-jazz or, in Johannesburg, 'jive' |
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Kwéyòl | although English is the official language of Dominica, much of the population also speak kwéyòl (Creole), a French-based patois (although in the north-east villages of Marigot and Wesley you might also hear a pidgin English called cocoy) |
numbers in kwéyòl: |
nòt | 0 | dis | 10 | ven | 20 |
yonn | 1 | wonz | 11 | twant | 30 |
dé | 2 | douz | 12 | kawant | 40 |
twa | 3 | twèz | 13 | senkant | 50 |
kat | 4 | katoz | 14 | swazant | 60 |
senk | 5 | tjenz | 15 | swazant dis | 70 |
sis | 6 | sez | 16 | katwaven | 80 |
sèt | 7 | disèt | 17 | katwaven dis | 90 |
wit | 8 | sizwit | 18 | san | 100 |
nèf | 9 | diznèf | 19 | |
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kwint | (Dutch) quint, fifth |
Kwintencirkel | (Dutch) circle of fifths |
Kwintool | (Dutch) quintuplet |
Kwitra | an Algerian indigenous four-course lute |
KWV | abbreviation of Kreutzer-Werke-Verzeichnis, the catalogue of works by Conradin Kreutzer (1780-1849) |
Ky | abbreviation of Kyrie (Latin) |
Kyay naung | (Burmese) brass gong |
Kyay patalar | (Burmese) brass xylophone |
Kyay se | (Burmese) triangular gong |
Kyezi | from Burma, made of brass plates, the instrument is shaped like a Buddhist temple roof. It is suspended by a cord which passes through a hole in the center. The instrument produces a howling sound when struck on its edge with a wooden mallet as it is being spun |
- Kyezi from which this information has been taken
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Kyi naung waing | see kyi waing |
Kyi waing | (Burmese) a high-pitched set of bronze gongs played with mallets and set in a gilded wooden circular frame, similar to, but lower pitched than those of the patt waing |
Kyl-kyjak | a Kyrgyz two-string fiddle with a bow made out of horsehairs. Kyl-kyjak was widely played by performers who often acted as a one actor theatre, producing the whole range of sounds of nature and humans |
Kymbala | (ancient Greek) also called cymbals, cheirokymbala or anakara, a musical instrument, in the shape of two half globes, which were held one in each hand by the performer, and played by being struck against each other. The word is derived from kumbos meaning 'hollow' |
Kyma | in 1984, Kurt Hebel and Lippold Haken, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, designed and built the Platypus, a digital signal processor for realtime audio. Carla Scaletti wrote the software. She called it Kyma. In 1987, Apple Computer gave Scaletti a grant to design a graphical interface for Kyma. In 1989, Hebel designed the Capybara to replace the Platypus. In 1990, Scaletti and Hebel formed 'Symbolic Sound Corporation' to market the 'Kyma System' as a professional audio generating and processing system |
- Kyma from which this information has been taken
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Kyogen | see kyoogen |
Kyong-sok | (Korean) resonant stones, relatively unaffected by changes in humidity and temperature, that were used as local pitch references |
Kyoogen | or kyogen, a form of traditional dance drama, which developed along with Noo from the fourteenth century on. While Noo treats serious themes of an idealistic or religious nature, Kyoogen is frace, characterized by its humorous stories and droll acting. Kyoogen are almost totally dialogue plays, but many plays feature songs and dance |
- Kyoogen from which this information has been taken
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Kyrie (eleison) | (English, French m., German n., from Greek, literally 'Lord, have mercy') the first part of the ordinary of the Mass, the only Greek surviving in the Roman Mass |
Kyrielle | (French f.) string (injuries, etc.), stream (complains, etc.), crowd (people), pile (objects) |
a poetic form that originated in troubadour poetry, written in rhyming couplets or quatrains. It may use the phrase "Lord, have mercy", or a variant on it, as a refrain as the second line of the couplet or last line of the quatrain. In less strict usage, other phrases, and sometimes single words, are used as the refrain |
- Kyrielle from which this extract has been taken
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Kyrie trope | a Kyrie with an independent text and melody inserted between phrases, in contrast with a texted Kyrie, which is a lengthy chant with a syllabic text. The most common forms of Kyrie trope contained one, three, or eight phrases. The texted Kyrie seems to be the older form and is more common in western Europe. It is possible that the Kyrie and trope were composed together, as may also be the case for the sequence, due to the presence of a more purely melismatic style. The longer Kyrie trope is more common east of the Rhine, uses shorter chant melodies, and has more formal and structural similarities to Kyrie melodies in general. Complete musical independence is the only universal characteristic of all Kyrie tropes |
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kyrkotonart | (Swedish) church mode |
Kyste | (French m.) cyst (a closed sac that develops abnormally in some body structure) |
kystique | (French) cystic (of or pertaining to a normal cyst or cysts) |
Kytte | see 'kit' |
Kyu | a Japanese fiddle bow |
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