Appropriation of Creative Objects

Ziff, Bruce and Rao, Pratima V. (eds.) Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation. Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, New Jersey (1997).

To end off my base readings I have chosen Borrowed Power. Ziff and Rao have collected and arranged several essays based on the grand theme of cultural appropriation. The book is divided into units based on what facet of culture we experience appropriation. Part one deals with cultural appropriation of music, part two with appropriation in art, and so on. I will address part one.

The authors point out early on that the notion of culture is “as indeterminate as any found within the social sciences” and that it “cannot, therefore, be relied upon to set clear limits as to where the concept of cultural appropriation begins and ends.” (p. 2) Cultural appropriation is inherently problematic; we have no finite definition of culture. An analysis of appropriation therefore looks at a system of power struggles, hence the title of the book Borrowed Power. The authors set the object of appropriation as a product of a creative endeavor. Appropriation itself is open to interpretation as there is a variety of modes of appropriation. Thinking about stakeholders in an analysis points to “relationships among communities,” and further, “we can base the organizing elements in our relation-based analysis on ethnicity, race, nationality, class, gender, and so forth.” (p. 3) We must consider and locate the stakeholders in an appropriation issue within their local context(s). A simple breakdown of elements therefore include: notion of culture, the appropriated object (tangible or intangible), type of appropriation, stakeholders and their localized contexts.

It is important to note the authors give a counterpoint to cultural appropriation, namely cultural assimilation. (p. 7) When we are looking at a cultural transmission is it an act of appropriation or assimilation? Transmission is a neutral word, where appropriation and assimilation allude to a power complex. The distinction between the two emerges in cultural evolution over and over again. The history of music shows many examples: the somewhat more recent advent of sampling in electronic music points to an act of appropriation (here a new owner finding value in a cultural/musical object that a musician already created, ie. samples of vocals, instrument hits, etc.). Electronic music now has many subgenres. For example, do Jungle or TripHop highlight the assimilation of style more so than point to an appropriation of style? Here I would argue that musicians/composers always already build their craft upon the foundation of existing trends.

Ziff and Pratima state that beyond the politics, or will to power, of appropriation, there exist values important to consider. These values are evident in the negative feedback present in acts of cultural appropriation. First is a “concern for the integrity and identities of cultural groups.” Second is that “appropriation can either damage or transform a given cultural good or practice.” Thirdly: “cultural appropriation wrongly allows some to benefit to the material (i.e., financial) detriment of others.” Finally, “current law fails to reflect alternative conceptions of what should be treated as property or ownership in cultural goods.” (pp. 8,9) I wish to bear these in mind.

In African-American Music: Dynamics of Appropriation and Innovation, Perry Hall looks at the recent history (primarily late 1800s to current) of Black music in the United States. Here we see the tension between cultural appropriation (designating a will to power) and cultural assimilation (the natural trajectory of music). Hall describes a history of a repetitive process of appropriation, exploitation, and the relinquishment of musical meaning in favor of adopting Black music’s aesthetic styles. In the latter part of the process: “The appropriated forms become ineffective as expressions and affirmations of the unique cultural experiences from which they arise.” (p. 32) The chief appropriator/exploiter has been the white musician or businessman.

I find Hall making several valid points throughout, and constructing a concise history of Black music in America, however he seems to be caught in flux between the reconcilable effects of appropriation and an understanding of the assimilation process. This is exemplary of our whole topic: dividing lines are very blurred. To a country that is encased in music and styles derived from trends in music and its fashion, we owe much to the innovations of Black performers. We would be blind to even suggest that Black music hasn’t been continuously exploited and cashed in on over the past hundred years. My question is: how can we understand the process that Hall describes now? What is our situation? Who are the stakeholders when we look at a more recent genre of Black music, such as hip-hop, and how may we define the binary of appropriation-assimilation? I am interested to discover whether or not the values Ziff and Rao discuss hold true today within Hall’s Black/white divide. Black musicians appropriate musical objects from other Black musicians (an easy example are how hip-hop musicians have repeatedly used samples from James Brown songs). I would argue that in such instances we may trace a different trajectory for musical evolution.

Towards a Universal Semiology of Music

Throughout the book Nattiez presents us with historical glimpses into the ethnomusicological paradigms. One I enjoy, however only briefly touched upon in Music and Discourse, is the field’s acknowlegement of the intelligence/theoretical savvy of the Other (in this case we refer to non-western music origins). Nattiez notes, “We have gradually discovered (by examining the metaphorical language borrowed from the conceptual universe, especially the religious universe, unique to each culture) that the “savage mind” can also operate in the realm of music theory, with a precision that is a bit disturbing for smug western feelings of superiority.” (p. 105). Slowly the western elite give up their western man and the other division to acknowledge the diversity of critical thought and narrative in non-European and American contexts, pertaining to the construction of music. This beckons the question, though I am not intending to immediately defeat the purpose of Nattiez’s book, of whether or not it is possible to construct a semiological toolkit for analyzing all of the music of the world, and furthermore where society is really to gain from this undertaking. First is the nature of music itself. Can we transcribe all of the meanings into written and spoken word? Are we reducing the significance or purpose of music by doing so? Nattiez presents a chart of the common tonalities (C major, D minor, etc.) (pp. 124-126). The point here is to show that different composers each attribute different feelings or emotions to each tonality. The meaning therefore can be said to vary based on interpretation. This I see as a basic example of how the whole mission of creating a semiology of music is highly problematic from the start.

This problematic state is mirrored throughout the text. After considering a number of sources of criticism on the state of musicology by leading scholars and musicologists themselves (circa 1970s), Nattiez remarks in a personal tone: “In other words, the musicologist is a nasty, scavenging vulture, and obviously of no use whatsoever.” He continues, “Lurking behind all of these statements is a latent assumption: that music itself is capable of speaking about itself, without the mediation of a metalanguage.” (p. 152) The problem is amplified as the musical fact is surrounded by a multitude of metalanguage or anthropological discourse. Nattiez paraphrases Paul Ricoeur: “as soon as someone dances, sings, or plays an instrument, someone else gets up and talks about it.” (p. 183) At this point I am feeling sympathetic for Nattiez’s quest for unification at the academic level. I do still have to question the grand use or more so the grand potential for such endeavor. I fear the fate of a universal semiology of music to be an ever-incomplete project. However, maybe this will bring us closer to what we need to shift around in musical thought from common genre to the distant unknown.

Music and Semiology

Nattiez, Jean-Jacques. Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music. Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey (1990).

In wanting to cover a few different disciplinary approaches to the subject matter of academic research in music, I find such a rounded inquiry inadequate without the direct approach of musicology. Nattiez’s Music and Discourse presented me with such introspect. In Music and Discourse, Nattiez acts as proponent to developing a semiological system for music. He begins by borrowing a conceptual framework from two notable semiologists, perhaps the founders of semiology, Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Pierce. Throughout the book, Nattiez uses a triad equation (“tripartition”): music can be analyzed at the neutral, poietic, and aesthetic levels; this is the structure of his music semiology. Within this basic equation, under the poietic and aesthetic processes, Nattiez breaks it down to: “Producer”-> Trace<-Receiver.” (p. 17) We locate a message, a piece of music for example, in the flux of this, ready to receive our semological thought, and so on. I don’t want to elaborate further here on Nattiez’s reconstruction of a semiology for music. He makes several interesting claims throughout the book that shed light on issues of the matter, of the history of attempts to analyze music; these will be my focus.

Context
Beyond defining a semiological toolkit, Nattiez discusses the concept of music. The troubled nature of talking about music is summarized in two points: “Do we have a stable definition of music, and the musical, available to us?” And, “Is it legitimate to speak of “music” with respect to cultures that do not have such a concept, that distinguish between music and nonmusic?” Thus, Nattiez sets the grand context of discussion in his work as a “western, North American-European context.” (p. 41)

The musical fact
The old binary of music-noise is brought up here. Nattiez goes in depth to discuss how we may reach distinction between the two. By defining one, we reach the other. He cites the work of John Cage, who is famous for, among other things, 4’33”, a silent piano composition. This piece is often referred to in discussions pertaining to the music or noise question. Nattiez concludes in part; “The distinction between sound and noise has no stable, physical basis, and the way we employ these two terms is culturally conditioned from the outset.” (p. 46). Also, in one of Nattiez’s humorous observations: “It is hardly surprising that, at any given time, composers who have adopted sounds that others consider “noise” would either like to be considered revolutionaries, or have come to be regarded as such by others…” In the end, there is no consensus between what is noise and what is sound (p. 47).

Liverpool music scene

On the Liverpool music scene (Chapter 7)

Sara Cohen discusses the notion of a distinct style of music in Liverpool, most notably starting with the Beatles in the 1950s and 1960s. Based on Soundtracks idea of fixity and fluidity, this essay looks more at the fixity of music on a certain place. The argument here is that what is often assumed is the globalized village account of rock or electronic music…where boundaries are constantly being torn down. Cohen contrasts this viewpoint by mapping out Liverpool and sourcing musicians and publications to present findings on opinions of the matter. She gives distinct boundaries in the forms of religion, history, neighborhood, economic, and ethnic factors.

Brazilian culture continued

What I find most intriguing about Reily’s essay on Brazilian culture is how one person can have such a great influence on society. It is interesting how Andrade functioned first on as a notable author, secondly as someone who took it upon himself to actively evaluate the variety and historical lineage of Brazilian musical styles. He conducted research on the psyches of composers/musicians in Brazilian and the audience within a cultural context. He constructed meta-narrative on the role of the artist and the intellectual in society. As stated, Reily presents Andrade as shaped and formed by both the intellectual role he played and those around him, those he was concerned with. This is all in the context of Andrade’s strong feeling, a moral obligation to better the Brazilian, and bolter support for, basically, a reevaluation/redefinition of Brazil itself. This is perhaps the most striking part of the story. Reily points out: “Already in the Ensaio Mario was calling on composers to ‘see beyond [their] desires for celebrity,’ and assume ‘a social function’ in the country, by writing choral music, because ‘choral singing unifies individuals;…[it] generalizes sentiments’ (1962: 65).” (p 89) Reily continues to display the progression of Andrade as activist.

Ethnicity, Identity, and Music

Stokes, Martin (Ed.). Ethnicity, Identity, and Music: The Musical Construction of Place. Berg Publishers: New York, NY. (1997)

With Ethnicity, Identity, and Music, I have chosen to read a selection of chapters as they are individual essays. Several chapters overlap in theme and point; for example three of the chapters deal directly with the construction of national identity through music. Thus, I have chosen to read the introduction: Ethnicity, Identity and Music, chapter four: National Anthems: The Case of Chopin as a National Composer, chapter five: Macunaima’s Music: National Identity and Ethnomusicological Research in Brazil, chapter seven: Identity, Place, and the ‘Liverpool Sound,’ and chapter ten: Music, Literature and Etiquette: Musical Instruments and Social Identity from Castiglione to Austen.

This book gives us an interesting surface read into themes we may consider when pondering the relationship of music, culture, and space/location. As Stokes lays out in the title, identity issues are a main focus of each essay. This is a good follow-up to Soundtracks, as it deals with the same overarching theme. Like said, where Soundtracks went in depth on how to approach the theme, namely Connell and Gibson basing their approach on a fixity-fluidity of music/culture binary, Ethnicity, Identity, and Music is a surface read, a collection of essays.

Much of the book is dedicated to cases of countries building up their national character/identity through music. Zdzislaw Mach takes us through how Chopin has become a significant figure for Poland. The account is on three different levels: Chopin as far as his technical, compositional skill, Chopin himself as a national hero/symbol of Polish music and art, and finally Chopin as “a remedy for the inferiority complex that the Polish intelligentisia often experiences and conceals in its mythology of greatness.” (p. 66) In the later respect, Mach writes of the illusion of inferiority Polish people have faced being separate from the apex of western European cultural production centers, namely Germany, France, England, and Italy. Much of the essay is written in this way, looking at the musical identity of Poland through the lens of a collective social psychological/emotional state, or the national soul.

In order to compare approach I chose Suzel Ana Reily’s essay on Mario de Andrade’s research on the music of Brazil. Reily presents a more complex analysis of our theme by describing the works of Andrade, who “became the intellectual leader of an entire generation…” (p. 72) Reily cites Andrade’s philosophical/social influences and contextualizes key points in his life: “Mario de Andrade’s work was clealy influenced by European intellectual tides of the late nineteenth century. It has been claimed that his ideas developed out of his reading of Levy-Bruhl, Taylor, Frazer, Freud, and later Marx.” (p. 76) We may parallel Brazil during the 1800s with Poland say, around the turn of the century, as Reily cites an inferiority complex amongst the intellectuals and upper class. Thus, both countries identify themselves based against a western European model of comparison.

In the Glitter

After reading the substantial theoretical grounding for Reconstructing Pop/Subculture, I read through the remainder of the text. I found myself referring back to the first few chapters on British cultural theory. Though I was content reading the glorious history of the Factory and glitter rock, most interesting is how Cagle intertwines cultural/subcultural themes or trends….he presents an evolutionary study: how one style or scene affects the next. Though not a definite origin, the Factory is a starting point for Cagle’s discussion, a snapshot in the time-line of subculture’s trends. It is almost perfect in its literalness: the Factory was a scene where the theme was: cultural site of production. Cagle’s descriptions mark how the Factory was a locus of people coming together and reinventing their identity. The Factory was simply open. Warhol was in effect toying with the notion that in the age of Pop anyone could attain fifteen minutes in the limelight. In this respect as well as the means and function of the art produced, the Factory was a cultural factory. Its output was its input plus a slant, often silent as in the paintings or nihilistic as was the music.

The chain of influences and appropriations that makes up the spine of cultural evolution is varied. Sometimes the evolution is a blatant influence, other times it exists as independent, affected by a prime instigator. For example, Cagle discusses how dominant Warhol was in shaping the Velvet Underground. He actively sought out musicians, at least to provide a musical counterpart to his work in the Factory. The Factory incorporated Lou Reed and his band into the production line. They were given practice space and direction. Warhol orchestrated other facets of the music/performance. He chose a female vocalist (Nico) and managed the live shows, which were spaces for his videos and multimedia.

Argued as the precursor to glitter rock, Cagle depicts the Velvet Underground as a cultural product heavily and directly shaped by the Factory. Other examples such as the Detroit scene, circa late 1960s-early 1970s (Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and the Stooges) are depicted as having a less direct connection to the Factory. Regardless, “We can begin by considering that the New York/Warholian tradition (1965-1969) provided glitter performers with the primary themes of flamboyance, style and image construction, polymorphous sexuality, and multimedia montage as performance art.” (p. 96)

It is important to note here that the Detroit performers appropriated Warhol-type style; in a sense they piggybacked subculture style. Most interesting though is how these musicians pumped the style back into the mainstream: “As a result, a wide range of possibilities opened for fans, many of whom were limited by backgrounds or geographical locations. Thus their predominant subcultural experiences in the early 1970s occurred through the application of subcultural precepts that were transmitted by way of a mass-mediated and highly commercial format.” (p. 98)

The remainder of the book deals with David Bowie. This is significant as we are able to study how cultural, or subcultural evolution exists in relation to space. We start by looking at Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground who where influenced directly by the Factory…they even lived in it. Lyrics were often about Factory people. We then look at a different context: the auto industry hub of Detroit. We consider how bands in Detroit emerged in the early seventies, more indirectly influenced by Warholian ways. Hence, we view an appropriation at the level of subculture that in turn exposes itself at the level of mass culture. At this level of extraction, Detroit rock fans didn’t necessarily have to know about New York, Warhol, the Factory…

Cagle gives an intricate account of David Bowie’s rise to stardom and relates it to the Factory. He builds up as the reader waits in suspense for the moment the connection becomes obvious: Bowie does coffee houses. Bowie signs with a manager. Bowie does miming. Bowie becomes interested in video, and then: “…Space Oddity, a composition that was inspired in part by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.” Cagle continues, “Most important, the theme of Space Oddity was among the first to suggest Bowie’s philosophical alignment with many of the conceptual ideas that had been explored by Andy Warhol, the Velvet Underground, and other like-minded American artists and musicians” (p. 112). We have contact.

Next comes the elaboration of the connection between Bowie’s style and Warhol. “In the studio, [Bowie] spent much time listening to the music of Iggy Pop and the Velvet Underground, and he took to heart the Warholian notion of creating a persona.”

The argument Cagle presents finds its way deeper into the correlation between Bowie’s work and all that is Warholian. As the chapter entitled Foundation of Glitter Rock comes to a close: “Within the span of roughly one year, these Warholian pop influences and ideas culminated in one of the most elaborate rock and roll productions of all time: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” (p. 115) And with this, Bowie quickly became the leader of the glitter trend.

Theoretical Groundwork

In the next few days I will be posting reading responses to the two books I have read over Semana Santa, the Mexican Easter week.

Cagle, Van M. Reconstructing Pop/Subculture: Art, Rock, and Andy Warhol. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, California (1995).

Reconstructing Pop/Subculture ventures into defining moments of pop culture and subculture. Cagle accomplishes this by presenting a study of cultural evolution: what contexts existed when Warhol was developing his art and what his reasons were for certain interesting choices. Cagle examines how David Bowie and glitter rock as a genre were deeply influenced and/or in part created by Warhol’s factory and pop culture itself. The book begins by Cagle explaining his base theoretical set for examination: namely, British cultural theory. Interesting is when Cagle describes research within cultural studies: “The particularity of the question being asked is what matters most; all questions must be guided first by context, second by theory. One cannot, for example, apply a theoretical model in advance, as if all the answers will unfold.” (p 21) I enjoy this philosophy; musings in the theoretical world, at least as far as cultural studies, beckon a multi-faceted approach. We consider the layers of context and work with individual theories or even grand themes of various disciplines to address each context. The approach is fluid; as research proceeds, theoretical frameworks are adopted, adapted, or thrown away.

Cagle adores Dick Hebdige’s subculture theories, especially the notion of how cultural appropriation works. The safety pin in punk music fashion is cited. Its original meaning is safety, and diapers on babies… Hebdige: “…if cultural forms are never rigidly in place, then they can be disentangled, stripped of their coded “layers,” bleached through for their hidden connotations. Second, if commodities are endowed with dominant meanings but never set into place permanently, then they can be “lifted” from dominant discourses and reorganized so as to have oppositional meanings.” (p. 29) So, the safety pin for punk culture ceases to be safe/protective and becomes sharp and visually abrasive.

3/25/07 Entry Seven: Soundtracks

Chapter ten is entitled Marketing Place: Music and tourism

As for Soundtracks, I will end my journal entries with chapter ten. Through examples such as Graceland, Elvis’ home and museum, chapter ten explores how tourism is linked with music through place. The concept is that, again, location determines the authenticity of a music and musical experience. Elvis died in 1977; especially since then Graceland has become a major tourist destination and haunt for the diehard, cultist fans. Graceland is interesting in our discussion as it serves as a blatant example of the mythological power of pop music stardom. It exemplifies the connection of music with place: location here in an extreme sense serves as a place of worship for that performer, decades after the fact…

3/23/07 Entry Six: Soundtracks

Music and space as “dialectic” (p. 192)

This theme becomes quite drastic when we look at how people in power use sound or music to control space. One example our authors give is Wired Radio Inc., a company that “began to transmit specialist programmes that could be subscribed to by businesses. Programs were implemented as early as World War II (p. 194). We know this system of influence well, as it surrounds us in shopping malls, gas stations, workplaces, transit systems, even elevators. It is interesting to consider the amount of architecture involved on a sonic level. Reminiscent of WWII propaganda films and conspiracy-like thoughts on military brainwashing of the psyche, though perhaps not as severe, we are surrounded by a subtle sonic order. Interesting to note is that Connell and Gibson analyze such order or construction at the Mall of America (pp. 196, 197).

Music and sound on the subconscious level perhaps led to an overt marketing of ambient, lounge music and the multitude of soundscape albums (whales, ocean breakers, winds, rains, jungle). In this case one can set the mood; the listener can program him/herself to raise the likelihood of a desired emotional/mental state.

3/22/07 Entry Five: Soundtracks

By chapter seven Soundtracks is discussing the advent of world music in lieu of globalization. What the authors are getting at is the dualistic nature of music, and specifically world music, “perhaps better than any other style it exemplifies how music is simultaneously an agent of mobility and a cultural expression permanently connected to place.” (p. 144) The first looking glass the authors present is that of western pop performers. They have played the role of cultural gatekeeper as based on their power in the media/marketplace have determined how and to what degree the western markets have been exposed to the world of music. An excellent example to be paralleled here is Paul Simon’s Graceland. The authors also touch upon Simon. Simon had the power and authenticity to extract whatever facets of South African musical trends he wished, as he orchestrated the project, employing musicians in session style. This act was not off the radar of negative issues however. Critics have argued this back and forth. |Though praised by fans black and white, praised by some of the sampled musicians, Simon has been scorned by some, being marked as a cultural imperialist. (p. 148-150)

World Music as a marketing category

World music is perhaps best understood on economic terms. It is a sum of what sells based on anthropologists’ notion of the other, or what is exotic. “Its definition depends on the social, political and demographic position of certain minority groups in a particular country.” (p. 153) Can country music therefore be classified as world music if it, for example, comes out of Mongolia? Do we assume it is a mere interpolation of a western world style?

3/20/07 Entry Four: Soundtracks Part two continued

We can take the notion of linking music to location by understanding scenes. The construction thereof is best summarized by thinking of music as “made in specific geographical, socio-economic and political contexts, and lyrics and styles are always likely to reflect the positions of writers and composers within these contexts.” Furthermore, “To understand how musical activities may be shaped by places it is necessary to explore local musical practices, institutions, and behavior.” (p. 90)

Connell and Gibson chart out examples of constructed music scenes. They list many, including the “Nashville” sound, the “Seattle” sound, Goa trance, and the “Liverpool” or “Mersey” sound. These scenes are described as both real and mythical. The scene that founded itself in Detroit, Motown, was typified by the assembly-line atmosphere of the city, hence Motown = Motor town (p 98). How much of the music is determined by the atmosphere of location? Geoff Barrow of the group Portishead responded to the idea of a “Bristol” sound: “The Bristol scene exists mostly in people’s minds.” (p. 101) Do all of the perceived unifying factors of a sound or a scene determine the strength of myth of the scene? Where is the dividing line between social, shared construct (here, the Bristol scene) and the actual culture at location?

The notion of origin

I will briefly note the notion of origin brought up by the authors, though I do not wish at this point to reflect thereupon. Connell and Gibson question the authentic roots of certain music genres, an inherently problematic gesture. We attempt a balance between the tangible historical flow of fact and romantic fascination. When and how did punk rock form? Where does electronic music originate? In the case of punk rock, our romanticist urge takes us to London in the seventies. Yeah, it was the Sex Pistols…maybe the Clash as well. From there we can trace the evolution of the genre. The problem however, is not including or attempting a search for roots around the globe.

“Fetishisation of locality” (p. 143)

3/17/07 Entry Three: Soundtracks Part two (Chapter 4,5,6)

Connell and Gibson look at how lyrics in songs reflect relationships with place. For example, hip-hop lyrics in France parallel those found in the same genre in other urban sectors of the world. The interesting thing is how each performer localizes their lyrics based on the unique circumstances they experience. This means that the political discourse for example will be different in rap from France than that in Japan or the US. Connell and Gibson also discuss other genres such as country music. The analysis here is the same as for hip-hop. Universal themes make up the foundation for country. Location-specific lyrics address local themes.

Interesting to note is the section entitled See the Noise. This scratches the surface of analyzing the culture of music through visual means. How do visuals reinforce the authentic? The authors brush upon visuals from record sleeves, CD jackets, and music videos. Important here are how the musicians are depicted – clothing, paraphernalia – and their depicted location. Codes are constantly at work, such as in hip-hop: “The neighborhood and the ghetto became the focus of funk and then hip-hop cultures, both in a discursive sense…and physically (as the site of ‘authentic’ performances and cultural roots…).” (p. 85)

Entry Two: Soundtracks Part one (introduction-chapter 3)

Fixity-Fluidity in Music and Culture

In the first chapter Connell and Gibson present the premise of their book, roughly, identity of music as found in the relationship between music and space. The authors introduce the binary of “fixity and fluidity” (pp. 9, 10). This theme is revisited throughout the book in its many manifestations; the authors note: “both ‘fixity’ and ‘fluidity’ operate as umbrella terms that reflect a range of spatial practices, tendencies, decisions and physical objects” (p. 9). When we grapple with the issue of authenticity, a central concept to both Soundtracks and my own research, the above binary becomes very interesting. Does the ethnomusicologist look for ‘traditional’ music fixed in place and origin? How does the researcher incorporate the fluidity of music when describing what is authentic and traditional based on fixity? How may we understand the notion of traditional? We are in a state that both complicates and makes interesting such notions. Dare I mention globalization? Simon and Garfunkel’s El Condor Pasa is a song, now decades old, that is a direct interpolation of a South American ‘traditional’ melody. Several days ago, I heard a Mexican version of the said song. Do origins vanish or are they rewritten? Does ownership denote a moment in time, an accreditation of a musical construction to a person?

Back to the binary of fluidity-fixity: authenticity based thereupon may be paralleled to ‘nature’ as notion. Nature is man’s construct, a reaction to the historic departure from the grasslands of Africa. A watered-down version of this evolution: man left the ‘natural’ world but only realized this when thousands of years later looked down from a skyscraper, longing for the past grasslands. Thus, man created nature as a notion, a reaction, a phylogenic spatiality: making space an issue.

Connell and Gibson approach this idea, this return to original space, or region from a venturing out: “Metaphors of hybridity, and of fluid, virtual spaces explain only part of the story; mobility triggers new attempts at fixity – holding on to traditions despite losses of popular appeal, constructing spaces for local expressions…marketing music through place and marketing place through music.” Hence, place as a determinant of authenticity in music is at least in part a construct. The authors further discuss copyright as a “crucial concept underpinning fluidity” as it denotes the diffusion of music. Copyright is one instance of a “cultural gatekeeper” (p. 46).

Chapter three delves further into the diffusion of music. A tension exists between how people (be they creators, owners, audience, researchers of a certain music) approach such diffusion: “Though hybridity took different forms in different places, what some took as a threat to local distinctiveness was interpreted elsewhere in a more positive light and, in some cases, fluidity of musical influences provided blueprints for new reclamations of place” (p. 50). The stress exists between the perceived loss of tradition and the perceived opportunity to create anew…

Connell, John and Gibson, Chris. Soundtracks: Popular music, identity and place. Routledge: London, England (2003)

3/11/07 Entry One: Basis

In the past half year I have managed to shift my physical location drastically. I began formulating my research proposal in November in Grahamstown, South Africa. I envisioned either a return to the United States or heading to England in January to be with my fiancé Samantha who is South African and for work. My final submission was from Cape Town, South Africa.

In either case I imagined a situation where looking at the movement of sub-cultural styles into mainstream culture's incorporation would be possible. Specific case ideas I was considering were the Go Go music of DC (from the history of the genre to the appropriations of its styles in popular music) and the production Stomp (again, from the historical roots to popular theatre). In DC, field research on Go Go music would have been unsurpassed as DC is the nucleus of the Go Go scene. In England, I imagined that first world communication amenities and a positive view of a hyper-connected existence would prove more than ample in researching a cultural happening like Go Go that did not originate in England. Critically looking at Stomp in England would perhaps have proved a strong research opportunity: Stomp’s more direct lineage to English theater.

I could not return to the US because Samantha’s visa to enter the US is on a processing backlog that will take at least four or five months. I was asked to show myself in person for an interview for the job in London I applied for. This I couldn’t do. As fate has it, I find myself in Miahuatlan de Porfirio Diaz, Oaxaca, Mexico. I am working for the Universidad de la Sierra Sur.

My basis for research remains the same. I am interested in how styles in music move. The notion of origin and subsequent cultural evolution perplexes me. Musings thereupon are my starting point. I have chosen physical location of music as the first facet of my research, thus Soundtracks: Popular music, identity and place by Connell and Gibson is my initial reading.

Statement for the Sonic Trends Blog

Sonic Trends is a blog intended to mirror my ongoing readings, research, and reflection on how we experience, and may explore cultural change through music. I am interested in tracing the issues inherent in the question: how are trends in music in constant motion? A few keywords to begin with the issues at hand are: origin, ownership, authenticity, and the flux between fixity-fluidity in musical identity.