Wednesday, April 04, 2007

ANTH398Dmtg14

CriticalWorld.Net

Thinking Globalisation Through Music

Blog.CriticalWorld.Net

 
 

World Music

West/Non-West

Creation of Otherness

Appropriation

"Big Wigs"

World Beat

Céline Dion as International

Music marketing

Empress of Russia

Cultural Imperialism?

Fashion Statement

Marketing

Supply and Demand

Cartel

Turkishness

Secular Islam

Internationalism

Europe

Nationalism

Migrants

Fourth-World

Non-U.S. Globalisation

Influences on U.S.

Migrants in Europe

China in Africa

Freeing Music

"Music Wants To Be Free"

Free as in "Beer"

Free as in "Speech"

Free from commodification

Free from genre labels

Free expression

Online Revolution

Napster

Podcasts

MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/karlblau

Calabash Music

AfroGenres

Afrobeat

Afrofunk

Afropop

Afrocelt

 
 

 
 

Social stratification

As class

Cosmopolitanism

Liberal elite

Migrants

Subversion

Reggae

Hip Hop

Ska to Punk

Music industry

State of the Industry

World-music market vs. world music-market

Big Four (Sony BMG, Warner Music, EMI, Universal)

Mergers and acquisitions vs. diversification

Independents

Barclay (typo)

Folkways

Les Disques Audiogram

Ringtones

Identity Symbol

Business Models

Music Sales

Merchandising

Concerts

Other Models?

Instruments

Scores

Training

Research

Sponsorship

Patronage

Rights

Larry Lessig

Creative Commons

Anthony McCann

Napster, RIAA

Playlist

World Music

Czarna Kawa

4:31

Jeszcze Raz

Balagane

Zazueira

3:40

Astrud Gilberto

When Jazz Meets Brazil

Azúca De Caña

4:24

Eva Ayllón

Afro-Peruvian Classics: The Soul of Black Peru

The arabic party

2:46

AHMED BIDER

Oiental Belly Dance 2

Axé Axé

4:04

Daniela Mercury

Sol Da Liberdade

River Song

4:57

Bebel Gilberto

Bebel Gilberto

Mas Que Nada

2:33

Astrud Gilberto

Night Trip (Compiled by Toshio

Music in the World

Dancing On The Ceiling

2:54

Lionel Richie

Encore

I Will Love Again

3:45

Lara Fabian

Lara Fabian

I Will Love Again (Ballad Reprise)

4:55

Lara Fabian

I Will Love Again

World of Music

Alby

4:20

Amr Diab and Cheb Khaled

Awedony

Salsa raï

4:09

Faudel

Samra

Bhangra Daddys

5:44

Punjabi By Nature

Here And Now (Disc 3)

Libérez-nous des libéraux

4:22

Loco Locass

Amour oral

World's Musics

Sorry Sorry (Old School Afro dub)

7:23

Femi Kuti

Hôtel Costes, Volume 2: La suite

Wombo Lombo

4:15

Angélique Kidjo

Fifa

Whirl-Y-Reel 2 (Folk Police mix)

5:28

Afro Celt Sound System

Volume 1: Sound Magic

Musicking World

Theme From Shaft (vocal)

4:38

Isaac Hayes

Shaft

Shaft

3:09

Malik Adouane

Buddha-Bar (disc 2: Party)

Goldorak

2:38

Goldorak (Japonais)

TV Shows

Opening the World of Music

The Jug of Punch

3:30

Altan

Island Angel

Stjärnan (The Star)

6:35

Frifot

Frifot

Tanto Tempo

5:44

Bebel Gilberto

Now Sound of Brazil

Sem Contencao

3:07

Bebel Gilberto

The Now Sound of Brazil

Into the Nada

4:14

Karl Blau

Beneath Waves

 
 

Quotes

Empress of Russia

The initial purpose of the meeting was to encourage the retail trade via various concerted efforts as follows.

1. It was agreed that we should create a generic name under which our type of catalogue could be labelled in order to focus attention on what we do. We discussed various names for our type of music(s) and on a show of hands 'World Music' was agreed as the 'banner' under which we would work. Other suggestions were 'World Beat', 'Hot...', 'Tropical...' and various others. It was suggested that all of the labels present would use 'World Music' on their record sleeves (to give a clear indication of the 'File Under...' destination) and also on all publicity material etc. There followed a discussion on whether or not 'World Music' should be presented as a designed logo or simply as a specific type face. Discussion followed as to the extent to which this might engender exclusivity of elitism, thereby begging the question of how any other label/organisation may be able to join the club. The discussion centred around the possible conflict between the short term commercial aim of promoting 'World Music' (sponsored, promoted, and paid for by us), and the longer term aim of establishing 'World Music' as the generic term for this kind of music as with Reggae/Soul/Disco etc. (non-exclusive and open to all). Artists designs solicited for the next meeting.

Pasted from <http://www.frootsmag.com/content/features/world_music_history/minutes/page03.html>

 
 

 
 

 
 

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1249391,00.html

Robin Denselow How easily did the phrase "world music" come about?

IA There was a vote, but the debate was not so much hey, let's get something trendy, it was to make sure that the term didn't exclude things. For instance, "worldbeat" left out anything without bass and drums. "Ethnic" was too academic.

 
 

Pasted from <http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1249391,00.html>

 
 

CG My reservation about the term "world music" has always been that all the great terms - like jazz, reggae, rock'n'roll - sound musical. They come up in songs. Nobody is ever going to have a song title with that phrase "world music" in it. If you took the word "music" away, and just called it "world", that would be better.

 
 

Pasted from <http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1249391,00.html>

 
 

 
 

Music Market

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_music_market

Nielsen SoundScan reported that the big four accounted for 81.87% of the U.S. music market in 2005:[1]

 
 

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_music_market>

 
 

According to an IFPI report published in August 2005,[3] the big four accounted for 71.7% of retail music sales:

  • Universal Music Group — 25.5%
  • Sony BMG Music Entertainment — 21.5%
  • EMI Group — 13.4%
  • Warner Music Group — 11.3%
  • independent labels — 28.4%

 
 

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_music_market>

Loco Locass

 
 

http://www.locolocass.net/nouvelles/content/view/27/43/

Libérez-nous des libéraux (texte de Batlam et Biz / musique de Chafiik)

 
 

- Prêt pas prêt la charrue Charest, acharnée, charcute en charpie la charpente

De la maison qu'on a mis 40 ans à bâtir

- C'pas toi qui a milité pour Amir Khadir ? -( … )

-Maintenant la table est mise pour 4 ans à pâtir, à pâlir à vue d'œil

Ahuris à la vue d'la bande d'abrutis qui bradent à bride abattue

Qui vendent à rabais, par la bande c'qu'y a pas de prix

Une fois l'mandat fini, le pays ressemble d'un abatis

Coupe sombre, coupe à blanc, Coupe Grey

« Alouette, je te plumerai »

Pis pour couper court au courroux populaire

Patapouf étouffe la foule et légifère à tombeau ouvert

Pis tout sourire il sert la soupe populaire

( C'est ça être solidaire quand on a sacré tout à terre )

Afin de faire taire un argumentaire unique en terre d'Amérique

Mais son affaire, ça fait ben trop l'affaire des régents d'affaires

Du Canada pis du Conseil du Patronat

Bâillon pas bâillon, je raille pareil, le patron des patrons

« Ta yeule Taillon ! »

Heille si le dément démantèlement t'excite tellement

Que c'est comme de la musique à tes oreilles

Comment t'aimes le tintamarre des barbares, dans tes tympans d'avare hagard ?

 
 

Face à la menace de la braderie on brandit

Le poing de la Patrie à la face des bandits

Face à la menace de la braderie on brandit le poing ...

 
 

Libérez-nous des Libéraux !

 
 

J'te l'dis carré, catégorique

Jean Charest, Mike Harris : même combat, même charisme

Même kermesse des biens et services publics

Câlisse faut que ça finisse

La chasse aux bs pour eux c't'une business inespérée

Pis ceux qui dépérissent

Y reste plus qu'à prier Saint Jean-Baptiste

Ça vous apprendra, ma race de séparatistes

Y'a pas de place, où on peut pas faire la piasse

Contrats de performance pour la SGF, pour les CPE, ou les SDF

Un impôt sur la quête? Tiens, ça serait pas bête !

Ça dirige le Québec comme une PME

Comme un pimp ses putes, pour qu'elles alignent les P-I-P-E-S'ti !

Ça se sait ça s'connaît, la clef du succès pour le 24 Sussex

C'est d'assexuer le Québec

Quel beau sujet pour Jean-Claude Labrecque

« À Hauteur de Gnome » ( hauteur de braguette )

Sucer debout, c'est ça se tenir drette...

 
 

zzzzzzzzzzzzip : «Je suis prêt »

 
 

On est loin de « Maître chez Nous »

Maintenant comme jamais, il y a un traître chez nous

Ça s'entend quand il parle comme un derrière de boîte de céréales

Si tu penses me faire taire, tu perds ton temps j'suis intarissable

 « Je vais sous ton ciel, Muse! et je suis ton féal »

 
 

Face à la menace…

Libérez-nous des Libéraux !

 
 

Pendant que le kid de Sherbrooke

Liquide au souk ce qui nous distingue

Au carnaval libéral fédéral, ça bringue dingue

« Viva Canada ! Banana republica ! »

« Mandat sur mandat, on est encore là ! »

Un parti unique, c'est un parti inique, cynique, qui nique

Tout débat démocratique

La confiance de la rue est rompue

Car la cour de l'empereur corrompu accumule les écus

 
 

Et enfin, quand il sent la fin, le monarque débarque

Mais passe le pouvoir à son homme de main

Comme un bon roi Chrétien

Mais selon moi, Martin

Tient du requin ben plus que du dauphin

 
 

L'armateur, arnaqueur, anglo, franco –on sait pus trop-

Joue sur tous les tableaux

C'est l'homme des shaloms et des salamalecs

Mais comment croyez-vous qu'il conçoive le Québec ?

Depuis 10 ans, véritable sous-marin

Soi-disant nous tend la main

Mais mate-le nous démâter

En parquant l'gros paquebot des fédéraux dans nos eaux

C'est sûr il s'insinue comme la moelle dans nos os

En somme ça me semble simple : sous les libéraux

Québec et Ottawa sont les lames d'un ciseau

L'une décrisse les racines du lys

Et l'autre s'immisce au sein de nos services

Ça fait qu'émasculé, pis enculé, le calcul est pas compliqué : on va r'culer

Devant tant d'unifoliés déployés à tous les paliers

Croyez qu'on va tous se noyer, broyés, dans la marée rouge

À moins qu'on ne bouge …

Enweille bouge!

 
 

Libérez-nous des libéraux !

 
 

Les cols bleus, les cols blancs, toutes les écoles confondues

Faut se ruer dans la rue, au printemps comme une crue

Faire éclater notre ras-le-bol, une débâcle de casseroles Trêve de paroles, faites du bruit!

Un charivari pour chavirer ce parti, comme en Argentine, en Bolivie

D'un pôle à l'autre, c'est un constat continental :

À bas le bulldozer libéral !

 
 

Libérez-nous des Libéraux !

Tamtid'lidé délibérez du libellé

Tamtid'lido libérez-nous des libéraux

 
 

Pasted from <http://www.locolocass.net/nouvelles/content/view/24/39>

 
 

 
 

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Field Guides

Those of you who might do ethnographic fieldwork in the future might enjoy perusing the field guides from the Vermont Folklife Center. Very valuable information, showing some of the connections between ethnographic disciplines, especially in terms of recording technologies.
The Vermont Folklife Center Archive - Field Research Guides :: Vermont Folklife Center Middlebury VT

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

World Change and Idealism

Just when you think I've been too much of an Apple fanboy for one day...

Think Different - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
So, the idea here: idealists may in fact be involved in this type of social change Attali and others have been talking about.
Is this what the world really needs? Are the dreamers' dreams worthier than those of the majority?

Threads

  • Participation
  • Aesthetics
  • Identity
  • Representation
  • Status
  • Power
  • Subversion
  • Commodification
  • Value
  • Function
  • Gender

ANTH398D Meeting 13

PedTech Survey

Tech and learning

Constructivism

Application

Course as a whole

Exploration

Solidifying

Engagement

Attali

Active, dynamic

French intellectual

Polymath

Globalisation

Microcredit

Playlist

Star and Campfire

Pour un instant

3:21

Harmonium

Harmonium

Un musicien parmi tant d'autres

7:01

Harmonium

Harmonium

Dixie

3:26

Harmonium

Si on avait besoin d'une 5e saison

Court to Popular

Sunjata Fasa

9:48

An Be Kelen

We Are One

Auprès de ma blonde

2:42

Aristide Bruand

À Montmartre

Le fiacre

2:43

Jean Sablon

Paris - Café Concert!

Martin de la Chasse-Galerie

3:52

La Bottine Souriante

La Mistrine

Anthems

internationale-fr

3:22

  

  

Internationale RU

3:58

  

  

I'internationale

5:12

Pete Seeger

Singalong: Live at Sanders Theatre, 1980

Internationale

3:48

Billy Bragg

The Internationale

anacreon

2:18

  

  

Oh Canada

1:34

Sarah McLachlan

  

CBC Hockey Night In Canada

0:33

CBC Canada Ltd.

  

Gens du pays

2:22

Gilles Vigneault

Chemin faisant - Cent et une chansons (disc 5)

Aux armes et Caetera

3:05

Serge Gainsbourg

Aux Armes et Caetera

Me'shell

Barry Farms

5:20

Me'Shell NdegéOcello

Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape

Poison Ivy

3:32

Me'Shell NdegéOcello

Batman & Robin

Jabril

6:06

Me'Shell NdegéOcello

Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape

The Womb

1:25

Me'Shell NdegéOcello

Peace Beyond Passion

Who Is He and What Is He to You

4:49

Me'Shell NdegéOcello

Peace Beyond Passion

Noise

Artist

Specialist

Individual

Not craftsperson or servant

Creative

Living from Art

Patronised

Court

Aristocratic

Bourgeois

Intellectual

Popular

Commodity

Object of sale

Interchangeable

Value

Symbolic

Exchange

Commercial

Political economy

Lateralisation

Capitalisms

French

American

(British?)

(German?)

(Post-National?)

Commercialism

Liberalism

Invisible hand

Resources

Values

Exchange

Economics, Sociology, (European) Anthropology

Adam Smith

Thomas Malthus

Karl Marx

Émile Durkheim

Max Weber

Theodor Adorno

Steps

Printing press

Industrialisation

Revolutions

Romanticism

Modernity

Post-Modernity

Reproduction

Rights

Copyright

Blog.CriticalWorld.Net

Larry Lessig

Creative Commons

Anthony McCann

Napster, RIAA

Big Four (Sony BMG, Warner Music, EMI, Universal)

Noise and Harmony

Physics

Chaos and order

Social control

Metaphor

Pedagogical value

Used by thinkers

Actual influence

History

Music prefiguring change

Music in changing society

Directionality

French exceptionalism

French Revolution

Nationalism

Pride

Society representing itself

Threads

Sound, acoustics

Arts and Sciences

Inter-subjectivity

Dance

Social structure

Subversion

Commodification

Participation

Monday, March 26, 2007

Playing with Music

Once in a while, Peter Gabriel's Real World record label holds contests for music remixes. You download sample packs and try to create an interesting remix with it. Some of these remixes are released by Real World.
To me, this is part of the whole "mashup" era for music and other creative forms. Doing something with music besides listening to you or buying it.
This time, Angélique Kidjo is among the sources for this competition.
Real World Remixed | Home

Friday, March 23, 2007

Jazz and Shallowness

This is kind of sad. What could have been an interesting discussion of music and culture turned out to be shallower than a Ken Burns movie. My guess is, Lydon was taking by the flattery. And the accent.
I'll nurture my own accent but I won't lick anyone's boots.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Is Music Deviant?

ANTH398D – Selected Topics in Anthropology: Ethnomusicology

Meeting 12, March 21, 2007

Deviant

Alexandre Enkerli

enkerli@gmail.com



 

Announcements

Two meetings left

Erin McLeod on April 4

Upcoming shows

Dakan April 11 (Balattou?)

Next week

Dense

Rewritten recently

Political economy

Commodification

Usage rights

Social change

 Music People

Musicker

Musician

Artist

Marginality

Social topology (centre, margins)

Chief, priest, elite

"If we were all like you…"

La marge

Edge

Fringe

Anti-conformism

Think Different

Becker

"Culture" for sociologists

Sociological fieldwork

Vulgarity

Gender

Finance

Language

Being different

Pride

Rebellion

Wealthy families

Evaluation

Self-segregation

Squares antagonism

Ghettoisation

Jazz to commercial (Still active) 

Deviance

Drugs

Sexuality

Ethnicity

Anti-racism

Spirituality and religion

Hollywood's role

Las Vegas, New Orleans, Amsterdam...

Musicians in Society 

Associate with musicians

Role models

Music fans

Music and social change

Dream change

Playlist

A Love Supreme, Part I -- Acknowledgement    7:45    John Coltrane

Pour un ami condamné    4:21    Diane Dufresne    Diane (disc 2: Dufresne)

J'aurais Voulu être Un Artiste    4:21    Starmania

Artistes    3:53    Claude Dubois    Ma Préférence

The Unknown Pedestrian    8:35    Alexandre Burton    Cache 2000 Times Play

Chiaroscuro... ou les jeux de l'ambiguité    17:47    Dhomont, Francis    1st Magisterium of the 16th International Electroacoustic Music Competition, Bourges 1988

Harlem Blues (Acapulco version)    4:47    The Branford Marsalis Quartet    Mo' Better Blues (feat. Terence Blanchard)

Lemon Incest    5:15    Serge Gainsbourg    De Gainsbourg à Gainsbarre (disc 2)

Dreamer    3:31    Supertramp    The Very Best of Supertramp

Imagine    3:04    John Lennon    Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon

It Can Happen    5:29    Yes    90125

Barry Farms    5:20    Me'Shell NdegéOcello    Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape

Friday, March 16, 2007

Beatboxing Paris

Anyone doubts that France can be fun?
Notice the reactions...

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Ian Cross

Sounds like an interesting character. His students are working on diverse topics relevant to anthropology generally. Many of his publications are available as preprints. And, intriguing factoid:

[he] is the only member of the Music Faculty at Cambridge (as far as he is
aware) to have rejected an offer to join the Bay City Rollers.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

398mtg10heavy

Next Week

Wanted Levitin

Openness to cultural

Cross

More on Culture

Specifically on human evolution

Anthropological connections

Human adaptation

Auditory cheesecake

Levitin on same

Interviews

Convinced that music adaptive

 
 

From Last Week

Acoustic terminology

Notice connections

Timbre

Descriptions

Genres

Methodology

Applied acoustics

Culture and sound

 
 

Methods

Cognitive science

Cognitive ethnomusicology

Experimentation

Stimuli

Observer effect

Bias

Interest in music genre

Knowledge of music-culture

Ethnography

Exploration

Acoustic analysis

Walk the Line

Objectivity

Universalism

Etic and measured

Perception as causal connection

Subjectivity

Perception

Emic and functional

Meaning as arbitrary association

Heavy as comparative term

 
 

Noisy

Noise as technical term

Noise as aesthetic boundary

Harmonics

Formants

Timbre

 
 

Noise aesthetics

Obscure fundamental frequency (pitch)

Opposed to WAM

Amplification technology

 
 

Music industry

Sales

Charts

Popularity

Reaction

Nostalgia?

Opposition to music industry

Subversion

 
 

Music genres

Genre and personal style

Clothing

Hair

Identity

Primary identity?

Social group

Social class

Working-class aesthetic

Ethnic background

How identify genre

Musical characteristics

Melody

Scales

Modes

Harmony

Rhythm

Compositional technique

Improvisation

Instrumentation

Timbre

Ensemble composition

Recognise people

Influences

Lyrics

Context

Origin

Timbre

Back to soul and throat lozenges

Sound vs. rhythm, melody, etc.

Genre recognition

Know it when hear it

Named genres

Key figures

Artist/band

Discussed genre history

Influences

 
 

Genre classfication

Taxonomy

Russian dolls

"Folksonomy"

Tagging?

Metal meets ska meets bluegrass

Recognise feature

Fusion cuisine

 
 

AMG Metal in Hard Rock

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:655

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=73:20

Metal

Death, Black, Christian, Speed, Alternative, British, Industrial, Rap-, Progressive, Neo-Classical, Pop-, New Wave of British Heavy, Punk, Stoner, Scandinavian, Goth, Doom, Symphonic Black, Sludge, Power, Hair

Rock

Detroit, Rap-, Aussie-, Album-, Boogie, Arena, Glam, Southern, Hard, Blues-

Others

Glitter, Guitar Virtuoso, Grindcore, Thrash

 
 

Virtuosity

Display of skill

Speed

Guitar

Guitar heroes

Guitar hero game

Air guitar

Other instruments

Bass

Drums

Vocal

Synth as pop

Genre parallels

Bebop

 
 

Characteristics of metalheads?

Headbangers

Hair

Males

Working-class?

European-American

Living Colour

Relatively little influence "abroad" (in "non-Western")?

Younger generation?

Generation Y and older

 
 

Genre's development

Evolution?

Agree on increased heaviness?

Historical periods

Links to social events?

 
 

Attitude

Machismo

Arrogance

Insolence

Anger

Gloom and doom

Gravitas

Seriousness

Playfulness?

Drama

Loudness

 
 

Nina Fales

Perceptual dimensions

Auditory illusions

Ethnography and acoustics

 
 

Harry Berger

Heavy Metal

Phenomenology

Italian promenade

 
 

Opinionated Rock critics

Failed musicians?

Music geeks

Knowledge

Historical developments

Qualify music

Adjectives and adjective-like expressions

Codifying musical taste

Power of suggestion

Vids

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dVUgd8ot6BE

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PRRjUcg8lKA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1aSUA0isj8o

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ObwjioytHdE

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gJHXTfixkNo


 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=y4tidPqz9GY

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

ANTH398D Meeting 8

Business

  • Performances?
  • CRs
  • Projects

Next Week

  • Acoustic terminology
  • Notice connections
  • Timbre
  • Descriptions
  • Genres
  • Methodology
    • Applied acoustics
    • Culture and sound

Questions on terminology?

Themes

Lecture

Playlist

Music Concepts

Language concepts

  • Sound symbolism ("gl-": glistening, glow)
  • Arbitrary/motivated
  • Convention/similarity
  • Iconic
  • Metaphorical
    • Analogical
    • Symbolic
  • Metadiscursive
    • Discourse on discourse
    • Applied to music?
  • Diphthongs
    • Standard English, Mandarin...
    • Appalachia
    • Quebec

Boundaries speech and song

  • Acoustic
  • Codified
  • Universal
  • Localised
  • Sprachgesang
  • Rap

Voice on music

  • TAMILDAA
  • Influence semantic description on actual sound
  • Encoding aesthetics (boomy as undesirable)

Sensory Dimensions

  • Acoustics
  • Synesthesia
    • Neurological
    • Suggestion
  • Visual
  • Taste

Studio Production

  • Sound people
  • Music specialisation
  • DJs
  • Highly produced
  • Aesthetics
  • Precise acoustical models
  • Manu Katché and drums (Bob James and Earl Klugh) Harvey Mason Jr.
  • Session drummer
  • Studio session
  • Diana Ross Coming Out (Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, CHIC)

Aesthetics

  • Poetic function
  • Heightened speech
  • Performance theory
  • Cultural specificity ("relativism")
  • Ethnocentrism in aesthetics
  • American Idol
  • Beautiful Instrument

Classifications

  • Granularity
  • Ethnosemantics
  • Cognitive anthropology

Bakhtin

  • Polyvocality
  • Popularise "voice" as literary technique
  • Literary fields (comp. lit.)
  • Writing and power
  • Identity politics

Social concepts

  • Shared understanding
  • Shared experience
    • Community of experience
    • Community of practise
    • Wittgenstein to Eckert
  • Oral Transmission

Social issues

  • Dispossessed
  • Reappropriation
  • sociolinguistics
    • Can't stand him singing in the rain w/ can't stand the sound

Ethnography

  • Get into cultural sound
  • Performative dimension

Rest

  • Musical Transcription
  • Drama
  • Grandiose writing
  • Music writing
    • Music critic
    • Sounds as if Tom Jones had a kid with k.d. lang
    • References
    • Show-offs

Examples

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Culture Shock?

As a Montreal preparing to move to Austin, TX, I might not have so much of a culture shock, at least if Euro-American Indie American is the main issue...
Podmodernisme: Austin, PQ

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Drag King at Sala Rossa (feb 17, $10)

Learned about this through Gary Dickinson (who happens to be an anthropologist!).
Should be really interesting.

dragkingsmontreal : KING SIZE
*KING SIZE*: A GENDER-BENDING DRAG KING SHOW!

*King Size* perfoms at Meow Mix, February 17, 2007 at La Sala Rossa, 4848 boul. St-Laurent. 9:30 pm, $10.

Global Music Workshop

GLOBAL MUSIC WORKSHOP

Are you a musician? Would you like to explore different musical styles and traditions? Join us for Global Music 2007, and learn to play and sing pieces from Arab, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern cultures. Our Artists-in-Residence are specialists in the music and instruments of this fascinating culture: the oud, the saz, the qunun, and the tabla. Learn how to express yourself in sound, and develop your skills in improvisation. Discuss what it means to be a musician in today's world, and how music can bridge cultures.

Whether you are an accomplished musician or just beginning to learn, this workshop has something for everyone!"
From a message to the mailing-list of the Society for Ethnomusicology:

Global Music Workshop 2007
July 15 – August 4, 2007 (for U.S. participants)
July 13 – August 4, 2007 (for international participants)
Invitation for Young Musicians


Schools, music teachers, orchestra directors, and parents are invited to nominate young people (ages 13-18) for a dynamic cross-cultural musical experience this summer at Legacy International's Global Youth Village.

Global Music 2007 is an innovative workshop offering young musicians the opportunity to expand their musicianship and explore cultural diversity in a summer camp setting. Students expand upon the musical skills they have developed in their home and school music programs by learning to perform the music of a different cultural tradition. Coached by expert instructors, students learn to perform repertoire from the focus culture in a stylistically appropriate manner. The workshop includes listening and discussion components designed to develop students' understanding of how people of different cultures express themselves through sound. As a result, the students gain a broader musical identity and become bolder and more imaginative musicians.

This summer's workshop will focus on musical styles of the Middle East, including Arab, Turkish and other musical traditions. It is a three week residential program. In 27 hours of workshop instruction, students will be introduced to the melodic and rhythmic modes common to these traditions. All participants will learn basic frame drum technique and a number of Middle Eastern rhythms. In addition, some students will be invited to study the oud (11-stringed fretless lute), saz (long-necked Turkish lute), qanun (78-stringed dulcimer), riqq (Arabic tambourine) or tabla (goblet-shaped drum). Strings players (violin, viola, cello, or bass) may bring their own instruments and will be instructed in specific techniques
characteristic of Middle Eastern musics.

The workshop is embedded within the Global Youth Village, a unique program in Bedford, Virginia which brings together young people from around the world to create a living, working model of the world community.
Participants in the Global Music workshop will live in cabins and enjoy their free time with 60 peers from different countries and cultures; developing friendships, discussing current events, and exploring how music can bridge cultural differences.

Instructors for Global Music are experienced performers and scholars with years of experience in the music of the Middle East. Anne Elise Thomas, Ph.D. in ethnomusicology, has performed Middle Eastern music for over ten years and recently spent two and a half years studying in Cairo, Egypt and Amman, Jordan. Michael Ellison, Ph.D. in composition, has devoted years of study to Turkish music and now teaches at the Dr. Erol Ucer Center for Advanced Studies in Music at Istanbul Technical University. Guest instructors who specialize in instrumental performance give students focused instruction on the instrument of their choice.

This program is targeted toward players of strings, percussion, piano or keyboard, and singers, with three or more years of musical experience. The cost for this full three-week experience, including room and board, workshop instruction, and other programming, is $1900 for U.S. participants and $2100 for international participants.
Some financial assistance is available. Spaces are limited
to ten students. Deadline to be considered for financial assistance is March 15, 2007.

For more information and to request an application: contact Innocentia Carr, (iacarr@legacyintl.org), or visit www.globalyouthvillage.org

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Ruckus and Music Discovery

Ruckus.com: Free Online Music for All College Students!
What this means is that any .edu address (but only a .edu address) can now be used to register for a free Ruckus account. (I'm a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University so I was able to register with my IU address.) Addresses from academic institutions don't work in this system.
So, faculty and staff at U.S. universities and colleges are also able to get free accounts. And, though the service is student-oriented, it can easily be used by teachers to listen to different types of music, including music appreciated by students.
I've tried the service and it does work fairly well for the purposes of music discovery.

However, it's more crippled than most music subscription services. For instance, you can't carry your music to any other device without paying for a subscription. Even then, I think it's only for the dying breed of MPFS players, so no iPod and no Dune-rhyming media player from MS. The player application is quite clunky.
It's also inefficient as hell. From the browser, downloads are put in a queue through the player application. This queue is very slow and it's quite difficult to get a single track to download fast when you have many tracks being transfered.
Though many people dislike the iTunes application, accessing the iTunes Store through it is a breeze when compared to the process of getting tracks from Ruckus.

So, I don't like Ruckus.com and the Ruckus Player as much as I like iTunes. With plenty of memory, iTunes works quite well for me. Because it works on the same overall principle, Songbird is also a very useful tool for me, even though it's still extremely early in the development stage.
What are Ruckus's advantages over iTunes and Songbird? One is current and obvious, the other one is a mere possibility and could represent a sea change in the recording industry's approach to access control in music listening. Yes, really.
First, the obvious advantage: all-you-can-eat buffet. Ruckus is a subscription service like Napster and Rhapsody and unlike the iTunes Store, Calabash Music, or eMusic. For a variety of reasons, subscription services haven't fared really well so far. One of the main reasons is that those services restrict access to music files way too much. In this respect, Ruckus seems even worse. But another with subscription services is that they require constant payment. You stop paying, you lose access to the music files you had accumulated. Frustrating enough to make the whole system unpalatable to most.
Here, Ruckus is a bit different. Not only is the (unbelievably restrictive) basic subscription free for all owners of .edu addresses, but the "contract" is thought to run throughout the user's tenure at the academic institution. For a student, it basically means that the service is supposed to be maintained until graduation. Translation: get hooked to free access to music while you're saving money to study, start paying for access to music once you get a regular, non-student income. Sounds sneaky but Ruckus seems pretty honest about it and I can't say I find the whole thing absurd. In fact, I think it's a large part of the logic behind student discounts and other student-oriented services. Including Facebook. And even some academic programs!!
Again, obvious. And advantageous. If the goal is music discovery, it means that you can listen to all the music you want until you graduate by which time you're supposed to pay to access the music you've come to like.

The second advantage Ruckus could have is less obvious: peer sharing.
Call me naïve but I get the impression that the move to include all owners of .edu addresses may mean that it could be possible to share tracks between Ruckus accounts. If so, the service could have an interesting impact.
It could be so useful that I feel it might exist already. If so, I haven't seen it.
Because I like to compare music and food, I think of the all-you-can-eat buffet analogy with a specific implication. I know some people (especially some Protestant Anglo-Americans) may get disgusted but, "in my culture," sharing food at a buffet is perfectly normal. If my wife and I are eating at a buffet, we might try different things and share what we think the other will like. Now, when you go to a buffet with someone else, you may not share any food with someone who isn't paying. But it's usually ok to share something with anyone who is paying for the buffet. That way, less food is lost and it's easier to try most of the food available.
As most people know, much music discovery happens through recommendations. Online recommendations can work fairly well, for instance on Amazon and Netflix. But there's a huge difference between a recommendation and actually sharing something with someone else. Going back to the buffet analogy.
Case 1: A friend tried the tandoori chicken and liked it. She tells me that I really should go and get some. Once I'm done with my plate, I go get some tandoori chicken, sit down, try it, and find out I don't really like it. I've lost some time and, perhaps more importantly, some confidence in the compatibility of my friend's taste with my own taste.
Case 2: My wife gets a bite of tandoori chicken and likes it so much that she almost shoves a piece in my mouth. The power of suggestion is strong enough that I enjoy the chicken almost as much as she does. More importantly, I get to share this moment with my wife. Bonding is all about direct experience, not about delayed satisfaction.
Back to music.
Case 1: A colleague tells me that I really should check out such and such band. I put it in my queue of things to listen to, when I get the time. Once I finish what I was doing, I listen to a few seconds of a track recommended by that colleague. I can kind of hear what the colleague found interesting in the band's overall style but I'm not sure I'd want to keep it in my playlist. I wonder about reasons why this colleague felt a need to recommend that band. I become over-analytic and critical. I fail to enjoy the music.
Case 2: During a class discussion about shamanism, a student sends the class a track of a piece inspired by Siberian shamans. We get to listen to it together and comment upon it. "Skip to 2:23," the student says. Through the power of suggestion and the importance of context, we all get to share a moment of intellectual and musical stimulation. Listening to that first excerpt, a second student thinks about the perfect complement, diphonic throat singing from Southcentral Asia. We all listen to that second excerpt, thinking about connections between the two. Both students now feel validated in their approach to music, and everyone gets to think about music in a new way.

Part of the issue is the technology. If DRM-crippled files can be shared, we can better accept the need for access control but we still end up with crippled files. Obviously, non-DRM files are easy to share. But the Big Four (Universal, EMI, Sony-BMG, Warner Music) have been unwilling to release non-DRM files until very recently. It has thus created an artificial division of music based on access controls and has had a chilling effect on music innovation.
Another set of issues relates to the perception of music as a "commodity." Like LPs and CDs, music files are but a trace of a given set of music performances and/or of studio work. In my mind, music is located in the way human beings share, exchange, communicate, and think through sounds. In my humble opinion, listening to music with other people, like participating in a music session (regardless of "talent") can be much more "musical" in this sense than buying music files or even recommending a band name.

But that's just my opinion. ;-)

CFP: Perf Studies Conf (NYU, November)

Performance Studies International

Study abroad at the University of Ghana - folkwaysAliveWiki

Proof that ethnomusicology can get you places:
Study abroad at the University of Ghana - folkwaysAliveWiki