The Role of Academia Unveiling Gamelans Rich Traditions Essay

Overview

For this assignment you will choose one of the below prompts as a starting point to develop a short essay based on one of the thematic areas we’ve covered so far. You have freedom in choosing your argument and the direction of your essay, but you must ground your evidence in course material (readings, films, lectures, discussion). You should supplement your argument by conducting additional research similar to the manner used in Assignment 1 (check out the library subject guides to find relevant material). Your argument must address some aspect of globalization and technology. For each prompt, I have provided some suggestions of directions you might take, but you may do something different as well so long as it’s consistent with the theme you chose and aims of the course. Please don’t hesitate to consult the professor about your ideas!

Prompts

Prompt 1: Gamelan

In the late 20th century the gamelan music of Indonesia experienced an unprecedented rate of globalization. Over just half a century, this Southeast Asian ensemble went from a niche research area for ethnomusicologists to a cultural phenomenon in the United States, occupying realms of experimental and popular music, popping up in the music of underground scenes and major artists, and embedding it’s tuning practices in American chime culture. In your essay, discuss one of the mechanisms and/or processes of gamelan’s globalization in the United States. What was the role of the academy? How did experimental artist incorporate gamelan into their work? How did gamelan instruments themselves participate in their localization, given the limited presence of Indonesian people during this process? 

Prompt 2: Mbira and Marimba

The Zimbabwean marimba underwent a parallel, though contrasting process of globalization to the gamelan. Rooted in the Mbira traditions of the Shona people, and popular form of chimurenga of the 1970s and 80s, the Zimbabwean marimba came to represent a globally minded new-musical tradition that resonated with contemporaneous discourses and values about diversity in North America. These instruments were designed for music education and dissemination while still embodying Zimbabwean musical aesthetics and values. In your essay, explore the development of this musical tradition. You can focus on any part of the story, form the mbira in Shona society, the development of chimurenga, the educational system that produced the marimbas, or its popularization in the United States. 

Prompt 3: Appropriation and Sampling

The combined technologies of recording and mass reproduction had an unprecedented impact on the music industry world wide, in large part by created that global industry itself. When music becomes a physical object — something that can be bought, sold, traded, gifted, and played over and over again — it’s manner of existence (ontology) is fundamentally changed. Steve Feld demonstrated how indigenous musics are not protected by international copyright, and most nations (still) do not have methodologies for assuring proper accreditation and compensation for communities whose music appears on commodified records. Conversely, Copyright Criminals showed how the laws that do exist to prevent copyright infringement tend to target specific musical genres like hip hop, criminalizing important modes of artists expression. These examples represent the extremes of the conversation in which the sampler OR the samplee may be seen as a victim of the recording industry. In your essay, grapple with this tension between protecting the rights of indigenous artists and cultures who’s music appears on commercially available records and the rights of artists to create using the available resources and technologies of their era. Does this dilemma constitute the limits of popular music as a capitalist enterprise? If the content of music is dictated by lawyers rather than artists, is popular music still a viable realm for free expression?

Prompt 4: Popular Music under Socialism

In the coming days our class will focus on material related to this prompt. Taylor helps us understand the intimate connection between popular music and market capitalism from a historical perspective. On Wednesday, Dr. Alissa Klots will present “Music on the Bones,” a lecture based on how an underground youth culture movement in the Soviet Union developed around bootleg recordings of Western popular music. This lectures shows one way that popular music existed in the absence of a market economy and during a period of state repression of the arts. Hidden from the eyes of the state-controlled markets, these youths found creative ways to share music through X-ray film and other means in illegally copying and disseminating music. Moreover, they created a full cultural movement that included fashion, dance, and slang based on their imaginings of American Popular culture. For this prompt, I highly recommend you watch the film Stilagi(Hipsters) (2008), which provides a fictionalized portrayal of this this moment of Russian-Soviet history.