"Monasterio de Sal" : Om elbasens introduktion i flamencovärlden via Carles Benavent

Flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía, taking advantage of the ongoing cultural revolution in Spain during the seventies decided to break from tradition by shaping ”Nuevo Flamenco” through flamenco-jazz ensemble ”Paco de Lucía Sextet”. Within its repertoire, the first regular flamenco bass-line: ”Monasterio de Sal”. Electrical bassist Carles Benavent would have a key role in this development, a trait seldom found in academical works of musicology. The aim of the present thesis is to partially fill this void while shedding some light on the revolutionary contributions of Benavent. In order to do so, studying relevant literature, listening to phonograms comparatively, transcribing/analyzing ”Monasterio de Sal” and interviewing Mr. Benavent himself were used as main methods. The conclusion has been drawn that there was barely any electrical bass in flamenco before Benavent and that his work with de Lucía (and later others) would entirely reform the way electric bass was perceived from within and outside this genre of music. It is of no less interest to observe that Benavents main influences for this endeavor were the principal figures of contemporary jazz-bass (Jaco Pastorius) and flamenco-guitar (Paco de Lucía) respectively, infusing ”Monasterio de Sal”, with meaningful historical value.

Adieu New York, bonjour Paris ! : l es enjeux esthétiques et culturels des appropriations du jazz dans le monde musical savant français (1900-1930)

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle avec l'Université Paris-Sorbonne et l'Université de Montréal. Composition du jury : M. Laurent Cugny (Université Paris-Sorbonne) ; M. Michel Duchesneau (Université de Montréal) ; M. Philippe Gumplowicz (Université d'Evry-Val d'Essonne) ; Mme Barbara Kelly (Keele University - Royal Northern College of Music) ; M. François de Médicis (Université de Montréal) ; M. Christopher Moore (Université d'Ottawa)

Kevin Barry and the Anglo-Irish Propaganda War

Most Irish people, when asked what they know of the life and death of Kevin Barry, will pause for a moment while they recall the words of a famously maudlin ballad. A few points will emerge: ‘a lad of eighteen summers’ … ‘British soldiers tortured Barry’ … ‘refused to turn informer’ … ‘hanged him like a dog’ … ‘another martyr for old Ireland, another murder for the crown’. That they know anything at all about Kevin Barry is testimony, among other things, to the power of popular music for the making of political propaganda. Along with Father Murphy, Seán South and Fergal O’Hanlon, Kevin Barry figures in the pantheon of nationalist Ireland’s popular historical heroes, largely because somebody happened to write a good song about him. In many ways this is unfortunate, for Barry and the rest were once living people, and the process of iconographifying them in popular balladry, like all forms of political propaganda, serves not to clarify their roles in the historical events in which they played a part, but rather to obscure and distort them. So it is worth reconsidering the story of Kevin Barry, for a number of reasons. To begin with, his short life reached its climax at a vital moment in the long struggle for Irish self-government, a moment when the violence unleashed in 1916 burst forth again with renewed savagery on both British and Irish sides, involving in the Barry case the deaths of four young men aged between fifteen and twenty.

Let The People Sing? Irish Rebel Songs, Sectarianism, and Scotland’s Offensive Behaviour Act

Irish rebel songs afford Scotland’s Irish diaspora a means to assert, experience, and perform their alterity free from the complexities of the Irish language. Yet this benign intent can be offset by how the music is perceived by elements of Scotland’s majority Protestant population. The Scottish Government’s Offensive Behaviour Act (2012) has been used to prosecute those singing Irish rebel songs and there is continuing debate as to how this alleged offence should be dealt with. This article explores the social function and cultural perception of Irish rebel songs in the west coast of Scotland, examining what qualities lead to a song being perceived as ‘sectarian’, by focusing on song lyrics, performance context, and extra-musical discourse. The article explores the practice of lyrical ‘add-ins’ that inflect the meaning of key songs, and argues that the sectarianism of a song resides, at least in part, in the perception of the listener.

Mobilising of the German 1848 Protest Song Tradition in the Context of International Twentieth Century Folk Revivals

The rediscovery of democratic traditions of folk song in Germany after the Second World War was not just the counter-reaction of singers and academics to the misuse of German folk song by the Nazis. Such a shift to a more ‘progressive’ interpretation and promotion of folk tradition at that time was not distinct to Germany and had already taken place in other parts of the Western world. After firstly examining the relationship between folk song and national ideologies in the nineteenth century, this article will focus on the democratic ideological basis on which the 1848 revolutionary song tradition was reconstructed after the Third Reich. It will look at how the New Social Movements of West Germany and the folk scene of the GDR functioned in providing channels of transmission for this, and how in this process a collective cultural memory was created whereby lost songs – such as those of the 1848 Revolution – could be awakened from extinction. These processes will be illustrated by textual and musical adaptations of key 1848 songs such as ‘Badisches Wiegenlied’ (Baden Lullaby), ‘Das Blutgericht’ (The Blood Court) and ‘Trotz alledem’ (For all that) within the context of the West German folk movement and its counterpart in the GDR.

Un répertoire de musique brésilienne adapté à l’enseignement collectif du trombone

Cette thèse, complémentaire à deux récitals donnés dans le cadre de la réalisation d’un doctorat en études pédagogiques et pratiques musicales instrumentales, a comme fil conducteur l’enseignement collectif du trombone au Brésil et examine le trombone sous trois angles : historique, pédagogique et dans une perspective d’interprétation musicale. Bien que le sujet ne soit pas nouveau, le projet présente une réflexion, sur le trombone et son enseignement, encore inexplorée en raison principalement du répertoire sélectionné pour la présente étude. En effet, à notre connaissance, le répertoire populaire brésilien n’a jusqu’à maintenant pas fait l’objet d’arrangements musicaux écrits, en vue d’une exploitation non seulement en contexte de représentation publique, mais aussi avec des visées pédagogiques. Les morceaux choisis ont été retenus en raison de leur contenu, qui présente un vocabulaire musical lié à la culture régionale de quatre des cinq régions géographiques du Brésil. Dans le processus de réalisation du projet, les morceaux choisis ont fait l’objet d’arrangements dans la perspective qu’ils servent comme outil pédagogique pour la formation en trombone, en contexte de musique brésilienne. Les arrangements ont été conçus pour des ensembles réduits, où le trombone tient fréquemment le rôle de soliste. Ainsi, au-delà des concepts et techniques issus de la formation traditionnelle reçue, l’interprétation des arrangements a été une occasion pour le doctorant et soliste de présenter, à travers l’improvisation dans le langage de la musique populaire brésilienne, les résultats de processus développés au cours des deux dernières années. Les partitions sont annexées au texte de la thèse, afin d’illustrer certains propos et avec l’objectif de soutenir les recherches futures dans ce domaine. La thèse est divisée en quatre chapitres lesquels, bien que présentés séparément, possèdent entre eux d’étroites relations. Le premier chapitre donne un aperçu général de l’histoire de l’instrument, à travers les cinq siècles de son existence. Le deuxième chapitre s’articule autour de l’histoire de la musique brésilienne et de la présence du trombone au Brésil. Le troisième chapitre présente d’abord un aperçu de l’enseignement artistique et musical au Brésil au 20e et 21e siècle, poursuit en abordant la situation de l’enseignement du trombone au Brésil et aboutit à une proposition favorisant l’apprentissage du trombone en contexte d’enseignement musical collectif. Finalement, le quatrième chapitre fait un retour sur l’expérience musicale vécue dans le premier volet du projet, celui se rapportant à la pratique musicale instrumentale, établit des liens et trace des pistes dans une perspective d’enseignement et d’apprentissage du trombone.

Saraswati Sings: The Slide-Guitar in India

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

RACHMANINOFF AND MEDTNER: SELECTED WORKS FROM THE SOLO AND COLLABORATIVE PIANO REPERTOIRE

Sergei Rachmaninoff and Nikolai Medtner occupy a special place in the history of Russian music. Both composers were exceptional pianists and left us some of the greatest works in the piano repertoire. Although these composers shared many similarities, and were often compared, their musical languages and views on composition were very different. Unfortunately, Medtner’s music, which Rachmaninoff admired greatly, has remained neglected for several generations of performers and listeners. In my dissertation I will explore the similarities and contrasts in Rachmaninoff’s and Medtner’s music. Through these performances, I hope to encourage other musicians to discover the imaginative power of Medtner’s music. Of course, no such encouragement is needed for Rachmaninoff’s extremely popular music; however, the technical and musical challenges of performing that repertoire are an invaluable part of every pianist’s education. This dissertation project was presented in three recitals which were performed in Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center of the University of Maryland on May 8, 2014, December 5, 2014 and March 21, 2016. The following pieces comprised the survey of Rachmaninoff music: Vocalise Op. 34, Variations on a Theme of Corelli Op. 42, Piano Concerto No 2 Op. 18, Selected Songs Opp. 4 and 8, and two Moments Musicaux Op. 16 - Nos 3 and 4. The following pieces were included to represent Medtner: Sonata for Violin and Piano Op. 57 in E minor “Epica”, Fairy Tales for solo piano Op. 20 No 1, Op. 26 No 3 and Op. 51 No 1, and Selected Songs Op. 6 and 15. My partners in this project were Lilly Ahn, soprano, Jennifer Lee, violin and Nadezhda Christova, piano. All three recitals can be found in the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).

Umgang mit Musik

Die Beiträge zur Bonner AMPF:Tagung, die in diesem Band dokumentiert sind, machen das Kernproblem musikpädagogischen Denkens und Handelns deutlich: Der menschliche Umgang mit Musik und demgemäß der pädagogische verweigert sich einer idealen, interindividuellen und zeitlosen Bestimmung. Die technische Verfügbarkeit von Musik erlaubt eine Vielfunktionalität, und niemand bestreitet den hohen Stellenwert, den Musik in unserem Leben einnimmt. Gleich ob als Stimulus intellektueller Bemühung, ästhetischer Kontemplation oder ausgleichender Entspannung, ob als manipulierender Soundtrack oder als prestigespendendes Sozialetikett: Der Umgang mit Musik reicht von elitärer Ästhetisierung bis zu zweckgebundener Funktionalisierung; dem einen ist Musik stets Sinnzusammenhang, dem anderen Reizquelle und Gebrauchsgegenstand. Die Bonner Tagung sollte über das Stadium von Programmatik und Spekulation hinaus auf der Basis empirischer Erfahrung und kritischer Reflexion Positionen klären und Orientierungen geben, die wesentlich zur Versachlichung der Diskussion beitragen können. (DIPF/Orig.)

Adieu New York, bonjour Paris ! : les enjeux esthétiques et culturels des appropriations du jazz dans le monde musical savant français (1900-1930)

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle avec l'Université Paris-Sorbonne et l'Université de Montréal. Composition du jury : M. Laurent Cugny (Université Paris-Sorbonne) ; M. Michel Duchesneau (Université de Montréal) ; M. Philippe Gumplowicz (Université d'Evry-Val d'Essonne) ; Mme Barbara Kelly (Keele University - Royal Northern College of Music) ; M. François de Médicis (Université de Montréal) ; M. Christopher Moore (Université d'Ottawa)

Jazz, identidade musical e o piano Jazz em Portugal

Ao longo de todo o séc. XX, o jazz construiu um espaço alternativo às dicotomias heurísticas tradicionais, como por ex. tradição/inovação, erudito/popular, composição/improvisação, entre outras. Por entre discursos polarizados, o jazz afirmou-se como domínio musical conciliador de diferenças culturais e sociais, configurando um espaço novo de mediação, um “jazz art world” como definido pelo sociólogo Paul Lopes. Nesse espaço, a individualidade sempre assumiu enorme centralidade, em virtude do papel particularmente criativo do performer e também da sua relação elástica com os «modelos» referenciais para a performance. Assim, o jazz afigura-se um domínio privilegiado para a expressão da individualidade e, por conseguinte, para a construção e identificação de uma «identidade musical», tal como a expressão é proposta nesta tese. Para a discussão destes problemas conceptuais, esta tese recorre, como estudos de caso, a um conjunto de pianistas portugueses: António Pinho Vargas (1951-), Mário Laginha (1960-), João Paulo Esteves da Silva (1961-) e Bernardo Sassetti (1970-2012). É traçada a sua trajectória pessoal e formativa, e é apresentada uma análise da sua produção musical, com recurso à «teoria das tópicas» enquanto modelo particularmente orientado para a análise da música popular. No sentido de compreender os processos de construção das identidades musicais destes pianistas, são ainda abordadas outras temáticas, como a própria definição de «jazz», o jazz enquanto música dialógica, ou os fluxos diaspóricos do jazz (incluindo as respectivas implicações e variantes terminológicas, como “jazz diaspora”, “musical cosmopolitanism” e “glocalization”). Recorrendo a pesquisa bibliográfica, trabalho de campo (mormente a entrevista) e técnicas de análise musical, esta tese realiza uma exploração aprofundada destes tópicos e do trabalho dos músicos em particular. Desta forma, pretende oferecer um contributo para uma reflexão conceptual sobre o jazz em geral no âmbito dos jazz studies, e também para um mapeamento estilístico e identitário do jazz em Portugal.

Dori Caymmi e o processo de ressignificação musical

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Artes, Departamento de Música, 2016.

The Arsenio Rodriguez Trilogy

This lecture promotes "The Arsenio Rodriguez Trilogy", a book presentation by Jairo Grijalba Ruiz on the influential Cuban mambo and salso musician Arsenio Rodriguez. Dr. Jairo Grijalba Ruiz is a Colombian anthropologist who specializes in Afro-Caribbean popular music. This presentation was held on September 3, 2015 at Books & Books in Coral Gables.