Introduction XXIX European Seminar in Ethnomusicology: Cultural Mapping and Musical Diversity

«Cultural mapping» has become a central keyword in the UNESCO strategy to protect world cultural and natural heritage. It can be described as a tool to increase the awareness of cultural diversity. As Crawhall (2009) pointed out, cultural mapping was initially considered to represent the «landscapes in two or three dimensions from the perspectives of indigenous and local peoples». It thus transforms the intangible cultural heritage to visible items by establishing profiles of cultures and communities, including music traditions. Cultural mapping is used as a resource for a variety of purposes as broad as peace building, adaptation to climate change, sustainability management, heritage debate and management, but can also become highly useful in the analysis of conflict points. Music plays a significant role in each of these aspects. This year’s symposium invites to highlight, yet also to critically reassess this topic from the following ethnomusicological perspectives: - The method of cultural mapping in ethnomusicology What approaches and research techniques have been used so far to establish musical maps in this context? What kinds of maps have been developed (and, for example, how far do these relate to indigenous mental maps that have only been transmitted orally)? How far do these modern approaches deviate from the earlier cultural mapping approaches of the cultural area approaches that were still evident with Alan P. Merriam and in Alan Lomax` Cantometrics? In how far are the methods of cultural mapping and of ethnomusicological fieldwork different and how can they benefit from each other? - Intangible cultural heritage and musical diversity As the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage pointed out in Article 12, each state signing the declaration «shall draw up, in a manner geared to its own situation, one or more inventories of the intangible cultural heritage, present in its territory and monitor these.» This symposium calls for a critical re-assessment of the hitherto established UNESCO intangible cultural heritage lists. The idea is to highlight the sensitive nature and the effects of the various heritage representations. «Heritage» is understood here as a selection from a selection – a small subset of history that relates to a given group of people in a particular place, at a specific time (Dann and Seaton 2001:26). This can include presentations of case studies, yet also a critical re-analysis of the selection process, e.g. who was included – or even excluded (and why)? Who were the decision makers? How can the role of ethnomusicology be described here? Where are the (existent and possible) conflict points (politically, socially, legally, etc.)? What kinds of solution strategies are available to us? How is the issue of diversity – that has been so strongly emphasized in the UNESCO declarations – reflected in the approaches? How might diversity be represented in future approaches? How does the selection process affect musical canonization (and exclusion)? What is the role of archives in this process? - Cultural landscape and music As defined by the World Heritage Committee, cultural landscapes can be understood as a distinct geographical area representing the «combined work of nature and man» (http://whc.unesco.org/en/culturallandscape/). This sub-topic calls for a more detailed – and general – exploration of the exact relation between nature/landscape (and definition of such) and music/sound. How exactly is landscape interrelated with music – and identified (and vice versa)? How is this interrelation being applied and exploited in a (inter-)national context?

Abandon sight ye who enter here

A Review of elision's Inferno for Realtime Magazine

Integrating Creative Practice and Research in the Digital Media Arts

Research is often characterised as the search for new ideas and understanding. The language of this view privileges the cognitive and intellectual aspects of discovery. However, in the research process theoretical claims are usually evaluated in practice and, indeed, the observations and experiences of practical circumstances often lead to new research questions. This feedback loop between speculation and experimentation is fundamental to research in many disciplines, and is also appropriate for research in the creative arts. In this chapter we will examine how our creative desire for artistic expressivity results in interplay between actions and ideas that direct the development of techniques and approaches for our audio/visual live-coding activities.

Generative systems as relational bridges

Generative media systems present an opportunity for users to leverage computational systems to make sense of complex media forms through interactive and collaborative experiences. Generative music and art are a relatively new phenomenon that use procedural invention as a creative technique to produce music and visual media. These kinds of systems present a range of affordances that can facilitate new kinds of relationships with music and media performance and production. Early systems have demonstrated the potential to provide access to collaborative ensemble experiences to users with little formal musical or artistic expertise. This paper examines the relational affordances of these systems evidenced by selected field data drawn from the Network Jamming Project. These generative performance systems enable access to unique ensemble with very little musical knowledge or skill and they further offer the possibility of unique interactive relationships with artists and musical knowledge through collaborative performance. In this presentation I will focus on demonstrating how these simulated experiences might lead to understandings that may be of educational and social benefit. Conference participants will be invited to jam in real time using virtual interfaces and to view video artifacts that demonstrate an interactive relationship with artists.

'Black is beautiful', and Indigenous : Aboriginal authorship in Australian popular music

The ‘black is beautiful’ movement began in the United States in the early sixties, and changed mainstream attitudes towards the body, fashion and personal aesthetics, gaining African American people a new sense of pride in being – and being called – ‘black’. In Australia the movement also had implications for changing the political meanings of ‘black’ in white society. However, it is not until the last decade, through the global influence of Afro-American music, that a distinctly Indigenous sense of black sexiness has captured the attention of mainstream audiences. The article examines such recent developments, and suggests that, through the appropriation of Afro-American aesthetics and styles, Indigenous producers and performers have developed new forms of Indigenous public agency, demonstrating that black is beautiful, and Indigenous.

View from a bridge : what makes a musical city

The attention paid by the British music press in 1976 to the release of The Saints first single “I’m Stranded” was the trigger for a commercial and academic interest in the Brisbane music scene which still has significant energy. In 2007, Brisbane was identifed by Billboard Magazine as a “hot spot” of independent music. A place to watch. Someone turned a torch on this town, had a quick look, moved on. But this town has always had music in it. Some of it made by me. So, I’m taking this connection of mine, and working it into a contextual historical analysis of the creative lives of Brisbane musicians. I will be interviewing a number of Brisbane musicians. These interviews have begun, and will continue to be be conducted in 2011/2012. I will ask questions and pursue memories that will encompass family, teenage years, siblings, the suburbs, the city, venues, television and radio; but then widen to welcome the river, the hills and mountains, foes and friends, beliefs and death. The wider research will be a contextual historical analysis of the creative lives of Brisbane musicians. It will explore the changing nature of their work practices over time and will consider the notion, among other factors, of ‘place’ in both their creative practice and their creative output. It will also examine how the presence of the practitioners and their work is seen to contribute to the cultural life of the city and the creative lives of its citizens into the future. This paper offers an analysis of this last notion: how does this city see its music-makers? In addition to the interviews, over 300 Brisbane musicians were surveyed in September 2009 as part of a QUT-initiated recorded music event (BIGJAM). Their responses will inform the production of this paper.