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Objectives
- Study the hybrid nature of musical cultures of the postcolonial era
- Music of the diaspora
- Western influences on non-western music
- Globalization of music cultures
- The search for and emergence of new musical identities
Contents
Two examples will be looked at in some detail, Brazil and India. In both cases postcolonial theory is essential in understanding the processes that have taken place in music and music culture. Although Brazil can be considered an extension of European culture the influence of the African diaspora has been enormous, whilst the indigenous Indian roots have played a major role in the construction of “Brazilian” musical identities. India, on the other hand, maintained its own cultural heritage even though the British colonizer imposed a new layer of European culture. Musically, this layer did not have a direct impact; whereas East Asian and Middle Eastern countries embraced some aspects of western classical music, India by and large stuck to its own classical tradition. At the same the twentieth century saw the rise of the most extensive hybrid tradition of the world, Indian film music.
Thus whereas Brazil showed a proliferation of new genres, among them modinha, côco, samba, choro, batuque, música sertaneja, Música Popular Brasileira (MPB) and Brazilian classical music, India focused mainly on a single genre (although there is also Indian pop, jazz and brassband music). Within this “hybrid soup”, there are always “stubborn chunks” (Gomez-Perda) and creative musicians seek to establish and conquer their own space by constructing their musical identity. Students may apply the ideas developed in this course to other music than Indian or Brazilian, provided that they have good grasp already of that music. Also, questions of relevance of a chosen music should be established beforehand (email to the teacher). This course can be considered to be a companion to the MA-course of Prof. Rokus de Groot, which concentrates on non-western influences on western music.
Format
Tutorial.
Study materials
Essential reading:
- Stokes, Martin (ed.),
Ethnicity, Identity and Music, The Musical Construction of Place, Berg Ethnic Identity Series, Oxford 1994 (reprinted 1997)
- Young, Robert,
Postcolonialism, a very short introduction, OUP 2003
Further reading:
- Born, Georgina and David Hesmondhalgh (eds.),
Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music, University of California Press 2000 (introduction).
- Bhabha, Homi,
The location of culture, 1994
- Frith, Simon, “Music and Identity”, in:
Questions of Cultural Identity. S. Hall and P. duGay (eds.) London, 1996, SAGE: 108-127.
- Nandy, Ashis,
The Secret Politics of our Desires: Innocence, Culpability and Indian Popular Cinema, Oxford India 2001.
- Fryer, Peter,
Rhythms of Resistance: African Musical Heritage in Brazil, Wesleyan 2000.
- Other literature: to be announced.
Other materials (available with the teacher): Jeremy Marre,
Samba (DVD documentary) and
There will always be stars in the sky (DVD documentary).
Cost
Ca. € 100,-.
Assessment
- Literature will be read and discussed (with summaries, questions and debate)
- Paper (7000-9000 words)
- The paper is the basis for the mark, but the participation must be sufficient.
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