Trans. Revista Transcultural de Música E-ISSN: 1697-0101
[email protected] Sociedad de Etnomusicología España Eidsheim, Nina Synthesizing Race: Towards an Analysis of the Performativity of Vocal Timbre Trans. Revista Transcultural de Música, núm. 13, 2009, pp. 1-9 Sociedad de Etnomusicología Barcelona, España Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=82220946009 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative TRANS - Revista Transcultural de Música - Transcultural Music Revie... http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/a57/synthesizing-race-towards-an-analy... Home PRESENTACIÓN EQUIPO EDITORIAL INFORMACIÓN PARA LOS AUTORES CÓMO CITAR TRANS INDEXACIÓN CONTACTO Última publicación Números publicados < Volver TRANS 13 (2009) Convocatoria para artículos: Synthesizing Race: Towards an Analysis of the Performativity of Vocal Timbre Explorar TRANS: Por Número > Nina Eidsheim Por Artículo > Por Autor > Abstract Vocaloid is a vocal synthesis software package that "sings back" any pitch and word combination entered by a user, impersonating a singer with a designated sex, age and race. Lola and Leon, the first pair of "singers" designed, were introduced as "generic soul-singing voices." Investigating vocal timbre as a cultural artifact, I look at the processes by which audience connect specific vocal sounds with particular ideas such as race and gender. Such reification of notions of race through vocal timbre is circular: audiences join sounds with concepts; (live or digital) performers respond to these sound/concept compounds, and in turn confirm the Share | listeners' linkages.