Newsletter no 1, March 2010

Sustainable futures for music cultures Towards an ecology of musical diversity

Official project start Case study guidelines across Online collaboration and dissemination of results After the inevitably long process of five domains of sustainability marrying the requirements of nine While the contract has only been A major feature of the guidelines is international project partners, con- finalised recently, preparation work instructions on the gathering and tracts have been signed and exe- has continued over most of 2009. documenting data. To ensure conti- cuted on 15 February 2010 to seal The most significant outcome of this nuity within the project and long- the collaboration between three process is the document that will term availability of the research, Australian universities, three univer- guide the various teams as they con- Griffith University is developing and sities overseas and three NGOs on duct their case studies to answer managing a digital online repository Sustainable futures. This marks the over two hundred questions on each of Sustainable Futures material. official start of the project, which music culture across five domains: This has a triple purpose: it will fa- will run to 2014 with a budget of learning music; musicians and com- cilitate online collaboration be- over US$4.5 million, funded by the munities; contexts and constructs; tween the research teams on differ- Australian Research Council, the infrastructure and regulations; and ent continents, drive a system project partners, and extensive in media and the music industry. The where key material (including video) kind contributions. The project’s case study guidelines will ensure can be web-published to facilitate Steering Committee and Interna- consistency of data across the case an exchange of ideas between com- tional Advisory Board are in the study, and facilitate comparisons of munities, and enable seamless sub- process of being finalised, with sen- research findings. mission to archives for specific areas ior scholars, musicians, and other or cultures. stakeholders committing support.

World-wide access A key feature of the collaboration is the commitment to make freely available the outcomes of the pro- ject to communities around the world —with the obvious exception of culturally sensitive and copy- righted material. This will be achieved principally by an interac- tive website that enables easy ac- cess to project outcomes and com- munication between stakeholders across cultures. Warlpiri women performing yawulyu, an Aboriginal ceremonial genre, at an official event in Alice Springs (Photo Turpin 2009)

What is Sustainable futures? Case studies

Sustainable futures for music cul- Carefully selected for their diversity The University of Sydney), Mexican tures: Towards an ecology of musi- in history, contexts, transmission mariachi (Patricia Campbell, Univer- cal diversity is a five year interna- systems, dissemination and vitality, sity of Washington), SamulNori from tional research collaboration inves- nine in-depth case studies will fea- Korea (Keith Howard, The University tigating ecosystems of nine music ture in research by leading academ- of Sydney), music from the Amami cultures, with the purpose of gain- ics: Hindustani music (Huib Schip- islands (Phil Hayward, Southern Cross ing understanding that will empower pers, Griffith University), traditional University), and Western classical communities to forge musical fu- Aboriginal music of Australia (Linda opera (John Drummond, University of tures on their own terms. It brings Barwick, The University of Sydney), Otago). In addition, a study of together six universities, the Inter- traditional music of the Viet people Capeverdian music in Rotterdam led national Music Council (founded by (Hakan Lundström, Lund University), by the & Dance Centre in UNESCO), the World Music & Dance West African percussion (Richard Rotterdam will provide insight into Centre, and the Music Council of Letts, International Music Council), drastic recontextualisations in con- Australia. Balinese gamelan (Peter Dunbar-Hall, temporary urban settings. Newsletter no 1, March 2010

Initial fieldwork case study The field trip was successful on Other case studies both counts. While it became clear Initial fieldwork for the North- that the interview questions from It is expected that major headway Indian classical music case study the guidelines need to be adapted on five other case studies will be began with participation and a for each specific interview, the made before the end of the year. presentation in the ITC/SRA Semi- concept of an ecosystem for Indian Peter Dunbar-Hall travelled to Bali nar: New Trends in Indian music classical music yielded inspired to prepare for interviews in June/ since Independence in January discussions on a number of well- July 2010. He attended perform- 2010. documented aspects of Hindustani ances, rehearsals, and teaching music, as well as more philosophi- sessions, tracked down research This event included extensive panel cal reflections. materials, and conducted a test and delegate discussions on chang- interview. This demonstrated —like ing aesthetic norms, organisational Key topics included the central role the Indian case study— that not all developments (including cultural of patronage by courts, landown- questions are relevant to all inter- institutions and the media), audi- ers, courtesans, and later All India viewees, and identified new ones ence response, and fusion music, Radio, and adaptation of the music to be included. A detailed litera- which are all highly relevant to the culture through major changes ture review on the topic in relation Sustainable futures research. from Hindu temples to Muslim courts, and from colonisation and to Bali is also in progress. The seminar was followed by ten Independence. Linda Barwick and Myf Turpin have days of discussions amongst a re- also prepared for interviews and search team consisting of two In- This resilience was largely attrib- will travel to Central Australia in dian (Suvarnalata Rao and Dhruba uted to an unbending confidence of July 2010 to work on the Australian Ghosh) and two Dutch researchers. the value of this music amongst Aboriginal case study, while Keith Schippers (Griffith University) and musicians and their supporters, Howard intends to research Korean co-researcher Joep Bor (University considerable skill in attaching the Samulnori in the second half of this of Leiden) conducted over a dozen music to shifting centres of power, year. Phil Hayward will meanwhile interviews with prominent musi- eclectic tendencies to reinvent travel to the Amami Islands, where cians, musicologists, and other Indian music history to suit the he has already set up collabora- stakeholders in Hindustani music. present, and great flexibility while maintaining an intangible essence. tions. People consulted included perform- For the Vietnamese case study, ers and teachers across generations For the next stage of the case Hakan Lundstrom visited Hanoi in such as , Arvind study, the research team is negoti- December 2009. His first project Parikh, Purvi Parikh, Anuradha Pal, ating a close collaboration with results will be presented at the musicologist Ashok Ranade, organ- ARCE in Delhi, which will supervise ICTM Working Group meeting on iser Sharad Sathe, All India Radio/ a number of Indian research assis- Music & Minorities and Applied Eth- Doordarshan officers Nityanand tants analysing data and policies on nomusicology in Hanoi (July 2010), Haldipur and Chhaya Ganguli, and media, concerts and festivals, and where Sustainable futures will fea- corporate sponsor Ravi Mathur, economic impact. ture prominently as a theme. CEO of ITC/SRA in Kolkata. The research team attended a number of concerts and festivals, and visited cultural institutions and music schools. Meanwhile, press clippings, brochures and publica- tions by various organisations were collected (including a number of highly relevant topical previous ITC/SRA seminar reports), as well as a broad sample of historical re- cordings and more recent releases of Hindustani classical music. As the first case study in the five- year project, it served a dual pur- pose: 1) making major inroads in the data collection for one of the nine case studies, and 2) testing the planned approach of the case studies as outlined in the Sustain- able Futures Case Study Guidelines in terms of content and of data management. Master musician Zakir Hussain shares his views on sustainability in Hindustani music

For more information, visit the Sustainable futures website: www.musecology.griffith.edu.au