Tibet Chic: Myth, Marketing, Spirituality and Politics in Musical
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“TIBET CHIC”: MYTH, MARKETING, SPIRITUALITY AND POLITICS IN MUSICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF TIBET IN THE UNITED STATES by Darinda J. Congdon BM, Baylor, 1997 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 2002 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2007 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Darinda Congdon It was defended on April 18, 2007 and approved by Dr. Nicole Constable Dr. Evelyn S. Rawski Dr. Deane L. Root Dr. Andrew N. Weintraub Dr. Bell Yung Dissertation Director ii Copyright © by Darinda Congdon 2007 iii “TIBET CHIC”: MYTH, MARKETING, SPIRITUALITY AND POLITICS IN MUSICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF TIBET IN THE UNITED STATES Darinda Congdon, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2007 This dissertation demonstrates that Tibetan music in the United States is directly related to multiple Western representations of Tibet in the United States, perpetuated from the 1800s to the present, and that these representations are actively utilized to market Tibetan music. These representations have also impacted the types of sounds most often used to musically represent Tibet in the United States in unexpected ways. This study begins with the question, “What is Tibetan music in the United States?” It then examines Tibetan music in the United States from a historical, political, spiritual and economic perspective to answer that question. As part of this investigation, historical sources, marketing sources, New Age religion, the New York Times, and over one hundred recordings are examined. This work also applies marketing theory to demonstrate that “Tibet” has become a term in American culture that acts as a brand and is used to sell music and other products. It also uses semiotics to address the prevalence of certain sounds in music marketed as Tibetan in the United States, finally demonstrating that sounds referencing New Age representations of Tibet have become a symbol representing Tibet as a whole in America. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE..................................................................................................................................... xx 1.0 INTRODUCTION: QUESTIONS ON TIBETAN MUSIC .................................................. 1 1.1 Methodology and Theoretical Framework .................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Limitations and Delimitations of Terms and Theory........................................ 4 1.1.2 Source Descriptions........................................................................................... 7 1.1.2.1 Source One: Recordings ......................................................................... 8 1.1.2.2 Source Two: Scholastic Resources and Review of Literature.............. 11 1.1.2.3 Source Three: Survey of The New York Times..................................... 15 1.1.2.4 Source Four: Additional Popular Literature and Internet Sources ....... 16 1.1.2.5 Source Five: Time Spent Interacting in Tibetan Communities ............ 17 1.1.3 The Correlation of Sources: The Appendix ..................................................... 18 1.2 Chapter Outline........................................................................................................... 20 1.3 Contributions to Scholarship ....................................................................................... 23 2.0 TIBET: POLITICS, SPIRITUALITY, ECONOMICS, AND HISTORICAL REPRESENTATIONS ................................................................................................................. 26 2.1 Religious and Political Power ..................................................................................... 28 2.2 Tibet and Natural Resources ....................................................................................... 36 2.3 Neither Isolated nor Naïve........................................................................................... 38 v 2.4 Conclusion................................................................................................................... 39 2.5 Current “Tibet” Controversy ....................................................................................... 42 3.0 POLITICAL, SPIRITUAL, AESTHETIC AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATIONS OF TIBET IN THE UNITED STATES.............................................................................................. 44 3.1 Spiritual, Aesthetic, Political, and Scholastic Constructs and the Problem of Place .. 44 3.2 The Early New Age Movement................................................................................... 49 3.3 1940s-1950s: The United States and the “Bad Friend” Syndrome ............................. 55 3.4 1960s: The PRC and Dharamsala, and the United States............................................ 60 3.5 New Age in the United States in the Latter Half of the Twentieth Century ............... 62 3.6 Tibet and the United States from the 1980s to the Present: Politics ........................... 64 3.7 Tibet and the United States from the 1980s to the Present: New Age and Consumption ......................................................................................................................................69 3.7.1 A Tangled Yarn: Politics, Spirituality and Consumption for Tibet and Native America........................................................................................................................ 73 3.8 Summary: US History, Politics, New Age and “Tibet” .............................................. 74 4.0 OMMMMMONEY: COMMERCIALIZATION AND BRAND TIBET ........................... 77 4.1 Strong Brands: What Makes Them?............................................................................ 78 4.2 Brand Equity and the Four Assets............................................................................... 82 4.3 Brand Benefits: Functional, Emotional, and Self-Expressive..................................... 84 4.4 Sponsorship, Patronship.............................................................................................. 88 4.5 “Ambush Marketing”.................................................................................................. 91 4.6 History of Tibetan Commodities................................................................................. 94 4.7 Summary: Tibet as Brand.......................................................................................... 104 vi 5.0 WHAT IS TIBETAN MUSIC? WORDS AND IMAGES, DICHOTOMIES AND AGENDAS IN RECORDINGS OF TIBETAN MUSIC............................................................ 107 5.1 1960s: Early Recordings............................................................................................ 114 5.2 1970s: Lyrichord, Lewiston, Levy and the Music of the Bowls ............................... 119 5.3 1980s and Genre: World and New Age Music.......................................................... 125 5.4 1990s: Movies and More........................................................................................... 137 5.5 2000 and Beyond: The Post 9/11 Years .................................................................... 164 5.6 Summary: Music and Money, Music Tibet............................................................... 175 6.0 TIBETAN MUSIC: WHAT DOES IT MEAN ANYWAY? TIBETAN MUSIC AND SEMIOTIC THEORIES ............................................................................................................. 180 6.1 Barthes and Myth...................................................................................................... 180 6.2 Bakhtin and Guy: Music as Dialogue........................................................................ 182 6.3 Turino and Peircian Semiotics: Music, Emotion and Identity .................................. 184 7.0 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................. 195 7.1 What Is Tibetan Music?............................................................................................. 201 APPENDIX................................................................................................................................. 202 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................... 394 DISCOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 407 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Example and Description of Table Used to Present Data on Events and the New York Times for Years Surveyed............................................................................................................. 19 Table 2: Example and Description of Table Used to Present Data on Music for the Years Surveyed ....................................................................................................................................... 19 Table 3: Example and Description of Table Used to Present Data on Recordings Surveyed ...... 20 Table 4: Items for Sale, Search on Amazon.com for "Tibet" by Year ....................................... 102 Table 5: Abstract Adaptation of Turino’s Musical Semiotics to Tibetan Music in the US........ 189 Table 6: Semiotics Applied to Tibetan Music in the US, Showing Most Common Indicators and Effects ........................................................................................................................................