British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Keith Howard
Reviewed work(s):
World Musics in Education by Malcolm Floyd
World Sound Matters by Jonathan Stock
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 5 (1996), pp. 157-161
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060873
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British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
lives of these
perfonners
for the
meaning
of
the
style. Analyses
of South African art
forms are
frequently
contextualised in terms
of the distinct South African
political regime
of
oppression.
Without
denying
the harsh
realities of this
system,
Erlmann writes:
"Isicathamiya performance
itself is-and
has
always
been-a form of
struggle.
Tribal
issues, religion,
and cattle are the
topics
of so
many isicathamiya songs,
not because, as
Muff Andersson has claimed, most choirs
have 'absorbed the attitudes the state wants
of them' ..., but because these are
precisely
some of the
problems
that are on the minds
of South African
migrants.
... instead
of
an
art
form of
the
people, isicathamiya
is an art
form of people" (xxi; my emphasis).
The
lengthy
introduction
places
the
study
in the context of central issues in
performance studies, or the
ethnography
of
performance, highlighting key
works such as
Lortat-Jacob's
Chroniques
sardes (1990),
Seeger's Why Suyd sing (1987), Dehoux's
Chants d
penser Gbaya
(Centrafrique)
(1986), Chernoff's
African rhythm
and
African sensibility (1979) and Feld's Sound
and sentiment (1982). These works are
sig-
nificant for their focus on music as
process,
and in their
departure
from the "traditio-
nal"
anthropological
researcher:subject::
informants:object paradigm.
The
body
of
the
Nightsong
text is encased in this frame-
work, in an
attempt
to "insert
agency
and
performativity
into
anthropology" (xxiii).
The book divides into three sections. Part
1, Texts, provides
a
description
of the
style
through
the inclusion of a
speech by Joseph
Shabalala, and a
chapter
on "The
history
of
isicathamiya
1891-1991". Part 2, Spaces,
introduces the
performers
and the environ-
ment/s they
live in, that is, their
experiences
as
migrants,
and looks at the
ways
in which
these are
played
out
through performance,
highlighting
the role of the
body, poetry,
the
performance
event and the media. Part 3,
Self, interweaves Shabalala's own words with
a
biographical
account to raise
questions
on
isicathamiya
and
self-identity.
The final section of the book, co-
authored
by
Rob
Allingham,
offers "A
select
discography
of
isicathamiya".
The list
attempts
to be
comprehensive
for
"every
known mbube, isikwela Jo, cothoza
mfana,
and
isicathamiya recording up
to and
including
1990". It has certain limitations,
which are
clearly
outlined in the
preamble.
Nevertheless, the list is the most exhaustive to
lives of these
perfonners
for the
meaning
of
the
style. Analyses
of South African art
forms are
frequently
contextualised in terms
of the distinct South African
political regime
of
oppression.
Without
denying
the harsh
realities of this
system,
Erlmann writes:
"Isicathamiya performance
itself is-and
has
always
been-a form of
struggle.
Tribal
issues, religion,
and cattle are the
topics
of so
many isicathamiya songs,
not because, as
Muff Andersson has claimed, most choirs
have 'absorbed the attitudes the state wants
of them' ..., but because these are
precisely
some of the
problems
that are on the minds
of South African
migrants.
... instead
of
an
art
form of
the
people, isicathamiya
is an art
form of people" (xxi; my emphasis).
The
lengthy
introduction
places
the
study
in the context of central issues in
performance studies, or the
ethnography
of
performance, highlighting key
works such as
Lortat-Jacob's
Chroniques
sardes (1990),
Seeger's Why Suyd sing (1987), Dehoux's
Chants d
penser Gbaya
(Centrafrique)
(1986), Chernoff's
African rhythm
and
African sensibility (1979) and Feld's Sound
and sentiment (1982). These works are
sig-
nificant for their focus on music as
process,
and in their
departure
from the "traditio-
nal"
anthropological
researcher:subject::
informants:object paradigm.
The
body
of
the
Nightsong
text is encased in this frame-
work, in an
attempt
to "insert
agency
and
performativity
into
anthropology" (xxiii).
The book divides into three sections. Part
1, Texts, provides
a
description
of the
style
through
the inclusion of a
speech by Joseph
Shabalala, and a
chapter
on "The
history
of
isicathamiya
1891-1991". Part 2, Spaces,
introduces the
performers
and the environ-
ment/s they
live in, that is, their
experiences
as
migrants,
and looks at the
ways
in which
these are
played
out
through performance,
highlighting
the role of the
body, poetry,
the
performance
event and the media. Part 3,
Self, interweaves Shabalala's own words with
a
biographical
account to raise
questions
on
isicathamiya
and
self-identity.
The final section of the book, co-
authored
by
Rob
Allingham,
offers "A
select
discography
of
isicathamiya".
The list
attempts
to be
comprehensive
for
"every
known mbube, isikwela Jo, cothoza
mfana,
and
isicathamiya recording up
to and
including
1990". It has certain limitations,
which are
clearly
outlined in the
preamble.
Nevertheless, the list is the most exhaustive to
date and
provides
an invaluable resource for
researchers and
general
enthusiasts alike.
In
many ways
Erlmann's
Nightsong
is a
natural
progression
from his earlier book,
African stars: studies in Black South
African
performance (U. Chicago Press, 1991).
African
stars focuses on the
years
1890 to
c.1945; Nightsong attempts
to
place
isicathamiya
into the context of a "new
South Africa". He concludes
by wondering:
"What will become of the
isicathamiya
performers
and their
songs
in a new South
Africa? ...
only
the future will tell"
(316).
JANET TOPP FARGION
International Music Collection
British
Library
National Sound Archive
janet.topp-fargion@bl.uk
date and
provides
an invaluable resource for
researchers and
general
enthusiasts alike.
In
many ways
Erlmann's
Nightsong
is a
natural
progression
from his earlier book,
African stars: studies in Black South
African
performance (U. Chicago Press, 1991).
African
stars focuses on the
years
1890 to
c.1945; Nightsong attempts
to
place
isicathamiya
into the context of a "new
South Africa". He concludes
by wondering:
"What will become of the
isicathamiya
performers
and their
songs
in a new South
Africa? ...
only
the future will tell"
(316).
JANET TOPP FARGION
International Music Collection
British
Library
National Sound Archive
janet.topp-fargion@bl.uk
MALCOLM FLOYD (ed.), World musics in
education. Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1996.
ISBN 1-85928-144-3
JONATHAN STOCK, World sound matters.
London: Schott, 1996. ISBN 0-946535-
79-5 (teacher's
manual &
pupils'
questions),
0-946535-81-7
(transcrip-
tions), LC 0846 (2 CDs).
You wait hours for a Number 11 bus, then a
whole
convoy
comes
along.
I
suppose
two
publications designed
to
package
"world
music" for
(primarily British)
education
doesn't
quite signal
the onset of the rush
hour, but a further recent
publication ought
rightly
to be added:
Teaching
musics
of
the
world, a set of
papers
and articles
arising
out
of the 1993
symposium
with the same name
held in Basel
(Lieth-Philipp
& Gutzwiller,
ed.). And Stock's contribution is far more
than a
single
volume: a teacher's manual
running to 108
pages
with 60
separately
bound
pupils' question pages,
95
pages
of
transcriptions,
and 58 traditional music
recordings
from 35 different countries on 2
CDs. The
recordings
are filched from
commercial
recordings,
since Stock "wanted
further sound material to be
readily
accessible ...", though
the choice
partly
reflects the
willingness
of record
companies
to
cooperate.
Malcolm
Floyd,
in a
single
volume of a more discursive nature, marshals
an
intriguing group
of writers-teachers,
teaching inspectors,
and
college
lecturers.
Stock is the most user-friendly, though
the
layout masks a
perspective
from
mainstream academia (the credits list col-
MALCOLM FLOYD (ed.), World musics in
education. Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1996.
ISBN 1-85928-144-3
JONATHAN STOCK, World sound matters.
London: Schott, 1996. ISBN 0-946535-
79-5 (teacher's
manual &
pupils'
questions),
0-946535-81-7
(transcrip-
tions), LC 0846 (2 CDs).
You wait hours for a Number 11 bus, then a
whole
convoy
comes
along.
I
suppose
two
publications designed
to
package
"world
music" for
(primarily British)
education
doesn't
quite signal
the onset of the rush
hour, but a further recent
publication ought
rightly
to be added:
Teaching
musics
of
the
world, a set of
papers
and articles
arising
out
of the 1993
symposium
with the same name
held in Basel
(Lieth-Philipp
& Gutzwiller,
ed.). And Stock's contribution is far more
than a
single
volume: a teacher's manual
running to 108
pages
with 60
separately
bound
pupils' question pages,
95
pages
of
transcriptions,
and 58 traditional music
recordings
from 35 different countries on 2
CDs. The
recordings
are filched from
commercial
recordings,
since Stock "wanted
further sound material to be
readily
accessible ...", though
the choice
partly
reflects the
willingness
of record
companies
to
cooperate.
Malcolm
Floyd,
in a
single
volume of a more discursive nature, marshals
an
intriguing group
of writers-teachers,
teaching inspectors,
and
college
lecturers.
Stock is the most user-friendly, though
the
layout masks a
perspective
from
mainstream academia (the credits list col-
157 157
158 British Journal of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5 (1996)
leagues
and students, mostly
from the
University
of Durham, who
helped
with
specific transcriptions
and the notes which
accompany them). There are
friendly
graphics
of discs and line
drawings
of
instruments. And the staff
transcriptions
of
each
piece
of music considered in the text-
many complex, many
extensive-form a
library collection in themselves. The
design
is
simplicity itself, and the whole
package
is
ready
to
go:
chose the
appropiiate
track on
the CD, check the notes in the teacher's
manual, follow
through
with the notation,
and distribute the
questions
in the
pupils'
book to
your
class. That would suffice
GCSE and A-level classes
(ages 15-18), but
the
readership
Stock aims for is broader.
Indeed, he
hopes
the
publication
will "be of
practical
use to a wide
range
of musicians,
from
secondary
school teachers to their
pupils,
from adults interested in
knowing
more about world music to music students
wishing
to
specialise
in this field, and to
composers" (p.
1).
A broad
readership,
but
still
specialised;
the full
potential
can
only
be
explored by those with considerable musical
training, notably
substantial skills in
interpreting
staff
transcriptions.
Floyd's
volume is less
easy
to
pin
down.
The
green upbeat
cover of Stock's
publication
becomes a
dowdy
brown in
World musics in education, and the layout
is
more traditional. It is
possible
to
split
the
volume down the middle, though
the
introduction
only implicitly acknowledges
this.
Split,
then, we have
practical
materials
and ideas intended for teachers in two
sections (Practical applications
and
resources), and more theoretical
presenta-
tions in the first 90
pages (A place for
world
musics).
The
elegance
of such a division,
however, breaks down with the insertion of a
third section: Directions
for
music education
in
Africa.
Where does this fit into the whole?
The section
comprises
two African case
studies
by
James Flolu ("Music education in
Ghana: the
way forward") and
Floyd
("Promoting
traditional music: The
Kenyan
decision"). Floyd attempts justification
for
the inclusion of both, but to
my
mind fails to
persuade (p. 155):
We are used to
thinking
about the multi-
cultural nature of modem Britain, but this
is the situation in
many
other countries.
These also have to make decisions about
the
way
in which music education
may
be
influenced
by
the nature of
society,
and
also how it
might
be
employed
in an
attempt
to influence that same
society
....
We have chosen to look at one continent,
Africa, and two countries, Ghana and
Kenya,
who are faced with a colonial
inheritance, and
strong indigenous
musical traditions. What decisions are
these countries
making
about World
Musics while not
despising
their own
musical
"stripes"?
Closer
inspection
reveals considerable
overlap
in each
part. Floyd,
for
example,
in
his first contribution
("Approaching
the
musics of the
world"),
shifts from a
theoretical
approach
to a
very idiosyncratic
personal
choice of named
pieces
suitable for
an examination of enculturation, for
explor-
ing
the functions and uses of music.
Floyd
recommends
specific pieces by Bach,
Vaughan Williams, Vivaldi, Puccini etc,
"world musics" from
Kenya, Benin, Papua
New Guinea, Hungary, Ethiopia, Slovakia,
and-as
popular exemplars-AC/DC, Japan,
Ladysmith
Black Mambazo, Sonny Boy
Williams, and
Ellington
and Mills.
I am left
wondering exactly
who the
volume is directed at. The answer
ought
to
be teachers and educators. Hence the intro-
duction states
(p. 2):
There is
uncertainty,
sometimes anger,
and
something
akin to fear felt
by many
of those who have to deliver the National
Curriculum ... to include the world in our
music education and training.
It is
towards these fears that this book is
directed. It is not a volume
"by experts
for
experts",
and ... the concern is
always
to be useful, to
support, empower
and
enthuse those who have to deliver too
much, in too little time, with too few
resources.
Practical
applications
confirms this
approach.
There are contributions by
Judith
Deeble aimed at
Key Stage
1
pupils
and
by
Ernest
Piper
on
primary schools, and then
two case studies which
only vaguely match,
one on steel bands
by Wendy
Brett and
another on a Ghanaian
performance group
in
temporary
residence in
Yateley
schools
co-written
by
Malcolm
Floyd,
Susan Darke
and John Tucker. Resources, similarly,
is
aimed at this
needy
audience. The
separate
section which follows, titled "World musics
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
in
higher
education", offers free
advertising
for
many
of us, but is little more than a
compendium
of written submissions, neither
comprehensive
nor
analytical.
I
suppose
this
section could enable teachers to contact
those
higher
education establishments who
have interests in world
music,
either for
advice or to
push potential
students into
suitable institutions.
Given the claimed
approach,
the
theoretical frame, then, is
designed
to
persuade
teachers of their
ability
to
explore
world music. The need is known, not least
because of the National Curriculum and the
various circulars which have been sent
around the whole UK over the last decade
from the relevant
government departments.
Many
of these are considered
by
Ian
Massey
in a useful
opening overview, "Getting
in
tune: education, diversity
and music". Some
are also discussed
by Floyd,
before his
"Approaching..." chapter
shifts
gear
and
asks us to consider his own
personal
choices.
June
Boyce-Tillman completes
the theo-
retical section, with a
long exploration
of her
framework for
utilising
world musics to
encourage
musical
development. Boyce-
Tillman has
developed
her idea over the last
decade, first at the Institute of Education in
London with Keith Swanwick, then in a
number of articles (some of which are noted
but not listed in the
bibliography). Here, her
contribution is of a
completely
different
nature to the
preceding chapters by Massey
and
Floyd; suddenly
we are in the
territory
of research.
It is
Boyce-Tillman
who
ultimately gives
the
game away.
Her
chapter, together
with
the section on music in Africa, suggests
that
World musics in education is meant as an
academic volume more than a
practical
guide.
The choice of
publisher
would seem
to confirm this. And
yet
the introduction
states otherwise. But if a
time-challenged
teacher is
actually
to use the text,
considerable determination will be needed to
wade
through pages
and
pages
to find what
they
want. If I am correct, then I am
confused. Irritated, too, because of the
poor
editing. Wanting
to
encourage,
and
yet
wondering
how
many
teachers will
actually
use the volume.
Stock, in World sound matters, sets
himself a much clearer brief. The theoretical
frame is
dispensed
with in the first six
pages.
The basic
question, why
world music should
be
part
of music
teaching,
receives four
answers. Three are standard:
greater
famili-
arity
with musical
styles
extends musical
appreciation; study
of the unfamiliar
develops
new
approaches
to
apply
to the
familiar; world music increases
respect
for
human cultural
diversity. One, the last, is
added to these familiar clarion calls: music is
a
special part
of human life. The echo of
John
Blacking's many appeals
for a
musicalised
humanity
is clear. The claim
sounds like the
attempt
to broaden the
market for
ethnomusicology. Nothing
new
beyond
these shores: a reflection on the
way
that
ethnomusicology
is championed
in
many
American liberal arts
programmes,
and the official
campaign
of the current
SEM
president,
Ruth Stone. In World sound
matters, resources are allocated
just
over a
page, comprising
a
listing
of reference
works, journals
and a few world music
surveys.
A nod is
given
to texts and
journals
that
may
be familiar to secondary
school
teachers, but this is
primarily
a list that
peers
down from academia.
World sound matters has had an
interesting gestation.
A
report
was submitted
to the 1993
symposium
from which
Teaching
musics
of
the world emerged,
which announced a multi-faceted volume
spanning everything
from conservatory
teaching
of sitir and shakuhachi to
community projects.
The
report
was
by
Carol Gartrell, a former teacher who had
by
then taken a
lectureship
at
Kingston
University.
She announced-and the
report
was later
printed (Teaching
musics of
the
world, pp. 210-13)--that
she was
writing
in
partnership
with Stock. She had the
greater
practical teaching experience,
and Stock the
broader
knowledge
of
ethnomusicology.
The final
publication, though,
is
by
Stock
alone; Gartrell's contribution has
evapo-
rated. And so, what was to be
geared
towards
GCSE work has been broadened, and I can
imagine
the text
being
used for first-level
higher
education classes. Stock's stamp
begins
to
explain
the
complexity
of
transcriptions, many
of which are
likely
to
be of use to teachers more than GCSE
students. This, I feel, is clear in the
pupil
question book, where the two sets of
questions
offered (one to be answered in
relation to the sound
example,
and one
based on the
transcriptions) suggests
two
different users.
The broad audience canvassed, though,
presents
Stock with a dilemma. How can he
159
160 British Journal of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5 (1996)
satisfy
those of us who claim to be
specialists
in one
particular
music culture and
yet
suit
the needs of classroom teachers? His
problem
is not new, as
papers
about
"general" music courses
by
Louis
Christensen, Clyde
Brockett and William
Malm in
Teaching
musics
of
the world
illustrate (the first two sink
resplendently
into a
plethora
of
generalisations,
while the
latter borrows Murray
Schafer's
concept
of
"ear
cleaning").
Stock attempts
to
circumvent his
problem by carefully
justifying
his
approach (p. 5):
There are so
many peoples
and cultures
around the world that there is constant
pressure
to
compress
the mass of available
information into
digestible
chunks.
Only
partial
introductions to each musical
style
can be
provided, and, in the
hope
of
depicting
the remarkable international
variety
of human
music-making,
the
examples
chosen are often
among
the
most
idiosyncratic
from a
particular
area
or
people. Throughout
the
anthology,
because of the
necessity
to condense
information, there is a
general
non-
emphasis
on the individuals involved in
each recorded musical event
Yes, this is a
cop-out.
But a
very necessary
one, which Stock
argues
in a
way
that can
only bring
a
wry
smile to my
face
(p. 5):
When
reading
the notes on a
particular
people
in this book, try
to
imagine
what
would have to be left out from a similar-
length passage
on the music of
your
own
people.
When
listening
to the recorded
examples
... decide which two or three
examples you
would choose for
your
home nation, and whether everyone
in
your country
would
agree
with
your
choice.
If I
accept this, I am
impotent
to offer
any critique.
The
anthology ranges widely,
with
examples
chosen from
Japan,
Korea,
China (including Tibet), Vietnam, Laos,
Indonesia, Philippines,
Solomon Islands,
Australia, India, Iran, Turkey, Egypt,
Morocco, Algeria,
Mali,
Ethiopia,
Central
African
Republic, Gabon, Burundi, Mozam-
bique, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Romania,
Greece, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Canada,
USA, Trinidad, Colombia and Brazil. Some
tracks end
abruptly,
some are brief. The
omissions offer potential annoyance
to
anyone
who likes/studies/comes from
particular places. Why
these
particular
countries? Why
the choices within each
country?
And
why
be
idiosyncratic?
One
very
curious but engaging
choice is a Texas
folksong sung by
Alan Lomax. This allows
Stock chance to consider cantometric
mapping,
but this is
hardly
relevant to the
GCSE
syllabus,
and is a
very
curious choice
as the
only example
of music from the USA
apart
from a Sioux
song.
Here,
I will be
expected
to be critical of
the Korean
sample.
I shall
briefly oblige:
Why
choose a literati instrument when
you
could have had
something sounding
much
more
lively
and accessible? On the
plus side,
the choice illustrates much about Korean
music: the
particular rhythmic
constructs
(here,
I would
suggest, wrongly
identified in
terms of metre), modes, distinctions between
folk and court traditions, and instruments
linked with
neighbouring
countries. The
instrument name is
spelt
with a macron
above the first 'o'
(implying length
as in,
say, Japanese)
rather than the
expected
breve
mark for a Korean centralised vowel
(except
in the
transcription,
where no
marking
is
provided).
Would other
specialists similarly
query
other
examples?
The
transcriptions
also throw down a
challenge.
All are in Western staff notation,
adjusted
to
represent particular
characteris-
tics. In the Korean case, this involves
symbols
for acciaccaturas, portamento,
vibrato, stress, and
glissandi
on the melodic
k6mun'go
zither and
damped
tones on the
changgo
drum. I would
challenge anyone
claiming perfect pitch
to deal with the
pitches
as we have them, since Korean
tunings
are distinct. I would also
question
why
Eb is consistently
transcribed at the
high
octave but E natural at the lower octave: is
this an intentional part
of the
performance,
or is the actual
pitch
somewhere between the
two? Much discussion has been devoted to
the use and
appropriateness
of staff notation
for non-Western music, but in a rather
unconvincing paragraph
Stock tries to evade
the issue
(p.
3, transcription book):
... a transcriber has no choice but to
rationalize each set of sounds to his or her
own
ways
of
thinking
about music. I
may
have detected patterns
where the
originators
of the music would
say
that
none exist, and I
may
have
thought
I
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996) British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
heard intervals or
rhythms
which are not
quite
those so
carefully performed by
the
musicians.
Why
not
incorporate
different
transcription
systems?
For Indian
rhythm, why
notate
pitch
rather than make an effort to
represent
different
techniques
of
hitting
the drum?
Why present
some music with time
signatures
and Western
(orthodox) key
signatures,
but not others? And, in the
light
of Nattiez's research on Inuit
singing games,
is the
katajjaq
transcription
(pp.
86-7,
transcription book) really adequate?
But let's not
squabble.
World sound
matters, however I look at it, remains
mighty
impressive.
I
accept
that it is difficult, if not
impossible,
to
satisfy both an academic
higher
education market and the needs of
teachers and
pupils
in
secondary
schools. To
attempt
to do so calls for admiration. And
Stock is
largely
successful. This is
quite
a
remarkable achievement, though only
time
will tell to what extent World sound matters
finds its
place amongst
the
targeted
GCSE
teachers and students. In contrast, World
musics in education is less
impressive,
and
less
consistently
successful. The task it sets
itself seems to differ from what it offers, and
I remain unconvinced that sufficient time
was
spent ensuring
that it would suit its
intended market.
A final comment concerns the titles. I
accept
that
"ethnomusicology"
can be a bit
of a tum-off. But "world music", at least in
the British market, began
as a
marketing
tool. In fact, the
history
of the term,
stretching
back several decades before small
independent
record labels hit on the term as
a
way
to shift their
products,
is discussed
by
Robert Brown in an article in
Teaching
musics of
the world ("World music-as it
was, in the
beginning,
is now and
really
should be"). Brown claims to have
introduced the term
together
with David
McAlester for the "first
so-designated
world music
program"
at
Wesleyan
Univer-
sity
in Connecticut in the
early
1960s. He
insists on "music", not "musics". The
symposium
series on which
Teaching
musics
of
the world is based
began
in Amsterdam in
1991 as
"Teaching
World Music", but
quickly
realised some of the difficulties with
the term (in Germany,
for instance, "world
music" indicates ambient, New
Age sounds;
more
commonly,
it
signifies pop
more than
traditional music). And
amongst
scholars
heard intervals or
rhythms
which are not
quite
those so
carefully performed by
the
musicians.
Why
not
incorporate
different
transcription
systems?
For Indian
rhythm, why
notate
pitch
rather than make an effort to
represent
different
techniques
of
hitting
the drum?
Why present
some music with time
signatures
and Western
(orthodox) key
signatures,
but not others? And, in the
light
of Nattiez's research on Inuit
singing games,
is the
katajjaq
transcription
(pp.
86-7,
transcription book) really adequate?
But let's not
squabble.
World sound
matters, however I look at it, remains
mighty
impressive.
I
accept
that it is difficult, if not
impossible,
to
satisfy both an academic
higher
education market and the needs of
teachers and
pupils
in
secondary
schools. To
attempt
to do so calls for admiration. And
Stock is
largely
successful. This is
quite
a
remarkable achievement, though only
time
will tell to what extent World sound matters
finds its
place amongst
the
targeted
GCSE
teachers and students. In contrast, World
musics in education is less
impressive,
and
less
consistently
successful. The task it sets
itself seems to differ from what it offers, and
I remain unconvinced that sufficient time
was
spent ensuring
that it would suit its
intended market.
A final comment concerns the titles. I
accept
that
"ethnomusicology"
can be a bit
of a tum-off. But "world music", at least in
the British market, began
as a
marketing
tool. In fact, the
history
of the term,
stretching
back several decades before small
independent
record labels hit on the term as
a
way
to shift their
products,
is discussed
by
Robert Brown in an article in
Teaching
musics of
the world ("World music-as it
was, in the
beginning,
is now and
really
should be"). Brown claims to have
introduced the term
together
with David
McAlester for the "first
so-designated
world music
program"
at
Wesleyan
Univer-
sity
in Connecticut in the
early
1960s. He
insists on "music", not "musics". The
symposium
series on which
Teaching
musics
of
the world is based
began
in Amsterdam in
1991 as
"Teaching
World Music", but
quickly
realised some of the difficulties with
the term (in Germany,
for instance, "world
music" indicates ambient, New
Age sounds;
more
commonly,
it
signifies pop
more than
traditional music). And
amongst
scholars
and
performers,
"world music"
rarely
signifies
the world; rather, the music chosen
for concern tends to be
highly
selective.
Stock
manages
to
get
around the
problem,
and he can
lay
a claim to
provide exactly
what his subtitle
says:
"an
anthology
of
music from around the world".
Floyd
doesn't
acknowledge
the debate, but
throughout
his text refers to "world
musics". Discussion is needed, please.
Reference
Lieth-Philipp, Margot
& Andreas Gutzwiller
(1995) Teaching
musics of
the world.
Basel:
Conservatory
of Music/Affalter-
bach: Edition
Philipp.
KEITH HOWARD
School
of
Oriental and
African
Studies
University of
London
kh@soas.ac.uk
and
performers,
"world music"
rarely
signifies
the world; rather, the music chosen
for concern tends to be
highly
selective.
Stock
manages
to
get
around the
problem,
and he can
lay
a claim to
provide exactly
what his subtitle
says:
"an
anthology
of
music from around the world".
Floyd
doesn't
acknowledge
the debate, but
throughout
his text refers to "world
musics". Discussion is needed, please.
Reference
Lieth-Philipp, Margot
& Andreas Gutzwiller
(1995) Teaching
musics of
the world.
Basel:
Conservatory
of Music/Affalter-
bach: Edition
Philipp.
KEITH HOWARD
School
of
Oriental and
African
Studies
University of
London
kh@soas.ac.uk
INGRID FRITSCH,
Japans
blinde
Singer
im Schutz der Gottheit
Myoon-
Benzaiten. Munich: ludicium, 1996.
31
lpp., plates, figures.
ISBN 3-89129-311-
9
(pb).
In German.
Much of
Japanese
music
history
involves the
activities of the blind.
Anyone
who is familiar
with the near
unreadability, haphazard
documentation and
disorganized
nature of most
Japanese writings
on the blind will welcome
Japans
blinde
Sanger
as an extensive and
accurate overview of
Japanese primary
and
secondary
sources.
Ingrid
Fritsch has also read
widely
in the
Western-language
literature on the
subject,
and has even
engaged
in
original
fieldwork, interviewing
some of the last
remaining
blind
performers
in the
Japanese
countryside. Japans
blinde
Sanger
is
not,
however, merely
a
history
of the
visually
impaired
in
Japan. Instead,
Fritsch has
organized
her work around an
important
motif:
the role of Sarasvati (in Japanese: Myoon
or
Benzaiten), guardian goddess
of
many Japanese
blind
performers.
The volume
begins
with a discussion of
Myoon-Benzaiten
herself: her Indian
origins,
and her
reception
and
reinteipretation
in Tibet,
China and
eventually Japan.
When
exactly
My6on-Benzaiten
became a
protector-goddess
of
Japanese
musicians remains unclear, but
temples
and shrines
throughout Japan
(especially
those at Enoshima,
Chikubushima
and
Yoshino)
attest that the connection is heir
INGRID FRITSCH,
Japans
blinde
Singer
im Schutz der Gottheit
Myoon-
Benzaiten. Munich: ludicium, 1996.
31
lpp., plates, figures.
ISBN 3-89129-311-
9
(pb).
In German.
Much of
Japanese
music
history
involves the
activities of the blind.
Anyone
who is familiar
with the near
unreadability, haphazard
documentation and
disorganized
nature of most
Japanese writings
on the blind will welcome
Japans
blinde
Sanger
as an extensive and
accurate overview of
Japanese primary
and
secondary
sources.
Ingrid
Fritsch has also read
widely
in the
Western-language
literature on the
subject,
and has even
engaged
in
original
fieldwork, interviewing
some of the last
remaining
blind
performers
in the
Japanese
countryside. Japans
blinde
Sanger
is
not,
however, merely
a
history
of the
visually
impaired
in
Japan. Instead,
Fritsch has
organized
her work around an
important
motif:
the role of Sarasvati (in Japanese: Myoon
or
Benzaiten), guardian goddess
of
many Japanese
blind
performers.
The volume
begins
with a discussion of
Myoon-Benzaiten
herself: her Indian
origins,
and her
reception
and
reinteipretation
in Tibet,
China and
eventually Japan.
When
exactly
My6on-Benzaiten
became a
protector-goddess
of
Japanese
musicians remains unclear, but
temples
and shrines
throughout Japan
(especially
those at Enoshima,
Chikubushima
and
Yoshino)
attest that the connection is heir
161 161