Episode 1 Part 2: The Value of Research on Music (Anthony Seeger)

In Part 2 of our first episode, we discuss the study of diverse musics and the value of ethnomusicology as it has developed over the 21st century. We interview Emeritus Professor Anthony Seeger about growing up in a family central to the American folk music scene, his field research with the Kisedje in Brazil, and his roles as the director of the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University and Smithsonian Institution. Seeger speaks about establishing ‘Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ which brings together rich collections of socially engaged music from various parts of the world. This episode includes some tracks from one of these albums ‘Vocal Art of the Suyà’ which Seeger produced in collaboration with the Kisedje, as well as some more recent activist musical responses to the current pandemic environment.

“It seemed to me that there was something about music that had an impact not just on aesthetics and beauty and how we feel about lovely things, but on the everyday actions of people, the lives of people and the activities of government.” Anthony Seeger, Distinguished Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of California 

Links to resources

 ·      ‘The Value of Ethnographic Research on Music’, guest edited by Georgia Curran and Mahesh White-Radhakrishnan –https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14442213.2021.1913511 

·      ‘Musical Connections Amid the Global Pandemic’ curated by Nicholas Ng –https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/iac/music_and_performing_arts/musical_connections_amid_the_global_pandemic_-_series_1 

·      ‘Stellar Mansions’ composed by Nicholas Ng –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86G3VWH6dCQ 

·      ‘Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People’ by Anthony Seeger – https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p072024  

·      ‘Ethnomusicology Matters’ edited by Marko Kölbl, Marko, Hande Saglam and Ursula Hemetek – https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/52e79713-c8c8-440b-9261-7a226b947ab0/external_content.pdf 

·      Smithsonian Folkways Recordings – https://folkways.si.edu/ 

·      SLDRT! By Le Monde est en Flammes –  https://lemondeestenflammes.bandcamp.com/. Donate through ‘Wave of Hope’ –https://www.facebook.com/WaveOfHopeForTheFuture 

·      Australian Anthropology Society 2021 conference – www.aasconf.org 

·     Mugglestone, E., 1981. Guido Adler's “The Scope, Method, and Aim of Musicology”(1885): An English Translation with an Historic-Analytical Commentary. Yearbook for Traditional Music, Volume 13, pages 1-21.

·      Australian Anthropology Society (AAS) 2021 conference (24 Nov-1 Dec 2021) –   www.aasconf.org 

Note regarding AAS conference: Panel on 'Continuity and change in performance' hosted by Georgia and Mahesh on 30 Nov 2021. See website or show notes for Episode 1 Part 1 for details.