British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): David W. Hughes
Reviewed work(s):
36,000 Days of Japanese Music: The Culture of Japan through a Look at Its Music by Koh-
Ichi Hattori
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 6 (1997), pp. 191-195
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060835
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British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 6
(1997)
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 6
(1997)
As
Cooley rightly points
out in the Intro-
duction, the
arrangement
of
chapters
into three
groups suggests only
one of
many possible
paths through
this book. Its richness allows for
the creation of one's own
paths
in line with
personal
interests. I found much of relevance
for
my
own work in
Mongolia,
as
already
indicated, and for
my
work on the
Anthropology
of Performance. "Field research is
performed,
... and
writing
about field research ... is often
part
of the
process
of
re-performing
field
research," says
Greg
Barz in
"Confronting
the
field(note) in and out of the field."
Ethnog-
raphers, informants, friends and teachers all
perform
in the fieldwork drama, Barz
suggests
(cf. Hastrup
1995: 94-6 for
recentering
social
performance
in the
corporeal
fields of
people);
and the
ethnographer
re-performs
when
pro-
ducing,
then
interacting with, his or her
fieldnotes. The same
argument,
of course, also
applies
to
production
of and interaction with his
or her
ethnography, lecture, film or sound
presentation.
An alternative
path,
useful for students of
ethnomusicology
and
anthropology, provides
different histories of the
discipline.
A
possible
beginning
is the fieldwork on music conducted
in Brazil
by
the Frenchman de
Lery
in
1557,
followed
by
several musical
ethnographies by
others
during
the 18th
century.
Some date its
origins
from the establishment of
comparative
musicology
and "armchair
analysis"
as an
academic
discipline
in the 1880s. Its
develop-
ment
may
then be traced
through
the
anthropological
functionalism of Americans
such as Boas and Merriam, the
systematic
musicology
of Charles
Seeger,
the functionalist
and structuralist
ethnomusicology
of John
Blacking,
the
cognitive ethnomusicology
of our
European colleagues,
the semiotic ethno-
musicology
of
Jean-Jacques
Nattiez, and the
plurality
of
approaches
that characterize
present-day ethnomusicological practice.
Ethnomusicologists
such as Nettl and Hood are
usefully
situated (Rice),
as are
anthropologists
such as
Seeger
and Feld
(Shelemay).
I find little in the volume to criticize, apart
from an over-abundance of
trendy language (in
some
cases)
and too much focus on the
researcher at the
expense
of the
indigenous
peoples.
As a feminist,
I should not be dis-
concerted
by
the
generic
use of "she" to
describe the
ethnomusicologist
or researcher,
but I am; it
appears
less contrived when the
author is female
(Shelemay),
rather than male
(Bohlman).
And
although
it is clear to me that
ethnographies
and other forms of
representation
As
Cooley rightly points
out in the Intro-
duction, the
arrangement
of
chapters
into three
groups suggests only
one of
many possible
paths through
this book. Its richness allows for
the creation of one's own
paths
in line with
personal
interests. I found much of relevance
for
my
own work in
Mongolia,
as
already
indicated, and for
my
work on the
Anthropology
of Performance. "Field research is
performed,
... and
writing
about field research ... is often
part
of the
process
of
re-performing
field
research," says
Greg
Barz in
"Confronting
the
field(note) in and out of the field."
Ethnog-
raphers, informants, friends and teachers all
perform
in the fieldwork drama, Barz
suggests
(cf. Hastrup
1995: 94-6 for
recentering
social
performance
in the
corporeal
fields of
people);
and the
ethnographer
re-performs
when
pro-
ducing,
then
interacting with, his or her
fieldnotes. The same
argument,
of course, also
applies
to
production
of and interaction with his
or her
ethnography, lecture, film or sound
presentation.
An alternative
path,
useful for students of
ethnomusicology
and
anthropology, provides
different histories of the
discipline.
A
possible
beginning
is the fieldwork on music conducted
in Brazil
by
the Frenchman de
Lery
in
1557,
followed
by
several musical
ethnographies by
others
during
the 18th
century.
Some date its
origins
from the establishment of
comparative
musicology
and "armchair
analysis"
as an
academic
discipline
in the 1880s. Its
develop-
ment
may
then be traced
through
the
anthropological
functionalism of Americans
such as Boas and Merriam, the
systematic
musicology
of Charles
Seeger,
the functionalist
and structuralist
ethnomusicology
of John
Blacking,
the
cognitive ethnomusicology
of our
European colleagues,
the semiotic ethno-
musicology
of
Jean-Jacques
Nattiez, and the
plurality
of
approaches
that characterize
present-day ethnomusicological practice.
Ethnomusicologists
such as Nettl and Hood are
usefully
situated (Rice),
as are
anthropologists
such as
Seeger
and Feld
(Shelemay).
I find little in the volume to criticize, apart
from an over-abundance of
trendy language (in
some
cases)
and too much focus on the
researcher at the
expense
of the
indigenous
peoples.
As a feminist,
I should not be dis-
concerted
by
the
generic
use of "she" to
describe the
ethnomusicologist
or researcher,
but I am; it
appears
less contrived when the
author is female
(Shelemay),
rather than male
(Bohlman).
And
although
it is clear to me that
ethnographies
and other forms of
representation
are creative
performances
on the
part
of the
researcher, it does not
necessarily
follow that
such researchers
produce good poetry.
I
suspect
that
poetry
or
song lyrics
written
by
the BaAka
pygmies
would have revealed more about them
than a
poem
written
by
the
ethnomusicologist.
The book will be an invaluable resource for
students, researchers and lecturers and, I
hope,
will
provoke
much debate.
References
Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1992) [1975])
Truth
and method. 2nd rev. ed. New York:
Crossroad.
Geertz, Clifford
(1973) The
interpretation of
cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Hastrup,
Kirsten
(1995) A
passage
to anthro-
pology:
between
experience
and
theory.
London:
Routledge.
Heidegger,
Martin
(1978) Being
and time.
Transl. John
Macquarrie
and Edward Robin-
son. Oxford: Blackwell.
Levin, Theodore
(1996) The hundred thousand
fools of god:
musical travels in Central Asia.
Indiana Univ. Press.
Marcus, George
E. and Fischer, M.J. (1986)
Anthropology
as cultural
critique.
Univ. of
Chicago
Press.
Merriam, Alan
(1964)
The
anthropology of
music. Northwestern Univ. Press.
Pegg,
Carole
(forthcoming) Mongolian music,
dance and oral narrative:
performing
diverse
identities. (With CD.) Univ. of
Washington
Press.
Rice, Timothy (1994) May
it
fill your
soul:
experiencing Bulgarian
music. Univ. of
Chicago
Press.
Ricoeur, Paul
(1981) Hermeneutics and the
human sciences. Ed./transl. John B.
Thomp-
son.
Cambridge
Univ. Press.
Seeger, Anthony (1987)
Why Suyd sing.
Cambridge
Univ. Press.
CAROLE PEGG
Dept of
Social
Anthropology
University of Cambridge
c.pegg@newgrove.co.uk
are creative
performances
on the
part
of the
researcher, it does not
necessarily
follow that
such researchers
produce good poetry.
I
suspect
that
poetry
or
song lyrics
written
by
the BaAka
pygmies
would have revealed more about them
than a
poem
written
by
the
ethnomusicologist.
The book will be an invaluable resource for
students, researchers and lecturers and, I
hope,
will
provoke
much debate.
References
Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1992) [1975])
Truth
and method. 2nd rev. ed. New York:
Crossroad.
Geertz, Clifford
(1973) The
interpretation of
cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Hastrup,
Kirsten
(1995) A
passage
to anthro-
pology:
between
experience
and
theory.
London:
Routledge.
Heidegger,
Martin
(1978) Being
and time.
Transl. John
Macquarrie
and Edward Robin-
son. Oxford: Blackwell.
Levin, Theodore
(1996) The hundred thousand
fools of god:
musical travels in Central Asia.
Indiana Univ. Press.
Marcus, George
E. and Fischer, M.J. (1986)
Anthropology
as cultural
critique.
Univ. of
Chicago
Press.
Merriam, Alan
(1964)
The
anthropology of
music. Northwestern Univ. Press.
Pegg,
Carole
(forthcoming) Mongolian music,
dance and oral narrative:
performing
diverse
identities. (With CD.) Univ. of
Washington
Press.
Rice, Timothy (1994) May
it
fill your
soul:
experiencing Bulgarian
music. Univ. of
Chicago
Press.
Ricoeur, Paul
(1981) Hermeneutics and the
human sciences. Ed./transl. John B.
Thomp-
son.
Cambridge
Univ. Press.
Seeger, Anthony (1987)
Why Suyd sing.
Cambridge
Univ. Press.
CAROLE PEGG
Dept of
Social
Anthropology
University of Cambridge
c.pegg@newgrove.co.uk
KOH-ICHI HATTORI, 36,000 days of Japanese
music: the culture
of Japan through
a look
at its music. Southfield, Michigan:
Pacific
Vision, 1996. iii +
92pp. Photos, notations,
index. ISBN 0-9653642-0-8
(pb).
Sometimes a book comes
along
that is so
horrid, so
dreadfully misleading
and
downright
KOH-ICHI HATTORI, 36,000 days of Japanese
music: the culture
of Japan through
a look
at its music. Southfield, Michigan:
Pacific
Vision, 1996. iii +
92pp. Photos, notations,
index. ISBN 0-9653642-0-8
(pb).
Sometimes a book comes
along
that is so
horrid, so
dreadfully misleading
and
downright
191 191
192 British Journal of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 6 (1997)
dangerous,
that one wonders whether it is better
to
ignore
it and
hope
that it will die a
quiet
death. When the book
appears
from an obscure
publisher,
it is even more
tempting
to hold
one's
tongue
to avoid drawing
attention to it.
But in the
present
case the risk of silence is
too
great.
Dozens of
copies
of this book were
sent
gratis
to the
Japanese Embassy
in London
for free distribution to music teachers interested
in
Japan;
other countries might
also be under
such an insidious threat. No, silence is a
luxury
I can't morally justify.
Even a reasoned
response
seems unreasonable in this case:
only
a
polemic
will do. What I am
offering here,
aside from a review of one
particular book, is a
cautionary
tale about the inadvisability
of
relying
on a
single
"native informant", however
apparently qualified,
for information about a
complex
music culture. (Most
readers of this
journal will be well aware of this, but some will
not
yet
have learned this from
personal
experience.)
What we have in this book, among
other
things,
is a blinkered view of music life in
Japan
such as
might
emanate from
any poorly
informed citizen of that
country
or indeed of
any
other society
with a diverse musical culture.
Even in this
post-modem, culturally
eclectic
Age
of World Music,
a
typical
individual knows
and likes only
a
very
small
range
of music
genres. Thus even educated
Japanese
often
misunderstand the distribution of musical tastes
in their own country-just
as an American rock
music fanatic
might
find it hard to believe that
more than a
tiny proportion
of
young people
could be interested in
opera.
As
increasing
numbers of
Japanese spend
periods living abroad, they
are often asked
by
curious foreigners
for information about their
traditional music. Now, it so
happens (for
reasons that can be
imagined)
that those
Japanese
most involved with traditional music
are
generally
also those least
likely
to live
overseas, whether for work or
study.
Thus most
Japanese you
meet abroad can tell
you
shockingly
little about this music. On rare and
wondrous occasions they
too come to find this
shocking
and end
up exploring
their own
traditions-their "roots" (ratsu)-out
of shame
at their
ignorance
of their own culture. More
often, though,
a
Japanese
abroad is
likely
to
opine
that "nobody"
likes such music
anymore.
This view is, to
put
it
mildly,
ill-informed.
Unfortunately,
in this
particular
case such ill-
informed views are enshrined in
print,
attributed
grandiosely
to "one of
Japan's
foremost com-
posers". (Oddly,
neither Hattori's
compositional
achievements nor
any
other distinctions seem to
have earned him an
entry
in the
Japanese-
language
version of the New Grove dictionary,
published by
Kodansha in 1994.) Thus a reader
would be
tempted
to
grant totally
unwarranted
credence to Hattori's
opinions.
His
purposes
in
writing
this "rare survey
of
Japan's
music" (back cover) are variously
stated: to
"help
others understand the culture of
Japan" (back cover); "to share with
you
how
music is
enjoyed
in
Japan today" (7);
to
examine "the evolution over the
past
hundred
years [the 36,000 days
of the title]
of
[Japan's]
prolific
musical life" (back cover). None of
these aims can be said to have been met,
because the author has
wilfully neglected
a
major portion
of
Japanese
musical life of the
past
hundred
years, namely
the traditional side.
He has
given
us less than 600 words on tradi-
tional music, in the
embarrassing
if
aptly
named
chapter
"A
glance
at
Japanese
tradition" (73-8).
In a book of over 90
pages
meant to
help
us
understand
Japan's "prolific"
music culture and
its twists and turns
during
a
century
of moderni-
zation and Westernization, he has somehow
contrived to limit traditional
genres
to fewer
words than
you
have already
read in the
present
review! He devotes more than three times that
much verbiage
to Maestro Ferdinand Beyer
and
his
popularity
in
Japan.
A basic claim in which Hattori obviously
believes most sincerely,
without ever stating
it
baldly,
is that
Japanese today
have little
appre-
ciation of or interest in their own traditions,
preferring
"do-re-mi-fa"
heptatonic
Westernized
music to traditional
pentacentric styles. Already
on
page
1 we are told, as an
example,
that "the
average Japanese
...
may
not even actually
see
kabuki [music-dance-drama] during
his or her
entire life." True-but then the
average English
person
also never sees a Western
opera either;
moreover, despite
the author's claims of
Westernization, nor does the
average Japanese.
Hattori writes as if
Japan
is some sort of
monolith of musical taste,
when
nothing
could
be further from the truth. What is
lacking
throughout
this book is statistical evidence and,
even more, the
interpretation
that would
give
the statistics some
meaning. Granted, a third of
Japanese
households now
possess
a
piano-far
more than have a shamisen-but which
households,
and
why
those households? What
are the determinants of musical taste and
behaviour? Indeed, how is it that,
after more
than a
century
of a national curriculum that
nearly
excludes traditional music,
there are still
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 6
(1997)
any Japanese
that
prefer
Yatsuhashi
Kengyo
to
Mozart?
Hattori
gave
a lecture, with the same title as
the book, at the
Japanese Embassy
in London
around 1990. As in the book, he took us
through
what he saw as the world of
Japanese
music
since the onset of Westernization in the
Meiji
period.
All of the music he discussed was the
product
of
Japanese composers
with an over-
whelming preference
for and training
in
Western classical music; his
only
music
examples
were
presented by
a
Japanese soprano
with himself at the
piano. Touching briefly
on
traditional folk
song (in
answer to a
question),
he claimed that
"nobody" (sic)
likes it, then
proceeded
to offer a
painful-and painfully
inaccurate-imitation of a folk
singer.
After-
wards I called his attention to a series of
surveys
of
Japanese
musical
preferences (many
reprinted
in Masui 1980)
that showed traditional
folk song
to be far more
popular
than
any
TABLE 1: Musical
preferences
and
age,
1971
national men
Jap.-style popular song
traditional folk
song
chanson/latin/tango
etc.
Western-style pop/rock
symphonic
music
jazz
trad. classical music
(avg.
of 4
genres)
opera
total
53
44
30
20
15
12
20-29
56
31
56
33
14
25
Western
genre
in
Japan.
He
simply
refused to
believe it-and his book maintains the same
wilful
ignorance.
Two such nationwide
surveys
are
reprinted
below, both from the 1970s.
Equivalent surveys
seem not to have been conducted
recently,
but
doubtless the march of Westernization has
continued: note that Western
genres
are most
popular among
the
young. However, various
evidence
suggests
that as each
single
individual
ages,
their taste for traditional
genres grows,
thus
countering
the former trend
slightly.
But
aside from
age, preferences
also
vary signifi-
cantly
with education, native
place, profession
and other factors: the
"average Japanese"
does
not exist. (See Hughes
1985:ch.4 for further
interpretation;
readers
may enjoy analysing
these tables themselves.
"Japanese-style popular
song"
is
largely
what is called
enka,usually
featuring pentatonic
melodic cores and
very
non-Western voice
quality.)
50-59
52
71
14
2
14
2
women
20-29 50-59
50 58
30 67
59 8
37 3
16 10
25 3
5 2 9 4 10
3 2 1 2 2
Respondents
were asked to indicate which of 15
categories
of music
they enjoyed;
11 are summarised
here.
Multiple
answers were
permitted;
mean score
per genre
for the five
categories
of
person
shown
was respectively 16, 19, 15, 20, 15.
Adapted
from Masui 1980:166.
TABLE 2: Musical
preferenxces
and
age,
1978
nat'l men
total 16- 26- 36- 46- 56+
Jap.-style pop. song
31 16 44 45 36 21
trad. folk
song
24 2 11 23 35 46
chansons etc. 16 27 23 13 6 2
W. classical 8 6 7 8 9 5
rock and other
new musics
trad. classical music
6 30 4 1 0 0
2 1 0 0 2 3
women
16- 26- 36- 46- 56+
13 34 39 31 20
4 12 24 36 47
30 30 17 9 2
7 9 12 11 6
25 3 1 1 0
1 2 1 3 5
Respondents
were asked to indicate a
single
favouritefrom 8
genres
of music; 6 are shown here.
Total 100% for each
age
bracket. 16- means
age 16-25,
and so forth.
Adapted
from Masui 1980:169.
193
194 British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 6
(1997)
Hattori, however, seems to assume that all
Japanese
feel as he does, which-
fortunately-is patently
untrue. It is
probably
true that the traditional classical
genres (most
musics for koto, shakuhachi, shamisen,
plus
Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku etc) now
lag
in
popularity
behind all Western
genres.
But
traditional folk
song (generally accompanied
on traditional instruments; cf.
Hughes 1991,
1992)
is still
comparatively popular
even
among
urban residents, except
for the
young-
est stratum. Between "folk" and "classical",
"popular" song genres
now live
up
to their
name
by leading
the
way,
for
example,
in
record sales or broadcast air time. Yet the
matter continues to clamour for finer
analysis.
For
example,
amidst an undeniable
gradual
decline in interest in traditional
genres, young
Japanese
are
increasingly
drawn to three folk-
derived
styles showing only slight
Westerniza-
tion: "taiko
drumming",
Okinawan folk
song,
and
Tsugaru
shamisen.
A book such as Hattori's does
nothing
to
help
understand the
complexity
of
Japan's
"prolific music life", since he
clearly
doesn't
understand it himself. He "confesses" that "it
is hard to recall the last time I attended a
concert of
purely Japanese
traditional music"
(13).
He seems to believe that
"jazz
bands are
frequently
used as
accompaniments
at tradi-
tional folk music concerts" (8),
which
suggests
he hasn't attended many
of these either.
Still, given
that there is now an abundance
of detailed studies of the traditional
genres
(even
in Western
languages),
has this book
perhaps
some residual value as a
summary
of
trends in musical Westernization since the
1870s? Unfortunately
his lack of
rigour
and
objectivity
in
dealing
with traditional music
calls into doubt his
reliability
as a scholar
overall. Besides, other much better authors
cover the same
ground
in
English (e.g.
chapters
in
Komiya; Eppstein, May, Malm,
Berger; many
others for recent
developments).
This is not to
say
that the book is
totally
devoid of interest, just
that it is too
dangerous
to
put
in the hands of the
unsuspecting.
There
are some nice
snippets-mostly
anecdotal-
pertaining
to that
portion
of
Japan
that shares
the author's musical Eurocentrism. Thus we
learn that the Amsterdam Concertgebouw
Orchestra once recruited twelve violinists from
Japan ("all
attractive
young women"),
but
decided to scatter them
among
the other
players
to avoid the
appearance
that "the
orchestra was from some Asian
country" (20).
And we hear something
about the
super-
abundance of housewives' choruses and
school bands.
But
nothing
is
adequately
contextualised.
And
by giving
bald statistics without inter-
pretation,
he misleads as to
significance.
For
example,
we learn that
"usually
some 300
Japanese
voice students ...
stay
in the Milan
area", which is "a
strong
indication of the
depth
of
feeling
the
people
of
Japan
have for
Western music" (21). I wonder, though,
about
the number of
Japanese staying
in
Japan
and
studying
traditional vocal
genres
there. And
how many non-Japanese
in recent
years
have
studied
Japanese
music in
Japan-koto,
shaku-
hachi, Noh etc? The number is
growing.
Does
this indicate the
depth
of
feeling
of the rest of
the world for
Japan's
music? Such
questions
do not even
remotely
interest Hattori.
His
penultimate paragraph
claims: "We
Japanese composers
endeavor to follow in the
steps
of Takemitsu. New music needs to be
built on traditional
Japanese
sound" (83).
Strange, then, that his
only printed example
of
recent
compositions (four piano pieces
for
children
by-ahem!-himself)
shows abso-
lutely
no traditional influence of
any
kind. Not
strange, then, that the
Japanese
are
losing
interest in their own traditions, with
people
like Hattori to teach music to their children.
You have been warned!
References
Berger,
Donald (1991)
Shoka and
doyo: songs
of
an educational
policy
and a children's
song
movement of Japan,
1910-1926. PhD
thesis, Kent State U.
Eppstein, Ury (1994)
The
beginnings of
Western music in
Meiji
era
Japan.
Lampeter:
Mellen.
Hughes,
David W.
(1985)
The heart's home
town: traditional
folk song
in modem
Japan.
UMI. (Revised
version due 1999.)
(1991) "Japanese
'new folk
songs',
old
and new." Asian Music 22.1:1-49.
(1992)
"'Esashi Oiwake' and the
beginnings
of modem
Japanese
folk
song."
The world
of
music 34.1:35-56.
Komiya, Toyotaka,
ed.
(1956) Japanese
music
and drama in the
Meiji
era.
Tokyo:
Obunsha.
Malm,
William P.
(1971)
"The modem music
of
Meiji
Japan."
In Donald
Shively (ed.)
Tradition and modernization in
Japanese
culture, 257-300. Princeton U. Press.
Masui, Keiji (1980) Deetaa, ongaku, Nippon
[Data, music, Japan]. Tokyo:
Min'on
Ongaku Shiryokan.
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 6
(1997)
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 6
(1997)
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 6
(1997)
May,
Elizabeth (1963)
The
influence of
the
Meiji period
on
Japanese
children's music.
Univ. of California Press.
DAVID W. HUGHES
SOAS
University of
London
dh6@soas.ac.uk
May,
Elizabeth (1963)
The
influence of
the
Meiji period
on
Japanese
children's music.
Univ. of California Press.
DAVID W. HUGHES
SOAS
University of
London
dh6@soas.ac.uk
May,
Elizabeth (1963)
The
influence of
the
Meiji period
on
Japanese
children's music.
Univ. of California Press.
DAVID W. HUGHES
SOAS
University of
London
dh6@soas.ac.uk
This book, however, was not intended
primarily
to enable
performance (although
its
genesis
was
inspired partly by
the author's
producing
a Kecak at
University
of Hawaii in
1995). Rather, it is "to
provide guidance
to
those who are interested in
having
a better
appreciation"
of Kecak in
performance (iv). In
this aim the author undoubtedly succeeds.
This book, however, was not intended
primarily
to enable
performance (although
its
genesis
was
inspired partly by
the author's
producing
a Kecak at
University
of Hawaii in
1995). Rather, it is "to
provide guidance
to
those who are interested in
having
a better
appreciation"
of Kecak in
performance (iv). In
this aim the author undoubtedly succeeds.
This book, however, was not intended
primarily
to enable
performance (although
its
genesis
was
inspired partly by
the author's
producing
a Kecak at
University
of Hawaii in
1995). Rather, it is "to
provide guidance
to
those who are interested in
having
a better
appreciation"
of Kecak in
performance (iv). In
this aim the author undoubtedly succeeds.
I WAYAN DIBIA, Kecak: the vocal chant
of
Bali.
Denpasar:
Hartanto Art Books, 1996. vi
+
83pp. Tables, photos, notations, index.
ISBN 979 95045 4 6
(pb).
I WAYAN DIBIA, Kecak: the vocal chant
of
Bali.
Denpasar:
Hartanto Art Books, 1996. vi
+
83pp. Tables, photos, notations, index.
ISBN 979 95045 4 6
(pb).
I WAYAN DIBIA, Kecak: the vocal chant
of
Bali.
Denpasar:
Hartanto Art Books, 1996. vi
+
83pp. Tables, photos, notations, index.
ISBN 979 95045 4 6
(pb).
The author is a
performer, choreographer
and
scholar who here makes
yet
another valuable
contribution
concerning
the dance culture of
his native island. Kecak, sometimes known as
the
"Ramayana Monkey
Dance" in the West,
is one of the world's more remarkable
per-
forming
arts. Scores of male dancers, seated in
a circle, move
together
as
precisely
as a school
of fish as
they
chant the
meaningless syllable
cak
(or variants)
in
complex interlocking
non-
melodic
patterns,
while dancers in the middle
act out scenes from the
Ramayana.
Certain
voices
provide
a
melody
and other elements
characteristic of the
accompaniment
to a
wayang-indeed,
this has been called a
gamelan
suara or "voice
gamelan".
Although
now most
commonly performed
for tourists, Kecak
developed
from a
merging
of elements of the
sanghyangritual (the
male
chorus)
with danced versions of the Rama-
yana.
The standard view is that the artist
Walter
Spies suggested
such a combination in
1932 for use in a German film about Bali; the
Balinese, ever
eager
to create new art forms,
needed little
prodding. (Dibia
also cites a rival
view that certain Balinese were
already
developing
such an art form themselves at that
time.)
This little book covers all elements of
Kecak: cultural
setting, history, music, dance,
costume, story, characters, lighting,
recent
changes. It also offers a
scene-by-scene
summary
of the standard
performance, plus
a
list of
leading performers
and a
directory
of
some 20 active Kecak
groups. Working
with
any
of the numerous
recordings
of Kecak, it
would be
easy enough
to use Dibia's few
transcriptions
to
sing
the choral
part-a
fun
challenge
for a
first-year ethnomusicology
class! To
generate
a
complete production
from
the information given, one would
certainly
need a
videotape.
The author is a
performer, choreographer
and
scholar who here makes
yet
another valuable
contribution
concerning
the dance culture of
his native island. Kecak, sometimes known as
the
"Ramayana Monkey
Dance" in the West,
is one of the world's more remarkable
per-
forming
arts. Scores of male dancers, seated in
a circle, move
together
as
precisely
as a school
of fish as
they
chant the
meaningless syllable
cak
(or variants)
in
complex interlocking
non-
melodic
patterns,
while dancers in the middle
act out scenes from the
Ramayana.
Certain
voices
provide
a
melody
and other elements
characteristic of the
accompaniment
to a
wayang-indeed,
this has been called a
gamelan
suara or "voice
gamelan".
Although
now most
commonly performed
for tourists, Kecak
developed
from a
merging
of elements of the
sanghyangritual (the
male
chorus)
with danced versions of the Rama-
yana.
The standard view is that the artist
Walter
Spies suggested
such a combination in
1932 for use in a German film about Bali; the
Balinese, ever
eager
to create new art forms,
needed little
prodding. (Dibia
also cites a rival
view that certain Balinese were
already
developing
such an art form themselves at that
time.)
This little book covers all elements of
Kecak: cultural
setting, history, music, dance,
costume, story, characters, lighting,
recent
changes. It also offers a
scene-by-scene
summary
of the standard
performance, plus
a
list of
leading performers
and a
directory
of
some 20 active Kecak
groups. Working
with
any
of the numerous
recordings
of Kecak, it
would be
easy enough
to use Dibia's few
transcriptions
to
sing
the choral
part-a
fun
challenge
for a
first-year ethnomusicology
class! To
generate
a
complete production
from
the information given, one would
certainly
need a
videotape.
The author is a
performer, choreographer
and
scholar who here makes
yet
another valuable
contribution
concerning
the dance culture of
his native island. Kecak, sometimes known as
the
"Ramayana Monkey
Dance" in the West,
is one of the world's more remarkable
per-
forming
arts. Scores of male dancers, seated in
a circle, move
together
as
precisely
as a school
of fish as
they
chant the
meaningless syllable
cak
(or variants)
in
complex interlocking
non-
melodic
patterns,
while dancers in the middle
act out scenes from the
Ramayana.
Certain
voices
provide
a
melody
and other elements
characteristic of the
accompaniment
to a
wayang-indeed,
this has been called a
gamelan
suara or "voice
gamelan".
Although
now most
commonly performed
for tourists, Kecak
developed
from a
merging
of elements of the
sanghyangritual (the
male
chorus)
with danced versions of the Rama-
yana.
The standard view is that the artist
Walter
Spies suggested
such a combination in
1932 for use in a German film about Bali; the
Balinese, ever
eager
to create new art forms,
needed little
prodding. (Dibia
also cites a rival
view that certain Balinese were
already
developing
such an art form themselves at that
time.)
This little book covers all elements of
Kecak: cultural
setting, history, music, dance,
costume, story, characters, lighting,
recent
changes. It also offers a
scene-by-scene
summary
of the standard
performance, plus
a
list of
leading performers
and a
directory
of
some 20 active Kecak
groups. Working
with
any
of the numerous
recordings
of Kecak, it
would be
easy enough
to use Dibia's few
transcriptions
to
sing
the choral
part-a
fun
challenge
for a
first-year ethnomusicology
class! To
generate
a
complete production
from
the information given, one would
certainly
need a
videotape.
DAVID W. HUGHES
SOAS
University of
London
dh6@soas.ac.uk
DAVID W. HUGHES
SOAS
University of
London
dh6@soas.ac.uk
DAVID W. HUGHES
SOAS
University of
London
dh6@soas.ac.uk
JEROME R. MINTZ, Carnival
song
and
society: gossip, sexuality
and
creativity
in
Andalusia. Oxford / New York:
Berg,
1997.
xxxv + 267
pp., song texts, index. ISBN 1-
85973-188-0
(pb).
This
delightful study
of the
poets
and
songsters
of Andalusia (more specifically
of
the
province
of Cadiz) and the texts into which
they pour
their skill and
inspiration
in the
build-up
to carnival time
represents
a
develop-
ment of the author's initial fieldwork in the
region
in 1965, when he
spent
a
year
in the
town of
Benalup
de Sidonia
(formerly
known
as Casas
Viejas) collecting
oral accounts of the
local anarchist
uprising
of 1933. A
secondary
theme of the
present
work is that of the decline
and revival of carnival in recent decades, a
trajectory
which was determined
primarily
in
response
to the
contrary
rise and fall of the
Franco
regime.
To some extent, therefore, the
story
told in these
pages
can be seen in the
wider context of the revival of traditional
celebrations
throughout Europe (see
for exam-
ple
the case studies in Boissevain 1992, some
of which also deal
specifically
with
carnival),
the decline in the
practice
of carnival
being
directly
occasioned in this instance
by
the ban
enforced
by
Franco in 1937
(during
the
Spanish
Civil War),
a
prohibition
which
continued into the
early
1960s. Carnival
song
and
society primarily
covers the
period
from
1966 to 1990, charting
the
passage
from the
last
years
of the
dictatorship
into the new era
of the constitutional
monarchy.
It has a
complement
in Mintz'
documentary
film
Carnaval de Pueblo, featuring
carnival in
Benalup
in 1982.
Although
a substantial
part
of the
present study
is
similarly
devoted to the
carnival in
Benalup,
two other rural towns-
Trebujena
and
Ubrique-are
also featured, as
well as the
agricultural
settlement of San Jose
JEROME R. MINTZ, Carnival
song
and
society: gossip, sexuality
and
creativity
in
Andalusia. Oxford / New York:
Berg,
1997.
xxxv + 267
pp., song texts, index. ISBN 1-
85973-188-0
(pb).
This
delightful study
of the
poets
and
songsters
of Andalusia (more specifically
of
the
province
of Cadiz) and the texts into which
they pour
their skill and
inspiration
in the
build-up
to carnival time
represents
a
develop-
ment of the author's initial fieldwork in the
region
in 1965, when he
spent
a
year
in the
town of
Benalup
de Sidonia
(formerly
known
as Casas
Viejas) collecting
oral accounts of the
local anarchist
uprising
of 1933. A
secondary
theme of the
present
work is that of the decline
and revival of carnival in recent decades, a
trajectory
which was determined
primarily
in
response
to the
contrary
rise and fall of the
Franco
regime.
To some extent, therefore, the
story
told in these
pages
can be seen in the
wider context of the revival of traditional
celebrations
throughout Europe (see
for exam-
ple
the case studies in Boissevain 1992, some
of which also deal
specifically
with
carnival),
the decline in the
practice
of carnival
being
directly
occasioned in this instance
by
the ban
enforced
by
Franco in 1937
(during
the
Spanish
Civil War),
a
prohibition
which
continued into the
early
1960s. Carnival
song
and
society primarily
covers the
period
from
1966 to 1990, charting
the
passage
from the
last
years
of the
dictatorship
into the new era
of the constitutional
monarchy.
It has a
complement
in Mintz'
documentary
film
Carnaval de Pueblo, featuring
carnival in
Benalup
in 1982.
Although
a substantial
part
of the
present study
is
similarly
devoted to the
carnival in
Benalup,
two other rural towns-
Trebujena
and
Ubrique-are
also featured, as
well as the
agricultural
settlement of San Jose
JEROME R. MINTZ, Carnival
song
and
society: gossip, sexuality
and
creativity
in
Andalusia. Oxford / New York:
Berg,
1997.
xxxv + 267
pp., song texts, index. ISBN 1-
85973-188-0
(pb).
This
delightful study
of the
poets
and
songsters
of Andalusia (more specifically
of
the
province
of Cadiz) and the texts into which
they pour
their skill and
inspiration
in the
build-up
to carnival time
represents
a
develop-
ment of the author's initial fieldwork in the
region
in 1965, when he
spent
a
year
in the
town of
Benalup
de Sidonia
(formerly
known
as Casas
Viejas) collecting
oral accounts of the
local anarchist
uprising
of 1933. A
secondary
theme of the
present
work is that of the decline
and revival of carnival in recent decades, a
trajectory
which was determined
primarily
in
response
to the
contrary
rise and fall of the
Franco
regime.
To some extent, therefore, the
story
told in these
pages
can be seen in the
wider context of the revival of traditional
celebrations
throughout Europe (see
for exam-
ple
the case studies in Boissevain 1992, some
of which also deal
specifically
with
carnival),
the decline in the
practice
of carnival
being
directly
occasioned in this instance
by
the ban
enforced
by
Franco in 1937
(during
the
Spanish
Civil War),
a
prohibition
which
continued into the
early
1960s. Carnival
song
and
society primarily
covers the
period
from
1966 to 1990, charting
the
passage
from the
last
years
of the
dictatorship
into the new era
of the constitutional
monarchy.
It has a
complement
in Mintz'
documentary
film
Carnaval de Pueblo, featuring
carnival in
Benalup
in 1982.
Although
a substantial
part
of the
present study
is
similarly
devoted to the
carnival in
Benalup,
two other rural towns-
Trebujena
and
Ubrique-are
also featured, as
well as the
agricultural
settlement of San Jose
195 195 195