This is a brief summary of the PhD thesis that I am going to submit at the Ecole des Hautes Etude... more This is a brief summary of the PhD thesis that I am going to submit at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. It presents my research on the evolution of the Garhwali music industry (North India) in the digital era.
Along with better connectivity, massive free music downloading and streaming have reached the Him... more Along with better connectivity, massive free music downloading and streaming have reached the Himalayan ranges of the Garhwal region (North India) in the 2000s. It has been a game-changer for the creation, circulation and consumption practices of Garhwali music, a repertoire sung in the local dialect. Mp3s and mp4s are gradually replacing DVDs and CDs on the market, and the economic scenario is comparable to that of national creative industries: a more scattered distribution of content and profits, a tougher competition for visibility. Yet Garhwali music also faces specific challenges due to its topography, its high percentage of emigrants and its labeling as “regional music”; these challenges can be analyzed ethnographically from the point of view of artists and audiences. Indeed, Garhwali music’s diffusion lies increasingly in the hands of the listeners on one hand, who upload content, circulate it offline, act as trend setters and make it a matter of collective cultural heritage; and in the hands of bigger third-party players on the other hand, who like label T-Series are engaged in a battle against piracy. In such online distribution channels, visibility is the key value and the law is not always the reference for authority or authorship. The situation is dire for most local artists and producers, but strategies are being experimented to take advantage of this new environment.
Sous la direction de Catherine Servan-Schreiber, je travaille sur l’industrie musicale régionale ... more Sous la direction de Catherine Servan-Schreiber, je travaille sur l’industrie musicale régionale du Garhwal, au sein de laquelle se développe depuis les années 2000 un répertoire de variété en dialecte garhwali. Cette présentation est un résumé des interrogations établies AVANT le travail de terrain, qui exposent les principales problématiques de départ de la thèse. Pour des éléments de réponse à ces questions APRES le terrain, voir les articles de 2014.
In the Himalayan region of Garhwal (Uttarakhand, North India) too, both the rural and urban popul... more In the Himalayan region of Garhwal (Uttarakhand, North India) too, both the rural and urban population is actively consuming popular music on connected media such as feature phones or laptops. Although the area remains topographically, economically, linguistically and socially partially insulated, it has been developing and circulating its own popular music industry across several production and consumption centers (Fiol, 2008, 2014). This paper intends to look at some of the distribution logics that may underlie the apparent paradox between localization and dispersion of Garhwali music.
Garhwal is a division of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, North India. Like other Indian areas... more Garhwal is a division of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, North India. Like other Indian areas, Garhwal developed a blooming local music industry from the 1950s onwards (Fiol 2008), with a golden age in the 1980s-90s and serious difficulties since the 2000s due to digitization. This intervention backs on a study of the audience for online Garhwali music clips (Nowak 2013), as well as recent field work about Garhwali music production, distribution and reception in Garhwal and in Delhi. The combination of these angles allows a brief exploration of the “glocal”: in the communication chain, how do songs get to be labeled as “Garhwali” or “from Garhwal”?
This is a brief summary of the PhD thesis that I am going to submit at the Ecole des Hautes Etude... more This is a brief summary of the PhD thesis that I am going to submit at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. It presents my research on the evolution of the Garhwali music industry (North India) in the digital era.
Along with better connectivity, massive free music downloading and streaming have reached the Him... more Along with better connectivity, massive free music downloading and streaming have reached the Himalayan ranges of the Garhwal region (North India) in the 2000s. It has been a game-changer for the creation, circulation and consumption practices of Garhwali music, a repertoire sung in the local dialect. Mp3s and mp4s are gradually replacing DVDs and CDs on the market, and the economic scenario is comparable to that of national creative industries: a more scattered distribution of content and profits, a tougher competition for visibility. Yet Garhwali music also faces specific challenges due to its topography, its high percentage of emigrants and its labeling as “regional music”; these challenges can be analyzed ethnographically from the point of view of artists and audiences. Indeed, Garhwali music’s diffusion lies increasingly in the hands of the listeners on one hand, who upload content, circulate it offline, act as trend setters and make it a matter of collective cultural heritage; and in the hands of bigger third-party players on the other hand, who like label T-Series are engaged in a battle against piracy. In such online distribution channels, visibility is the key value and the law is not always the reference for authority or authorship. The situation is dire for most local artists and producers, but strategies are being experimented to take advantage of this new environment.
Sous la direction de Catherine Servan-Schreiber, je travaille sur l’industrie musicale régionale ... more Sous la direction de Catherine Servan-Schreiber, je travaille sur l’industrie musicale régionale du Garhwal, au sein de laquelle se développe depuis les années 2000 un répertoire de variété en dialecte garhwali. Cette présentation est un résumé des interrogations établies AVANT le travail de terrain, qui exposent les principales problématiques de départ de la thèse. Pour des éléments de réponse à ces questions APRES le terrain, voir les articles de 2014.
In the Himalayan region of Garhwal (Uttarakhand, North India) too, both the rural and urban popul... more In the Himalayan region of Garhwal (Uttarakhand, North India) too, both the rural and urban population is actively consuming popular music on connected media such as feature phones or laptops. Although the area remains topographically, economically, linguistically and socially partially insulated, it has been developing and circulating its own popular music industry across several production and consumption centers (Fiol, 2008, 2014). This paper intends to look at some of the distribution logics that may underlie the apparent paradox between localization and dispersion of Garhwali music.
Garhwal is a division of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, North India. Like other Indian areas... more Garhwal is a division of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, North India. Like other Indian areas, Garhwal developed a blooming local music industry from the 1950s onwards (Fiol 2008), with a golden age in the 1980s-90s and serious difficulties since the 2000s due to digitization. This intervention backs on a study of the audience for online Garhwali music clips (Nowak 2013), as well as recent field work about Garhwali music production, distribution and reception in Garhwal and in Delhi. The combination of these angles allows a brief exploration of the “glocal”: in the communication chain, how do songs get to be labeled as “Garhwali” or “from Garhwal”?
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