Community Archiving of Native American Music

ethnomusic.ucla.edu

Scholars have recently reconceptualized the archive not only as a repository of knowledge, but also as an active producer and arbiter of knowledge. The study of archives, from this perspective, must attend to processes as well as products. This paper examines UCLA's Archiving Filipino American Music in Los Angeles (AFAMILA) project as a case study of collaborative archiving, from the perspective that both methodology, the strategies and practices of collecting, and musical content, the sounds collected, determine the meaning of music archives. Furthermore, the study seeks to demonstrate how the collaborative approach, with its emphasis on dialogue and exchange, subverts the discourses of power that have historically shaped music archiving. Archiving Filipino American Music in Los Angeles (AFAMILA), a project developed by the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive [1] in partnership with Kayamanan Ng Lahi Philippine Folk Arts (KNL) [2], was implemented in 2003 with the goal of documenting a year in the musical life of Filipino Americans in Los Angeles. Through this effort, the Archive sought both to expand its collection and to bridge the gap between the university and the wider Los Angeles community. This paper examines the AFAMILA project as a case study of collaborative archiving, from the perspective that both methodology, the strategies and practices of collecting, and musical content, the sounds collected, determine the meaning of archival collections. The study begins with an examination of the problems of technological mediation and the historical development of music archives, with attention to the discourses of power that have shaped them. I then review the AFAMILA project and its collection with an eye toward what was documented and how it was collected, as well as its expansion into the online environment. Furthermore, this paper seeks to demonstrate how the collaborative approach, with its focus on "mutuality and reciprocity" (Sheriff, et al. 2002), subverts the discourses of power that have historically shaped music archiving. Technology, power, and social responsibility The history of ethnomusicology, as Rene Lysloff (1997:209) points out, is closely tied to the history of sound recording. Underpinning this parallel development are three related discourses of power: technological superiority, intellectual authority, and scientific objectivity. With its early focus on the science and salvage of music, ethnomusicology relied heavily on the extraction of sounds from sources as it was made possible by recording technology. Lysloff argues that such practices of objectification are linked to Western assumptions of technological privilege, and that the separation of sound from source and the alienation of the researched from the researcher are exercises of power enabled by technology:

Interacting with Archival Resources of Digital Audio: A Survey of the Experiences of Irish Traditional Musicians in North America., 2024

This article reports on findings from a survey conducted (2019-2020) on the website www. surveymonkey.com, for responses relating to experiences with digital archival resources by Irish traditional musicians based exclusively in North America. The survey sought to examine how performers perceive and interact with digital archival resources of Irish traditional music. In terms of demographics, anonymous submissions were received from a wide-ranging set of musicians, performers, dancers, broadcasters, and enthusiasts. Of the 528 responses, 206 identified as female, 310 as male, and three as nonbinary or other. Cawley and Ward both examined performers' use of digital resources primarily in Ireland through the lens of education and acculturation (Cawley 2013; Ward 2016). They highlight the various ways that performers become accustomed to the tradition, and digital resources are seen to be a contributor to the process of enculturation. This survey focused specifically on the experiences of practitioners in North America. A focus was also placed on issues surrounding the performers' relationships to place, the demographics of Irish traditional musicians who use digital resources, and interactions with archives in that region. Even though the Irish Traditional Music Archive website at Dublin, Ireland, was identified as the most popular web resource for musicians learning Irish traditional music in North America, a plethora of resources were identified by survey participants, which led to greater insight into the range of different approaches to audio material and archives for musicians in that region. Some implications of the work are discussed in the final section. Cet article rend compte des résultats d'une enquête menée (2019-2020) sur le site web www. surveymonkey.com, pour des réponses relatives aux expériences avec les ressources d'archives numériques par des musiciens traditionnels irlandais basés exclusivement en Amérique du Nord. L'enquête visait à examiner comment les interprètes perçoivent et interagissent avec les ressources d'archives numériques de la musique traditionnelle irlandaise. En termes de démographie, des réponses anonymes ont été reçues de la part d'un large éventail de musiciens, d'interprètes, de danseurs, de diffuseurs et de passionnés. Sur les 528 réponses, 206 étaient des femmes, 310 des Digital Studies/Le champ numérique is a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the Open Library of Humanities.

2021

By showcasing three biographies of notable twentieth-century Native American musicians, this project provides a cultural context for debating issues of inclusion in the development of American classical music life. The research deviates from established musicological protocols to examine the concerns of cultural appropriation and exoticism in greater detail. Consequently, this approach delves into the musicological trends that have excluded Native Americans from the study of twentieth-century concert culture in the United States. With the aim of incorporating these narratives into American classical music curricula, the narratives explore musical profiles through the lenses of burgeoning discussions about the historical invisibility of Native Americans in the United States. This work contributes to recent efforts broadening the discussion about what constitutes music history in America by driving attention to subjects that American musicologists often overlook. Though mixed-race Nat...

Repatriation of song recordings from archives and private collections to communities of origin is both a common research method and the subject of critical discourse. In Australia it is a priority of many individual researchers and collecting institutions to enable families and cultural heritage communities to access recorded collections. Anecdotal and documented accounts describe benefits of this access. However, digital heritage items and the metadata that guide their discovery and use circulate in complex milieus of use and guardianship that evolve over time in relation to social, personal, economic and technological contexts. Ethnomusicologists, digital humanists and anthropologists have asked, what is the potential for digital items, and the content management systems through which they are often disseminated, to complicate the benefits of repatriation? How do the 'returns' from archives address or further complicate colonial assumptions about the value of research? This paper lays the groundwork for consideration of these questions in terms of cultural precedents for repatriation of song records in the Kimberley. Drawing primarily on dialogues between ethnomusicologist Sally Treloyn and senior Ngarinyin and Wunambal elder and singer Matthew Dembal Martin, the interplay of archival discovery, repatriation and dissemination, on the one hand, and song conception, song transmission, and the Law and ethos of Wurnan sharing , on the other, is examined. The paper provides a case for support for repatriation initiatives and for consideration of the critical perspectives of cultural heritage stakeholders on research transactions of the past and in the present.

orishas across the ocean

Entering the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress, one feels the power of an encounter with the wealth of human history, the sum of human knowledge. That knowledge lies encapsulated not only in the written word-books, journals, magazines, manuscripts-but in millions of sound recordings, photographs, films, and all other media which the 20th century revolution in communications technology has produced.

Museum Anthropology Review, 2014

Intangible cultural heritage archives face a dilemma when it comes to repatriation. Claims and counterclaims from source communities must be balanced within legal frames and ethical obligations of museums to give back, restitute, or redress past perceived injustices, while maintaining the essential preservation functions of a heritage archive. This paper examines this dilemma through the illustrative case study of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, a unique collection that is at once an archival collection of traditional music and recorded sound from all over the world, and a nonprofit record label housed in the U.S. national museum since 1987.With a duty to keep its catalogue available in perpetuity, a mandate to pay its own way, and a mission of cultural documentation, collaborative curation, and broad appeal to global audiences, Smithsonian Folkways practices digital repatriation (of audio recordings) and circulation of indigenous knowledge (through publication, payment of royalties and license fees). The paper describes four cases of returns from Folkways’ evolving repatriation practice, offering useful ways of thinking about museum obligations with intangible heritage returns, and several ways of redistributing individual artists’ rights and their communities’ rights to control use of their music even when legal rights of ownership remain with the institution.

Journal for the Society of American Music, 2011

Collections: a journal for museum and archives …, 2008

In the wake of NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act), museums and archives are acutely aware of cultural property issues. Cultural intellectual property remains legislatively neglected. Ethical precedent does exist, however, for museums and archives to treat intangible heritage with the same respect as tangible property. Recorded sound collections in many libraries, museums and archives in the United States hold ethnographic recordings of indigenous American cultures. These recordings are of immense value to the cultures and peoples they document as well as to those who study the history and development of humankind. Often they require special treatment or restricted access. Through the development of collections management policies and procedures, a responsible institution can identify sensitive recordings in its collections and isolate them for further investigation. By doing so, an institution can allow broader access to non-sensitive recordings and can begin the process of determining how to properly manage those that are culturally sensitive.