Der Musik-machende Mensch im Fokus

Portrait

Die Zeiten, in denen die Musikethnologie die «Musik der Anderen» untersuchte, sind längst vorbei, sagt Britta Sweers, Professorin für Kulturelle Anthropologie der Musik an der Universität Bern. Es geht vielmehr darum, über die Musik ein tieferes Verständnis für die Gesellschaft zu erlangen. Die Musikethnologie hat damit bereits in ihrem Kern einen Praxisbezug und sucht auch immer mehr die Zusammenarbeit mit Akteur*innen ausserhalb des akademischen Elfenbeinturms.

Video: Valentin Mettler
Interview und Redaktion: Elisabeth Stoudmann
Produktion: Norient 2018

Die siebenteilige Videoserie «Musikethnologie in der Schweiz» ist entstanden im Rahmen des Agora-Wissenschaftsvermittlungsprojekt «Communicating Music Research» (gefördert vom Schweizer Nationalfonds), das Norient gemeinsam mit dem Seminar für Kulturwissenschaft und Europäische Ethnologie der Universität Basel durchgeführt hat.

Biography

Britta Sweers ist Professorin für Kulturelle Anthropologie der Musik und Direktorin des Center for Cultural Studies an der Universität Bern. 1999 Promotion (Universität Hamburg); 2001-2003 Hochschulassistentin, 2003-2009 Juniorprofessorin für Ethnomusikologie/ Systematische Musikwissenschaft an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock. Zentrale Forschungsthemen sind u.a. Revival und Transformation traditioneller Musiken (angloamerikanische Regionen und Nordosteuropa), Musik und Politik und angewandte Ethnomusikologie. Follow her on LinkedIn.

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Britta Sweers am Institut für Musikwissenschaft Bern

Published on October 13, 2018

Last updated on April 30, 2024

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Musikethnologie in der Schweiz

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Filmstill: Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (Steve Loveridge, UK/USA/Sri Lanka 2018)

M.I.A.: One Popstar, Three Persons

Short Essay

by Lisa Blanning

The documentary film Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. portrays the popstar M.I.A. In this short essay, Lisa Blanning explains, how the artists successfully creates a multi-faceted personality that blends global awareness, politics and an urban pulse for modernity.

The Unlikely Biography

In the documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. the question of identity is central. It revolves around three core eras in the life of the artist: as Mathangi Arulpragasam, the daughter of a Tamil separatist leader who fled to London from Sri Lanka as a nine year-old refugee; Maya, the creative teenager who grew up in a social housing council estate and attended London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins art academy; and M.I.A., the pop star. While none of these roles are contradictory, they’re individually unique and somehow unlikely as a combination.

«In 2009, the biggest contradiction in my life was being a mum who was about to give birth versus a famous person who’s been nominated for an Oscar and a Grammy», Arulpragasam observes of her next major role in life as a mother. «I thought that was the predicament. But then the war in Sri Lanka began to escalate». With the rising violence, she finds herself in a new guise: an activist speaking out explicitly on behalf of her ethnicity. And with that comes another assignment as unwilling media foil whose fame gives her a platform, but not the understanding she craves.

Not Always a Nice Person

As such, what was already a multi-faceted personality becomes even more complex. What we once saw as brash, insouciant cool becomes «fuck-you» punk – less nihilistic élan, more screaming into the void – perhaps borne in the childish rage of an artist who has had the privilege of expressing herself freely to great acclaim suddenly finding herself surprisingly inarticulate on issues that matter to her the most. While we see the scenes as she gives a nation the finger at a Superbowl halftime show, the film doesn’t mention her doxxing of a New York Times journalist after an unflattering interview.

But it’s to Arulpragasam’s credit that through all of the years and the highs and lows of a pop star, she is no one other than herself. Whether an immigrant teenager with documentary filmmaker aspirations, a multi-cultural pop star talking about her career, or a mother, Matangi, Maya, or M.I.A. is always one authentic self: fiercely passionate, confident, and sincere, flawed but charismatic. That’s probably why her music cuts through so clearly across six albums. You couldn’t blame someone with so many different identities if they tried to be all things to all people – many pop stars have attempted as much in order to maintain relevance. But M.I.A. is more intent on her own vision. She blends global awareness, politics, art-school edge, and an urban pulse for a taste of modernity that remains fresh. Identity may be an ever-evolving question for M.I.A., but she already knows the answer.

Trailer

Biography

Lisa Blanning is a Berlin-based writer and editor on music, art and culture. A former editor at The Wire Magazine and Electronic Beats. She is especially engaged in movements in contemporary electronic music and digital culture art. She has led panel discussions and artist talks for festivals such as Unsound, CTM, and Atonal, as well as institutions such as University of East London.

Published on December 08, 2018

Last updated on April 30, 2024

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Norient Musikfilm Festival NMFF 9 (2019)

Norient Festival

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United by gestures: how revolutions may look like (photo: Max Pixel)

Musicians and the Revolution

Quotation

by Thomas Burkhalter

The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and the political turmoil in the years since have changed the country. How did underground musicians, DJs and songwriters from Cairo react, and how did the events influence their art? Thoughts recorded by Thomas Burkhalter in Cairo. From the Norient book Seismographic Sounds (see and order here).

«I cannot concentrate. I can’t stop thinking. Normally I translate daily life experiences into my songs, at the moment I cannot do so. I’m paralyzed. My role as a musician was more important before the revolution. I provoked and asked questions that were taboo. This was more challenging than today. I don’t even want to try to document the revolution. It is not finished yet, and I don’t want to document it wrongly. In these times I am a citizen of Egypt first.»

Maryam Saleh is a singer and songwriter from Cairo who tours internationally. Recorded on 4.3.2013.

«Just because I’m an artist doesn’t mean that I have to make music about the revolution. An artist should just be an artist and create his personal artistic world – without any guidelines.»

Hussein El-Sherbini is part of the electronica collective Wetrobots. He co-runs the Epic 101 studio in Cairo. Recorded on 6.3.2013.

«This was the most emotional time of my life. I did not dare translate these strong experiences into music yet. They were holy in a way, so you cannot just make a track out of it. I brought my recorder to Tahrir Square though. One day, maybe, I’m going to use those recordings.»

Mahmoud Refat experiments with field recordings and electronic music. He runs the label 100copies and the 100copies music space in Cairo. Recorded on 8.3.2013.

«Many songs were created on the spot. They were not meant for eternity. It was about freedom of expression. This is what made these songs important.»

Dina El-Gharib is a visual artist from Cairo. She DJs weekly in the After Eight club in downtown Cairo. Recorded on 10.3.2013.

«With the start of the revolution, international media became fascinated with our female metal band. Now we give loads of interviews and we perform abroad often.»

Sherine Amr from Cairo is the front singer of the metal band Massive Scar Era. Recorded on 8.3.2013.

«In Egypt you need permission from the military to leave the country. This creates huge problems for me because the military does not like me at all. I had thirty international tours lined up, but I was allowed to leave the country three times only. And the next problem is coming. When I finish my studies in two years I have to go to the army. It is going to be the nightmare of my life.»

Ramy Essam is a singer and songwriter from al-Mansura. Time Out listed his song «Irhal» (leave) – that Essam sung on Tahrir square – among the ten most influential political songs of all time. Recorded on 5.3.2013.

«My dream is to have a passport. I want to travel, to develop and show my music. I live for my music.»

Islam Chipsy received his Egyptian passport in 2014. Today, the keyboard player tours abroad regularly – he also performed at the 6^th Norient Musikfilm Festival in Bern, Switzerland. Recorded on 10.3.2013.

«I have a lot of hope if we stay like this. Riot police beat me a lot. Nevertheless I will go down again tomorrow. If they want war, we want peace. I am just trying to regain some of my nation’s dignity.»

Ahmad Basiony taught sound art at Helwan University. He died of gunshot wounds inflicted by snipers from the Egyptian Police Forces on Tahrir Square on January 28, 2011. Recorded via Facebook on 26.1.2011, 10pm.

The quotes have been published first in the second Norient book Seismographic Sounds.

Biography

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (NF), co-directed AV-performances and documentary films (e.g. «Contradict», Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness), and is the author and co-editor of several books (e.g., «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut», Routledge, «The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East», Wesleyan University Press). He teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. Since 2022 he produces the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. Currently, he is working on his new music duo «Melodies In My Head», and on the podcast series «Long Take: Life as an Artist». Follow him on Instagram, Research Gate, Academia.edu, Bandcamp, Spotify, or Meta.

Published on July 11, 2018

Last updated on April 09, 2024

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Seismographic Sounds

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