ICTMD 2023

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Belonging in the Mix: Indigenous and Minority Popular Musics in the Hip Hop Mainstream
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Przybylski, Liz
Whose sounds fit in the nation-state? Always a politicized question, an exploration of popular music that enters the mainstream offers one way into interconnected questions about belonging. In Canada in particular, a recent history of racial and ethnic minority pop musics influencing mainstream sounds shows how artists and media professionals respond to histories of not-listening. What does it take to sound Canadian? And how do Indigenous groups who live in what is now Canada interact with the nation-state while still maintaining sonic sovereignty? This presentation delves into questions of racialized belonging by exploring expressions of Black Canadians, linguistic minorities, and Indigenous people in Canada through hip hop music. Musicians’ experiences of minority or Indigenous status differ and converge in instructive ways. As Canadian hip hop was coming into its own in the early 2000s, Indigenous hip hop artists told stories with sonic and visual markers that trope Blackness in a particular way. These were heard alongside Black Canadian hip hop, which fought for airtime in a national context whose radio waves have often sounded whiter than the nation itself. This presentation traces histories of erasure, building on Rinaldo Walcott’s theorization of intelligibility. It then listens to musicians in these sometimes-overlapping groups, notably Kardinal Offishall, Webster, and Winnipeg’s Most, to hear how minority and Indigenous groups express belonging and sovereignty, respectively. In so doing, the presentation opens into discussion of how national belonging forms and reforms over time and across minority and Indigenous groups, raising questions relevant across particularities and borders.
Beyond Neo-Traditional: A Non-Linear Triangular Model for Studying Folk Music Revival in Postcolonial Taiwan
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Feng, Mark Hsiang-Yu
Taiwanese folk music has endured and been influenced by Japanese colonialism (1895-1945), the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang dictatorship (1947-1991), and US cultural diplomacy (1956-1971) in the twentieth century. After Democratization at the beginning of the twenty-first century, musicians with diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds resisted the multilateral colonialism by revitalizing folk music to underscore Taiwan’s cultural sovereignty. As numerous novel genres of neotraditional folk music emerged, Taiwanese ethnomusicological scholarship investigated such musical transformation by emphasizing the authenticity of the traditional aspect within the novel genres. Such a theoretical approach underplays the musicians’ creative agency and the perpetuation of multilateral colonialisms in Taiwanese folk music revitalization. Embarking on understanding musical tradition and transformation from a non-linear framework, this presentation draws on Leo Ching’s (2001) model of the identity triangulation Peter Jackson’s (2019) idea of multiple hegemonies to explore a novel theoretical model that emphasizes negotiations with the multilateral colonialism within Taiwan’s folk music revitalization. My case study focuses on the musical agency of two Hakka Taiwanese folk revivalist groups: Sangouda (active between 1995 and 2007) and its second generation, Sangoudahousheng (2008-present). As the discourse and materialization of a novel musical concept, “Hakka blues,” originated from Sangouda’s strategic cross-cultural comparison between African American blues and Hakka Taiwanese sango, musical Americanism is essential for this folk music revitalization, as it facilitates envisioning the development of Hakka popular music. The case study exemplifies the revivalist musicians’ strategic employment of American music and negotiations with the western colonialism while expressing Taiwan’s cultural sovereignty.
The Buddhist Nationalism and the Promotion of North Indian Music in Sri Lanka
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Meddegoda, M. L. Nishadi Prageetha
Sri Lankan music and its structural relationship to nationalism offer a specific case from which to reflect more generally on ideology and its relationship to Buddhism and AryaSinhala concept. This study focuses on investigation of the preference for North Indian music which plays considerable role among the Sinhalese people owing to one of the main theories of Buddhist Nationalism in Sri Lanka which led to subdue the music of minorities. This paper offers a critical, genealogical understanding of the theory of ‘Buddhist Nationalism’ exploring how it has been expressed from the past as inter elite connection between Sinhala and Indian (North and South) people under the focus on Hindustani Classical Music. This is an important exploration into the social, cultural and historical contexts of musical practice to develop some insights through analysing various opinions and statements about the significance of musical behaviour. Qualitative musical analysis has been used as the main approach in this study. Academic, grey literature, open-end interviews, participant-observation, and autoethnography were used to collect data.
Claiming Indigenous Sovereignty Online: Ponay’s Yuan (Indigenous) Style Cover of Mandopop Songs on YouTube
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Tai, Chun Chia
Since the 2010s, the younger generations of Taiwanese Indigenous musicians developed a new online musical space via Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to present, argue, and celebrate their Indigeneity. In regard to internet, Indigenous studies scholars argue that the more egalitarian technologies provide Indigenous people a space to present themselves, while also being aware of the fetishism and commercial modernity that might misrepresent their Indigeneity (Tan 2017; Duarte 2017). To respond to this discourse, I argue that Taiwanese Indigenous musicians are gaining more power on the internet to self-define their Indigeneity and even refuse the fetishism by challenging the colonial-musical aesthetic to claim their sovereignty. My case study focuses on the Indigenous singer, Ponay and his YouTube channel Ponay’s Yuan (Indigenous) Style Cover to discuss how his Mando-pop covers demonstrate the lineage of Taiwanese Indigenous music— from pre-colonial era, the Japanese and Han-Chinese colonial era, to the contemporary popular music scene— to celebrate their Indigeneity. Unlike other Mando-pop cover singers who imitate the original version, the sound of Ponay’s keyboard accompaniment reminds the audiences the Indigenous cassette culture, and his vocal style also turns Mando-pop songs into a tribal karaoke style. As such, Ponay unsettles the discourse of power which is dominated by the Han-Chinese aesthetic in the Mando-pop music industry. While it has a long history of fetishizing Indigenous culture, I believe, Ponay’s covers take back the power of interpreting and representing Indigeneity in colonizer’s music, which is an action of claiming sovereignty in the online and the offline world.
“Classy” Trubači: Economies of “Othering” and the Balkan Brass Bands in Slovenia
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Hofman, Ana
This paper addresses Slovenian brass bands (Slovenski trubači) that flourished on the music scene after 2000 (Kovačič 2009; Hofman 2011; Šivic 2013). In analyzing the case study of selected brass bands, I explore how the label of trubači circulates as an empty signifier filled with different sounds, performance practices, and meanings depending on the market demands. As meeting clients’ expectations is the utmost goal of their labor, brass bands draw on the long-standing imagination of translocality of trubači attached to ethnoracial imaginations of Roma and the tropes of “Balkan,” “Gypsy,” and “Serbian.” In my examination, however, I do not discuss how musicians capitalize on their or others’ identity of Slovenian, Romani, Serbian, Balkan, or Yugoslav, but how the very mechanisms that establish those categories are constituted by the neoliberal market and its demand for flexibility and adaptability. In other words, I focus on a neoliberal entrepreneurial ethos that has been aggressively introduced in the territories of former Yugoslavia after its dissolution, as the most important channel for constructing the sound and imagination of trubači in the region. In doing that, I tend to complement the existent transnational approaches to the World music scene under the label of Gipsy Brass, Balkan Romani Balkan Beat or Balkan music that has been the subject of extensive critical scholarly discussions of essentialization, commodification and appropriation of Roma music by the global North (Silverman 1988, 2007, 2013; Marković 2012, 2015). The questions I pose in this paper are: How does the label of trubači circulate in the national music market in Slovenia? What strategies do bands use to target “the ordinary listener” and to attract the broadest possible audience? How, in the constant adjustment to clients’ needs and their demands for “the best party,” do bands utilize the discourses of ethno-racial difference?
Composing the Malaysian: Reflecting on Shared Spaces in Malaysian Contemporary Compositions and Composers
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Nithyanandan, Jotsna
Malaysia is a country that is diverse and hybrid in its ethnic make-up and culture but steeped in an ethno-national ideological rubric through which everything is sieved or evaluated, resulting in binary constructs of the centre-periphery and state defined notions of what (or who) belongs and what (or who) doesn’t belong. This presentation explores the process of music creation and production by selected Malaysian contemporary music composers, Bernard Goh, Jillian Ooi and Samuel J Das as well as myself, as a platform for identity presentation and representation. It posits that Malaysian-ness transcends constructed ethnic boundaries, is not defined by this categorization alone, and discusses how the permeability of boundaries, intersections and overlaps of cultures translates into music. On a deeper and more personal level, it delves into the composer’s Malaysian identity related anxieties and how he/she articulates these issues via music and performance. Thus, through the processes of music creation and production, the composers negotiate their multi-layered and multicultural experiences that stem from their day-to-day social interactions and activities. Therefore, this presentation aims to present these composers as social actors who through the medium of music and performance, articulate their “everyday-defined” social reality and thus hope to provide an alternative method to the authority driven reality, in order to negotiate the status quo and opposing viewpoints in Malaysia’s contemporary social environment in relation to the country’s national identity that is currently framed to favour the centre (majority) and under-representing the periphery (minority). It also takes into consideration Malaysia’s geographical and historical position as an important seaport that was fuelled by the Spice trade, and that over time resulted in the formation of a pluralistic society, thus giving rise to the propagation of many cultural exchanges, hybridised communities as well as art forms.
The Crisis of Representation in Ethnomusicological Minority Studies
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Kölbl, Marko; Ajotikar, Rasika
Over the past decade, debates on decolonizing ethnomusicology and related initiatives around equality, diversity and inclusion in academia at large have attempted to address the issue of representation of minority or marginalized communities. In music and dance research, discussion emerged as a result, led to affirmative actions, restructuring of funding, and inclusion initiatives with the Black Lives Matter movement, and further responses were publicized in the form of statements of condemnation/support, special formats and thematic foci at symposia. The efficacy of these responses, however, is debatable given that representation does not guarantee justice or fair practices. Representation becomes not only a remedy to include everyone in an already dysfunctional system, but also a measure to replace a body with another body within the same exploitative structures. Given this situation, how are we, as music and dance scholars to ensure fairness and justice generally, and for the marginalized communities we work with in particular? How are we speaking and writing about others, how about ourselves? The paper addresses the contradictions implicated in working as academics with marginalized and exploited groups. Given the growing number of minority members in academic spaces, we question the binary between academia and “the field” and ask for alternatives to established practices of representation. In this paper, the two authors reflect on their academic experiences working with minority communities such as the Burgenland Croats in Austria, asylum seekers in Austria and Dalits in India, aiming to further the theoretical and methodological discussions in ethnomusicological minority studies.
Dabus Variant: The Acclimatization of Dabus in Malaysian Political Landscape
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Shah, Abdul Azeem
Dabus is a ritual art form practiced by communities in both Malaysia and Indonesia. Its arrival in Malaysia over 300 years ago, has seen various adaptations made to adapt it to the Malaysian context. Policies such as the National Culture Policy, which incorporate the role of Islam in their design, have influenced both music and dance heritage in Malaysia. Since rituals are forbidden in Islam, art forms are either excluded from performing or must undergo a filtering process by state agencies before they are allowed to be performed. Therefore, state policy has forced ritual art forms such as dabus and others to conform. This form of scrutiny towards marginalized ritual performances also comes from locals, largely practicing Muslims, who prefer to exclude rituals from their heritage. This adaptation has led to a new identity of dabus that differs from that of its counterpart in Indonesia. Compared to Malaysia, Indonesia has more flexibility in performing ritual performances. Ritual art forms and practices such as kuda lumping and debus can be freely performed without much scrutiny. While dabus in Malaysia revolves heavily around music and dance, its neighbor focuses on the feat of strength made possible by ritual practices within the art form, such as eating glass or placing heavy stones on the body. Since dabus is believed to have originated from Indonesia, the different approach of Malaysian dabus is indicative of a softer approach to the art form. The differences in approach between the two communities reflect the need for the Malaysian dabus to adapt to its locale.
Engineering the Minorities: Intangible Cultural Heritage Preservation and Transformations of Folk Music in 21st Century Mainland China
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Tang, Kai
Based on ethnographic research conducted with minority musicians from 24 ethnic groups of mainland China, this presentation will give a short overview of traditions and changes and of underlying structures and driving forces in 21st century Chinese folk music. To facilitate understanding of social and political realities of Chinese minorities, special attention will be given to the centralized control mechanism that covers every region of mainland China and all aspects of China’s aboveground musical life. It will reveal how schools, publishers, libraries and archives, performance venues and organizers, print and broadcast media, and research institutions have been operating, as parts of the control system and in the name of Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection, to shape the musical traditions of the ethnic minorities into components of a cultural unity-in-diversity. The shaped heritage influences the formation of collective memories and cultural identities, the officially authenticated cultural representations have resulted in widely shared misunderstandings of the minorities, and the promotion of invented traditions is generating minorities within the minorities. Through this case study, the presentation will call for reflection on commonsense knowledge and conception about China’s minority and disadvantaged groups and some established methodological approaches and it aims to bring new theoretical perspectives to the study of minorities.
Enhancing Music Education in Muslim Schools in Sri Lanka: A Proposal for Action
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Sanjeewa, K.M Manoj
The marginalization of music education in Muslim schools in Sri Lanka has led to a negative impact on the students' creativity and critical thinking skills. This study highlights the need to increase awareness among parents and teachers about the importance of art education and provide qualified teachers and resources for art education in Muslim schools. The objective of this proposal is to enhance art education in Muslim schools in Sri Lanka by providing resources and qualified teachers to promote creativity and critical thinking skills among students. This study will use an exploratory research design to collect qualitative data through in-depth interviews with students, parents, and teachers in several Muslim schools in Sri Lanka. The study will purposively sample participants from schools in different regions to ensure diversity in the sample. Data analysis will involve content analysis to identify emerging themes and patterns. This research aims to provide insights into the current state of art education in Sri Lankan Muslim schools and identify barriers to its implementation. The expected outcome is to recommend ways to enhance art education in these schools, with the goal of promoting creativity and critical thinking skills among students and providing opportunities to explore their cultural heritage through artistic expression. The findings and recommendations of this research will have implications for policymakers, education officials, and educators in Sri Lanka. The proposed action plan will provide a roadmap to enhance art education in Muslim schools, ultimately benefiting students' creativity and critical thinking skills.
Exploring Diasporic and Trans-Local Variations in Manipuris: A Study of Inter and Intra Changes of Performing Arts
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Singha, Sukanta
During seven devastating years of Anglo-Burmese war (1819-1826), a significant number of Manipuris (prominent inhabitants of Manipur and Barak valley of the present India) migrated in search for a new land for survival and found it in Sylhet in present-day Bangladesh. This current minority in Bangladesh brought with it a unique blend of Vaishnavite and indigenous traditions from Manipur, and their cultural practices gradually adapted to the new environment and continued their existence in relation to local customs. This is especially evident in the heterogeneity of their music, involving Sylheti tunes and vibes in certain ritual stanzas embodied by traditional tunes, rhythms, and vocal throwing style of north southern India. On the other hand, due to the global fame of the Manipuri dance, they were able to preserve it in a more of less homogeneous form. As time progressed, trans-local border-crossing of the community brought about changes in their socio-cultural practices, from ritual singing practices to their food platter and traditional gifts, all of which have been hybridized with dominant groups. My study has a focus on trans-local processes and items in Manipuri culture of Bangladesh, referring to inter and intra changes of the performing arts between the Manipuris of Bangladesh and India, and based on the exploration of the situations on the ground.
Facing Shores: Baloch Music on the Arabian Peninsula
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Murer, George
Edited from footage shot during my doctoral research (conducted in Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait between 2014 and 2017), this film surveys Baloch cultural life in the Eastern Arabian Peninsula through the lens of music. I contrast the roles of literary associations and patronage networks with local community rhythms and the importance of hereditary musicians habitually brought on sponsored visits from Makran, the portion of Balochistan that extends inland from the Arabian Sea/Gulf of Oman coast between Karachi and the Straits of Hormoz. Whether framed as a core site for Baloch diaspora or as an actual extension of Balochistan into the adjacent cultural space, the Arab Gulf states loom large in a greater Baloch cultural infrastructure, especially considered the threats to Baloch culture and identity poised by the internal politics and policies of Iran and Pakistan. I combine interviews with musicians, poets, and cultural activists with musical and ceremonial performances—at wedding parties, culture days and heritage celebrations, mashaira (literary salons), and spirit possession ceremonies. My aim is to convey an intimate sense of the multidimensional facets of Baloch culture that have taken hold in the afluent post-maritime coastal metropolis of the twenty-first century Gulf region and to provide a unique window on ongoing trans-Gulf circuits at a time when the tensions and geopolitical divide between both sides is particularly acute.
From Diaspora to Intersectional Performative Mobilities: Music-making in Transcultural Balkan Romani Communities
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Carol, Silverman
The scholarship on migration has traversed profound shifts in the last fifty years from immigration studies in the 1970s, to diaspora studies 1980s, to transnational and transborder studies in the 1990s and early 2000s, and to mobility studies in the last ten years. I explore if and how each of these theoretical frameworks can explain the musical lives of Southern Balkan Romani migrants. Balkan Roma have created a trans-Atlantic community with hubs located in Germany, New York, and Toronto. Their migration patterns depend on economic and political factors, as well as state and local policies; these in turn are embedded in hierarchical structures that have racialized and marginalized Roma. Drawing on Paul Gilroy’s Black Atlantic, I illustrate the multiple identities of Romani performers and consumers via cultural productions. I examine music as a window into community expression that reveals dilemmas of migration, work, family, gender, and class, as well as historical remembering. Music is highly valued in all social occasions and part of the ritual and economic web, and many lyrics deal with migration. Music is shared in a wide transAtlantic social media network that forms the soundscape of Balkan Romani migrant family and community life. In fact, professional musician-stars are the most mobile members of their communities. Their training, repertoire, and performative strategies provide insights into transculturality across the Atlantic. Ethnographic fieldwork took place among Macedonian and Kosovo Roma in the Balkans, USA, Western Europe, Canada, and Australia since 1988.
From Sovereignty to “Minority” and Back: Voicing Silenced Songs and Indigenous Knowledges of the Sikhs
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Khalsa-Baker, Nirinjan Kaur; Singh, Bhai Baldeep; Cassio, Francesca; Singh, Davindar
Marginalized in the modern narrative of South Asian music as the expression of a religious 'minority,' the Sikh musical heritage represents a pre-colonial system of knowledge in danger of disappearing. This panel critically discusses the marginalization of the Sikhs from a sovereign tradition to a 'minority' culture, as a process that began in the colonial period and culminated in the 'Independence' era with the partition of Punjab between two modern nations, India and Pakistan. The impact of this shift is still felt today in visible and invisible ways. On the one hand, in the post-Partition era, the political turmoil and the neoliberal agricultural policies directly affected the Sikhs in their own land, causing massive waves of the diaspora from Punjab to anglophone countries and, more recently, to Southern Europe. On a deeper and invisible level, the nationalist cultural policies caused a systemic erasure of Sikh indigenous knowledges and voices that new generations of Sikhs in South Asia and in the diaspora often fail to recognize. The presenters examine the responses to these political, social, and cultural disruptions through different disciplinary approaches and case studies of resilience. This multivocal project aims to suggest the need for an interdisciplinary method to navigate the complex relationships between 'music' and the marginalization of religious groups, encouraging alternative ways to explore and give voice to silenced histories, practices, and knowledges from the Global South.
Gurbani Sangit Parampara: Sustaining Indigenous Knowledge Systems
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Khalsa-Baker, Nirinjan Kaur
This paper will discuss the Gurbani Sangit Parampara as an Indigenous Sikh knowledge system whose practices, pedagogies, and patterns have been passed down orally over centuries. Since it takes only one generation for intangible heritage to be forgotten, it will look at the ways in which its pedagogy and practice have been remembered, shared, embodied, and safeguarded to survive through socio-political turmoil, colonization, upheaval from homeland, religio-cultural marginalization, minoritization, and erasure. Through interviews with Sikh musician memory bearers, I will argue that the Gurbani Sangit Parampara trains responsible custodians to sustain “uncolonized” streams of Indigenous knowledge. As a scholar-practitioner, I explore the processes of remembering, recovering, and regenerating Sikh ecologies of knowledge, to understand the ways in which their spiritual-aesthetic symbiosis informs adaptation and sustainability of Sikh music, knowledge, and identity over time.
“The Guru is Pop!” Young Sikh Generation in Italy and Their Efforts to Create New Sounds for a Transnational Kirtan
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Tiramani, Thea
Kirtan performances in the Gurdwaras (the Sikh temples) consist in the musical realization of the shabad (hymns) contained in the Sacred Book. This is the most relevant moment of the religious rite, because the words of the Sacred Book come to life in music. Nowadays, musics employed to perform the hymns, both in motherland and in migration, encompass various genres. My talk starts from the study of the Sikh musical reality in some Italian diaspora communities, especially those in northern Italy, with a focus on the new generation of musicians and music users. Specifically, it investigates the recent phenomenon of the production of religious music videoclips by young people based in Italy. The production of religious videoclips is already widely established in India and other places in the diaspora, but it is a new phenomenon in the recent migrations to Italy. My study reveals the first results of the search for a new form of prayer by young people far from the motherland, who pass through the technological medium and need to communicate through new forms of expression to reconcile an important cultural background with the new context - local but also global - in which they are set. The musical performance of the Gurus' prayers is renewed musically, sounding like a pop song and leading to a personal affirmation of the musicians, while at the same time remaining in the 'safe and socially accepted zone' of religious music.
Home Coming: A Record of Soundscape and Livelihood of Spring Festival in a Kam Village
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Cheng, Zhiyi Qiaoqiao
I would like to give a presentation with talk and image on the diaspora of music and rituals originating from East-Africa across Indian Ocean. At the Spring festival (Chinese New Year)’s Eve, Fengyun finished the work in a zipper factory in Dongguan and goes back to her birthplace. She is from Xiaohuang village of Congjiangxian, Guizhou Province. The village is famous for Kam “big song”. Every woman in this village has her singing troupe from birth to marriage and later. Through singing, they acquire knowledge, search for spouses, and interact with other villages. Their songs overlap with their life, maintaining the relation between individuals of Dong nationality and the community. Since China entered the reform and openness period in the 1980s, due to the requirements of economic development many rural people went to cities to find jobs, forming a special social group - rural migrant workers. In the most recent decade most young adults left Xiaohuang village to work in cities. While separating from their original environment, they encountered huge cultural difference. Nowadays, the Xiaohuang village, where only elderly and children live their ordinary lives, experiences grand gatherings at each Spring Festival. How do they identify? How do they work and live at the crossroad of their traditions and foreign culture? In this film, Feng Yun is taken as the contact of Xiaohuang village and does the audio-visual ethnography during the Spring Festivals of Xiaohuang Village from 2015 to 2017. The film won the first ICTMD Best Film/Video prize in 2020.
Hopa lide: An Ethnomusicological Documentary on (and with) Slovak Romani Musicians Marushiakova Elena
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Nuska, Petr
Who are Romani musicians? Members of a mysterious minority gatekeeping the carnival atmosphere, endowed with musical blood and a special talent to make people sing and dance? Or is that just one big myth? The documentary Hopa lide tackles this question unorthodoxly. Each of its three chapters depicts a collaboration between a Czech ethnomusicologist and Slovak Romani musicians in making music videos. The contact moving camera takes us through humorous scenes from both the stages and backstages of Romani performances but also through intimate moments uncovering musicians’ everyday struggles and secret dreams. The film challenges several preconceptions about Romani music, musicianship, and Roma in general. Out of the film’s three complementary yet independent chapters, the screening at the symposium features only its second part.
Identities of Diaspora and Translocality: Music and Minorities in Malaysia
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Santaella, Mayco A.; Nithyanandan, Jotsna; Chih, Samuel Tan Hsien; Shah, Abdul Azeem
Malaysia is a multicultural nation located at the nexus of “mainland” and “island” Southeast Asia. Through maritime links, communities from the region, Asia, and Europe participated in mercantile activities and eventually settled in British Malaya. Despite the cultural diversity, the British developed racial classifications that were institutionalized after independence in 1957. Thus, Malaysia was increasingly divided into racial categories of Malay, Chinese, and Indian and agglomerated numerous cultural groups under the category of “other”. Revisiting governmental regulations and national cultural policies, this panel examines diaspora, ethnic vis-à-vis national identities, and translocality in relation to music and minorities in Malaysia. In the first presentation, Santaella examines a Javanese performance heritage in Johor, Malaysia as an early diaspora and contemporary translocality. In the second presentation, Nithyanandan looks at the cultural intersections of Malaysian composers of diverse backgrounds and the ways in which they navigate personal identities within national categorizations. In the third presentation, Samuel Tan investigates the Malaysian Chinese art song as a genre that is product of multiple diasporas and reflects alternative forms of translocality. Finally, Azeem Shah discusses the dabus heritage as a genre that emerged from an earlier diaspora and was adopted by the Malay national majority to celebrate state cultures. The panel addresses all Malaysian racial categorizations and discusses the production of (trans)locality through the performing arts in the 21st century.
The Impact of Colonization, Urbanization, and Trans-Cultural Diffusion on Vedda People’s Music and Dance from the 17th to 21st Centuries in Sri Lanka
(Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Guruge, Nadeeka
Vedda people are considered the earliest inhabitants of the Island of Sri Lanka. Historical records from the 17th century disclose that the Vedda community has been subjected to rapid transformation during the past three centuries, most notably from the 20th century onwards. Originally living a hunters and gatherers lifestyle, Vedda’s music and dance were integral to their life. Records from 1681 demonstrate their communal cultural activities such as rituals. As a result of colonization and geo-political dynamics, Veddas’ lifestyle was transforming from hunting and gathering to farming. Under the circumstances of deforestation and urbanization they had to be relocated from their hunting lands to settle down in villages among the Sinhalese and Tamil communities. While intermarriages and cultural integration slowly took part in initiating this transformation within the Vedda culture, the involvement of modern-day technology such as the radio, television, internet, smartphone, and social media in their day-to-day life play a huge role in the processes affecting their hereditary musical and dance traditions.