International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD)

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Author: search.filters.author.Cassio, Francesca

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    Migrating Knowledges. Dynamics of Adaptation, Colonization of Memory, and Strategies for Preserving the Sikh Musical Heritage in the Diasporas
    (Department of fine arts, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2023) Cassio, Francesca
    Based on long-term ethnographic research among two Sikh communities settled respectively in Long Island (USA) and Agro Pontino (Italy), this paper discusses the teaching of Gurbani Sangit in the diaspora, with a reflection on ethnomusicology’s contribution to the preservation of the Sikh tangible and intangible heritage. By comparing two diasporas, distant in time and space, what can we learn about the dynamics of adaptation, the colonization of memory, and the effective strategies and collaborations for sustaining the Sikh musical heritage outside India? The ample literature about the Sikh diaspora in the USA (Roy 2019; Hawley 2016; Singh 2011; Tatla 1999; Barrier 1989) indicates an established presence of Sikh communities in the country since the mid-20th century, which results in the institutional support to research and scholarship in the field of Sikh Studies. On the other hand, the recent Sikh migration to Southern Europe faces different challenges to recognizing the importance of sustaining the indigenous knowledge in the host (and sometimes hostile) country. Looking at the role of singing Sikh devotional hymns as a ‘faithscape’ (Singh 2013) and as a practice to embody indigenous knowledge, the presenter actively collaborates with these two communities to teach heritage repertories at both institutional and informal levels. Acknowledging the non-monolithic phenomenon of Sikh diasporas across times and places, this paper addresses the necessity of targeted strategies for reintroducing traditional repertories as a decolonial practice, in ways that however must resonate with the specific social context and needs of each community.
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    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.