ictm abstracts final2

ABSTRACTSFORTHE45thICTMWORLDCONFERENCE

BANGKOK,11–17JULY2019

THURSDAY,11JULY2019IAKEYNOTEADDRESS

JarernchaiChonpairot(MahasarakhamUniversity).TransborderTheoriesandParadigmsinEthnomusicologicalStudiesofFolkMusic:VisionsforMoLaminMainlandSoutheastAsia

This talkexplores thenatureand identityof traditionalmusic,principallykhaenmusicand lamperformingarts innortheasternThailand(Isan)andLaos. Mo lam refers to an expert of lam singing who is routinelyaccompaniedbyamokhaen,askilledplayerofthebamboopanpipe.

During 1972 and 1973, Dr. Chonpairot conducted field studiesonMolaminnortheastThailandandLaoswithDr.TerryE.Miller.Formanygenerations, Laotian and Thai villagers have crossed the national borderconstituted by the Mekong River to visit relatives and to participate inregular festivals. However, Chonpairot and Miller’s fieldwork took placeduringthefinalstagesoftheVietnamWarwhichhadbegunmorethanadecadeearlier.Duringtheirfieldworktheycollectedcassetterecordingsoflam singing from Laotian radio stations in Vientiane and Savannakhet.Chonpairot also conducted fieldwork among Laotian artists living in Thairefugeecamps.AftertheVietnamWarended,manymoreLaotianswhohadworked for the Americans fled to Thai refugee camps. ChonpairotdelineatedMolamregionalmelodiescoupledtospecificidentitiesineachlocalityofthemusic’sorigin.HechoseLamKhonSavanfromsouthernLaosforhisdissertationtopic,andalsocollecteddatafromseniorLaotianmolamtradition-bearers then resident in the United States and France. Thesebecamehismaininformants.

Since1990,Chonpairothasworkedwithtendoctoralstudentstocontinuecollectingmusicandrelatedmaterialsfromnorthern,central,andsouthern Laos. The students have written their dissertations about thismusic, and as the collection grew, so the group’s findings led to furtherinvestigations about cultural roots and origins. Chonpairot’s fieldwork isrememberedasoneoftheveryfirstscholarlyprojectsofitstypesinLaos,

ICTM45thWorldConference:Abstracts 368 1950isoftendividedintobeforereformandopeningupandafterreformandopeningup,with1978as theboundary. Corresponding to the lattereconomic development narrative is cultural “openness.” The previousnearly30yearshavebeendescribedasamoreclosedperiod,apartfromcommunicationwith socialist countries. But does this traditional/modernbinarylogicreallyexistinthedevelopmentofmusicinChina?IsthemusiclandscapeofChinainthe1950sand1970ssimplyequivalentto“socialist”?Themeaningof“AALmusic”(musicofAsia,AfricaandLatinAmerica)shouldnot be ignored. In the 1950s and 1970s, there were a large number ofperforminggroupsandartistsfrom“thirdworld”countrieswhoperformedinChina.Chinaalsostudiedtheprogramsandorganizedreturnvisits.Later,in1962, theOrientalSongandDanceCompanywasestablishedwith themain purpose of learning and performing “AAL music.” Through fieldinvestigation of the related personnel of the Oriental Song and DanceTroupe, thepractice of “AALmusic” canbe restored to a certain extent,studyingandperformingtraditionaldancesfromIndia,Burma, Indonesia,etc.ThepracticeofaChinaindependentfromvisitingforeigncommunitiesconstitutesanalternativeviewofmodernity,sinceitisinthe20thcentury.The 1950s–1970s witnessed the removal of western art music besidesforeignmusicinanimportantway,whileinthe1980s,inthefirstdecadeofthereformandopenpolicy,theinfluxofmusicfromHongKongandTaiwan,andEuropeanandAmericanpopmusictogetherformedthelandscapeofChinafor“worldmusic.”Inpractice,thiswasdifferentfromEuropeanandAmerican“worldmusic”performance,whichfocusedonpreservingculturalcontexts, and rather adopted the characteristics of transplanting andadaptingtraditionalChinesemusicalinstrumentstoplayit,whichprovideda valuable example for us to understand the diversified connotation of“worldmusic.”

ConnieLimKehNie(UniversityMalaysiaSarawak).ExpressingtheVirtueofBraveryinIbanPopularSongsin1950s–1960sSarawak

Sarawak inthe1950sutilizedIbansoldierswhofoughtforthenationbutalsocarriedtheirpre-colonialculturallegacyofbravery(berani).Thisberaniattributeassociatedwithheadhunting inspiredIbansingers inSarawaktowrite songs commemorating their achievements during the MalayanEmergency (1948–1960). Iban are the largest indigenous ethnic group inSarawak, and since the establishment of Iban radio broadcasting in the1950s under Radio Sarawak, they have experienced shifting focal pointslargelyfixatedonmodernity.However,Ibanbroadcastsnotonlyservedtodisseminateinformationaboutthenewnation,butalsotoemphasize“the

Tuesday,16July369 importance of Iban language” and to preserve the uniqueness of“reinventedculturalheritage”(Postill2008,214).Indeedtheemergenceofthe radio station broadened Iban exposure to, and ability to adapt andassimilate,popularmusicstyles.InthispaperIarguethatatthesametimeIban acquiredpopularmusic skills, they also usedmusic as amedium toportray Iban cultural identity and ethnicitywithin the larger nation statewhereMalayandWesternculturesdominated.Ibanpopularsongscreatedinthe1950sand1960swereassociatedwiththevirtueofbraverypraisingmodernheroes.Thepre-colonialIbanculturalqualitiesofbravery(berani)and boldness (kempang) differentiated these soldiers from others in thenewnation.Berani as a song anthem resurfaced in themodern Sarawakarmedforcesandmodern-daySarawakmilitarysoldierstookprideinhavingpre-colonial roots in Iban warrior culture. Seen through the lens of“alternative conceptions of modernity” (Barendregt 2014), this paperanalyzessonglyricsthatareassociatedwiththevirtueofbraveryandthedynamics and movements of Iban people. Through semi-structuredinterviewswithartistsfromtheperiod,thispaperinterrogatestheculturalfactorsthatcontributedtothecreationofthesongs.Theanalysispayscloseattentiontomeaningsimbeddedinthelyricsandhowthesesongsportraythevirtueofbravery.

Hsin-WenHsu(NationalTaiwanNormalUniversity).EverydayModernityandEmbodiedEthnicity:TheMediationofTaiwaneseHakkaVinylRecords

In recentyears,historical recordingshavegraduallybecomeananalyticalfocus in studies of popular music. Scholars have explored individualmusicians’ discographies and their composition or performance styles inhistorical recordings. They have also analyzed the production andcirculation activities of major record companies. However, few haveanalyzedthematerialandsocialbasesonwhichthesehistoricalrecordingswereconsumed.Thereisstillmuchroomforanalysisofthetechnicalandtheoretical messages that historical recordings convey. Informed bytheorists such as Marshall McLuhan (1967), Georgina Born (2005), andShunya Yoshimi (2013 [1995]), this paper aims to contribute to existingscholarshipwithacasestudyon themediationofTaiwaneseHakkavinylrecords,whichemerged inthe1910sbutbecameprevalentacrossHakkacommunitiesduringthe1960sand1970s.BasedondatacollectedfrommyethnographicresearchofTaiwaneseHakkavinylrecordsreleasedbylabelssuch as Nippon Columbia,Meilou, Far East, and Ring Ring, I argue vinylrecordsareworthattentionbecausetheyareinfluentialintermediariesinsociallifeandmediatedparticularformsofsocialawareness;thechanging