the alphabetical order of things-the language of place and the place of language in tibetan song

The Alphabetical Order of ThingsThe Language of Place and the Place of Language in Tibetan Song

Presence Through Sound: Place and Contemporary Music in and From East Asia

Sydney Conservatorium of MusicMarch 29-30, 2016

Gerald RocheUniversity of Melbourneg.roche@unimelb.edu.au

Tibet: An Empire in Song?• Tibet is linguistically diverse!

Map showing the number of minority languages per county in Tibetan areas of China. Roche 2014.

Tibet: An Empire in Song?

• Tibet is linguistically diverse!• So what holds it together? – Pilgrimage? – Diglossia in song?

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LVmDoXrqs0]

The Mandalic Order

• Mandala*• Mandala in song

• Sheep song• Minyak wedding• Oirat New Year

The Alphabetical Order

• From mandala to nation• Nation and language

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BQzs08iJs&feature=youtu.be]

The Alphabetical Order

• People and language• Valorization

• Declaration/ Exhortation• Threat

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uDbzqRWc8w]

SummaryMandalic Order Alphabetical Order

Banal cosmopolitanism Banal nationalism

Ideology of variation Ideology of standardization

Diversity Assimilation

References• Morcom, A. 2015. Landscape, Urbanization and Capitalist

Modernity: Exploring the ‘Great Transformation’ of Tibet Through its Songs. Yearbook for Traditional Music 47: 161-189.

• Ramble, C. 2002. The Victory Song of Porong. In Katia Buffetrille and Hildegard Diemberger (eds) Territory and Identity in Tibet and the Himalayas. Leiden: Brill, 59-84.

• Roche, G. forthcoming. Tibet and Tibetans. SAGE Encyclopedia of Music and Culture. [via Academia.edu]

• Roche, G. 2014. Flows and Frontiers: Landscape and Cultural Dynamics on the Northeast Tibetan Plateau. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 15.1:1-25.