Terminal Archive? Taking and Returning Sound recordings: Two Examples from the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv

An overall assumption might express that music in general and songs in particular belong to the performers – researchers are interested in any music and “take” songs or instrumental pieces (as sound recordings) with them, often also to an archive. Metaphorically speaking, the sounds of a region leave their original place, captured by interested persons, enthusiasts or researchers, to be then studied, listened to and stored elsewhere. The stories behind the recorded music will be shown. Unequal recording situations give rise to recordings of different content and context – in that respect, the moving around of what was recorded where and by whom will be retraced from early expeditions showing a “standard” field research situation, in contrast to an “exceptional” research situation as conducted in prisoner-of-war camps during WWI. Two examples, a recording of instrumental music performed by a Crimean Tatar and a well-known story spoken in a special South Italian dialect, underline the process of taking and returning sound recordings. Finally, the discussion is related to what happened with the music and what the role of the performer or the source community, researcher and archivist is. What are the consequences of their relationship with each other?An overall assumption might express that music in general and songs in particular belong to the performers – researchers are interested in any music and “take” songs or instrumental pieces (as sound recordings) with them, often also to an archive. Metaphorically speaking, the sounds of a region leave their original place, captured by interested persons, enthusiasts or researchers, to be then studied, listened to and stored elsewhere. The stories behind the recorded music will be shown. Unequal recording situations give rise to recordings of different content and context – in that respect, the moving around of what was recorded where and by whom will be retraced from early expeditions showing a “standard” field research situation, in contrast to an “exceptional” research situation as conducted in prisoner-of-war camps during WWI. Two examples, a recording of instrumental music performed by a Crimean Tatar and a well-known story spoken in a special South Italian dialect, underline the process of taking and returning sound recordings. Finally, the discussion is related to what happened with the music and what the role of the performer or the source community, researcher and archivist is. What are the consequences of their relationship with each other

Historical sources of ethnomusicology in contemporary debate

This anthology concerns traditional music and archives, and discusses their relationship as seen from historical and epistemological perspectives. Music recordings on wax cylinders, 78 records or magnetic tape, made in the first half of the 20th century, are regarded today as valuable sources for understanding musical processes in their social dimension and as unique cultural heritage. Most of these historical sound recordings are preserved in sound archives, now increasingly accessible in digital formats. Written by renowned experts, the articles here focus on archives, individual and collective memory, and heritage as today’s recreation of the past. Contributors discuss the role of historical sources of traditional music in contemporary research based on examples from music cultures in West Africa, Scandinavia, Turkey, and Portugal, among others. The book will appeal to musicologists and cultural anthropologists, as well as historians and sociologists, and will be of interest to anyone concerned with sound archives, libraries, universities and cultural institutions dedicated to traditional music

Transkulturelle Erkundungen:wissenschaftliche-künstlerische Perspektiven

Dieses Werk präsentiert interdisziplinäre und internationale Zugänge zur Transkulturalität aus Philosophie, Politikwissenschaft, Ethnomusikologie, Popularmusikforschung, Gender und Queer-Studies, Musikwissenschaft, Musikpädagogik, Postcolonial Studies, Migrationsforschung und Minderheitenforschung. Es sind die nachhaltigen Ergebnisse einer Ringvorlesung an der Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien-mdw aus den Jahren 2014-2018, bei der Wissenschaft und Kunst in einen fruchtbaren Dialog traten

Ujeti zvok: fonograf v (zgodnjem) raziskovanju ljudske glasbe

Even though folk music collections rich in written documents had existed for a long time, it was the invention of sound recording that – from today’s point of view – marked the “real” beginnings of folk music research and added an entirely new aspect to the discipline. However, although the use of a recording machine was undisputed in the field of ethnomusicology – and indeed a prerequisite, as stated in the motion to establish the Vienna Audiovisual Research Archive – some folk music researchers had serious doubts whether such an apparatus would be necessary at all, fearing that it might “destroy” the music recorded and render it “lifeless.” Today, after 100 years of sound recording, we must distinguish between speech (real sound) and writing, between commercial and research recordings, and recordings made for different purposes and reflecting different needs. This paper deals with the change in folk music research since the very first recordings, the influence and acceptance of the new technology, and aspects of the historical framework. *** Čeprav so zbirke ljudske glasbe v pisni obliki obstajale že dolgo, je iznajdba zvočnega snemanja – z današnjega gledišča – označevala “resnične” začetke raziskovanja ljudske glasbe in je vedi dodala popolnoma nov vidik. Uporaba snemalne naprave na področju etnomuzikologije sicer ni bila vprašljiva – pravzaprav je bila predpogoj, kot je izraženo v predlogu za ustanovitev dunajskega Phonogrammarchiva –, vendar so imeli nekateri raziskovalci ljudske glasbe resne pomisleke, ali je takšna naprava sploh potrebna, saj so se bali, da bi lahko ‘uničila’ posneto glasbo. Danes, po sto letih glasbenega dokumentiranja, razlikujemo med govorom (resničnim zvokom) in zapisom, med komercialnimi in raziskovalnimi posnetki, med posnetki za različne namene in posnetki, ki so odraz različnih situacij. Prispevek obravnava spremembe v raziskovanju ljudske glasbe od prvih posnetkov, vpliv in sprejem nove tehnologije, upošteva pa tudi zgodovinski okvir