Archive for the 'History' Category

Dancing bears: la danse de l’ours

Published December 15, 2011 History , Music I play Leave a Comment

Bears have been tamed for entertainment purposes for thousands of year especially in the Asian world but it is only in the Middle Ages where European sources mention them.  It is believed that dancing bears were a common attraction in these times and more often than not we see them depicted in coins, chests, doors, manuscripts and even city seals.

Francisco Alvarez, in his article “Juggling – its history and greatest performers” makes reference to a rather obscure book which he calls “Collected Stories from London, 1907″ (sic.) and from which he provides an interesting passage about the working juggler in the Middle Ages:

The trained bear was led away and the jugglers entered. A man and a boy. They carefully unfolded their bags and began performing. The man, running around in small circles, rapidly juggled with three knives. The boy, whip in hand, would at times, in jest, castigate the man whenever he fumbled. The effect was dexterous, comical, and most entertaining. After the older minstrel had walked on his hands and juggled with balls, the pair collected some coins, folded their bags, and calmly walked away to disappear into the mob. The singers now entered with their music scrolls in hand.

In Thiðrekssaga, a Norwegian saga from the 13th century concerned with the adventures of the German hero Dietrich of Bern, we find a peculiar passage about a (fake) dancing bear. The original text of this passage can be read here.  For those who do not feel comfortable with reading in Old Norse, here´s a retelling of the passage as it appears in Guerber´s Legends of the Middle Ages:

Wishing to penetrate unrecognized into the enemy’s camp, Wildeber slew and flayed a bear, donned its skin over his armor, and, imitating the uncouth antics of the animal he personated, bade the minstrel Isung lead him thus disguised to Hertnit’s court.

  This plan was carried out, and the minstrel and dancing bear were hailed with joy. But   Isung was greatly dismayed when Hertnit insisted upon baiting his hunting hounds against the bear; who, however, strangled them all, one after another, without seeming to feel their sharp teeth. Hertnit was furious at the loss of all his pack, and sprang down into the pit with drawn sword; but all his blows glanced aside on the armor concealed beneath the rough pelt. Suddenly the pretended bear stood up, caught the weapon which the king had dropped, and struck off his head. Then, joining Isung, he rushed through the palace and delivered the captive Wittich; whereupon, seizing swords and steeds on their way, they all three rode out of the city before they could be stopped.

Talking about Bern, you surely noticed that the heraldic beast of the Swiss city of Bern is the bear… even though the bear on the original coat of arms (which dates from 1240)  is not dancing, it could well be based on a legend similar to that included in the saga. Konrad Justinger in his chronicle from 1430 sees it rather as a hunted bear:

Nu wart des ersten ein ber gevangen, darumb wart die stat bern genempt; und gab do den burgeren in der stat ein wappen und schilt, nemlich einen swarzen bern in einem wissen schilt in gender wise.

(Then they caught a bear first, which is why the city was called Bern; and so the citizens had their coat and shield, namely, a black bear in a white shield, going upright)

But maybe the period when dancing bears were most popular was in the 19th century, when entire families of bear trainers coming from poor mountain zones like Arige and Abruzzo in Italy, Hungary and the Balkans spread throughout Europe with their itinerant shows.  If you feel comfortable with French, you can read more about it here

Surely a dancing bear must have been quite a show at the time. But it must have also been cruel for the poor animal and it wouldn´t be something I would endorse today. Actually, there´s a good number of bear rescue and rehabilitation organizations around luckily because, believe it or not, bears are still made to dance nowadays, especially in Asia.  For instance, bear exploitation was abolished in India in 1972 but still hundreds of bears were tortured until 2009 (!), when International Animal Rescue and Wildlife SOS officially put an end to the practice. And there are many other places where they are still being exploited.  You can red more about it here.

Now, to a happier subject.  Well, if dancing bears were so popular, there surely must have been popular music written for their dances? Of course! All across Europe we find different tunes entitled “the bear´s dance” or something similar and funnily enough they all sound different but at the same time they seem to belong to the same “family”.

My friend Jérôme taught me a French version of the tune (with 3 parts) called, of  course, “la danse de l’ours”. After some time we started playing it with our band Fiesta Noz! and turned it into a success… everybody who hears it cannot avoid start dancing. Which, as you might agree, can only mean two things: either it is a really good tune or we are all furry  Care Bears inside :)

Check out Fiesta Noz! playing La Danse de l’Ours live:

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Folk music from Öland – Part 1

Published December 14, 2011 Ethnomusicology , History Leave a Comment
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When come to think of Swedish regions with rich folk traditions we usually think of Dalarna, Uppland, Hälsingland and maybe some other, but let us be honest, Öland is nobody´s first choice. However, are we entitled to say that Öland is a culturally poor region?  The short answer would be no, the long answer is as long as this whole article.

An Ölandish style

According to Göran Rygert and Lars Weinhardt[1] there are without any doubts particularities in the Ölandish folk music.  The first one is that during the 19th century there was a curiously big amount of clarinet players on the island.  The other characteristic is that the majority of the melodies ascribed to Öland are in the major mode.  According to statistics, Sweden is the Northern European country with most melodies in the minor mode.  With no less than 80% of its folk tunes on this mode, it opposes completely to what happens in Finland or Russia.

In Öland, the proportion is completely inverted. For example, 92% of the tunes included in Rygert and Weinhardt´s book are in the major mode.  The causes for this we can only guess, but several literary sources speak in favour of milieu influence on the music. In the book Öland, from 1949, the Ölander is described as follows: “a child of its own surroundings, open, with rich fantasy, easily entranced, with somewhat of the wind´s and the sea´s volatility in his mind. Cheerfulness, openness and light humor indeed characterise a big part of the island´s population. There is a southerner trait not only in the island´s nature but also in its people”. While the island´s inhabitants also have been described as the “Italians of the North”, Swedish poet Erik Axel Karlfeldt compared the island and its people to a schooner with its merry crew onboard.

Medieval ballads from the Island

 

According to the profesionals responsible for the SMB (Svenska Medeltida Ballader) collection, editor in chief Professor Bengt R. Jonsson and editor Associate Professor Sven-Bertil Jansson, there are 32 medieval ballads with roots in Öland, which is only 1% of a total of 3612 collected by them, with 9% ballads of unknown procedence. The predominant types of ballads in Öland are Naturmytiska visor (Ballads of the supernatural), Legendvisor (Legendary ballads), Riddarvisor (Ballads of chivalry) and Skämtvisor (Jocular ballads). 

I would like to share with you two well known ballads of the Legendary type in the hope you will find them interesting

 

Fru Gunnil och Elov väktare (TSB B 17)

Konungen skulle till Ledingen fara,
Och Fru Gunnil skulle hemma vara.
Men Gud gifver siälen god nadhe!

Fru Gunnil beställer en badstuf hasteligh,
Och Eluff vechter biuder hon till sigh.
Men Gud gifver siälen god nådhe!

Hon skiäncker Eluff vechter både miöd och vijn,
Så somnar han neder på händer sin.’
Men Gud gifver själen m. m.

Eluff vechter drack aff dhen miöden så varm,
Fru Gunnil tager nycklarna aff hans arm.

Fru Gunnil tager nycklarna uthi sin hand,
Så släpper hon fångarna aff theras bandh.

Hon löste fhe fångar alt aff sine band:
“I skynden nu eder aff dhetta land!”

Hon kastar the nycklar i borga haga;
Thet monde Eluffs hierta så illa behaga.

Konungen kom från ledungen hem på land,
Honom möter Fru Gunnill på siöastrand.

Straxt hon seer sinom herra berättar hon så:
“Att Eluf med villia lätt fångarne bortgå.”

Konungen lätt kalla Eluff vechter till sigh:
“Hvij hafver tu thetta understått tigh?”

Han svor om Gud fadher och thet heliga liuus:
“Jag aldrigh släpte fånga aff fånga huus!”

Han svor om Gud fadher och then helige and:
“Jag aldrigh släpte fångar aff dhetta land!”

Tå svarar Fru Gunnil, ty var hon så vrångh:
“i låten honom niupa med heeta jerntångh!”

Tå svarar Fru Gunnil, ty hon var så vreed:
“i låten honom niupa alt öfver hans qved!” —

“Och är thet eij sant som jag berättar nu,
“Så gif Gud jag måtte föda hundhvalpar siu.”

Sedan Eluff vächtar nu var pijnter så,
Månde the honom i en spijketunna slå.

Therföre tå sattes the skalkhästar två,
Som aldrig hade varit någon tömm uppå.

Så skalkade the honom uth för Borgholms broo,
Igen stod Fru Gunnel, så hiertelig logh,

The skalkade sig alt uth åth Borgholms slätt,
Effter lopp hans moder, så hiertelig gräät.

The skalkade sigh alt uth med Borgholms haagh;
Dher rycktes då från honom hans högra arm.

The skalckade sigh alt uth åth Kiöpings heed;
Effter gick hans moder och plåcka upp hans been.

Sedan uth för Kiöpings klint monde the skalka,
Der Eluf moot en klippa stötte sin nacka.

Ja, dher stötte han så hårdt sitt nacke been,
Att uhtur berget upsprang en källa så reen.’

På Cappels udd monde the sedan stanna;
Ty the af löpande voro så lamma.

Så komma dher siömän och segla ther fram;
Ther fingo the see hvar itt klart lius bran.

“Ty villiom vij ofra een gryta aff malm,
“Vist är ther mördat een sanner Guds man!”

När födslostunden kom på Fru Gunnela nu,
Tå födde hon fram dhe hundhvalpar siu.

Så lät hon strax koka the hundhvalpar små,
Eluf vächtarens lius hon uthsläckte tå.

Hvad löhn Fru Gunnel för dhetta mord bekom,
Är eij uthi thenna vijsan rördt om.

Hon lefver ännu och hoverar fast,
Som räcker doch störst en helt kortan rast.
Men Gudh gifver siälen god nådhe!

 

Lady Gunnil and Elov the guard (English translation)

 
The king would depart to the Leidang[2],
And lady Gunnil would stay at home
-But God gives good grace to the soul!-

Lady Gunnil then commands a bath be prepared promptly
And calls Elov the guard to her presence
-But God gives good grace to the soul!-

She offers Elov the guard both mead and wine,
And thus he falls asleep on his own hands
-But God gives good grace to the soul!, etc.

Elov the guard took a sip of the mead so warm
Lady Gunnil takes the keys from his arm

Lady Gunnil takes the keys from his arm,
And frees the prisoners from their chains

She released all the prisoners from their chains:
“Hurry now and leave this land!”

She casts the chains in Borgahaga:
This might not please Elov´s heart.

The king returned from the Leidang
He meets lady Gunnil by the shore

No sooner she sees her lord than she speaks thus:
“That Elov willingly let the prisoners escape”

The king calls Elov the guard to his presence:
“What were you presuming to do?”

He swore by God father and the holy light:
“I never freed any prisoners from the prison!”

He swore by God father and the holy ghost:
“I never freed any prisoners from this country!”

Then answers lady Gunnil, for she was so wrought:
“Seize him and pinch him with hot iron tongs!”

Then answers lady Gunnil, for she was so angry:
“Seize him and pinch him beyond his whining!”

“And be it not true, this I tell you now,
So will God that I may give birth to seven puppies”

Then Elov the guard was made to suffer so,
They put him inside a spiktunna[3]

Then they tied him to two frisky horses,
Which nobody had mounted before

The horses kicked him up friskily by Borgholm’s bridge
And lady Gunnil so gladly she smiled

The frisky horses galloped all across Borgholm’s plain
Behind him ran his mother, so heartily she wept.

They galloped friskily all across Borgholm’s grove,
Where his right arm was snatched from him

They galloped friskily all across Köping’s heath
After him went his mother and picked up his legs

Then by Köping’s cliff they kicked up friskily,
Where Elov against a rock bumped his neck

Aye, there he bumped his neck so hard,
That from the rock flowed so pure a spring

In Kappeludden[4] the horses stopped;
For of so much galloping they became lame

Then came sailors and sailed to the place;
There they could see that a bright light burned

“Thus we want to offer up a kettle of ore”
“Indeed there was killed a true man of God”

When the moment of birth arrived for lady Gunnela,
She gave birth to seven puppies.

So she ordered the puppies be cooked
Thus extinguishing Elov the guard´s light

What reward waited Lady Gunnil because of this murder,
This ballad is not concerned with

She still lives and floats around,
Which is sufficient, however, for a whole short break
But God gives good grace to the soul!

 

 Långlötevisan (Stolta Karin)[5]

1. I Långlöte by är den fagraste by,
för femton stolta möjar de bo däruti
- För lindar och för ekar i lunderna de gröna –

2. Då kom den danska konungen seglande fram,
fick höra liten Karin i björkelunden sang

3. Å konungen frågade småsvenner så:
“Vem är det som på gullharpan slår?”

4. “Ingen det är som på gullharpan slår,
det är liten Karin i lindelunden går”

5. Å det var den danska kungen steg på snövitan sand,
så gick han uti ekelund för liten Karin fram:

6. “Å hör du stolta Karin-lill, kväd visan för mej,
det kan du väl göra till viljes göra mej”

7. Å stolta Karin kvädde en visa så klar,
att ekelövet dansade som uti lunden var

8. Så kvad hon de visorna, kvad hon de fem,
att danska kungen dansade och alla hans hovmän

9. “Å hör du stolta Karin-lill, drick en dryck med mej,
det kan du väl göra till viljes göra mej”

10. “Å väl vill jag dricka en dryck med dej,
men nog jag har så många, som akta uppå mej

11. På mej aktar fader, på mej aktar mor,
på mej aktar syster såväl som min bror”

12. Den danska kungen tog liten Karin i famn,
så bar han henne i det stora skeppet fram

13. Å danska kungen seglar från Långlöte hamn,
han offrade en gryta av blankaste malm

14. Stolt Karin hon somnade i konungens famn,
hon vaknade ej förrän vid det danska land

15. Stolt Karin hon vaknar och kammar upp sitt hår:
“Gud nåde mej arma för de ord jag sa i går!”

16. I hjälpen mej hem till min fädernesby,
ty mina småbarn de gråta efter mig”

17. “Grant ser jag det på dina snövita bröst,
att inga småbarn de hava dem kysst”

18. “I hjälpen mej hem till mitt fädernesland,
ty mina husdörrar stå olästa för sann”

19. “Grant ser jag det på din snövita arm,
att du aldrig har burit nycklar i band

20. Å aldrig ska du komma till ditt fädernesland,
förrän du får sonen som skeppet styra kan

21. Å aldrig ska du komma till din fädernesby,
förrän du får dottern som silke kan sy”
- För lindar och för ekar i lunderna de gröna -

 Långlöte´s ballad (Proud Karin) – English translation

1. In Långlöte vale is the fairest of towns,
Where fifteen proud maidens do dwell,
´Midst the limes and the oaks, in the grove, on the green

2. The Danish king he came sailing by,
And hear little Karin in the birch-gove sing,

3. The king he asked his small pages two,
Who strikes on the gold harp so cheerily?

4. No one, lord liege, strikes the gold harp-string,
´Tis fair Karin herseld who sweetly doth singm

5. Then the Danish king leapt upon the white sand,
And in the oak grove took Karin´s fair hand

6. I pray you, fair Karin, sing a ballad for me,
As I sit and repose beneath the oak tree
 
7. Proud Karin she sang a ballad so clear.
The oak-leaves they danced on the trees that stood near;

8. She sang him five lays, and when she sang ten,
The Danish king danced with all his court-men

9. Oh, hear me, proud Karin, will you drink to me?
That you can do and so grant my will

10. Oh, that would I do right willingly
But there are so many so look after me;

11. First comes my father, and then there´s my mother,
My two elder sisters as well as my brother
´Midst the limes and the oaks, in the grove, on the green

Karin[6]  yelds, quaffs the draught, and is carried off by the Danish king to his ship and they sail fast away from Öland. Next morn, when Karin wakes and combs her long hair, she begs piteously to return to Långlöte.

16. ”Oh, bear me back to my father´s hall,
I hear the cry of my children small,

But[7] the Danish king answers:

17. ”Full well I see by your snow-white breat,
No child have you to your bosom press´d”

Karin now tries a new dodge:

18. ”Oh, bear me back to my father´s land,
For my house-door doth open stand”

But , answers the king:

20. ”Ne´er shall you return to your father´s land,
Until you bear a son who con stir the ship”

21. ”And ne´er shall you return to your father´s
Until your bear a daughter who can sew silk
´Midst the limes and the oaks, in the grove, on the green”

 

[1] Rygert, Göran; Weinhardt, Lars. Ölands folkliga visor och melodier genom tiderna, Lidingö Öfolk, 1987.

[2] A form of conscription to organise coastal fleets for seasonal excursions and in defence of the realm, typical for Medieval Scandinavia.  

[3] Literally “nail barrel”. Torture method consisting in a barrel with nails that were hammered from the outside with the idea that when the barrel was set to roll down a hill or tied to a horse, the person trapped inside would get hurt by the nails.

[4] This place´s name means “the chapel´s ness”

[5] The English translation is based on that rendered by Horace Marryat on his book “On year in Sweden – including a visit to the isle of Götland”, London: 1862.

[6] Marryat omits stanzas 12-14 and instead narrates the events mentioned there. The stanzas can be translated as follows: “12. The Danish King took sweet Karin in his arms and took her on board the big ship” “13. And the Danish kung sails from Långlöte harbour, he offered a pot of the shiniest ore” “14. Proud Karin fell asleep in the arms of the King, and she woke up only once in Danish land arrived” “15, Proud Karin wakes up and combs her hair; May god have mercy for the words I spoke yesterday

[7] Marryat omits stanza 19: “Full well I see by your snow-white arm, that you never wore keys in a bind”

Härjedalspipa – a Swedish folk fipple flute – part 2

Published August 29, 2011 Flute , Folk instruments , Härjedalspipa , History , Original instrument , Swedish , Wind instrument Leave a Comment
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Pastoral origins of the spelpipa

Emma Grut defines spelpipa as the Swedish term used to refer to a fipple flute generally made of wood with a varying number of finger-holes, which is utilized particularly in folk music practice. It is an instrument that through the ages remained in the darkness, with only a few literary references seemingly referring to any kind of wind instrument.

The first time the term spelpipa was documented to refer to the fipple flute was in the 1846 book “Svenska vallvisor och hornlåtar med norska artförändringar” (Swedish pastoral songs and horn tunes with Norwegian mode changes) by the folklore collector Richard Dybeck.  He describes a “späla-pipa”, also called “fingerpipa” made of willow bark or peeled wood, with six holes, which hailed from Jämtland and Hälsingland.

Dybeck stresses the connection between the spelpipa and the pastoral environment and may be the explanation as to why the piping tradition survived in those regions of Sweden where the pasture management system went on the longest.

Tonality and intonation

Most of the music we listen to nowadays is performed under the equal temperament system standards, to such an extent that not so many people know there are other musical temperaments.   In an equal temperament scale every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio, which is more or less perceived by the ear as if the “distance” between every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for every note in the system.

The most common equal temperament is the 12-TET (twelve-tone equal temperament system). The interval used in this system is the octave, and can be expressed as the interval that comprehends the unison, minor second, major second, minor third, major third, perfect fourth, augmented fourth, perfect fifth, minor sixth, major sixth, minor seventh, major seventh and octave is expressed, or in a C scale C–C#/Db–D–D#/Eb–E–F–F#/Gb–G–G#/Ab–A–A#/Bb–B–C.

Something common to the majority of the wooden flutes in folk tradition is that their scales often are not consistent with the modern tempered scale. There are plenty indications that these scales with hovering notes or so-called blue notes bear traces of an older type of tonality, which is also present in older fiddle and vocal traditions. Therefore, the spelpipor that are extant to-date are interesting evidence of a tonal language that apparently resounded long before the harmonic and chord-constructed ideals that to great extent characterize modern music.

The spelpipor manufactured by Jonas Jönsson (1864-1961; also known as Jonas uti Basa,  a furniture carpenter and instrument maker) had all a non-tempered scale. All with the exception of one, a baroque-looking recorder, to which he decided to give a tempered major scale, indicating that he was quite aware of the difference between the older tonality and the more modern ideal.

In 1989, the renowned folk musician Ale Möller did an analysis[1] of one of Jonas Jönsson´s pipes which has since then become a kind of standard tuning for the new-built härjedalspipa. According to this analysis, if we are to start from the flute´s bottom tone and raise one finger at a time, the 3rd tone sounds 25-30% lower, the 6t tone 25% lower, and the 7th tone 25-30% lower than what they would sound in a tempered major scale[2]. Also the interval between the flute´s 1st and 2nd tone differs from the tempered scale because it oscillates a bit more than expected.

The oscillating interval makes it possible to have several interesting scales depending where we place the keynote. In those songs where the keynote is place on the lowest tone, we get a major scale with somewhat lower second, third, sixth and seventh. The same relation can be observed if the 4th tone is taken as the keynote. If the 2th tone is used as keynote, it is possible to get an intriguing minor scale with a somewhat low second.


[1] Möller, Ale 1989. Spelteknisk analysis. Spelteknisk utvärdering av spelpipa enligt inspelningar av Olof Jönsson, Överberg (1867-1953). This analysis remains unpublished but a copy can be found at Svenskt Visarkiv.

[2] Also given in the following way: Aiss, C-20%, D+35%,Diss, F, G-20%, A

Härjedalspipa – a Swedish folk fipple flute – part 1

Published July 7, 2011 Flute , Folk instruments , Härjedalspipa , History , museum instrument , Original instrument , Swedish , Wind instrument Leave a Comment
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Introduction[1]

The härjedalspipa is a Swedish folk instrument that belongs to the fipple flute family (or internal duct flutes). Its characteristic sound is partly a product of its straight cylindrical bore, which gives the whistle a strongly lower register when compared to other types of fipple flutes, but also because of its six finger holes (just like the tin whistle) which means the player can play regular diatonic scales (five tones and two semitones) without extremely complex fingering and over-whistling.

The name

The folk fipple flutes in Sweden have as many different names as builders and/or players.  Commonly, the term used to refer to them is the Swedish verb spela (to play) and the noun pipa (whistle): spelpipa.  Following this line, we find examples like spilåpipa (Älvdalen, Dalarna) or Spälapipe (Överberg, Härjedalen). Other names make reference to the context in which the instrument was used, like vallpipa (att valla means to herd) or låtpipa (låt means a tune, a melody), or to the whistle´s look or material, like långpipa (lång means long), träpipa (trä means wooden), björkpipa (björk means birch) or granpipa (gran means fir). Nowadays, it is customary – especially in the museum and archive spheres – to name them according to their provenance, we have evertsbergspipa (Evertberg in Dalarna, North West Sweden), hälsingepipa (Hälsinge in Hälsingland, North East Sweden), offerdalspipa (Offerdal in Jämtland, North West Sweden) and, the one under the spotlight, härjedalspipa (Härjedalen in North West Sweden).

 

Many whistles with many holes

Even though there are a distinct shared traits, not all Swedish folk fipple flutes had six holes. For example, there is the spilåpipa from Älvdalen which has eight holes, the whistle from Leksand with seven holes and there are even fipple flutes without any hole, like for example the sälgflöjt (sälg means willow). There is even a seven-holed version of the härjedalspipa (the 7th whole being a semitone lower than the ground tone) created by Gunnar Stenmark and Göran Månsson, which is therefore called månmarkapipa.

In Stockholm´s music museum (Musikmuseet) there is a collection of about 40 folk fipple flutes, among them two from Hälsingland and one from Lillärdal in southern Härjedalen, which are presented below:

The Alfta flute

photo by Olav Nyhus

Inventory number: N147182

Maker: Unknown

Location: Alfta, Hälsingland

Year: Unknown

Number of holes: 8

Length: 340 mm

Acquisition year: 1924

Origin: deposition from Nordiska Museet.

The Edsbyn flute
photo by Olav Nyhus

Inventory number: N114952

Maker: Unknown

Location: Edsbyn, Hälsingland

Year: Unknown

Number of holes: 7

Length: 375 mm

Acquisition year: 1910

Origin: deposition from Nordiska Museet

The Lillherdal flute
photo by Olav Nyhus

Inventory number: N100248

Maker: Unknown

Location: Lillherdal, Härjedalen

Year: Unknown

Number of holes: 6

Length: 374 mm

Acquisition year: Unknown

Origin: deposition from Nordiska Museet.

 

 

[1] Most of this article is based on Emma Grut´s Little book and tunes collection “Ol’Jansas låtbok: stamplåtar, visor och andliga sånger för härjedalspipa” publish by the Swedish ballad archive (Svenskt visarkiv) in 2006. (ISBN 91 85374 41 5). The original is in Swedish, all translations here are done by me. You can buy the book here

Ethnomusicology

Published July 4, 2011 Ethnomusicology , History Leave a Comment
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What is Ethnomusicology?[1]


Taking into account the precept that music takes meaning from its cultural context, ethnomusicology can be defined as the study of music that stresses the importance of music in and as culture. The term, which contracts ethnology with musicology, was first used to denote the discipline in 1950 by Jaap Kunst[2], replacing comparative musicology (from the German vergleichende Musikwissenshaft), the accepted name from the late nineteenth century. Kunst argued, along with others, that comparison neither distinguished nor sufficiently delineated the research in this discipline.


At the onset, studies focused on music outside the Western art music tradition. Early researchers came from a range of disciplines and geographic areas—ethnology and anthropology in the United States, musicology and music folklore in the United Kingdom, eastern Europe and Latin America, and psychology in Germany and Austria. The disparate academic backgrounds of the researchers imparted an interdisciplinary cast that persists in ethnomusicology, albeit with changing disciplinary shades.


Music outside the Western tradition continue to hold an important position within ethnomusicology. However, the study of Western art music often has been implicit, through comparison, in the research. A few scholars explicitly have made Western music, even art music, a focus of their work.


Moreover, research concerned with music in urban and complex societies has emerged as an important concern of ethnomusicologists. More generally, ethnomusicology seeks to explain and champion neglected and undervalued kinds of music and to denounce ethnocentric attitudes toward the music of other communities and cultures.


Ethnomusicology distinguishes itself from other academic disciplines through specific topics and issues of interest: origins and universals of music, musical change and conflict, the function of music within society, and relationships between language and music, to list a few historically prominent examples. Partly because of this issue-based orientation, scholars today most often define the discipline by means of a shared, if eclectic, corpus of research theory and methodology, rather than by geographic area. Ethnomusicology can be characterized further by the persistent examination of the bounds and objectives of the discipline and by critical inquiry into its own definition.


Charles Seeger argued that the most general term, musicology, would best describe this discipline that views all kinds of music from all times with equal scholarly import, rather than restricting the general term to historical musicology, a discipline largely concerned with Western art music. And George List, writing in 1979, questioned if a single definition was even possible. Other writers have argued similarly. The inquiry into definitions stems, in part, from the divergent theoretical and methodological bases of the researchers seeking common modes of discourse. Another aspect of this questioning involves efforts to gain institutional support and position for ethnomusicology vis-à-vis other more established disciplines, especially anthropology and historical musicology.


Guido Adler, in his 1885 definition of musicology and its divisions, saw the focus of comparative musicology as the classification of the different kinds of music of the world. Thus, at Adler’s christening of the discipline within academe, comparison was the discipline’s central feature. Two technical developments made the comparison of oral-tradition music feasible: the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877 and the development of a pitch measurement system[3] by the English physicist and phonetician Alexander J. Ellis. The phonograph facilitated the collection of music data, previously a Herculean task limited by one’s musical ear and access to cooperative performers. Ellis’ cents system of measurement, outlined in his 1885 article “On the Musical Scales of Various Nations,” made possible a more objective comparison of pitch elements based on the division of the octave into 1,200 equal units.


Comparison infused much early ethnomusicological research in the United States. From the nineteenth century, scholars working on Native American music, most conspicuously Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Frances Densmore, created monographs on the music of individual Native American cultures. Stemming, in part, from the Austrian Kulturhistorische Schule (culture history school), students of Franz Boas, however, sought to organize Native American cultures into geographic areas established by shared cultural traits. George Herzog, who had worked with both Hornbostel and Boas, applied the notion of culture areas in his “The Yuman Musical Style” (1928). Helen Roberts used this approach to classify Native American musical styles and instruments in her 1936 book, Musical Areas in Aboriginal North America.


Comparison was explicit in researching the relationships between African-American musical practices and those found in Africa, seen most notably in the work of Melville Herskovits and Richard Waterman. Alan Lomax’s research methodology of cantometrics, exemplified in the 1968 publication Folk Song Style and Culture, linked musical style with social organization and took comparison as its central feature.


The use of the term comparative musicology declined in the 1940s, to be replaced eventually by ethnomusicology. Coupled with this change in labels, there was a sharp decline in work concerned with crosscultural comparison. In this new milieu, comparison was criticized and seen as premature until more detailed, accurate descriptions of individual cultures existed. Many discussions arose then corresponding to a realization that each culture’s music deserved study in its own right, in terms appropriate to that culture and built around methods and theories that emerged from the study of that culture and its music. Early comparative studies invariably focused on music expressions as artifacts, with little concern for the context of their existence. The shift toward the view of music as part of culture stressed methods of fieldwork, thereby making fieldwork a defining feature of ethnomusicology.


Since the late 1950s, ethnomusicological activity often has been characterized as oriented toward the methods and theories of either anthropology or historical musicology. Alan Merriam, the foremost champion of the anthropological orientation in ethnomusicology, suggested in The Anthropology of Music that the label ethnomusicology, combining ethnology with musicology, implies this division. Merriam drew upon methods and theories of anthropology, notably participant observation with extended periods of fieldwork and the theories of structuralism and functionalism. He argued as early as 1960 that ethnomusicology should be concerned with music in culture, later refined to music as culture, and he explicitly joined music to its cultural context in The Anthropology of Music through a definition of music that connected musical sound and musical behavior to a culture’s beliefs and concepts of music.


In Europe during the nineteenth century, research into local, oral traditions was driven by an interest in creating nationalist musics fortified and sustained through materials from peasant cultures. Composers such as Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály working in Hungary, Romania, and Transylvania and Percy Grainger in England drew upon indigenous folk music to create new art music compositions. Similarly, folk music enthusiasts, collectors, and analysts such as Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles researched the music of England and its immigrant offspring in the United States.


Ethnomusicology in Latin America displays the clearest correspondence to European folk music research. Latin American music scholars began to comprehend the relevance of local traditions as nationalizing forces. This recognition coincided with nationalist movements throughout Latin American—for instance, the Andean indigenismo and the Brazilian modernismo movements. In this context, such traditions were viewed as part of the opposition to dominant elite social classes who disregarded local traditions in favor of European-derived expressive forms.


The influence of folk music research in ethnomusicology has been circumscribed, too. The attention given to oral-tradition musics in ethnomusicology stems, in part, from early folk music research. However, with a theoretical framework that stresses comparison, folk music scholarship’s import was more significant during the early periods of ethnomusicology, especially in the domains of melodic analysis and tune classification. This research did not fall neatly within or completely outside definitions of ethnomusicology.


The term ethnomusicology today has currency remote to the academic discipline. Activities such as the performance and dissemination of non-Western and oral-tradition musics and the teaching of such musics in primary and secondary schools are often linked with ethnomusicology. Moreover, the term often is invoked to describe the work of Western composers who make use of the musical possibilities of non-Western sources, as well as those people involved with non-Western musics as part of a global economic marketplace.


Somewhat alarmed by these uses of the term, Alan Merriam in 1975 made the distinction between ethnomusicologists and others whose activities draw upon ethnomusicology. In 1956, Willard Rhodes, arguing the importance of ethnomusicological scholarship for both the social sciences and humanities, warned against narrowing the discipline’s scope and goals. His caveat evidently has been taken to heart, given the wide range of research and activities that now fall under the rubric ethnomusicology.


[1] Most of this article was taken from “Thomas A. Green, Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art” ABC-CLIO, ISBN: 087436986X, edition 1998”, which you can buy here.

[2] Well known Dutch ethnomusicologist, particularly associated with the study of gamelan music of Indonesia.

[3] You can read more about the system here

What is Ethnomusicology?[1]

[1] Most of this article was taken from “Thomas A. Green, Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art” ABC-CLIO, ISBN: 087436986X, edition 1998”, which you can buy here.

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