In February, Javier Silva-Zurita, Head of Music Pedagogy (Director Pedagogía en Música) at the Universidad de Los Lagos, visited the EMKP. He was interested in the EMKP ethnomusicology collections within the repository and how a similar digital space could be developed for the music-related collections at Universidad de Lagos. We had a few days of knowledge exchange and conversations on ethnographic collections in museums and the future of digital repositories. Whilst in London, he wrote the following piece about the EMKP repository and its uses in his own field of research.
In ethnomusicology, the knowledge gathered from fieldwork has been the cornerstone for the development of the discipline. Ranging from traditional musical practices performed in rural settings to mainstream musical expressions linked to global communities, what is recorded in the field is a vital source for researchers. However, the specific ways in which knowledge has been collected and recorded (e.g. interview questions) together with the unedited answers from informants received, represent a very important element of research that is scarcely discussed. As explained by Bruno Nettl in the prologue of the second edition of Shadows in the Field – one of the most influential figures writing in one of the most important ethnomusicological works – “[though] ethnomusicologists think of fieldwork as the defining activity of their endeavour, one may be surprised to find, looking through our literature, not much that tells what it was really like to work in the ‘field,’ nor much about the methods employed in gathering data for any particular project in ethnomusicology” (Nettl 2008, Foreword, p. v). As Nettl asserts in this 2008 work, this tendency has been slowly changing, with increasing efforts to share knowledge and skills for the field being made, but fieldwork is still mainly discussed in informal settings, and in a non-systematic manner. But how does this issue relate to the work developed by the EMKP?
Ney performance from Neyzen Hüseyin Avni Özaydın, Max Harwood, 2024. Click on the Figshare logo to visit the project page on the repository.
Mouthpiece materials, Banu Senay, 2024. Click on the Figshare logo to visit the project page on the repository.
The EMKP repository provides abundant and detailed information about the completed projects, allowing any ethno-researcher to immerse themselves in the work of their peers. One can browse through all the videos, audio files, and pictures derived from documentation: but also, through full interviews, fieldnotes and other materials that are usually unavailable to those outside the research team. For example, in the project “From Reed to Ney”, it is possible to have access to all interview questions asked by Principal Investigator Banu Senay, about the transmission of oral-based musical knowledge related to the practice of Ney-making and performance in Istanbul, as well as the full unedited answers obtained from the interviewees. In contrast, in more traditional fieldwork sources, just a few brief versions of some key questions and a small portion of edited answers are made available, the tip of the proverbial iceberg of any research or documentation process. By navigating the repository of the EMKP, it is possible to see beyond the ‘shadows’ that normally obscure fieldwork. This feels like having ‘backstage access’ to the final journal paper read or musical performance video watched.
Chi Monivong plays angkuoch russey – side view, Griffith University/Cambodian Living Arts, 2020. Click on the Figshare logo to visit the project page on the repository.
Besides the repository, in other such sections of the EMKP website as “Voices from the Field”, one can engage with first-hand insights into the logistics behind the fieldwork, and first-hand experiences narrated by the researchers themselves, the very people that designed and implemented the documentation process. In the sections describing the initiative developed by the Principal Investigator Catherine Grant (“Stories of Cambodian Angkuoch”) for instance, one can learn about the development of the documentation process, in addition to some anecdotal information that may not always be relevant to include in a journal paper – the usual way to communicate research outcomes – but that may be useful nonetheless in enabling fellow researchers to experience the field vicariously.
Angkuoch by Bin Song, Griffith University/Cambodian Living Arts, 2020. Click on the Figshare logo to visit the project page on the repository.
In the 1992 book Ethnomusicology: An Introduction, Helen Meyers discusses how going to the field has been for too long a kind of ‘rite of passage’ that involves an ethno-researcher struggling to develop their own toolkit without any prior training. Meyers adds that in the present day there are more examples of works devoted to sharing the necessary knowledge and skills required to tackle fieldwork, but that fieldwork is so constrained to contextual and environmental factors that no objective guide can exist. Therefore, it is impossible to design a syllabus, programme or mentoring programme that can pre-empt all the challenges one might face during fieldwork. However, a clear way to minimise the risks comprises of talking with other, more experienced peers who may provide relevant insight and knowledge that is possible to reapply. Precisely, it is in this context where the EMKP repository acts as a “gold mine” of sorts, giving you the opportunity to engage with fellow researchers by analysing their interview questions, responses, fieldnotes and other notations, as well as all the materials produced by their research and documentation. All that information together comprises an interesting and novel way to look at fieldwork from a fresh perspective.
Banner image: Music and dance among the Chabu people, Incipit-CSIC, 2021.