Part I: Issues and Processes

1. Part I: Issues and Processes

2. Introduction to Southeast Asia as a Musical Area

3. Similarities in Southeast Asian Music • bronze gongs, xylophones, bamboo flutes • importance of vocal music • aspects of shared geography and history

4. Differences in Southeast Asian Music • contrasting people and languages • variation in religious practices • differing availability of resources

5. Mainland Southeast Asia • Seven nations • Burma (now known as Myanmar) • Cambodia • Laos • Malaysia • Singapore • Thailand • Vietnam

6. Island Southeast Asia • Three nations: • Indonesia, The Philippines, Brunei • Borneo (includes East Malaysia, Kalimantan [part of Indonesia] and Brunei)

7. Boundaries are largely colonial inventions • Laos - created from the spoils of war • Indonesia - created when the people attained self-rule from the Netherlands • East Indies • Thailand was never colonized

8. Lowland and Upland • all except Singapore include lowland plains, major rivers, and upland areas • almost all are tied in some way to the ocean • most are affected by earthquakes and volcanoes • dominant populations live in the lowlands • nonmainstream minorities live in the uplands

9. Regionalism • diversity of population • individuality in language, literature, clothing, cuisine, music • regionalism is tolerated (or celebrated) in the context of a mainstream culture • regionalism is more problematic when regions are near-equals or rivals

10. Urban and Rural • Cities are the least “traditional” and reflect diverse origins: • Hindu-Buddhist court cities • Commercial cities • Islamic cities • Colonial administrative cities

11. Urban and Rural (cont.) • Cities are the most modern and internationalized places: • most modern: Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City • least modern: Rangoon (Yangon), Vientiane, Phnom Penh

12. Urban and Rural (cont.) • Villages tend to be more traditional and less wealthy • cultural life centers on cycles of agriculture, religion, and the calendar • songs and rituals are associated with seasonal agricultural festivities • music specialists are rare; anyone can play • instruments tend to be simple and locally made • theme of courtship is pervasive in songs

13. Classical, Folk, Popular: the problem with labels • classical: connotation of sophistication, high value, expressive of political and economic power; assumption of wealthy aristocracy • folk: there has to be a “folk” – often one of the nonmainstream minorities • popular: mediated, widely disseminated; most developed in countries with the greatest wealth and urbanization

14. Networks of Power and Influence • power is centered on a person, place or object • dynamic rulers with many followers wield power in a radiating field • places like Java’s Borobudur or Cambodia’s Angkor Vat are invested with

15. Networks of Power and Influence (cont.) • power ascribed to sacred sites • objects like musical instruments, bronze drums, daggers, masks have power • in an ensemble, the gong usually has the most power

16. Two Approaches to Listening • the sensual response • the intellectual response

17. Elements of music • medium (what makes the sound) • melody (organized succession of tones) • rhythm and meter (organization of sounds in time)

18. Elements of music (cont.) • texture (relationship among the music’s elements) • form (structural organization) • timbre (qualities of sound) • extramusicality (nonmusical meaning)

19. Questions for discussion • How do natural resources and geography have an impact on the production of music? • How does your own culture view power in terms of people, places, and objects? • How is that concept different from Southeast Asian views of power?

20. Questions for discussion (cont.) • Have you ever tried to explain a particular genre of music to an outsider to the culture (your parents, for example)? What worked and what didn’t? • How do the elements of music differ between here and Southeast Asia?

21. Southeast Asia in Prehistory

22. Early Agricultural Communities • One of the longest histories of human settlement • Hunters and gatherers collected forest products (resins, beeswax, aromatic woods)

23. Early Agricultural Communities • Oldest evidence dates to at least 3000 BCE or earlier in NE Thailand • Metallurgy in the area is different from that of China or India; its origins are still obscure and subject to debate

24. The Coming of Civilization • India and China were seen as outsiders imposing systems of statecraft and administration on unsophisticated local societies • Local people formed complex social and political systems before the rise of the earliest recognizable Hinduized states

25. The Coming of Civilization • Explosion of bronze technology between c. 1100 and 500 BCE, esp. Vietnam • Bronze drums of the Dong Son Period (after c.500 BCE) • High degree of decoration, including stars, stylized animals, cranes, domestic scenes, processions, musical instruments being played

26. Prehistory in the Islands • In contrast to the mainland, the archaeological record is less abundant • Bronze and iron appeared around 500 BCE • Bronze Dong Son drums scattered across the archipelago

27. Asian Art and Music in Prehistory – What We Know • Music appears among the arts in the Dong Son record • Drums • Associated with powerful leaders • Possibly sacred instruments, invested with supernatural powers

28. Asian Art and Music in Prehistory – What We Know (cont.) • Depictions of people playing in interlocking patterns • Other instruments appear on the drums: • free-reed mouth organs • hand-held cymbals • flutes • bells

29. Questions for Discussion • In the absence of a written record, how can we find out about early music? • How can pictures of music and musicians be misleading?

30. Questions for Discussion (cont.) • Is contemporary music in the United States related to music performed prior to the arrival of the Europeans? • Why is it important to know about agricultural patterns and metallurgy when you are studying music?

31. Waves of Cultural Influence

32. Precontact Musical Sources • Southeast Asia is distinctive for the uniqueness of each culture’s response to outside influences, especially from India, China, and the West

33. Precontact Musical Sources • Musical instruments • lithophones • xylophones • bronze instruments • free-reed pipes/mouth organs • Jew’s harps • tube zithers • locally unique instruments

34. Animistic rites • mixing of practices with outside influences • differences in upland traditions

35. Indian Culture in Southeast Asia • Indian kingdoms were the foundations of Burmese, Cambodian, Javanese, and Thai civilizations

36. Indian Culture in Southeast Asia (cont.) • Southeast Asian peoples received and adapted to their own needs many aspects of Indian civilization, including: • Religion • Architecture • Sculpture • Decoration • Literature • Language • Scripts • farming practices • Rituals • Concepts • Music

37. Chinese Music in Southeast Asia and its Legacy • First Chinese arrive in the 1600s • Most arrive from Southern China in the 19th and 20th centuries • Chinese tend to dominate local economies • Chinese musical influence manifests in two ways • the maintenance of genuinely Chinese musical genres • the influence of these original genres in style and organology

38. Chinese Music in Southeast Asia and its Legacy (cont.) • Vietnam shows the most Chinese includes, modified to local tastes • many musical instruments originated in China • most Chinese music is played in private situations, clubs, funerals, festivals, and theatrical performances

39. Chinese Music in Southeast Asia and its Legacy (cont.) • other Southeast Asian countries show lesser degrees of musical influence • many have strong Chinese-run business districts • political issues have an impact on freedom of musical expression

40. Islam in Southeast Asia • most Muslims in Southeast Asia live in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Brunei • fastest growing religion in the world because of Southeast Asia’s population growth; most are Sunni Muslims

41. Islam in Southeast Asia (cont.) • Islam and Music • Adapts to local customs concerning the performance of music • vocalists are often of a higher status than instrumentalists • instrumentalists are sometimes regarded by religious authorities to be just short of respectability

42. Islam in Southeast Asia (cont.) • Instruments associated with Islam • frame drums • barrel drums • plucked lutes • oboes • Increasing popularity of Islamic-influenced music, especially pop

43. The West • All of Southeast Asia has been influenced by the West to varying degrees • Burma and Singapore try to curb Western influences, while the Philippines and Thailand are much more open

44. The West (cont.) • Vietnam • colonized by the French • marked preferences for French culture by Vietnamese elite • symphony orchestra and music conservatory

45. The West (cont.) • Laos • poverty, isolation and political conservatism have limited Western influences outside of popular music

46. Cambodia • Prior to 1970, strong French influence and nightclub scene • current Western influences restricted to pop music

47. The West (cont.) • Thailand • no history of colonization, so Thais could pick and choose what they liked • blossoming of Western culture and music, including social dance • appearance of brass bands, symphony orchestras, popular music

48. The West (cont.) • Burma • colonized by the English • very little Western influence outside the capital of Rangoon (Yangon)

49. The West (cont.) • Malaysia • former British colony looks very Western (orderly traffic, advanced • educational system, relaxed importation laws) • strong presence of popular music from abroad

50. The West (cont.) • Indonesia • former Dutch colony (economic colonization based on spice trade) • strongest influence from popular music abroad • every popular style in the west is also done locally (rap, country, etc.)