To understand the topics of music locality, musicology, and ecology we need to approach each term and define the way it will be used in this thesis.
First, we will look into what qualifies as local music and what characterises music locality. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, locality is defined as ‘’a particular area or neighbourhood’’, usually with reference to things or persons in it or to occurrences there. This definition is very helpful to mark the space, but not necessarily the actions produced in the space. In terms of music, locality refers to both an actual geographical space (a city, a neighbourhood, etc.) as well as the shared social and cultural experiences of that place.(..)’’ Thus, we will use the term musical locality in this thesis to refer to the understanding of place, actions and their characteristics, whether these are geographical, cultural or social, in music and social terms.
Another aspect to consider, when we are approaching local music, is the natural and built environment of each place. This ranges from the natural landscape, the flora, the fauna and the climate, to the built structures such as bridges, roads, houses, theatres, temples and markets, and how much they are in syntony with the natural environment. Music ecology and ecomusicology are terms that have been traditionally connected to natural and built environments. These terms (music ecology and ecomusicology) define ’’the study of music, culture, and nature in all the complexities of those terms. Ecomusicology considers musical and sonic issues, both textual and performative, related to ecology and the natural environment. Other times it is used as a synonym for Music ecology’’ (Oxford University Press, 2014) ).
Keogh and Collinson argue that there is a distinction between music ecology and Eco musicology and that these terms are used uncritically as synonyms (Keogh & Colinson,2016). Unavoidably, he raises the question of better understanding the research topic and clarifying the scope of the research. Understanding the different perspectives of the use of these two terms narrows down my research to a more focused purpose, i.e., researching how music traditions are affected by the natural environment of a place, rather than how music traditions behave as an organized system that resemble a natural ecosystem. In this master’s work, one of the main focuses is how local music traditions are influenced by the natural surroundings, but also the understanding that even though there might be a working model that can be generally applied, in different places the different types of natural environment, affects music making in different ways. This can mean that music traditions based on the same concept may possibly be very different in terms of sonic identity.
In this thesis I will refer to this constant as the music ecology of a place. By music ecology we will refer to the way the local natural or built environment affects, influences, and dictates the kind of music produced and how music harmonious to the natural and built environment finally becomes traditional, based on traditional ecological knowledge and values. There are several examples of this: the music of Epirus Greece, where the local polyphonic music gives a clear image of the high mountains and their echo, the connection of Sámi Joikers with the nature of their motherland and the fact that they draw thremmatology and knowledge from their connection with it, the way that galloping on grasslands is clearly shining through traditional Tuvan music and the way Tengrism has affected it, and how the sound and feel of dessert passes through the music making of Tuareg people and makes their music distinct, special and unique. The more the music ecology of places has been investigated, the greater has been the understanding that this is not only a local phenomenon but is clearly visible all around the world.
In a way this not only drew my attention to the existence of music ecology as a concept but also made me reflect upon a different way of approaching and understanding different local music and music cultures.
A direct result of how music ecology dictates the type and character of local music, has been a new understanding on how music (ecology) influenced the social functions of groups and communities. This includes how music became a tool, a means of expression, a connecting power, a bank of individual and collective memory, and finally a healing method for those in need of it, through the connection with the local. These aspects are present in the sound of local music, in the lyrics and the stories of traditional and folk songs, but also in the way and time the music is performed. Sometimes the music takes the role of medicine, other times expresses joy or grief (wedding or lament) and other time acts as an open access archive for common knowledge (teaching songs and stories). These sides of music use are tightly packed under the topic of music sociology. To understand the concept of music sociology we need to take a step back and see how music was conceived in the past and how this concept has developed in time.
William Roy and Timothy Downs have depicted the duality in the understanding of music and have presented two different ways to conceive this duality. On one hand ‘’Music is often treated as an object – a thing that has a moment of creation, a stability of characteristics across time and place, and potential for use and effects. As such, music can be abstracted from its time and place (…).’’ This way of looking into music would be understandable from an audience perspective that is not related to the music itself but encounters a piece of music that is detached for tradition, space and music ecology, and looks only on the aesthetic value of it. Such a perspective is not based on the creator’s perspective but only on the audience’s personal understanding and experience, which may lead to big misinterpretations.
On the other hand, as music has become an integral part of life, it is nowadays conceived more as an action than an object. They mention that ‘’Rather than an object with fixed qualities, music can be treated as something always becoming that never achieves full object status, something unbounded and open (…)’’
Consequently, music as an action can transform and work, and form a useful tool or a channel, not only for the music makers to serve their everyday life, their socialization, their expression, and livelihood, but also could serve an audience that is not necessarily connected to the living and social conditions of the maker. In the audience's ears the music can be still an object but can also be an active way of exposing the way of life, the music ecology of the place it was created, and finally the deeper reason and purpose of the creation of music locally.
More recently there is a shift in the direction music is moving, which has been to become a socializing medium in many societies, and take an active role in the socialization process. Tia De Nora mentions that music sociology has addressed perspectives that highlight music’s ‘active’ properties in relation to social action, emotion, and cognition. Such a perspective dispenses with the old ‘music and society’ paradigm (one in which music was typically read as distanced from and ‘reflecting’ social structure) and points to core concerns in sociology writ large and to educational concerns with music’s role as a socializing medium in the broadest sense of that term.
After looking at the different approaches and ways of understanding music sociology, we will now refer to music-sociology as the sum of the sociological functions of music. These are:
- bringing the community together
- functioning like a bond that integrates the parts into the group (whole)
- a tool of social expression, individual or collective, but always in a social context, with the inherit need of gathering and interacting through music related practices
- a verbal archive of the collective experience and history of a locality.
Through this process I got inspired to look inwards, towards traditions that I have come across in my own country of origin, but also explore possible commonalities and the applicability of music-ecology and music sociology in music cultures I am not part of or had not come across while growing up.
In this thesis I am going to investigate the topics of music locality, music ecology and music sociology, using the example of the music of Epirus, Greece.
The analysis will derive from a relevant bibliography, but also a field trip to the place in question, a trip to Epirus in the Summer of 2021. In this trip I had the good fortune to experience the natural environment in which music and a music tradition are created and be in contact with musicians of different generations from several places. The trip enabled me to interview them on the topics of music ecology and music sociology, play together and gain insight into the relation of music with the (natural) environment, and the application of this music in a social and communal context.