Music Ecology, Music Sociology, Music Locality - the case of Epirus by Mpiliax Mpiliens

This master’s thesis investigates and interprets locally produced music and particular music traditions of the world that have strong aesthetics and characteristic sounds. Through the concepts of music ecology, music sociology, and music locality, it identifies the link of the music with its place of origin, in an attempt to find the tools to understand how the world works when it comes down to the tiny but hugely important matter of music traditions. Through music examples from different countries, and with a special focus on the music of Epirus, Greece, music ecology, sociology, and locality become the lenses through which answers are sought to crucial questions, such as: How natural and built environments affect, almost dictate locally produced music; what kinds of tools do music traditions become in the hands of communities; and how can communities express, come together, and function through music traditions? Additionally, this thesis explores the effects on music traditions when they are relocated from one environment to another. Finally, this thesis investigates how immersion into any music tradition can affect ones’ personal musical identity, and how this enhances the development of an individual’s personal style, always taking into consideration the aspects of music ecology, sociology, and locality. In the Case of Epirus, Greece I attempt to answer these questions by visiting the birthplace of the music during my field work, which allows me to immerse myself in the environment as well as the music, communicate with the carriers of the tradition, and learn the music directly from them. Findings emerge in terms of a deep connection between music traditions and the triptych of music ecology, sociology and locality, in the example of the music of Epirus but also in general. These triptych influences, shapes and guides locally produced music, to the extent that one, when researching, should acknowledge its connection to local music to deepen the understanding of why things happen as they happen within a music tradition. Awareness of this connection would also be a powerful tool of an individual’s immersion process into new music traditions, empowering them to come to a deeper understanding of it.

Through this research process we have discovered the importance of the triptych of music locality, sociology and ecology in understanding, interpreting and enriching an individual’s knowledge of locally produced music traditions. This tool can be a great help not only to understand the music of Epirus, where the main focus of the research was, but in the belief that behind this understanding there is hidden a more generally applicable theory and a tool for understanding the roots of music.
By analysing the case of Epirus, there was in many cases the feeling of a breakthrough into understanding and analysing other strong music traditions as well.

In the example of music from Epirus, even though I have been passionate about it for an extended period, this research helped to deepen the understanding of why things happen as they happen within this tradition, rather than considering their way to be an axiom. Tools, such as music ecology, sociology and locality, can also be the tool of an individual’s immersion process into new music traditions, empowering them to come to a deeper understanding of how things happen as they happen musically in each locality.

For instance, the complexity and in-depth connection of indigenous groups around the world to their local environments, and how this translates in their art and their music, stood out as a possible direction to further the research’s scope.
In the example of Sámi people, crucial questions arose that were unfortunately not possible to be answered or included in this research due to the limited time and the inability to have an immersive experience in the environment of Sápmi for a reasonable amount of time. Acknowledging the massive area of Sápmi and the existence of different indigenous languages, different ways of livelihood, different community structures based on locality and different local environments, raises the question of how traditional joiks and contemporary music are influenced by this variety of characteristics. Are there area-specific joiks? Are there language group specific joiks describing differently the same topic? Are there livelihood specific joiks? How much is joik affected by the concept of music ecology, sociology and locality? These are only few of the questions that arose through the research process and wait to be answered through more thorough research in the future.

It is a wish and hope that the research and the traditional knowledge included in this thesis will add a little stone to the construction of understanding the music traditions of the world. They are a source of wealth, education and a way of non-verbal communication that gives a more spheric understanding of musical and non-musical roots and their function.

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