Music Practices across Borders: (E)Valuating Space, Diversity and Exchange

The editors Glaucia Peres da Silva and Konstantin Hondros have collected nine articles in this book, published at transcript in 2019. It covers a wide range of timely examples from inside the music sector (for instance, Eurovision and Pieces of Africa), as most of the authors have had industry experience. Hence, this book is a concise discussion for everyday practices of transnational music collaboration and innovation. 

 

 

 

First of all, Mrs. Peres da Silva and Mr. Hondros introduce the methods for judging the quality of music and ask what value measurement system should be created for defining "good music” in transnational music production and consumption. They stress that media exposure, "glocal” recognition, emotional appeals and social interactions have become key factors that have influenced the ways in which music is appreciated and consumed in contemporary societies - in distinction to merely academic approaches to quality. 

 

Annelies Fryberger’s research entitled "Valuation in a reversed economy” reflects on the dilemma of making contemporary art music. Due to the low number of commercial audiences and thus of ways to live from making music according to the musician’s personal taste, Mrs. Fryberger investigates the tendency of contemporary art music to be for business’s sake in the market economy era. The concept of contemporary art music has a strong connection with European classical music, but public funding and audience development are needed for making a living from it. 

 

In contrast to contemporary art music’s niche market, music festivals have prospered in recent years with better competition advantages for reaching wider audiences. Mukasa Situma Wafula’s article begins with a short historical overview of Kenya Music Festival (KMF), a globe-facing event for delivering musical diversity, cultural exchange and humanistic co-existence. Different from its entertainment mission in the British colonial period, KMF aims to emphasise the social and cultural impacts particularly on music education, artistic development and the preservation of Kenyan cultural heritage. From 1927 to 2010s, KMF has successfully presented multiple musical forms from European, African and Near Eastern cultures. As the author claims, the Kenya Music Festival has become a transnational music space for rebuilding a new image of Africa, i.e., diverse, inclusive and creative. 

 

Further research by Peter Lell examines the definition of world music festivals based on two case studies from the UK and Germany. According to the author, world music is seen as a Europe-centric concept to refer to various music genres from non-Western contexts. More specifically, the author sheds light on the five signifiers (musical exoticism; differences and exceptionalism in visual appearance; visible happiness and devotion of the musicians; the idea of music as a universal language; and the political engagement of the music) to reassert the meaning of world music in contemporary discourse. There is no denying the recent popularity of world music festivals, its profitability in the world music market and the audience’s enthusiasm about "foreign” experiences. Cultural interaction is a major aim for running world music festivals. In addition to its cultural motivation, Sandrine Le Coz’s article "From desire for recognition to desire for independence” is intended to evaluate the world music industry and emphasises world music’s value creation from an ethnographic overview. 

 

Nepomuk Riva in his article "The invention of African art music” argues that African art music appears to create musical connections between European classical music and African music. He calls these hybrid musical styles African cross-over productions. African art music today is highly interested in entering the European market and beyond. However, it faces challenges of reaching an audience and widening a global recognition. The author further explains that the image of African music is more or less linked to the continent’s colonial history when European settlers used to construct a collective identity of Africa, meaning uncivilised, wild and animalistic. Since then, the imbalanced power relationship between Western music tradition and African music culture leads to the stereotyped image of African music still dominant today. Similarly, Alla El Kahla examines the music practices coming along with the postcolonial identity struggles in Tunisia. The author points out that Tunisia’s geographic location stimulates the birth of hybrid musical expressions and its unique musical life shapes the features of Tunisian music.

 

Finally, Baniela Anabel Gonzalez’s article and Janco Boy Bystron and Chico Santana’s article bring the reader to understand the music practices related to Latin America. Mrs. Gonzalez looks at the Italian immigrants who brought their native culture to construct a diasporic community in Buenos Aires. She argues that popular arts and music have become influential artistic expressions among these Italian diasporas. These kinds of artistic works combine the Italian and the local culture to feature the cultural identity of Italian communities in urban Argentina. 

 

In contrast, Janco Boy Bystron and Chico Santana focus on samba in Germany. Samba as a Latin American art form refers to an urban performing style that comprises music, dance and social events. Mr. Bystron’s and Mr. Santana’s article analyses the musical differences in playing samba rhythms between Brazilian and German percussion groups in an empirical way. The argument of this article indicates the transcultural dynamic and artistic differences of samba practices between Brazilian and German musicians. Tracing the history, the intercultural transfer of Samba to Germany was derived from a political demand to appreciate foreign musical genres. Interestingly, the musical adaptation of samba in Germany has gained a certain level of artistic and commercial achievements. 

 

 

Transnational music highlights the fusion of different musical genres that are practised to meet people’s aesthetic pursuits and creative ambitions. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach shifting away from the Eurocentric view of the past to interpreting music practices across Europe, Africa, North America and Latin America. It demonstrates the cultural, social and financial significance of contemporary music production, distribution and consumption in a cross-border context. In other words, this book provides systematic knowledge and hands-on experience in the field of Music Business, Arts Management, Cultural Policy and Sociology of the Arts for students, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers. 

 

It is also an analytical book that draws on colonial theory, ethnomusicology, migration and globalisation studies to explain music practices in reality. Moreover, it offers wise insights into the ongoing globalised music market and the contemporary musical expression at local and global levels. 

 

Despite its theoretical and practical contributions, a quantitative investigation could present numerical data and analyses on the topic, which would be more convincing. Additionally, the book could have included content related to Asia’s musical cases and debates to broaden the horizon of transnational music practices.