Theory of heritage and cultural revival
Weeks 7:
-The migration of 18th and 19th century folk music traditions from select European settings to the US.
10/13 Mark Slobin (2003), Fiddler on the Move, Chapt. 2: “Klezmer as a Heritage Music,” (11-35).
10/15 Slobin, continued.
Understanding Heritage as an intersection of Micromusics and the Superculture
- The superculture and micromusics
superculture: the continual building and rebuilding dominant system that unifies a vast and varied population
micromusics: music-cultures that grapple with the superculture for its economic and political visibility as well as their need to set themselves off from it. - Two social forces in which a micromusic operates in the superculture: outside pigeonholing & inner needs
superculture ————-outside pigeonholing——> micromusic
governments & corporations
target marketing & representation
superculture <——-—-inner needs——————- micromusic
“minority” groups
demand visibility
III. Heritage: an intersection of outside pigeonholing and inner needs
Slobin argues that the term “heritage” is actually a recent phenomenon. While the term “heritage” is commonly used to refer to an aspect of culture that is inherited, “heritage” is also a keyword used by governments and corporations as well as smaller “minority” groups for cultural representation and economic viability (i.e. tourism, national identity).
“I use the term ‘heritage music’ to distinguish between music that is part and parcel of a way of life [here is where we miss the word ‘traditional’] and music that has been singled out for preservation, protection, enshrinement, and revival–in a word, heritage music” (Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett quoted by Slobin).
- Typologies of Heritage Music
A micromusic/heritage music such as Klezmer music should be understood as a constellation of all five typologies, which are: 1) National 2) Exotic 3) Diasporic 4) Postdiasporic/rediasporic & 5) Traditional/transnational. The narratives generated by typologies provide a means of analyzing and understanding micromusics and heritage musics.
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