Sepharadscape: The Sonic Phenomenology of Contemporary Sephardic Cosmopolitanism
In recent years, a somewhat US-biased academic trend revolving around the exploration of Jewish sonic landscapes has emerged as part of a broader, older effort to make sense of Jewish music in terms of a defining, enlightening element of its culture (Brook 2006, Seroussi 2009, Shelleg 2014, Silver 2014). In accordance with such endeavor, this essay deals for the first time with the acoustemology (Feld, 1996, 2012) of Sephardic cosmopolitanism from the late twentieth century to the present day. In emphasizing the interplay of its local and global sonic scapes, I shall intend to make a compelling case for the following hypothesis: the existence of an intractable link between (a) the emergence and consolidation of Sepharadscape as revolving around the epistemic modality of sound, and (b) the articulation of a de-centralized, inclusive Sephardic trans-nationalism of the Iberian Peninsula.
SEPHARDISM AND THE TECHNO-LINGUISTIC REVOLUTION OF MODERNITY
“The recurrent metaphor of landscape as the inscape of national identity-asserts Bhabha- emphasizes … the question of social visibility, the power of the eye to naturalize the rhetoric of national affiliation
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Such theoretical discovery is crucial to the my argument in that it entails that as part and parcel of embodied cognition, sound is never just sound, but it also and always-already refers to a past and a space-time constellation of individual and collective sense-making: “acoustemology means that as a sensual space-time, the experience of place potentially can always be grounded in acoustic dimension.”
Canciones de arargue, or songs of bitterness – was the original name for the creolized form Bachata. Many closely associate Bachata with the other Caribbean styles of the African diaspora such as merengue and son. In Intro to Music Cultures of the World we were tasked with attending a world music concert. I chose to attend a Bachata concert because I already had an interest in Caribbean music. The concert was not as I had expected, but was rather intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable. In this report I hope to analyze Bachata’s roots, report on its concert style, and compare it to another piece in the genre.
Blij has clearly put this book into historical significance by mentioning the idea of geography and how it plays a role in societies all over the world. However, the five themes of culture regions, cultural diffusion, cultural interaction, cultural ecology, and cultural landscapes are all clearly defined within a specific context to a particular nation. Through reading this intriguing piece of literature I received the underlying notion that Blij firmly believes that landscapes of the world realm are not going to change. De Blij worldview of regions, diffusion, interaction, ecology, and landscapes has allowed him to simultaneously link issues together from the United States all the way to Southeast Asia.
There seems to be a central theme to Sears’ book, Momaday’s book, and the various films we have reviewed, that there are old stories told about all of these "sacred places" that show us how to understand, care for, preserve, and protect the land around them. There are two aspects that stem from this main theme: that the words of these stories are traditional and sacred, and that people value different parts of the land in different ways. Some cultures value land as a worshiping center while others use it merely for entertainment and recreation. A problem comes into play when the culture’s views clash and the people don’t respect each other’s customs. When people don’t understand native’s points of view, they don’t understand how important their values are either.
This places the reader in recognisable landscape which is brought to life and to some extent made clearer to us by the use of powerful, though by no means overly literary adjectives. Machado is concerned with presenting a picture of the Spanish landscape which is both recognisable and powerful in evoking the simple joys which it represents. Furthermore, Machado relies on what Arthur Terry describes as an `interplay between reality and meditation' in his description of landscape. The existence of reality in the text is created by the use of geographical terms and the use of real names and places such as SOrai and the Duero, while the meditation is found in...
In New York, Puerto Rican musical traditions evolved in accordance with societal change. This was necessary in a society, as Glasser describes “where Puerto Ricans lived among a constellation of constantly changing ethnic groups within a protean social environment”(Glasser, 7). In Puerto Rico there are diverse groups, with different traditions of politics, economics, and music. When Puerto Ricans migrate to the United States, they unite under an identity as “Puerto Ricans” but there is still diversity within. Furthermore, I believe it is the Ameri...
"Music is a common experience and a large part of societies. In fact, anthropologists note that all human communities at all times and in all places, have engaged in musical behaviours. Music as a mode of human activity is a cultural phenomenon constituting a fundamental social entity as humans create music and create their relationship to music. As cultural phenomeno...
...ace we carry. In fact, he asserts that Descartes dichotomy (between mental (res cogitans) and material space (res extensa) (Lefebvre 39) these ways of knowing space involves and propagates a fundamental misunderstanding of the ways in which space structures our lives. To apprehend, physical, mental and social elements as one, he introduces his conceptual triad - spatial practice (perceived), representation of space (conceived) and representational spaces (lived), in order to reconfigure the ways in which representation functions in our experience of space. In Lefebvre’s system, representation pervades all spatial experience. The physical, mental and social now have the required setup to be conceptualised in a unifying meta-theory. Lefebvre does this by, “bringing the various kinds of space and the modalities of their genesis together with one theory” (Lefebvre 16).
The unheard sounds came through, and each melodic line existed of itself, stood out clearly from all the rest, said its piece, and waited patiently for the other voices to speak. That night I found myself hearing not only in time, but in space as well. I not only entered the music, but descended, like Dante, into its depths (Ellison 7).2
D. W. Hamlyn - author. Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Place of Publication: Sensation and Perception: A History of the Philosophy of Perception. Contributors: London. Publication Year: 1961. Page Number: iii.
Through out the history of music, acoustics have played a major role. After all if it were not for acoustics the quality of sound that we know today would not exist. The word acoustics comes from the Greek word akouein, which means, “to hear”(Encarta Encyclopedia). Since music has to be heard in most cases for enjoyment, acoustics obviously take on a very important role in the pleasure that music brings to the ear. Acoustical architecture and design are two key elements in the way music sounds. For example, an electric guitar played in a concert hall would sound very different compared to the sound produced in a small room. These differences can be explained by the acoustical design of the room and the reverb created by both the instrument and the room in which it is played. These differences signify the importance of acoustics in music.
“The parallels between musical and linguistic boundaries are obvious” as stated in author Peter M...
Kuss (2004) explores the idea, “in some measure to the eradication of essentialisms and to critical reassessments of the infinite ways in which cultural representation still relies on criteria and conceptual frameworks developed within the Eurocentric sphere of influence, including some models of cultural criticism stemming from vastly different historical experiences.” Firstly, one of the most popular Latin American genre is mestizo music’s. “One prevalent feature found in this genre of music is the emphasis on chordophones, such as guitar, harp, and mandolin (Thomas, 2011). This genre of music is more rhythmically based, fast-paced, with a strong instrumental performance and a strong vocal presence. Some general features of this genre is the prominent use of costume. Moving into the twentieth-century brass bands and various types of accordions became more popular (Thomas, 2011). “During the colonial period, missionaries used music and costumed dances to attract indigenous peoples to Christianity” (Turino). This genre can be seen throughout Latin-America, and specifically in Mexico and Chile sine the influence of the Catholic church has grown. This genre involves a combination of
This chapter explores the idea of landscape in an anthropological construct. Hirsch aims to move away from the western ideals of understanding of landscape, and deconstruct it in an attempt to understand the local interoperation of landscape to prove it is part of a cultural process. Landscape has been used as a “standard framing device” (p1) by those looking from the outside in across anthropological history. Hirsch is looking to explore the landscape through the cultural understandings of the local people. (p1-5)
Beginning with one restaurant, Sonic has become the largest drive-in chain in the United States. While they are smaller than their competitors, they are still leading in sales growth, customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Sonic restaurants saturate the southern U.S. This gives them the opportunity to expand to other area. However, Sonic is reluctant due to the colder climates and their basis as a drive-in restaurant. Sonic should look at adding or combining capabilities to it’s restaurants to increase competitiveness and make it easier for them to expand into other areas without limiting themselves.
Postcolonial authors use their literature and poetry to solidify, through criticism and celebration, an emerging national identity, which they have taken on the responsibility of representing. Surely, the reevaluation of national identity is an eventual and essential result of a country gaining independence from a colonial power, or a country emerging from a fledgling settler colony. However, to claim to be representative of that entire identity is a huge undertaking for an author trying to convey a postcolonial message. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique amalgamation of history, culture, language and tradition. Only by understanding and embracing the idea of cultural hybridity when attempting to explore the concept of national identity can any one individual, or nation, truly hope to understand or communicate the lasting effects of the colonial process.