In week 26 of Global Sonic Cultures we focused on the concept of Sonic Activism. Learning about groups such as Ultra-red and Soundpocket, we also briefly discussed the ideas associated to sound and gentrification.

The changing sound scapes in areas of gentrification are reflective of social and spatial positioning. I was interested in this topic following class and found an article that is reflective of how silence through gentrification is also silencing the past. As quoted from the paper on gentrification and sound in Washington DC ” To that end, if renewal is about an active silencing, erasure, and the forgetting of a marginalized past, processes of gentrification render certain sounds silent as they signal a history that must be forgotten. These soundscapes produce clear boundaries around who belongs and has rights to be in place, but also how people make use of the city.” (Summers, pp. 35). Social reform and social justice movements, through the use of protest and community, seem to be forgotten in the world of active and participatory silence, as new communities choose to reside rather than to live in areas. Living is through noise, residing is through silence. As quoted from an Atlantic journal article in regards to attending an Ivy League college as a scholarship student, Xochitl Gonzalez emphasises the point in saying “I didn’t yet know that you don’t live on an Ivy League campus. You reside on one. Living is loud and messy, but residing? Residing is quiet business.” (Gonzalez, para. 3).

Summers, B. (No date) Reclaiming the chocolate city: Soundscapes of gentrification and resistance in Washington, DC. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0263775820978242 (Accessed: 13 May 2023). 

Gonzalez, X. (2023) Why do rich people love quiet?, The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/09/let-brooklyn-be-loud/670600/ (Accessed: 13 May 2023). 

The prompt I chose to write my assessment on for the Global Sonic Cultures module is “A critical contextualisation and analysis of a sonic case study of your choosing”. For this assignment I am going to analyse the cultural impact, musical structure, instrumentation, period influence, critical reaction, personal interpretation, and structure of one of my favourite film scores “American Beauty” composed by Thomas Newman.

The score of “American Beauty” is an incredible representation of the use of emotion in a score through instrumentation and arrangement, as well as the direct depiction of the motif of the film through the music as well. In delving into the psychological and musical components of the score alongside the film I plan to create a deep analysis that contextualises the film in a culture and artistic context.

On April 28th I was introduced to the concepts of Afro-Sonics in Global Sonic Cultures. The concepts of participatory archives, diasporas of culture and music through the communities formed by freed slaves, and Afrofuturism all resonated with me.

Polyrhythmic music was the first concept I researched following the lecture. Playing two or more rhythms in parallel is crucial to most African music, and in researching and listening to Hugh Tracey’s recordings of Zimbabwe and Uganda 1 I found the use of cross rhythms very prevalent. This contributed to my thoughts on participatory archives as I’ve recently been debating my perspective on collecting music from cultures considered to be on the global periphery. I went to Cuba in November to visit family and I recorded a lot of live music and felt invasive at times but apart of the group at other times, especially when the recordings took place in a home.

From my current perspective the recordings from Hugh Tracey are a perfect example of pure fascination and admiration for another culture that is not directly related to the interacting party. His admiration seems to be derived from a more of an amazed perspective rather than a colonial or intrusive perspective. Collecting instruments, and learning how to participate in the jams was apparent in the practice of the International Library of African Music.

In Global Sonic Cultures we recently discussed and analysed decolonisation, and its affects on culture. Decolonisation references writing back and giving emphasis towards histories that have been affected by colonialism. Emphasising culture, decolonisation is not just about learning or establishing cultures, however, it is also about bringing the world away from the periphery, and centralising all countries on the same perspective of influence, and importance. More specifically the decolonisation of sound focuses on bringing forward other sonic cultures to light other than western style music. This could include diversifying school programs to include other scales and styles, encouraging media discussion and significance of other music styles, and internationalising music curation discussions, as highlighted by George E. Lewis.

My interest in international music, specifically eastern music, began through traveling and placing myself into as many musical situations as I could. Most notable, was the time I stayed with my friend’s family in Turkey and learned how to understand and play the Saz I purchased. The Saz is a 7 string Turkish instrument that utilises microtones in its fretting system.

Alongside the discussion on April 14th I watched this discussion on the decolonisation of sound objects.

https://www.praksisoslo.org/events-calendar/2020/8/chattopadhyay