Is there a 'Music of Asia'?

• Music research seminar
• Organiser: Alex Cannon

Participants

• Dr Rupa Huq, MP

• Tas Bashir, PhD student, University of Birmingham

• Dr Alexander Cannon, Lecturer, Department of Music, University of Birmingham

• Dr Shzr Ee Tan, Senior Lecturer, Music Department, Royal Holloway University of London

• Dr Haekyung Um, Senior Lecturer, Department of Music, University of Liverpool

Summary

Variously called ‘music of the Far East’, ‘music of the Orient’, and ‘music of Asia’, music performance on the continent of Asia remains extraordinarily diverse. Ethnomusicologists today focus on discrete genres of music in certain countries, similar genres (such as ritual music) in different countries, and genres practiced by home-based and diasporic groups. This workshop asks ethnomusicologists of music produced in Asia to consider the role of genre classification in making and re-making a ‘culture of Asia’, and whether this kind of work really is beneficial to ethnomusicology and cultural studies. Should ethnomusicologists dispense with ‘music of Asia’ or even ‘music in Asia’ and instead propose new categories of music practice? Does this kind of work engage interdisciplinary approaches necessary for building an expanded toolbox for the ethnomusicologist? Or is there still value in talking about ‘Asian music’ in the twenty-first century?