The EAR is an informal discussion of ethnomusicology and archives at UCLA and beyond. It is issued four times a year, in the Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer quarters. Contributions from readers are welcome and should be sent to the editor, John Vallier, UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, 1630 Schoenberg Music Building, Box 951657, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1657; tel. 310-825-1695; fax 310-206-4738; email archive@arts.ucla.edu
Vol. 3, no. 1(Fall 2002)
Table of Contents
Archive Radio
Repatriating Recordings
Collection Updates
Research and Documentation Forms
Technological Improvements
Archive Happenings
Archive Visitors
Welcoming Archive Staff
Call for Theses, Dissertations, and Sound Recordings
CD Review
Archive Radio Hits the Net
In an effort to broaden the audibility of our collections, the Archive is airing
a weekly Internet radio show. Entitled "Sounds from the Vaults from the
Ethnomusicology Archive," the show broadcasts Wednesday afternoons from
1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (PST) on uclaradio.com.
The show's hosts--John Vallier and DJ Mwana Comete--spin tunes pulled from the
Archive's tens of thousands of recordings. Ranging from traditional rabab music
from Afghanistan to hyper-glossy Japanese pop, the show's hosts encourage participation
and input from UCLA students, staff, and faculty. During the month of December
2002 the show will be hibernating, revving up for its first 2003 broadcast on
Wednesday, January 8. For more information about the show--including selected
play lists and instructions on how to listen--go here: http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/Archive/radio_show.htm
Repatriating Cherokee Field Recordings
This fall the Archive repatriated a number of Cherokee field recordings from
the Charlotte Heth Collection (call number 75.2). With the consent of Dr.
Heth, the Archive made dubs of Stomp Dance recordings for the Museum
of the Cherokee Indian (MOCI). Many of the Stomp Dance songs recorded by
Dr. Heth in the 1970s have been forgotten. Cherokee Indian David Winston, who
is working with MOCI archivist Bo Taylor in facilitating the repatriation, writes
that the repatriated recordings will "be put to good use at our Stomp Dance
grounds." In addition, the Archive-once again, with Dr. Heth's permission-recently
repatriated both audio and video recordings of the Cherokee singer Archie Sam
to one of his former students in Oklahoma. These recordings will be used to
teach Archie Sam's forgotten songs to a new generation of Cherokee performers.
Collection Updates
Jean Borgatti Collection (call number 2002.2)
This past September, Jean Borgatti (http://www.clarku.edu/~jborgatt)--Associate
Professor of Visual and Performing Arts at Clark University--donated her unique
collection of Nigerian field recordings to the Archive. Recorded by Dr. Borgatti
between 1972 and 1974, and in 1979, the collection contains songs, stories,
prayers, chants, historical, biographical and autobiographical monologues, and
music recorded during the presentation of Edo masked dance displays. As Dr.
Borgatti writes, "most of the tapes were recorded among the Okpella, one
of numerous small ethnic groups living north of Benin City in Edo State in southern
Nigeria. The Okpella and their neighbors speak Edo languages and trace their
origins to Benin in their orthodox histories." Her tapes also document
Ekperi, Uzairue, Avianwu, Ekperi, Uwepa Uwano and Otuo songs, texts, and music.
Dr. Borgatti received both her MA (1971) and Ph.D. (1976) in Art History from
UCLA. She has been the curator for several Fowler
Museum exhibits and is the author of numerous publications. In September
of 2002 Dr. Borgatti returned to Nigeria in order to continue her research.
CD listening copies and accompanying notes for Dr. Borgatti's collection are
available the Archive.
UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology Audio-Visual Collection (call number
2002.1)
Beginning this fall 2002, the Archive is serving as the repository for a collection
of audio and audio-visual materials from the Department of Ethnomusicology.
The "Department of Ethnomusicology Audio-Visual Collection" contains
over 400 recordings. Contents of the recordings include a 1982 Music of Mexico
concert, Dizzy Gillespie's 1989 visit to the department, a performance by Royal
Nepalese Musicians in 1992, and lectures and concerts from the department's
Year of Archiving. The collection dates back to 1977 and is updated each quarter
with new AV recordings of departmental events.
Robert Simon Collection (call number 2000.1)
In October of 2000, Dr. Robert L. Simon deposited 133 open-reel tapes that he
recorded in India between 1971 and 1972, and in 1978. The 1971-72 tapes were
recorded as part of his dissertation research on Hindu religious music, especially
that of the Smarta Brahmins in South India. The 1978 tapes were recorded in
Maharashtra. Dr. Simon taught ethnomusicology at California State Polytechnic
University in Pomona for many years. Dr. Robert's dissertation, "Bhakti
Ritual Music in South India: A Study of the Bhajana in Its Cultural Matrix,"
was completed at UCLA in 1975. CD copies of Dr. Simon's tapes are available
in the Archive.
Turkish Music Therapy Cassettes (ARC 1629-1653)
This past quarter, music therapist and UCLA graduate Shelly Waldheim deposited
25 Turkish music therapy cassettes into the Archive. Performed by the Turkish
Music Research and Performing Group (TUMATA), these tranquil sounding recordings
are intended to relax the listener. Ms. Waldheim originally received the tapes
from Professor Clive Robbins while working on her MA in Music Therapy at NYU.
78rpm Recordings from Afghanistan (AR 2300-2320)
The Archive recently acquired a collection of Afghan 78 rpm records. Deposited
by Larry Modell, the recordings contain both instrumental and vocal music from
Afghanistan. Mr. Modell was a UCLA Folklore & Mythology student and performer
in the Aman Folk Ensemble at UCLA during the 1970's. CD listening copies of
these recordings are available in the Archive.
Radio Promos Roll In
As part of our desire to spread the word about our radio show "Sounds
From the Vaults," the Archive distributed a press release to a number
of World Music record companies. The response to this release has been impressive.
So far we have received dozens of promos from several record companies. We wish
to express our thanks to these organizations by noting their contributions below:
New Forms for Research and Documentation
An essential part of the Archive's mission is to preserve and provide access
to sound and audiovisual recordings in the field of ethnomusicology for future
generations. To help us realize this goal--and to facilitate the proper documentation
and use of materials deposited into the Archive--we are providing the following
forms. Some of the forms may be used during research--such as the participant
consent and information forms--and some may be more useful following fieldwork
as one prepares materials for deposit into the Archive. If you have problems
opening these MS Word documents, please contact us and we will send you the
forms via post.
1. Depositor Information Form: Collectors and/or depositors use this form to record information about themselves and their collections/deposits when depositing materials into the Archive.
2. Depositor Consent Form: Collectors and/or depositors fill out and sign this form when depositing materials into the Archive.
3. Media Description Form: Collectors and/or depositors use this form to describe each individual media to be deposited into the Archive.
4. Item Level Description Form: Collectors and/or depositors use this form to describe each item (e.g. interview, song, ritual, etc.) in the deposited collection. This form may be completed when out in the field or when depositing materials in the Archive.
5. Participant Information Form: Collectors and/or depositors use this form to record information about participants whom to contribute to their project. This form may be completed when out in the field or when depositing materials in the Archive.
6. Participant Consent Form: Collectors and/or depositors fill out this form and (if applicable) have the individual participant below. This form should be completed and signed by the participant when out in the field.
Technological Upgrades
In 1998 the Archive received a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities
to digitize a large number of analog field recordings. As part of the grant
the Archive purchased one digital-audio transferring station to convert and
then burn these collections onto CD-R. Having these recordings on CD has increased
both their longevity and accessibility. However, with economically affordable
advances in digital recording technology, what was a state-of-the-art setup
in the late 1990's (16 bit, 44.1 kHz) is no longer cutting edge. Thus, this
quarter we upgraded our facilities by purchasing two Macintosh compatible Digidesign
mBox/ProTools digital audio editing stations. We can now digitize our recordings
with increased fidelity (24 bit, 48 kHz) and--since we have two stations--can
work on multiple projects at a time.
Fall Quarter Archive Happenings
Archive Lecture Series: "Research Perspectives on the Italian Tango."
Professor Enrique Cámara de Landa (Universidad
de Valladolid, España) shared findings from his research on the Italian
Tango at the Archive on November 7, 2002. Professor Cámara explored the
role personal motivations played in his project, specific musical clichés
associated with the Tango, types of resources available for research in this
area, and attitudes leading to the interpretation of such sources. Professor
Cámara also donated a two-CD set to the Archive, "Discoteca Di Stato
Passione Argentina: Tangos Italianos de los Años '20" (ARCD 1325-1326).
Archive Listening Event: "With Groanings Too Deep for Words."
Roberto Miranda, bass player, composer, and faculty member in the Jazz Studies
Program at UCLA, recently released a new CD on Miguel Music. It features Kenny
Burrell on guitar, with Bobby Bradford on cornet, Charles Owens on woodwinds,
Billy Childs on piano, Don Littleton on percussion, and the great Billy Higgins
on drums (in one of his last recording appearances). While playing his CD at
the Archive on November 19, 2002, Mr. Miranda answered questions from listeners
and shared his thoughts about the recording experience. More information about
the CD, including excerpts from the disc, can be heard at http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/480/roberto_miranda.html
Archive Listening Event: "Sidi Sufis: African Indian Mystics of Gujarat: an Applied Ethnomusicology Project." Visiting Associate Professor Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy and Emeritus Professor Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy, both from the Department of Ethnomusicology, shared their latest CD release of Sidi music at the Archive on November 26, 2002. Sidis are descendants of Africans who traveled across the Indian Ocean from East Africa over the last millennium or more. Gujarati Sidis are Sufi Muslim devotees of the African merchant-saint Gori Pir. In their sacred songs, they credit Gori Pir with bringing the gift of joy (mauj/lehra) from the waves (mauj/lehra) of the sea. These recordings were made in collaboration with Abdul Hamid Sidi and the Sidi community during Jairazbhoy's survey of music in Sidi shrines in Gujarat, 1999-2002. A Senior Research Fellowship Grant from the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) 2001-2002 supported Amy's research. For more information about the 79-minute CD, contact Apsara Media for Intercultural Education - 13659 Victory Blvd., Suite 577, Van Nuys, CA 91401 - FAX (818) 785-1495. Both professors will be teaching a course in Indian classical music this Spring Quarter (2003) at UCLA.
Archive Visitors
Sotorios "Sam"Chianis
Professor Sam Chianis stopped by the Archive in early October and donated selected
transcripts of interviews he conducted with former members of the American Society
for Comparative Musicology. His interviewees included Dr. Charles Seeger, Professor
George Herzog, and Helen Heffron Roberts. Dr. Chianis received his Ph.D. in
music from UCLA, where he completed a dissertation on Greek music, entitled
"Vocal and Instrumental Tsamiko of Roumeli and the Peloponnesus" (1967).
Chianis' career spans more than 30 years at Binghamton
University, where in 1967 he became the first ethnomusicologist in the entire
SUNY system. The "Sotorios Chianis Collection: 67.2" consists of 23
sound tape reels made by Dr. Chianis in Roumele and the district of Arcadia
in the Peloponnesus, Greece, between 1958 and 1959. His dissertation, copies
of his recently deposited transcripts, and CD listening copies of his collection
are available in the Archive.
Robert Garfias
UCI Professor of Anthropology Robert
Garfias dropped in on the Archive early this Fall Quarter to assist us in
the development of our departmental photo collection. Professor Garfias, who
received both his MA (1958) and Ph.D. (1965) in music from UCLA, spent several
hours in the Archive combing through photos and notebooks, identifying contents
and relating stories about the history of the department. We look forward to
working with Professor Garfias and other UCLA graduates as we continue to process
the collection.
Dietrich Schueller
Ethnomusicologist and archivist Dietrich Schuller visited the Archive this past
October 2002. Dr. Schuller, who is an expert in audio preservation and Director
of the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian
Academy of Sciences, discussed the future of digital archiving within the
context of the Archive's collections. Specifically Dr. Schuller shared his findings
on the unreliability of CDs as a long-term preservation medium and the recommended
move towards backing up digital audio files on data tape and in self-checking,
audio-migrating Digital Mass Storage Systems (DMSS). Dr. Schuller graduated
in 1971 from the University of Vienna with a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and cultural
anthropology, and is-beyond his duties as Director of the Phonogrammarchiv-a
lecturer on audiovisual carriers at the University of Vienna.
This Quarter in the Archive
Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, Maureen Russell, and John Vallier would like to recognize
the Archive student staff of Fall 2002:
Yanni Afendoulis is a soon to graduate ethnomusicology major, specializing in
Greek music and Byzantine Chant.
Sathya Burchman is an ethnomusicology PhD student, specializing in Indonesian
and Cuban musics.
Abimbola Cole is a second year ethnomusicology graduate student, specializing
in South African rap and hip-hop.
Todd Honma is a second year graduate student in Information Studies and Asian
American Studies, specializing in critical theory and hip-hop culture.
Liz Hubartt is a first year graduate student in Information Studies, specializing
in music librarianship and information technology.
Liza Pasos, soon to leave us for a Librarian appointment at UCSB, received her
MLIS from UCLA in 2002. She specializes in archives and non-Western dance.
Call for Theses, Dissertations, and Audio/Visual Recordings
One of the primary responsibilities of the Archive is to collect, preserve,
and provide access to the dissertations and theses written by Department of
Ethnomusicology graduates. If you are a UCLA ethnomusicology graduate and have
not deposited a copy or your thesis or dissertation into the Archive, please
send us a copy. Also, if you would like to deposit your field recordings or
a collection of commercially produced non-Western sound recordings into the
Archive, please contact us.
Music Review
Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles (1921-1956).
Published/distributed: Los Angeles, CA : Rhino, p1999.
Publisher number: R2 75872 Rhino - Ethno Archive number ARCD 424-427
Central Avenue, which runs from Downtown Los Angeles to Watts, was the home of Los Angeles' forgotten jazz scene and at one time had more jazz clubs and bars than any other place in the world. It was the jazz centre of the universe and the atmosphere was electric. The resident African American community enlivened the street with their fashions, colors and rhythms. It was a place that redefined history. This was the place where Kid Ory made the first ever recordings by a full band of African-American musicians from New Orleans, the place that became home for Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday, the place that helped nurture bebop and gave birth to Dexter Gordon and Charles Mingus, the place that invented rhythm and blues. The overall sound we get from this collection is one of urgency and creativity, this is in oblique contrast to what the record industry promoted as a 'West Coast Sound' epitomised by the music of Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, and Dave Brubeck, which essentially derived from a white college aesthetic which smoothed out the rough edges of bebop for a 'cooler', light sound. This 'genre' was mainly performed by Hollywood session musicians which led to a stereotyped image of music and musicians from Los Angeles in contrast to those from New York. These CDs may go some way in dispelling this prejudice and rewriting histories of jazz that neglect Los Angeles as an important 'scene'.
The collection of 4 CDs manages to capture a glimpse of this remarkable creative and revolutionary era from 1921-56. But the rest we have to leave to our imagination, as this Central Avenue is long gone. Luckily, historian Steve Isoardi who is based at UCLA's oral history project, devoted years of his life to search through archives, documents, film and recordings to narrate this wonderful episode that is crucial to the history of jazz. His research was first published in 1998 as a book of the same title published by the University of California Press. We have had to wait until now for the much-needed soundtrack.
The music in the collection spans many genres and includes the finest practitioners of jazz. It is an all-star bill: The New Orleans based musicians, Kid Ory, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong contribute some typically fine works, Art Tatum is at the peak of his career, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton are there with their big bands, the blues of T-Bone Walker makes an appearance, R&B innovators Earl Bostic and Jimmy Scott set new standards and the finest bebop musicians Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon, the young Miles Davis and Buddy Collette, provide the highlight for me. These musicians, along with the progressive musical sounds of Charlie Mingus, Gerald Wilson and Eric Dolphy, produce a sound so modern that all of today's young jazz musicians are still trying to sound as hip as they did then.
The decline of LA's Central Avenue scene saw the loss of an intensely creative
space for musicians experimenting with new musical ideas. This CD really shows
jazz at its best but it forces the listener into nostalgia, a lament for the
passing of this golden era in jazz. While Los Angeles is still alive with innovative
African-American musicking, the image that is conjured up by this CD has a timeless
magic difficult to ever recapture.
- Iain Foreman
NOTE: For each issue of the EAR, we invite our readers to write reviews of the Archive's sound recordings. Reviews should be between 150 and 600 words and emailed to archive@arts.ucla.edu. The Archive's catalog can be accessed through Orion2: http://orion-2.library.ucla.edu/. Also, a list of the Archive's recent acquisitions can be found at http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/archive/acquisitions.htm.
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