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 UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive: archive@arts.ucla.edu

Vol. 3, no. 4 (Summer 2003)

Table of Contents
Radio Show Update
Collection Updates
· Strassberg Collection
· AFAMILA Project
· Record Company Promos
Where is Your Collection?
Call for Music Reviews
Welcoming New Archive Staff

Radio Show Update
"Sounds from the Vaults of the Ethnomusicology Archive" is back on the air after a brief summer hiatus. We will be broadcasting during lunch on Wednesdays, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm (PST). The show's hosts spin tunes pulled from the Archive's tens of thousands of recordings. We encourage participation and input from UCLA students, staff, and faculty - so let us know if you want to get involved with the show. You can listen by going to www.uclaradio.com or stopping by the Archive during Wednesday's showtime. 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

 

Collection Updates
Richard Strassberg Collection - Professor Richard Strassberg has generously donated a collection of 95 Taiwanese-issued records to the Archive. They include examples of opera and the shuochang genre and were produced by such companies as Four Seas Records and Mingfeng changpian gongsi/Cyring phoenix. A professor in UCLA's Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Strassberg collected the records while in Taiwan during the late 1960s. 20 records were transferred to CD by Nicholas Bergh with the help of funding from the UCLA East Asian Studies Interdepartmental Program (2002). Professor Helen Rees (Department of Ethnomusicology) was instrumental in facilitating the transfer of the recordings into the Archive and securing funds for digitization. Dr. Rees has also produced a detailed finding aid for those recordings that were digitized. Finding aid and CDs are available for use in the Archive.

AFAMILA Project -

"Nowhere on the Pacific coast, not even in cosmopolitan San Francisco, was there so diverse a mixture of racial groups, so visible a contrast and so pronounced a separation among people, in the 1920s" (Fogelson, Robert. 1967. The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles 1850-1930. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Page 83).

Robert Fogelson's description of a 1920's Los Angeles still rings true 80 years later. Los Angeles is, more than ever, characterized by ethnic diversity and separation. UCLA is a case in point. Nestled between the privileged neighborhoods of Westwood, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, and Bel Air, UCLA appears to many Angelenos as distant and removed, an ivory tower cordoned off from the real world.

The UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive-the third largest archive of its kind in the country-has long preserved and provided access to musics from ethnically diverse populations. Since its inception in 1961, the Archive has acquired many unique collections of field recordings from around the world and has been noted for its service to the discipline of ethnomusicology. In an effort to expand its collection development policy and address the overarching divide between UCLA and Los Angeles' communities-the Ethnomusicology Archive and Kayamanan Ng Lahi Philippine Folk Arts have begun a collaborative project entitled "Archiving Filipino-American Music in Los Angeles" (AFAMILA). This year-long UCLA in LA funded partnership has four main objectives: 1) expanding the Archive's Filipino collections; 2) increasing access to recordings already held by UCLA and the community; 3) producing a list of Filipino sound recordings, audiovisual recordings, and other resources that are currently a part of the Archive's holding; and 4) hosting an end-of-the-project symposium at UCLA.

The Archive kicked off the AFAMILA project this past September 6th and 7th by recording and documenting the 12th annual Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture (FPAC). Presented by the Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts & Culture (Fil-AM ARTS) FPAC brings together artists, musicians, dancers, and others with an interest in Philippino traditional and/or contemporary artistic expression through dance, music, theater, literature, photography, visual arts, film, video, and cuisine.

This year's FPAC included performances by Joe Bataan, Rachel Alejandro, Rex Navarrete, Honey Luv, Kayamanan Ng Lahi, Giselle Tongi, Paolo Montalban,Maria Quiban, Marie Matiko, Peng, Native Guns, Kayumanggi Project, Room to Improv, Invid, Deity, and Pedro Gil. Higlights also included the 5th Annual FPAC Poetry Slam, the 2nd Annual FPAC Amateur DJ Battle, and demonstrations of various Filipino Martial Arts (e.g. Arnis, Eskrima, and Kali).

Special thanks to our community partner Joel Jacinito of KNL and to our crew of FPAC ethnographers: E.Mel, Amy Frishkey, Kevin Miller, Jason Nable, and AFAMILA GSR Eleanor Lipat.

Radio Promos Continue to Roll In - Many World Music record companies continue to send the Archive promos for our radio show, "Sounds from the Vaults." We wish to express our thanks to these organizations by noting their donations below:


Where is Your Collection?
Are you a MA or Ph.D. graduate from the UCLA ethnomusicology program? If so, have you deposited a copy of your thesis or dissertation in the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive? Have you deposited your field recordings into the Archive? One of the primary responsibilities of the Archive is to collect, preserve, and provide access to the dissertations, theses, and field recordings produced by UCLA ethnomusicology graduates. And whether or not you are affiliated with UCLA, if you would like to deposit your field recordings and/or a collection of commercially produced non-Western sound recordings into the Archive, please contact us. We would be happy to work with you.

Music Reviews for the Next EAR
For the next issue of the EAR, we invite our readers to write reviews of the Archive's recently acquired sound recordings. Reviews should be between 150 and 500 words and emailed to us no later than December 1, 2003. A list of the Archive's recent acquisitions can be found here: http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/archive/acquisitions.htm

Fall 2003 in the Archive
The Archive director and librarians wish to welcome the following new staff members on board: Chris Aplin, Amy Frishkey, Meagan Rancier, Socrates Silva, Tim Welch, Patrick Xavier, and Youngmin Yu. And a hearty "welcome back" to Rachel Bieber, Abimbola Cole, Eleanor Lipat, and Ann Lucas!

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