Ethnomusicology
How and why are humans musical? Sometimes when looking into the reasons why we make and listen to music, we find out more about ourselves and humanity. This is what captivated me to study and teach ethnomusicology.
Abstracts
"Three Ainu Musicians: A Legacy of Resistance and Synergy"
In May 1997, the Japanese Diet passed the Ainu Cultural Promotion Act (CPA), seen as a watershed moment for Ainu rights following two decades of social and political struggle. Far from fulfilling the hopes of the Ainu coalition, the law was seen by many Ainu as a weak compromise for indigenous rights demanded by the Ainu political faction. Yet, the CPA had a profound effect on the landscape of Ainu performing arts. Three Ainu musicians—Oki Kano, Yūki Kōji, and Ogawa Motoi, all children of well-known political activists from the 1970s and ’80s—interacted with the political process leading up to the passage of this law and continue to negotiate the aftereffects of its cultural influence to this day. In what ways do these musicians deal with the power dynamic of the Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture (FRPAC), the administrative agency for the CPA? Contextualizing the CPA within the larger arc of Ainu social movements, this study explores how minoritization shaped musical expression, how the Ainu musicians contributed to the political process, and how political activism evolved into cultural activism through the resurgence of Ainu performing arts.
The Journey of the Tonkori: Ainu Multicultural Transmission
This dissertation addresses the ways in which the Ainu tonkori, a fretless zither, has come to represent the resurgence of Ainu performing arts in Japan as an important identity marker for the Ainu as a minority culture that is commonly perceived to be extinct by most people in Japanese society. The dissertation traces Ainu historical engagement with the Japanese, starting with the Jomon Neolithic period through successive stages of trade, colonization, and assimilation. By tracing these periods of engagement, we can observe how cross-cultural influences have affected the tonkori and its tradition, and how subjugation practices from colonization led to the rise of Ainu social movements and the reconstruction of a new performing arts genre with the tonkori as its main instrument. The dissertation presents Ainu performing arts as a contemporary phenomenon, one that is being newly created and currently in a transformative process, initiated by key musicians who are also cultural and political leaders. The tonkori is emblematic as a musical instrument that allows its practitioners to convey a distinct Ainu indigeneity within Japanese society, a notion that challenges accepted beliefs in Japan of a homogeneous ethnic identity. This work addresses the roles of individual musicians within the Ainu social movement as mediators engaging with Japanese and international institutions and also as bearers of a newly emerging musical tradition.
“Ainu Tonkori and Personhood in Contemporary Japan”
The tonkori is a fretless zither of the indigenous Sakhalin Ainu of Japan, transplanted from Sakhalin Island (Russia) to Hokkaido Island (the northernmost island in Japan) at the close of the Second World War. The Ainu, a former hunter-gatherer people, have traditionally observed personhood in all things, including humans, animals, natural phenomena, and objects. This paper addresses the engagement by Ainu musicians with the tonkori as having personhood—as a female-gendered person that needs to be cared for properly in order for her to “speak”— drawing on the recent scholarship of “new animism” that addresses indigenous ontology and perspectives. Much of the Ainu’s traditional everyday activities engaged in recognizing and respecting spirits that took various physical forms, often seen as persons with special powers and traveling in the human world as gifts for the Ainu. The tonkori was given special status in traditional Sakhalin Ainu culture and many narratives that describe tonkori’s ventures remain in their folktales and epic poetry. Even though Ainu descendants have been culturally assimilated into Japanese society, Ainu animist ontology is still present in the minds of Ainu descendants, and they negotiate ontological universes between traditional Ainu and post-war Japanese beliefs, which sometimes parallel and sometimes crossover. By exploring “new animism,” this paper investigates and probes the animist nature of the tonkori instrument and an indigenous culture’s music within a technologically advanced society of Japan.
Documentary Film: Fretless Spirits: Ainu Tonkori Musicians
The tonkori's transformation from an obscure fretless zither to a vital instrument representing Ainu indigeneity was a process carried out by key tonkori musicians that began after WWII in Japan and continues presently as part of an Ainu cultural resurgence. My documentary film chronicles the experiences and world-views of four tonkori musicians; how they have come to dedicate their life to play the tonkori, and how identity is negotiated and altered by being an Ainu tonkori player. Each musician articulates a unique perspective about their personal connection with the tonkori instrument; they speak on the spiritual nature of their bond and how it forms a strong attachment with their ancestors. The connection is also sociopolitical, for 95% of Ainu people hide their Ainu ancestry from society: their friends, co-workers, and sometimes from extended family members. Passing as a Japanese is complicated by a social system dictated by prevailing notions of homogeneity. This film explores how Ainu performers assert a multicultural presence in Japan and expose the internal colonial past by carrying on the post-war human rights recovery movement. It is no accident that three of the Ainu performers are children of key Ainu human rights activists from the 1960s and 1970s. The project incorporates interviews and performances from the Ainu tonkori players with subtitles, footages of Ainu community events, and interviews with scholars living in Hokkaido who have conducted critical research on Ainu culture. Length of film: 43 minutes.
"Negotiating animism in the twenty-first century: Perspectivism in the Ainu Tonkori"
This paper explores how animist notions in the indigenous culture of the Ainu in Japan have been reimagined in contemporary society, and follows how these notions were affected by the contextual change of musical practice from the late nineteenth century (when the Ainu were formally colonized) to the present time. How intrinsic were animist notions in traditional Ainu music and how have they been translated into the contemporary activities of Ainu's unique zither, the tonkori? I reflect on the significance of the concept of "perspectivism," examined by scholars working in Amazonian indigenous peoples (e.g. Seeger, Viveiros de Castro, Brabec de Mori), to Ainu animist notions. Viveiros de Castro defines perspectivism as "the ideas in indigenous cosmologies concerning the way in which humans, animals, and spirits see both themselves and one another" (1998). This preliminary study considers the importance of perspectivism and the inclusion and/or the absence of animist notions, such as "personhood," in Ainu music-making, and the relevance of these notions in contemporary indigenous culture.
Publications
"Three Ainu Musicians: A Legacy of Resistance and Synergy"
In National Museum of Ethnology Collection of Essays from the Music and Minorities 2014 International Symposium. Osaka, Japan.
Ph.D. DISSERTATION: "The Journey of the Tonkori: a Multicultural Transmission."
2015. University of California, Santa Cruz.
"Negotiating Animism in Indigenous Ainu Music."
In Voicing the Unheard: Music as windows for minorities. Paris: L/Harmattan.
DOCUMENTARY FILM:
"Fretless Spirit."
2014. length of film: 43 minutes. A documentary film of Ainu tonkori musicians.
"Old and New Sakhalin Rock."
2010. Apraksin Blues, No. 19 http://www.apraksinblues.com/apk-issue/ab19/
Conference papers
"Sounding Indigeneity in the Anthropocene: an Auditory Anthropology of Power and Resistance."
Nov. 2019. American Anthropological Association Annual Conference, Vancouver, CA.
"Tales of Tragic Love: An Obon Dance Festival for Spirits from the Inland Sea of Japan."
July 2019. International Council of Traditional Music World Conference, Bangkok, Thailand.
"Performing Indigenous Sound Ecologies."
Oct. 2019. American Musicological Society Annual Conference, Boston, MA.
"Ainu Tonkori and Personhood in Contemporary Japan."
Nov. 2016. from the Panel "Exploring Personhood: 'New Animism' in Ethnomusicology." Annual conference of the Society of Ethnomusicology, Washington D.C.
"Negotiating Animism in the Twenty-first Century: Perspectivism in the Ainu Tonkori."
July 2016. International Council for Traditional Music - Music and Minorities Study Group Symposium, Rennes, France.
"Three Ainu Musicians: A Legacy of Resistance and Synergy."
July 2014. International Council for Traditional Music—Music and Minorities Study Groups Symposium, Osaka, Japan.
"Fretless Spirit"
(documentary film). Oct. 2014. Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA.
"Oki Kano's Dub Ainu Band as Ainu Tonkori Revival?"
Nov. 2012. Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
Courses taught
Studies in Popular Music
This course is a historical survey course on popular music in the United States covering more than 150 years from the mid-nineteenth century up to the present. We begin by exploring definitions of popular music and will start with the Postwar Early Rock ‘n Roll genre, chronologically progressing up to Early Hip Hop. We will then explore the roots of popular music by taking a critical look at Minstrelsy in the nineteenth century and its problematic aspects of racism, and chronologically studying the popular genres up to the Second World War. The interdependence of African American and European American cultures that essentially formed popular music is the core theme of this course. Examining culture and identity through social movements, technological developments, and historical events—all through the lens of popular music are key aspects of this course.
Asian Musical Cultures
This introductory survey course explores the sounds, histories, cultures, communities, modes of engagements, and sociopolitical aspects of influential musical styles found in Asia—and in Asian American communities in the United States. The course covers a wide range of the musical styles, from venerable classics to contemporary popular musical practices. Issues of ethnicity, gender, class, diversity, identity, and cultural politics will be addressed continuously throughout the semester.
Music Appreciation
This course provides an introduction to the history and development of Western Art Music (a.k.a. “Classical” Music) from the Middle Ages to the present. In particular, it presents key genres of classical musics as they developed through the ages. The course will not only give students an overview of the main styles, forms, and people in music history, but will also equip them with tools to break the music apart, to tease the elements of form, rhythm, timbre, texture, meter, melody, harmony, etc. out of the music, as well as to place genres in their historic, cultural, and societal place. The Classical Music repertoire will be examined and discussed in light of the social, political, economic, and artistic situation of the musicians involved as well as of the milieu in which they moved. The music and the societies studied will be put into dialogue with contemporary experiences.
Music of Japan
Music of Japan is a course that explores the sounds, histories, cultures, communities, modes of engagements, and sociopolitical aspects of musical styles found in Japan, from traditional to contemporary musical practices. Issues of ethnicity, gender, class, diversity, identity, and cultural politics will be addressed. Three themes provide the focus and guide the selection of music: 1) the interface of Japan with other cultures; 2) the gradual process of popularization that has occurred in the musical arts from historical times to the present, and 3) intertextuality in Japanese musical arts. Students will participate in a workshop that will teach Japanese taiko, and the workshop will culminate in a performance on campus.
Seminar on Rhythm and Time
This course will take a deep dive into the connection between rhythm, time, and expression. What it means to “play rhythmically” and how it drives expression in music. We will explore and analyze its components, historic relationships, period practices and significance in western art music as well as global interpretations of rhythm and time. The first part of the course will look within western art music, and we will have discussions on interpreting meter/rhythm/tempo and de-code these elements in western musical notation through theoretical text and applied performing. The second part of the course will explore and analyze notions of rhythm & time in non-western cultural areas, including West Africa, Japan, and India. Students will participate through discussions and will play on their instruments or sing.
Music of the World's Peoples
Music of the World’s Peoples is a course that provides an overview of musical traditions throughout the world by focusing on case studies from the following nine geo-cultural regions: East-Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Middle East, Oceania, Africa, Europe, South America, and North America. A variety of genres that often fall within the definition of traditional, folk, popular (world), and art music (classical) are examined within their cultural contexts.
Women in Music
This course is designed to give an overview of the role of women in a wide variety of musical cultures and genres. Students will analyze musical works and the manner in which women are portrayed as performers, producers, audience members, and consumers. Major topics covered include: women in popular musics, women in Western art (classical) music, and women in non-Western music. Through the course of this class, students are expected to gain critical listening skills, become familiar with musical fundamentals, and improve their ability to discuss and analyze cultural and social issues in terms of feminist theory.
Introduction to World Music
Introduction to World Music is a course for non-music majors that provides an overview of musical traditions throughout the world by focusing on case studies from the following ten geo-cultural regions: East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Middle East, Central Asia, Oceania, Africa, Europe, South America, and North America. In addition to familiarizing themselves with musics from these regions, students are encouraged to question the formation of such boundaries and of such categories as “world music,” “traditional music,” and “folk music.” A variety of genres that often fall within the definition of tradition, folk, popular, and art music are examined within their cultural contexts. This course also gives attention to the manner in which world musics are globalized and commodified by the media and recording industries; as such, it encourages the use of native terms for musical concepts, instruments, and genres whenever possible.
Class and Race in Japanese Performing Arts
This course is an introduction into four distinct genres of Japanese performing arts: Kabuki theater, Joryuri storytelling, Taiko drumming, and indigenous Ainu music. The course will study their musical styles and history and investigate how they are defined by class and race. The class will include lectures, videos, group discussions, and presentations by student topic groups. Topic Groups of three to four members will focus on a particular aspect of each genre, form questions on their topic, research their topic, and give a presentation on their topic for each genre.