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Leante, Laura
(2007).
Abstract
This essay presents a comprehensive approach to the study of identity and meaning construction arising from the encounter between Western popular music and South Asian music. The paper discusses the ambiguity between what is perceived and/or represented as “self” and what is considered as “other” in the cross-cultural production and reception of music.
Three main case studies are investigated chronologically: the Hindustani music-influenced songs by the Beatles; the development of mass-mediated bhangra; and the music of British Asian artist Nitin Sawhney. Through these cases distinct aspects of the encounter between South Asian and Anglo-American popular music are highlighted and different research methodologies explored.
This article combines perspectives developed in the fields of ethnomusicology and popular music studies. The paper is based on original research and the analysis is carried out on an interdisciplinary basis, as both ethnography and semiotics are employed alongside traditional musicological analysis.
The essay was originally developed as a guest lecture in January 2005 at the annual Seminar held by the IISMC, Fondazione Cini, Venice, Italy. It is now available as a multimedia publication on the Fondazione Cini’s website (http://www.cini.it/italiano/04attivita/seminari/etno/etno2005/leante.html), together with a collection of the other lectures given on the same occasion, edited by the author herself.
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