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Performing identity within a multicultural framework

2005; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 6; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14649360500258153

1470-1197

Michelle Duffy,

Music History and Culture

Abstract The role of music in community festivals is often to assist in constructing a particular identity of place, and music functions in such instances as a means to provide a sense of belonging for participants. However, multicultural festivals complicate any simple relationship between place and identity, because such festivals demonstrate the heterogeneous state of both identity and place. Anxieties that arise around issues of cultural authenticity within such festivals point to concerns of hybrid identities that may challenge and threaten the maintenance of clearly demarcated identities in the face of transnational relations. Drawing on ethnographic material and theoretical conceptualizations of the self, this paper explores the dynamic and fluid constructions of identity at two Australian community music festivals, and raises questions on the sorts of practices that seek to regulate the ways in which these identities are constituted and performed. Dans le cadre de festivals populaires, une des fonctions de la musique est de contribuer à la construction d'une identité distincte du lieu qui a pour effet de procurer un sentiment d'appartenance aux participants. Toutefois, les festivals multiculturels brouillent toute tentative de définir une relation simpliste entre le lieu et l'identité. Ces festivals illustrent l'hétérogénéité qui caractérise l'identité et le lieu. Les sentiments d'angoisse qui émergent des enjeux à l'égard de l'authenticité culturelle de ces festivals soulèvent des préoccupations sur les identités hybrides qui, à l'instar des relations transnationales, pourraient ébranler, voire menacer, la pérennité des identités clairement définies. S'appuyant sur des objets ethnographiques et des conceptualisations théoriques sur le moi, cet article explore les constructions dynamiques et fluides de l'identité pendant la tenue de deux festivals populaires de musique en Australie. Des questions sont ensuite soulevées sur l'éventail de pratiques susceptibles d'influer sur la façon dont ces identités se constituent et sont interprétées. En los festivales comunitarios la música muchas veces ayuda a construir una identidad particular para el lugar y, en estas ocasiones, sirve para crear un sentido de pertenecer a algo para los participantes. Sin embargo, los festivales multiculturales hacen más complicada una relación simple entre lugar e identidad porque estos festivales demuestran el estado heterogéneo tanto de identidad como de lugar. Las ansiedades causadas por la cuestión de autenticidad cultural en este tipo de festival indican preocupaciones sobre identidades híbridas, las cuales pueden poner en cuestión y amenazar el mantenimiento de identidades claramente delimitadas, enfrentadas a relaciones transnacionales. Haciendo uso de materiales etnográficos y conceptualizaciones teóricos del 'ser', este papel explora las construcciones fluidas y dinámicas de identidad en dos festivales comunitarios de música en Australia y plantea cuestiones sobre prácticas que tratan de regular las maneras en que se constituyen y representan estas identidades. Keywords: music festivalAsiaAustraliamulticulturalperformativityidentitybelongingKeywords: festival de musiqueAsieAustraliemulticulturelperformativitéidentitéappartenanceKeywords: festival musicalAsiaAustraliamulticulturalrepresentaciónidentidadpertenecer Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Kate Darian-Smith, Dr Rob Kitchin, and the anonymous referees who provided helpful and constructive comments on this paper. Notes 1 In 2003, 33.5 per cent of Moreland's residents were born overseas, while 45 per cent of Moreland's residents (aged 5 years or more) spoke a language other than English at home, compared to 26 per cent of all Melbourne Statistical Division (MSD) residents (2001 ABS Census of Population and Housing). 2 Here Xu refers to the producer of the Festival of Asian Music and Dance, David Walker. 3 The north-west region of India, in an area along the border with Pakistan. 4 Kathak originated in Hindu temples, where professional storytellers recounted and interpreted tales from Hindu mythology. During the Mughal period (1526–1857) the kathak practice was introduced into the Muslim courts. This cultural intermingling produced a dance technique that required fast turns, complicated footwork and an intricate rhythmic language ( < www.dancemuse.com/dance.htm> accessed 10 March 2000). 5 Program notes for Kate Holmes, dancer, and Sukhbir Singh, singer, Indian and Western music and dance collaboration, Sun and Moon, Festival of Asian Music and Dance, Tom Mann Theatre, Surry Hills, Sydney, 22 April 1999. 6 The second performance Sykes reviewed, of Dang Lan and Sabahattin Akdagcik. 7 The semiotic involves the drives and emotions that connect and orient the self to the mother, and significantly, the semiotic houses the drives that are yet to be articulated within the symbolic realm (that is through language).