Search

During the twentieth century, piano accompaniment was introduced into the Scottish-based Canadian style of fiddling on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. This dynamic and fast-evolving form of extemporised accompaniment developed a distinct style and has influenced fiddle accompaniment elsewhere in North America. This article offers a brief history and stylistic analysis of Cape Breton piano accompaniment, and locates it within the tradition–innovation dialectic which remains important in Cape Breton’s fiddle scene. Through ethnographic interviews and archival work, I theorise the style as an outcome of ‘glocalisation’, where endogenous and exogenous elements are mixed and balanced both in the piano style itself and the discourse around it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work in applied ethnomusicology attempts to explain the dynamics of music endangerment and sustainability across global contexts. Building on these efforts, this article explores the relationships between the socio-economic circumstances of young musicians of traditional Cambodian genres, and the sustainability of those genres. Interviews with four young musicians illustrate some of the complex ways in which socio-economic concerns impact the maintenance and revitalisation of traditional musical practices in Cambodia. Many of these practices remain highly endangered, due to both the massive social and cultural disruption of the Khmer Rouge era and the ongoing socio-economic and political challenges since that time. The article concludes with recommendations on supporting the livelihoods of young musicians in contemporary Cambodia, as well as developing more effective strategies to support the viable future of that country’s traditional music. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Performing traditional music in Vietnam presents for many a decisive way to establish oneself as part of history, part of the present and a strategist of future cultural function. In this article, I describe how musicians in southern Vietnam deploy the musical ruin, a sound object that has undergone devastating and alienating alteration against which a musician reacts in order to perform innovative music and educate others, in order to limit the development of and better sustain đờn ca tài tử, a genre of traditional music. The invocation of the musical ruin is not specific to the Vietnamese case but emerges as a creative impetus at particular historical moments to maintain one's voice in increasingly crowded spheres of musical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]