Well, I didn't find much common ground among the readings and movie for this week, but I was interested in most of them. Gopinath and Stanyek's "Anytime, Anywhere" was a dense read, and not particularly helpful. I get the importance of defining terms, but forty pages seems a bit overkill to describe such an intuitive concept as mobile music. What's insightful about saying that music is in motion? How else is it supposed to reach our ears and help us connect with others? We live in a three-dimensional plane involving exchanges of energy. What's new?
On the flip side, "Searching for Sugar Man" is a work of ethnomusicology that's both intelligible and concrete. The subject himself, Sixto Rodriguez, is a model of musical humility. Far from academic pontifications, the documentary actively untangles music issues: music can be transplanted, but at what cost? "Searching for Sugar Man" seems at times to suggest that ethical issues (regarding money and recognition) are tangential to Rodriguez's story - a rare take in today's academic circles, where social phenomena are examined primarily through power relations (thanks a lot, Foucault). "Well what about the struggles we have in common?" asks the documentary, showing how Rodriguez's music fueled the fight to end Apartheid in South Africa. I would be lying if I said I wasn't refreshed by this viewpoint.
Juris' "Frequencies of Transgression" grapples with autonomy: is autonomy about living independently from one's society and its oppression, or living within it, opening up "new social-historical forms" as means to resist? My favorite philosopher, Jacques Ellul, says "to exist is to resist," (implying that closing oneself off completely is impossible) and this is certainly true for Juris' radio show, as well as for other community ventures he describes. I sympathize with the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), so Juris' mention of Mexican free software efforts really landed on me: how is pirating and sharing software a way of enforcing autonomy? What are the challenges of this? How does this struggle manifest differently in a country like Mexico, "given [its] widespread practice of unregulated media circulation"? In tech communities, we encounter problems with leadership, like how to give voice to individuals given the anonymity of free software. So who do we chose to define us? Where do we situate hope in the struggle for freedom, regarding software but also expression and music?
Finally, the article on sonideros was a fascinating read. I was in Mexico City over winter break and witnessed firsthand this relationship between power and sound: street vendors used their voices as marketing (a loud voice is an asset, I remember thinking, but is it a commodity?) and there were a few blocks dedicated solely to sound system shops (sound waves colliding for attention). The article added nuance to my experience, portraying a grapple for authenticity in a scene where music is becoming less and less important: "This is a critique that I hear from many seasoned sonideros—that these events have become too much about the sheer size and spectacle of the experience, and not enough about the music."
This is a perfect segue to my musical adventure this week. Three friends and I went to Alchemy on Sunday to check out an event titled "Grind Mode Cypher Presents: Open Mic & Performances." The performance ended up being a bit disappointing, but I did witness a couple of things. For one, the performers were all male-presenting and displayed extraordinary levels of self-confidence. They just barked away at the microphone, regardless of the fact that the dance floor hosted a sparse, lethargic group. It's interesting to see patriarchy in practice after being so sheltered on College Hill. If I could stand up on a stage and accept failure like that, what else could I achieve? Where can I get that kind of self-confidence? Is there anything to learn from hyper-masculinity? Where do I situate empowerment? This is especially intriguing to me, as a longtime fan of hip-hop: how can I reconcile my gender with the sexism in certain songs I love? Is it okay that they empower me? Should I be listening to these songs at all?
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