T20827

Kings College London

School of Arts & Humanities
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Candidate no. T 2 0 8 2 7

Module Title: Music, Gender and Sexuality: Global Perspectives

Module Code:
6AAMS389
(e.g. 5AABC123 )

Essay no:
1
(e.g. 1 or 2)
Essay Title:
(may be abbreviated) The Interaction of Cross-Cultural Musical Performances and
Gender Ideology in Societies

Assignment tutor/group: Martin Stokes

Deadline: 25th Feb, 2014
Date Submitted: 24th Feb, 2014
Word Count: 1969

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accurately above.
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of Examiners in the School of Arts & Humanities.

DECLARATION BY STUDENT
This assignment is entirely my own work. Quotations from secondary literature are indicated by the
use of inverted commas around ALL such quotations AND by reference in the text or notes to the
author concerned. ALL primary and secondary literature used in this piece of work is indicated in the
bibliography placed at the end, and dependence upon ANY source used is indicated at the
appropriate point in the text. I confirm that no sources have been used other than those stated.
I understand what is meant by plagiarism and have signed at enrolment the declaration
concerning the avoidance of plagiarism.
I understand that plagiarism is a serious examinations offence that may result in disciplinary
action being taken.

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T20827

Anthropologists Ortner and Whitehead once stated that 'the study of gender is inherently a

study of relations of asymmetrical power and opportunity.'1 Whether in the traditional binary

view of gender, where male are considered the 'structural superior' and female the 'structural

inferior', or in the contemporary multiple-dimension-view, where gender is defined by not

only the biological features of male and female but also the ever-changing social beliefs and

practices that vary individually, Ortner and Whitehead's comment on gender studies seem to

fit the bill.2 The dynamics among the two, or more, genders is often observed through cultural

practices and beliefs. For instance, Serbo-Croatian songs were traditionally divided into two

categories, the heroic songs and the female songs. Such division reflects the Serbo-Croatians'

belief that women's identity was separated and opposite of heroes.3 The focus on cross-

cultural public performances, which were mainly performed by male, led anthropologists in

1960s to 1970s to believe that most of the observed societies were androcentric.4 While this

observation is not untrue, recent studies on women's musical performances, often private, and

their involvement with rituals provide us a more all-rounded view on the relationship

between gender and culture. With case studies including both men and women's musical

involvement, this essay will focus on how the cross-cultural studies in musical performances

reflect the asymmetrical power and opportunities of gender. On the other hand, in the light of

the later ever-changing definition of gender, we will also explore how musical performances

have influenced the balance of power and opportunities of genders.

1
Sheery Ortner and Harriet Whitehead, 'Introduction: Accounting for Sexual Meanings', Sexual Meanings: The
Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality, (Cambridge, 1981), 1-30.
2
Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure, (Chicago, 1969), 184. as quoted in Koskoff,
'Introduction', 11.
Tullia Magrini, 'Introduction: studying Gender in Mediterranean Musical Cultures', Music and Gender:
Perspectives From the Mediterranean, ed. Tullia Magrini, (Chicago, 2000), 1-32.
3
Ellen Koskoff, 'Introduction', Women and Music in Cross Cultural Perspective, ed. Ellen Koskoff and Carole
Robertson, (New York, 1987), 9.
4
Koskoff, 2.

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Although each society has its micro-system of using musical performances to

symbolise gender behaviour, there are some common features shared by most societies; for

example, men's musical performances usually symbolise and display their power, women's

musical involvements are often closely related to their sexuality etc. These features can both

be observed in the rituals of Kalapalo Indians living in Central Brazil. Like many other

societies, men are responsible for providing food, while women are responsible for childbirth

and domestic duties like processing food.5 During the dry season starting from September,

the Kalapalo Indians would perform a series of rituals that include Yamurikumalu, women's

collective performances of various songs and dances, and Kagutu, men's flute-playing and

dancing in the group of three.6 Women's Yamurikumalu performances are highly dependent

on their sexuality. For instance, in the collective dance on the day of the feast, grandmothers

only direct the younger dancers, but they do not participate the dance because they are not

deemed attractive to men anymore while the dance is considered a 'dramatic display of

feminine strength and beauty,' according to anthropologist Ellen Basso.7 The Kalapalo

women's songs, Kagutukuegi, are also reflective towards the sexual habit of the Kalapalo

Indians. While husbands provide food and attend social events with their wives, most men

and women in the society have extra-marital sex partners, whom they called lovers.8

Although these 'affairs' are mutually agreed by men and women and accepted in the society,

the Kalapalo Indians usually still keep their affairs discrete.9 During the dry season, one of

the rituals is that women would sing a collective song with solo phrases mocking and

exposing the embarrassing sexual habit of their lovers.10 This musical culture not only acts as

5
Ellen Basso, 'Musical Expression and Gender Identity in the Myth and Ritual of the Kalapalo of Central Brazil',
Women and Music in Cross Cultural Perspective, ed. Ellen Koskoff and Carole Robertson, (New York, 1987),
165-176.
6
Basso, 165.
7
Basso, 169.
8
Basso, 164.
9
Basso, 164.
10
Basso, 168.

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a communicative device between the two genders, but also provides a bonding moment

among women.

While the Kalapalo musical rituals do reflect some features commonly found in other

cultures, it is also unique in some ways. In many societies, men usually perform in public

settings in most societies as a means to display power; yet, in Kalapalo, women are forbidden

to watch men's flute performance or they would face the serious consequence of being gang

raped.11 This extremely violent 'punishment' is rooted from the Kalapalo Indians' view on

sexuality. Basso described the relationship between men and women in Kalapalo as 'opposite

and complementary'.12 The Kalapalo Indians believe that temporary divinity can be achieved

when male and female sexualities are combined, hence in the rituals, both men and women

would adopt qualities from the opposite sex in order to achieve temporary power.13 With that

said, only men are allowed to become shamans because the Katapalo Indians believe that

power detests menstruation as it is unclean.14 As a result, during the course of preparation of

flute performance, men would avoid sexual contact with women because of their association

with menstruation.15 The large tube-like flute that men use in performance are considered a

symbol of the female reproductive organ, when the flute is not being played, it is considered

'menstruating'.16 Thus, when men play the flute, they are considered themselves to be

momentarily contaminated by femininity; to avoid shame, they pose an extreme threat to

women who witness their flute performance. This example coincides with anthropologist

Magrini's view that men in most society value honour so much that they become vulnerable

to shame.17 Realising the fragility of their superiority, men often use musical performances as

11
Basso, 173.
12
Basso, 164.
13
Basso, 172.
14
Basso, 165.
15
Basso, 166.
16
Basso, 170.
17
Magrini, 15.

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a symbol of oppression towards women.18 In this case, the Kalapalo men re-enforce their

social status by excluding women from observing their performance and posing serious threat

to those who do not obey.

The Katapalo Indians' musical practice not only reflect male dominant social structure

in Katapalo, but also shows us that musical practices are active agents to regulate the

dynamics between men and women in the societies. In the above case, the secrecy of

Kalapalo men's flute performances confirms the sexual arrangements in the Katapalo society.

In other cases, as Koskoff pointed out, the asymmetrical power distribution between men and

women can also be protested, either openly or subtly, mediated, or even transformed by

musical performances.19 In other words, while interacting with the economy, politics and

social changes of a society, musical performances have the power to shape, or at least help

shaping, its social norms.

The legacy of Umm Kulthum is a good example of how musical performances

interact with and influence the society's expectations of genders. Umm Kulthum was one of

the few, if not the only, Arabic female who managed to dominate the Arabic musical culture

by establishing new musical practices, such as Ughniyya and Taqtuqa, in Egypt in the

twentieth century. For example, with the song 'In Kunt Asaamih', Umm Kulthum displayed

the innovative practice of adopting triadic and operatic features of European classical music

while including virtuosic monologues derived from older Arabic musical genre, the dawr.20

Despite her success in introducing innovative practices in Arabic music, Umm Kulthum held

on to her Muslim root closely. In fact, she had to learn and embrace practices expected from a

traditional Quran reciter before she became famous enough to transform Arabic music. For

18
Koskoff, 13.
19
Koskoff, 10.
20
Virginia Danielson, 'Media, Style, and Idiom', The Voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic Song and Egyptian
Society in the Twentieth Century, (Chicago, 1998), 71-72.

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instance, she memorized the whole Quran when she was a child, she dressed as a boy during

her teen to avoid being judged by the society for performing in the public as a female. When

she got older, she cultivated friendships with journalists to maintain her image 'not only as an

artist but as the embodiment of ideals held by Egyptian society and much of the Arab world,'

as music scholar Lohman put.21 Umm Kulthum's success in transforming Egyptian music is

not only a result of her talent and innovation, it is made possible by her carefully cultivated

image as a modest, religious woman that fitted the expectation of the Islamic society.

Umm Kulthum's carefully maintained image and her innovation of music were

significant, but what really led her to be a legacy is her association with the reformed

Egyptian authoritarian government and being the icon of Egyptian culture at the time. In the

midst of the repellent of British culture in the mid-twentieth century Egypt, Umm Kulthum

became popular not only within the elites but in the general public when Egyptian Radio

institutionalised the first Thursday of each month as 'Umm Kulthum Night'.22 Seizing Umm

Kulthum's identity as a well-respected female celebrity figure, the leaders of Egyptian

government, including President Gamal Abdel Nasser, formed an alliance with her as a move

of proving the government's modernisation in order to gain support of the arising women

working class. Umm Kulthum did not help stabilise the society under the reformed

government by performing patriotic or heroic repertoire. In fact, most of her songs were

about love, about the city and about everyday life, which were still the classical contents of

female songs. Yet, Umm Kulthum's alliance with the Egyptian government played a role in

overturning the female inferiority in the Egyptian society.

21
Laura Lohman, 'From Artist to Legend', Umm Kulthum: Artistic Agency and the Shaping of an Arab Legend,
1967-2007, (Connecticut, 2010), 91-92.

22
Danielson, 86.

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While most of the cross-cultural studies of musical performances have concluded that

men often have more power and opportunity than women in general, Umm Kulthum's legacy

demonstrated how musical performances could influence the dynamics of gender relations in

the society. Many other musical cultures have shown signs of overturning the female

inferiority over the last century. For example, the social reformation in Tunisia in the 1930s

attempted to overthrow the traditional association of female musicians with profane sexual

pleasure and allowed girls to perform publicly at school without being frown upon; the

evolution of the style of Flamenco dance showed that women progressively gained more

power when dancing by inventing new figurations as a challenge to male dancers.23 However,

these transformations cannot escape the phase when women's innovation would be

considered 'voice given by men'.24 Take Umm Kulthum as an example again, her

achievement as an artist and a national figure would not have been possible if she did not first

live up to the modesty, abstention and other expectations imposed on Islamic women by the

society. Umm Kulthum, as well as Egyptian women at the time, needed the government's

approval and confirmation as a liberalised class in the society. However, there are a few

examples of women successfully overturning the male dominance in musical performance

already. Rock music used to be an exclusive male Western popular musical genre when it

emerged in 1950s, nowadays rock music is no longer a stereotype of male music, and female

rock players are very common and well-accepted. While cross-cultural musical studies have

reflected the androcentricity in most societies in the past, considering the fact that the balance

of power and opportunities between men and women has been shifting in some cultures in

recent years, it would be more accurate to conclude that ethnomusicology would always

23
JaFran Jones, 'A Sociohistorical Perspective on Tunisian Women as Professional Musicians', Women and
Music in Cross Cultural Perspective, ed. Ellen Koskoff and Carole Robertson, (New York, 1987), 69-83.
Joaquina Labojo, 'Body and Voice: The Construction of Gender in Flamenco', Music and Gender: Perspectives
From the Mediterranean, ed. Tullia Magrini, (Chicago, 2000), 67-84.
24
Koskoff, 7.

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reflect the ever-changing dynamics rather than a constant asymmetrical balance of power in

genders.

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Bibliography

Basso, Ellen, 'Musical Expression and Gender Identity in the Myth and Ritual of the Kalapalo
of Central Brazil', Women and Music in Cross Cultural Perspective, ed. Ellen Koskoff and
Carole Robertson, (New York, 1987), 165-176.

Danielson, Virginia, 'Media, Style, and Idiom', The Voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic
Song and Egyptian Society in the Twentieth Century, (Chicago, 1998), 70-99.

Jones, JaFran, 'A Sociohistorical Perspective on Tunisian Women as Professional Musicians',

Women and Music in Cross Cultural Perspective, ed. Ellen Koskoff and Carole Robertson,
(New York, 1987), 69-83.

Koskoff, Ellen, 'Introduction', Women and Music in Cross Cultural Perspective, ed. Ellen
Koskoff and Carole Robertson, (New York, 1987), 1-23.

Lohman, Laura, 'From Artist to Legend', Umm Kulthum: Artistic Agency and the Shaping of
an Arab Legend, 1967-2007, (Connecticut, 2010), 90-111.

Labojo, Joaquina, 'Body and Voice: The Construction of Gender in Flamenco', Music and
Gender: Perspectives From the Mediterranean, ed. Tullia Magrini, (Chicago, 2000), 67-84.

Magrini, Tullia, 'Introduction: studying Gender in Mediterranean Musical Cultures', Music

and Gender: Perspectives From the Mediterranean, ed. Tullia Magrini, (Chicago, 2000), 1-
32.

Ortner, Sheery and Whitehead, Harriet, 'Introduction: Accounting for Sexual Meanings',
Sexual Meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality, (Cambridge, 1981), 1-
30.

Turner, Victor, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure, (Chicago, 1969), 184. as
quoted in Koskoff, 'Introduction', 11.