Music and Rituals

Author(s): Jerome Lewis

Source: Anthropology Today, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Feb., 1999), pp. 20-21
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2678212
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At GoldsmithsCollege (l.-r.): Carlos Flores, Paul Henley (Chair, RAIFilm Committee,and Director,
Granada Centrefor VisualAnthropology,Universityof Manchester),Mainor Pacay.
Flores was trained in the Granada Centre
for Visual Anthropology (GCVA) at the
University of Manchester, and began to
work with a group of Q'eqchi'
video-makers, including Mainor Pacay, in
Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, as part of his PhD
project. Whereas the local video-makers had
previously worked with the sponsorship of
the Catholic Church producing short videos
focusing on developmental issues such as
health and education, some of them
subsequently shifted towards observational
documentary production as a result of the
anthropologist's input. Far removed from the
MUSIC AND RITUALS
Set in the town of Nuoro in central Sardinia,
the Istituto Superiore Regionale Etnografico
(ISRE) biennial film festival is a great treat.
The thematic structure of the ninth festival,
held between 5 and 10 October, provided an
opportunity to get a sense of the variety of
cinematic styles and genres that have been
used to document music and rituals.
The ISRE's hospitality is renowned. The
filmmakers presenting films are lodged and
feasted in nearby hotels. This provided the
stimulating opportunity to discuss the films
informally with their makers and other
filmmakers, who often had very different
views on the effectiveness of different styles
and techniques. This variety of styles came
out clearly in the festival and discussions.
The tension between music and the visual
style of films created very different
experiences when one watched them. It was
interesting to see how different filmmakers
had got round the problems involved in
shooting such diverse events as a 15 day
Tibetan ritual involving thousands of people,
or a shorter, but continuous, two and a half
hour Sufi Dhikr rite. Or to watch several
20 ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 15 No 1, February 1999
primary research focus of the 1970s Navajo
film project on the 'semiotics of
representations', this was from the outset a
self-consciously interventionist project,
influenced by Jean Rouch's idea of 'shared
anthropology', the experience of the Kayapo
video-makers in Brazil, and the
observational style of the GCVA. The
production of the film Rub'el Kurus,
however, was a hybrid process which also
tried to incorporate and develop a distinctive
Q'eqchi' camerawork, rhythm and narrative,
given that it was aimed, in the first instance,
to be presented to a Q'eqchi' audience.
films, on similar themes, each with
distinctive solutions to the problems inherent
in the subject. Each filmmaker recreated the
ritual differently, compressing time and
choosing what to show. Finding the balance
between storytelling and rendering the
image-atmosphere of an event is difficult.
The tendency in film to over-simplify can
create the feeling of being a tourist watching
a performance. Too few of the films focused
on the expression of individual's
experiences to provide local exegesis of
filmed events. Some argued that the
problems in interpreting ritual are related to
its music-like nature. It is there for its own
sake. Ritual, like music, causes different
reactions in participants. Thus,
interpretations of a rite can only be
subjective points of view, like taste in
music. In this context, the need for
participants' exegesis to orientate the viewer
is important. Films about ritual often have
contradictory elements. Music is affective
and personally evocative, whereas ritual
actions are often participated in by groups of
people according to a known structure. Yet
During discussion of the film, Flores
emphasized that in an environment of
political violence, social mistrust and
silence, such as that which prevails in
Guatemala today, the work of an
anthropologist inevitably arouses suspicions
unless it represents something meaningful
for the communities studied. In this case,
video production was a fortunate
meeting-point, although not free from
contradictions. Although both anthropologist
and subjects were Guatemalans with a
shared political history, they did not
necessarily have the same goals.
Nevertheless, what was at stake was an
outcome where the researcher, the local
video-maker(s) and the communities studied
could each gain something from the
anthropological practice. As Mainor stated
during the presentation, 'Carlos was thinking
as an anthropologist and I was thinking as a
Q'eqchi'. I was thinking about a film for my
own people, and he was interested in
producing something for our people and also
for foreign people. At the end of the day two
heads are better than one to produce a film'.
In his closing address to the Festival,
Mainor Pacay thanked his hosts for the
opportunity to share his experiences and
appealed to the visual anthropologists
present to 'film at the same level of the
people in the communities and to become
one with them'. D
Carlos Flores
1. 47 min.,Q'eqchi'with Englishsubtitles,
filmmakerCarlosFlores,cameraMainorPacay(25
RalphCourt,Queensway,LondonW2 5HT;Email:
floresc36@aol.com).
A reporton the RAI Film Prizecompetitionheld
duringthe Festivalis unavoidablydelayed.The
resultswere announcedin the October1998 A.T.,
p.25. Editor.
music often punctuates and structures the
ritual and people's actions in it. The very
varied roles music can have in rituals came
out in the films well. It can be central,
marginal or entirely absent, but often music
will dominate. Many of the films were shot
around music but were forced to cut short
musical sequences. Some found it
unacceptable. Music must be shown in its
integrity in order to be ethnographically
accurate and useful. Others argued this was
because the viewer has different levels of
patience for musical and visual input. Music
can easily conflict with visual images
because music is, in a sense, timeless; it
takes attention away from the concrete and
tangible, whereas the image returns the
viewer to the constraints of time and space.
As several ethnomusicologists were at
pains to point out, music is not a universal
language. From this point of view, film has
an exciting role to play in helping mediate
music across cultures. A straight audio
recording takes music out of its context.
Rituals are often punctuated and structured
by music. In trance, music often signalled
new states of consciousness; in initiations,
new social positions. Music gives sense to
the ritual at the same time as the ritual gives
sense to the music. Visually sharing in the
production of music transforms the
experience of listening to music from other
cultures by contextualizing and humanizing
it. Film can be very effective at doing this.
Many films showed how often music and
ritual action are used to induce trance. Many
trance states were depicted. This made us
aware of the great variety of different states
of consciousness glossed over by the term
trance, and the complexity of the
relationship between music and ritual. Both
adult and children's perceptions of trance
were represented in the films. Participant's
comments about whether trance was 'real' or
?hi
ci
Applying medical anthropology
Medical anthropology has generated some
wonderful philosophical insights, but is it
cashing in enough on the huge boom in
pharmaceuticals and medical technology, to
generate funds for research? Why not some
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
The guest editorialby Roland Littlewood,
'Degrees of masteryin the work of Mary
Douglas' in our December issue, was intendedto
coincide with the publicationof RichardFardon's
Mary Douglas: An IntellectualBiography
(Routledge, ?50 hb, ?16.99 pb). In fact, owing to
a last-minuteproductionproblem,publicationhas
been delayed and is not due till March.
ARTICLE FOLLOW-UP
Kaj ?rhem contributedan article, 'Millennium
among the Makuna[of easternColombia]:an
anthropologicalfilm adventurein the northwest
Amazon' to the June 1993 issue of A.T. He has
now publishedMakuna:Portrait of an Amazonian
People (SmithsonianInstitutionPress, ?27.25)
with a well-known Colombianphotographer,
Diego Samper,both of them having worked with
the Makunasince the 1970s. The text presents a
sophisticatedand sympatheticportraitof Makuna
culture- apparentlypoor materially,but
spirituallyrich - including its powerful critiqueof
Westernindustry,representedfor them by a gold
rush which they see as forebodingan
eschatological catastrophe.Though the
photographyis undoubtedlyaestheticizedand the
formatcoffee-table, it gives a differenteffect from
that of the sub-Leni-Riefenstahl,'Body Shop
tribal' style of glossy visual anthropologystill
favouredby certainpublishers.The difference is
due partlyto the scrupulousand well-writtentext,
partlyto the relatively balanced view given of the
Makuna'slives, but perhapsmost of all to the
qualityof some of the individualportraitswhich
show the photographer'srespect for the
ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 15 No 1, February 1999
not showed the significance of 'intending' to
enter trance in order to achieve trance states.
However, it was clear that music does not
by itself induce trance. Particular repetitive
body movements and visual stimuli,
repetitive chanting, practice prior to the
occasion, or ingesting intoxicants, etc., can
all play a crucial role in inducing trance. But
the films showed how often these elements
are combined with music (often percussive,
repetitive, loud and based on simple two
note rhythms) when trance is induced. We
also saw trance occurring without music,
and several films showed music (and ritual)
without trance states. In his closing speech,
John Baily emphasized the importance of
filmmaking as a method of anthropological
inquiry that can be especially productive.
more definite results? As far I know, there is
no explanation yet of why the British are
very reluctant to use suppositories, whereas
these are a preferred form of medication in
continental Europe. This is just one example
of the kind of research project whose results
intelligence of his subjects. Deserves wide
distributionand would make a good school prize,
or gift to an interestedschool-leaver.
Yousaw it herefirst: 1. The field researchby
Don Kulick in the Braziliancity of Salvador
which made possible Don Kulick's article
(unillustrated)'Causinga commotion:public
scandal as resistanceamong Brazilian
transgenderedprostitutes',A.T. December 1996,
has now been developed into an ethnographic
monographpublishedby the University of
Chicago Press, Travesti:Sex, Gender and Culture
among Brazilian TransgenderedProstitutes($18,
?14.50 pb). Kulick's rare combinationof
ethnographicfinesse, scholarly scruple and
linguistic sophisticationwill surely ensure for this
book an eager audience, exposing some of most
deeply unexaminedassumptionsin any society:
even without the praise quoted in the blurbfrom
Annie Sprinkle,Ph.D.: 'Wow,WOW, WOW!
Take a walk on the really wild side ...' Travestis,
accordingto Kulick, 'would not fit well into the
debates that have raged within the humanitiesand
social sciences about essentialism and
constructivism,because they are simultaneously
both essentialists and constructivists,they are
what we might call constructiveessentialists.
Travestisconsider that males are males and
females are females because of the genitals they
possess ... [WJhilethe majorityof gay men and
lesbians in Brazil are still afraidto come out in
public and let people know they are homosexual,
travestis,at tremendouspersonalcost, publicly
proclaimtheir homosexualitythroughtheir dress
and demeanor.'Partof Kulick's reciprocityto this
communitywas to distributeabout 10,000
Using the example of investigating trance
states, he suggested that film should be used
to make minute, moment to moment,
examinations of how music and trance
develop together and relate to one another. D
Jerome Lewis
PRIZES:
16mm. 1st:SivasHomeof the Poets. 1995. Said
ManafiandWernerBauer.
2nd:Sons of Shiva. 1986. RobertGardnerand
?kos ?st?r.
3rd:UksuumCauyai:TheDrumsof Winter.1989.
SarahElderandLeonardKamerling.
Video. 1st:La F?te de Tamaret Lashari.1998.
HugoZemp.
2nd:WaleChantal,FemmeEkonda.1996. H?l?ne
Pag?zy.
3rd:Barbaraet Ses Amisau Pays du Candombl?.
1997. CarmenOpipariandSylvie Timbert.
could facilitate large trading profits, some of
which might be ploughed back into more
theoretical research. D
Peter Jackson
Paris 7e.
condoms donatedby the Swedish Association for
Sex Education.
2. Readerswho rememberGary Lee Downey's
pioneeringarticle 'Humanagency in CAD/CAM
technology' in the October 1992 issue of A.T. may
now consult his new book The machine in me: an
anthropologistsits among computerengineers
(Routledge,New York and London, ?13.99 pb),
an investigationof the body/machineinterface.
Downey, a leading figure in the 1990s American
phenomenonof so-called cyborg anthropology,
has not only selected an extremely original topic
for his ethnographicresearch,but is also
concernedwith the shift towards 'making
pedagogy the model of and basis for research
ratherthan the other way round.Studentsare no
longer empty vessels waiting to be filled but have
become highly developed theoristswho have to be
convinced. What I see happeningamong teachers
is an increasedemphasis on interveningin the
dominantimages with which studentswork to
make a differencein their lives. ... Good research
is becoming the culturalpracticeof formulating
ideas and ways of thinkingthat might intervene
successfully in dominantimages and ways of
thinking,thus helping people understandand deal
with changing circumstances.'
CONFERENCES
The ASA2000 has had to be POSTPONED due
to a clash of dates with anotherevent at SOAS. It
will now be held from the 2-5 April, 2000. See
calenderfor details.
The Gypsy Lore Society annualmeeting
previously advertisedfor 24-25 June has been
21