Faculty Scholar Series

Dr. Megan Rancier, ethnomusicology

Dr. Christopher Witulski, ethnomusicology

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

8:00 P.M. Bryan Recital Hall
Moore Musical Arts Center

Program

Megan Rancier

Title: “The real Kazakh is a dombyra”? Musical Instruments and Nation-Branding in 21st Century Kazakhstan

Abstract:
The Kazakh writer and aqyn (bard) Kadyr Myrzaliev (1935-2011) famously stated, “The real Kazakh is not a Kazakh, the real Kazakh is a dombyra.” This oft-repeated quotation is only one example of the deep and enduring relationship that exists between this Kazakh traditional instrument and perceptions, understanding, expressions, and representations of Kazakh culture, traditions, and ethno-national identity.

Like the Kazakh two-stringed horsehair fiddle qyl-qobyz, the dombyra captures a wide (yet specific) range of meanings and associations, and indeed serves as a “national archive” of Kazakh cultural history and nationalism. Although both are considered “Kazakh national instruments” and possess strong ties to the nomadic heritage of the Kazakhs, they express and reinforce narratives about Kazakh cultural history and identity that are unique to each instrument. While the dombyra has come to signify a more outward-facing, widely accessible, and state supported musical representation of Kazakh-ness, the national symbolism of the mysterious and complicated qyl-qobyz remains more elusive.

This presentation will explore the characteristics that have come to define the dombyra and qyl-qobyz in the Kazakh national imagination, and the ways that musical instruments can either reinforce a desirable image of a nation-state – an example of “nation-branding” (Marat 2009) – or complicate that image, as well as the national identity discourses behind it.


Christopher Witulski

Title: The World Music Textbook: a public textbook for the public good

Abstract:   
The World Music Textbook project represents a collaborative effort to embrace the benefits of Open Educational Resources (OER) within a flexible model of academic publishing. Two co-editors and I launched the project in 2020 with the aim to provide high-quality content for undergraduates and a broad readership while elevating the underappreciated pedagogical writing that is often either marginalized in conventional publishing or associated with high textbook costs.

In this presentation, I highlight some of the project’s unique attributes, including the active role that editors take to facilitate non-standard submissions for successful peer review; our prioritization of open access, accessible, and sustainable practices; and the ways in which the online platform offers additional opportunities for interactivity, as demonstrated by my own contribution on rhythm and expectation. Furthermore, my bespoke open source software design is implemented with the intention to serve as a potential model for similar projects.                                                                                                                                                                                
Importantly, the World Music Textbook aims to create value for contributors and recognize their labor through a double-blind review process—uncommon for pedagogical work—and the honoraria we offer thanks to a $15,000 grant from the state of California for OER development. Future plans involve offering sample course modules to support educators in integrating the project into their curriculum design.
 

megan-rancier

Dr. Megan Rancier joined the BGSU College of Musical Arts faculty in 2011, after receiving her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2009. Her research focuses on Central Asia (specifically Kazakhstan) and the intersections between musical instruments, traditional and popular music, and national identity narratives. Since 2005 she has carried out several fieldwork projects in Almaty and Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan supported by the Title VIII Research Scholar Program, a Fulbright IIE fellowship, and a short-term travel grant from the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER). Her work has been published in the journals Review of Middle East Studies, Popular Music and SocietyThe Yearbook for Traditional Music, and Ethnomusicology. In 2018, her co-edited volume Turkic Soundscapes: From Shamanic Sounds to Hip-Hop was published by Routledge. At BGSU, Dr. Rancier teaches undergraduate courses on music cultures of the world, and a graduate course on the history and literature of ethnomusicology; she also directs the Music of the Balkans ensemble.

witulski-photo

Christopher Witulski (PhD in ethnomusicology, University of Florida, 2014) is the author of The Gnawa Lions: Opportunity and Authenticity in Moroccan Ritual Music (2018, Indiana University Press) and Focus: Music and Religion of Morocco (2019, Routledge Press), two books focusing on changes in sacred performance practices in contemporary Morocco and across North Africa. This work—and other articles appearing in journals like EthnomusicologyEthnomusicology Forum, the Journal of North African Studies, the Yale Journal of Music and Religion, and the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies—explores how musicians negotiate their listeners’ tastes, global markets, and the aesthetics required for productive ritual. 

Dr. Witulski is also an active performer of Arabic and American old time music on violin, ‘ud, and banjo. He has performed with the National Arab Orchestra in Michigan, at the Fez Festival of Sacred Music and in other settings across Morocco, and in professional orchestras in Florida and Georgia. Other interests include theoretical and computational approaches to popular and world music, the relationship between ethics and aesthetics in popular manifestations of religious music, and building banjos. Dr. Witulski taught at Florida State University before coming to the BGSU College of Musical Arts in 2016.

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Updated: 09/18/2024 03:18PM