The Role of Festival in Building a Sense of Community...

The idea of culture and festival often go hand in hand. Festival in a sense is a way for a particular group to establish public awareness of, and a way to maintain a social, religious, or ethnic groups individuality. Festivals can range from promoting the arts and music to culture and religion, in any circumstance, however, the festival essentially works as a way of bringing communities of people together. Whether this means people from within the specific community or outsiders hoping to grasp some introspect on the way a certain social group lives, acts, and creates the purpose of the festival is to essentially bring those with common interests and viewpoints together in an opportunity to exchange ideas and build relationships. As there was such a great emphasis this past week on the history and role of Diasporas within the international communications framework it is only appropriate that an investigation into the role of festival in maintaining the connectedness of both Diasporic and other communities be analyzed.

Being raised in Kitchener Waterloo I from an early age became accustom to the happenings surrounding thanksgiving weekend every October. Specifically, the Oktoberfest festival is to what I refer. Being a largely German diasporic community Kitchener celebrates its prominent German heritage over a two week period of music, dance, costume, food, and most notably beer. The festival includes a parade, several concerts and huge venues dedicated solely to the traditional German style cuisine and beer drinking. It essentially provides a space wherein people of the German heritage in particular can gather in celebration of their German culture, although the festival is by no means restricted to those of German heritage. Rather, the festival works as a way of bringing people together in high spirits for the sake of community.

In running with this notion of bringing people together I want to mention a festival particularly close to my heart. As a volunteer at the Hillside festival in Guelph over the last three years I have grown to love and deeply respect that which the organizers so graciously achieve year after year. Held at Guelph Lake conservation area on an island connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway, the festival is renowned for its artistic lineup of musicians, a flavourful blend of up-and-coming Canadian performers, world artists, and local talent. The program is always richly diverse and highly entertaining. While music is the focus, the Hillside experience also includes: spoken word, aboriginal circles, an international food pavilion, healing arts workshops, childrens activities and events, drum circles, and environmental expos just to name a few. The eclectic experiences met and the bonds formed during this three day festival can only truly be understood by those who have experienced it firsthand. As a hint of what the festival means to me however I can easily say that Hillside leaves festivalgoers with a feeling that they have been part of something magical. There is certainly something to be said of the liberal, open minded, and socially aware mindset that seems to be present in virtually everyone you meet at the festival. Although the music can be seen as the primary draw I propose that it is the feeling of what Victor Turner would describe as communitas that really keeps people coming back. That is the intense community spirit, the feeling of great social equality , solidarity, and togetherness.

If a festival such as Hillside having no specific religious or ethnic ties has the power to create such a welcoming and stimulating environment for people from all races, religions, and social classes then there in no doubt left in my mind that culture specific festivals have an even more profound effect. The case of the Yiddish music festival as it was cited in class could be a prime example of a festival having an even more intense effect leaving the festivalgoer with the sense of community and belonging that may not be present in their everyday lives. In any case the idea of festival provides one with opportunities that may otherwise not be met, and it is this potential of communitas that draws people to and thus enhances the festival and cultural experience.

Ravi Shankar and World Music...

Perhaps pivotal to a discussion of world music and its accompanying cross-cultural and cross-border flow of creative ideas is the mention of Indian Classical Satirist Ravi Shankar. For many listeners, Indian classical music is synonymous with the name Ravi Shankar. From the 1960s to the present, this sitarist and composer has captured the imagination of fans across the globe not just as a self-contained artist but also as an ambassador for Indian music and culture more broadly (Murphy, 2008). Often being referred to as the ‘godfather of world music,’ the 1960s saw Shankar become an icon in Europe and America. This popularity was spurred by such memorable appearances as his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and at Woodstock in 1969 (Murphy, 2008). Crucial for the purposes of studying the global processes of stylistic hybridization and revitalization in music is the fact that during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Shankar was increasingly interested in writing music that bridged the European and Indian classical music traditions.

With this in mind one might begin to question, what is it about Indian music or the sound of Ravi Shankar in particular that drew the ‘pop’ crowds of North American and Europe? Also, how much of Indian music’s influence and popularity can be attributed to the interest shown in the sound of Ravi Shankar by George Harrison? And what implications did the Beatles borrowing of Indian themes have on the idea of world music?

Apart from a sense of perspective, Indian music has the ability to teach Western musicians many practical lessons. One prominent example as cited by (Murphy 2008) is that leading Indian musicians have a particularly heightened rhythmic sense. Rather than being constrained by bar-lines they have a system of talas or rhythmic cycles. On a basic level studying Indian rhythmic cycles hones a Western musician’s sense of the passage of time. As the rhythmic skills involved are likely to be complex, this study facilitates concentration on the here and now. Indian skills are noted to tighten up the concentration on the moment and enhance rhythmic accuracy to a remarkable degree (Murphy, 2008).

Aside from these notable attributes that classical Indian music has the ability to bring to the Western musician one may choose to focus for the purposes of a case study on the influence Ravi Shankar had on the Beatles, which in turn have had an unprecedented influence on music, culture, and record sales for the better part of the last 40 years. George Harrison essentially created a fusion between the Western and the Indian music and musical instruments. After learning the sitar from Ravi Shankar, George Harrison included the instrument in several songs most notably however were Norwegian Wood-being the fist Beatles song to include the sitar and Within you and With Out You- from the 1967 landmark record Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band (Making the Album, 2008). These deviations from the traditional rock and roll band formula created a fusion of Western and Eastern music, essentially borrowing form the Indian Eastern tradition and further promoting the world music scene. But does this fusion imply that the Western pop group was stealing from an Eastern tradition or rather that a commercial desire for authentic musical elsewhere’s was being met. This question remains unanswered, however it can be generalized that in either case the fusion of these different types of music brought the Sitar and Ravi Shankar into the mainstream of western music. Essentially, the utilization of eastern music types by the Beatles opened up the door to a whole new market wherein “world music” could make a rather easy transition on to the Western scene.

In the words of Ravi Shankar, “Fusion music will get stronger and stronger in the days ahead. It is one thing, which I always felt, was bound to happen. It is known by several names the world over like World Music, New Age Music, etc. The future belongs to fusion music” (Murphy, 2008). As an example of this fusion I urge you to take a look at the video post below depicting George Harrison taking a sitar Lesson from Ravi Shankar himself.

Sources:
Murphy, David. “Influences: Ravi Shankar” David Murphy Conducts. http://www.davidmurphyconducts.org/?page_id=7 accessed 2 April, 2008.

“Making the Album- Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band” The Beatles.com http://www.beatles.com/sgtpepper/ accessed 2 April, 2008.

Pang in Relation to the Fight for Fair Copyright in Canada

The United States is both the leader of world cinema and the owner of global copyright, not only the copyright of products but also the discourse of copyright itself. As copyright discourse becomes an American diplomatic tool, the United States as a nation and Hollywood as a culture industry composed mainly of transnational corporations are conflated into one single monolithic power that defines what copyright consists of (Pang, 135). While reading the Pang article, “Copying Kill Bill,” I was struck by the array of inconsistencies regarding what indeed constitutes copyright infringement. Further, I was able to relate the idea of a US-centric copyright policy to occurrences in the Canadian Government and a new proposed copyright amendment.

Unlike the situation in Hollywood, the increasing global popularity of Hong Kong cinema has not led Hong Kong’s major studios, such as Shaw, to seek more copyright of their works.
According to Shaw the only legal copyright case they have ever launched took place in 1971, when its major rival Golden Harvest produced the film The Blind Swordsman Meets his Equal. Apparently this film infringed on Shaw’s earlier box office hit One-Armed Swordsman (Pang, 136). The irony in this situation, however, lies in the fact that the one-armed swordsman is so frequently seen in the Tarantino film Kill Bill that it almost becomes a parody. Arguably, Tarantino is consciously using and stealing the image and the symbolization of the one-armed swordsman for his own film, which to Shaw should be as “guilty” as Golden Harvest’s borrowing was thirty years ago (Pang, 136). But, rather, the reference to Shaw films in Kill Bill, a major Hollywood production is read as an honor instead of an infringement. This emphasizes the often underlying assumption that Hollywood productions are superior in terms of creativity and in the legal sense. It is thus only Hong Kong plagiarizing Hollywood and never vice versa, a notion that follows with the idea of U.S.-centric copyright discourse, wherein the United States is always portrayed as the victim (Pang, 136). Hollywood is essentially seen as a trustworthy enterprise, and one that would not steal ideas, however if they ever did it would be seen more as an honour than a breech of copyright.

In running with the idea of US-centric copyright discourse one may wish to turn their attentions to the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and how this United States Copyright law is affecting Canadians. In December 2007, it became apparent that the Canadian government was about to introduce new copyright legislation that would have been what has been labelled a “complete sell-out to U.S. government and lobbyist demands”(Geist, 2008) The new Canadian legislation was to have mirrored the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act with strong anti-circumvention legislation that goes far beyond what is needed to comply with the World Intellectual Property Organization's Internet treaties. Moreover, it was not going to address the issues that concern millions of Canadians. For example, the Conservatives' promise to eliminate the private copying levy was to be abandoned. There was essentially no flexible fair dealing, no time shifting exception, no device shifting exception, and no expanded backup provision, nothing that focuses on the concerns of ordinary Canadians (Geist, 2008).

The following clip emphasizes in greater detail than I could ever tell the imperative nature of the DMCA issue in Canada. As Canadians we are often forced to defend ourselves in the face of the ever looming possibility of becoming culturally indistinguishable from our neighbours to the South. We so easily seem to fall victim to propositions and Bills being initiated not for our Canadian national purposes, but rather the Capitalistic ambitions of the United States. Just like the SPP puts power into the hand of corporate interests rather than Canadian, US, or Mexican citizens the implementation of a DMCA in Canada would put the power into the hands of those corporations producing music or software for example instead of in the hands of Canadian law. The video puts this into further perspective as well as suggesting possible outlets for activism within this field. Enjoy!!!

Sources:
Geist, Michael. “The Fight for Fair Copyright in Canada.” Michael Geist Blog March 31, 2008. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
Pang, Laikwan (2005). ‘Copying Kill Bill’. Social Text, 23 (2): 133-153.