Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research

The cultural economy of sound: reinventing technology in Indian popular cinema

Nardi, C. (2011) The cultural economy of sound: reinventing technology in Indian popular cinema. Journal on The Art of Record Production. 5(1) 1754-9892.

Item Type: Article
Abstract: Scholarship on record production has largely neglected non-Western music practices and their products. In particular, the countries in which most technological devices are invented and patented still exert hegemony over the music market and over discourse about music; consequently, alternative sound aesthetics are often disregarded. More recently, ethnomusicology has paid some attention to marginal areas of production, especially in relation to digital technology; in order to fill this gap in the scholarship, however, it is necessary not only to recognise the role of user agency but also to acknowledge that technology is better understood as a process rather than an object. For this purpose, I will focus on the use of the Clavioline by the Indian musician Kalyanji in the film ‘Nagin’ (1954), as an instance in which the potential of an instrument is redefined according to local aesthetics, arguing that regional record production practices are more noteworthy than conventional theories about them seem to imply. More precisely, I will analyse the microeconomic context in which Kalyanji operated, and then propose a cultural explanation of his aesthetic choices from the point of view of the participants (desi) and within the specific mode of production of the Hindi film
Subjects: T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) > TA365 Acoustics in engineering. Acoustical engineering
M Music and Books on Music > ML Literature on music > ML459 Instruments and instrumental music
M Music and Books on Music > ML Literature on music > ML2075 Motion picture music
M Music and Books on Music > ML Literature on music > ML3544 Folk, national, and ethnic music
Creators: Nardi, Carlo
Publisher: Association for the Study of the Art of Record Production (asarp)
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology
Date: July 2011
Date Type: Publication
Journal or Publication Title: Journal on The Art of Record Production
Volume: 5
Number: 1
Language: English
ISSN: 1754-9892
Status: Published / Disseminated
Refereed: Yes
Related URLs:
References: Alleyne, Mike. 2009. Globalisation and Commercialisation of Caribbean Music. In Pietilä, Tuulikki (ed.) World Music: Roots and Routes. Helsinki. Collegium for Advanced Studies, volume 6, 76-101. (available at: http://www.helsinki.fi/collegium/e-series/volumes/volume_6/006_07_Alleyne.pdf ) (Accessed: 4/3/2011) Booth, Gregory D. 2008. Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios. Oxford and New York. Oxford University Press. Chanan, Michael. 1995. Repeated Takes. A Short History of Recording and Its Effects on Music. London and New York. Verso. Cogan, Jim and William Clark. 2003. Temples of Sound. San Francisco. Chronicle Books. Das Gupta, Chidananda. 2008. Of ‘Margi’ and ‘Desi’: The Traditional Divide, in Seeing is Believing. Selected Writings on Cinema. New Delhi. Penguin/Viking, 1–23. Fikentscher, Kai. 2003. ‘There’s not a problem I can’t fix, ‘cause I can do it in the mix’: On the Performative Technology of 12-inch Vinyl. In Lysloff, René T. A. & Gay, Leslie C. Jr. (eds.) Music and Technoculture. Middletown, CT. Weslyan University Press, 290–315. Greene, Paul D. & Porcello, Thomas (eds.). 2005. Wired for Sound: Engineering and Technologies in Sonic Cultures. Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University Press. Hayward, Philip (ed.). 1998. Sound Alliances. Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Politics and Popular Music in the Pacifics. London and New York. Cassell. Howard, Dennis. 2008. From Ghetto Laboratory to the Technosphere: The influence of Jamaican studio techniques on popular music. Proceedings of the 2008 Art of Record Production Conference, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Fri 14th – Sun 16th November 2008. (available at: http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/content/view/164/109/) (Accessed: 4/3/2011) Irwin, Mark. 2009. Take The Last Train From Meeksville: Joe Meeks’s Holloway Road recording studio 1963-7. JARP 2a (available at: http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/content/view/207/104/) (Accessed: 4/3/2011) Jain, Madhu. 2005. The Kapoors. The First Family of Indian Cinema. New Delhi. Penguin/Viking. Kapur, Anuradha. 1993. The Representation of Gods and Heroes: Parsi Mythological Drama of the Early Twenties Century. Journal of Arts and Ideas 23/24 (January), 85–107. Katz, Mark. 2010 (rev. ed.). Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA. University of California Press. Lysloff, René & Gay, Jr, Leslie C. (eds.). 2003. Music and Technoculture. Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University Press. Massey, Howard. 2000. Behind the Glass. San Francisco. Backbeat Books. Massey, Howard. 2009. Behind the Glass, Volume II. San Francisco. Backbeat Books. Mentjies, Luise. 2003. The Sound of Africa! Making Music Zulu in a South African Studio. Durham. Duke University Press. Morcom, Anna. 2007. Hindi Film Songs and the Cinema. Aldershot. Ashgate. Mukherjee, Madhuja. 2007. Early Indian Talkies: Voice, Performance and Aura. JMI 6 (December). (available at: http://www.jmionline.org/jmi6_3.html) (Accessed: 4/3/2011) Neuenfeldt, Karl (ed). 2002. Indigenous Popular Music in North America: Continuations and Innovations. The world of music 44(1). Pfaffenberg, Bryan. 1992. Social Anthropology of Technology. Annual Review of Anthropology 21, 491-516. Prasad, M. Madhava. 1998. Ideology of the Hindi Film: A Historical Construction. New Delhi. Oxford University Press. Premchand, Manek. 2003. Yesterday’s Melodies Today’s Memories. Mumbai. Jharna Books. Rajadhyaksha, Ashish. 2007. An Aesthetic for Film Sound in India? JMI 6 (December). (available at: http://www.jmionline.org/jmi6_1.html) (Accessed: 4/3/2011) Rajadhyaksha, Ashish & Paul Willemen. 2002 (2nd ed.). Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema. New Delhi. Oxford University Press. Ranade, Ashok Da. 2006. Hindi Film Song. Music Beyond Boundaries. New Delhi. Promilla & Bibliophile South Asia. Rasmussen, Anne K. (1996) Theory and practice at the ‘Arabic org’: digital technology in contemporary Arab music performance. Popular Music 15(3), 345-365. Taussig, Michael. 1993. Mimesis and Alterity. New York and London. Routledge. Taylor, Timothy D. 2001. Strange Sounds: Music, Technology and Culture. London. Routledge. Théberge, Paul. 1997. Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology. Hanover and London. Wesleyan University Press. Veal, Michael. 2007. Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae. Middletown, CT. Wesleyan University Press.
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/4000

Actions (login required)

Edit Item Edit Item