Anthony Seeger > Quotes

“When pressed, the Suyá would say that the only ones who still knew what they meant were the beings that taught the songs to the Suyá in the first place. One can go no further, for it is hard for an anthropologist to get translations directly from jaguars, birds, bees, and extinct enemies.”
― Anthony Seeger, Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People

“The Suyá reaction to my recording was one of the clearest statements I obtained about the importance of the different parts to the total sound. The melody line - the clearly organized tone and rythm being performed by the older men - was only part of the desired effect, which also included the apparently irreverent calls, shouts, and giggles.”
― anthony seeger

“Increasingly anthropologists are being asked "what can you do for us?" by the people whose societies they are doing research on. It is sometimes a disturbing question, but generally a healthy one, indicating an end to some forms of colonial domination. The Suyá never asked us this question, partly because they knew what they wanted us for: we could become "their Whites", bring them things they wanted, treat the sick, answer questions they had about our world, and sing for them.”
― Anthony Seeger, Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People

“Members of many lowland Indian societies play flutes or sing for that number of hours for long periods. Yet we know much more about the socio-economic features of these communities than about the musical ones. Anthropological research priorities rarely start from the natives' views of what is important about their own lives.”
― Anthony Seeger, Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People

“There is a mixture of humor with drama in this part of the ceremony as well. When the old man staggered out of the house I was shocked at how spastic he had suddenly become (he had been ill recently), and at how cruel it seemed to laugh at him, as everyone made fun of his erratic movements. When my understanding of the ceremonial role of old people improved, I realized that he was just as much doing his part for the ceremony by staggering around and exaggerating his infirmity as the younger men were doing theirs by stamping hard, marching in a straight line, exaggerating their strenght and shouting their songs. He was a member of the old people's "clown" age grade. The Suyá say a ceremony without clowns would not be as much fun, and would not make people as euphoric.”
― Anthony Seeger, Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People