Suono e sentimento. Uccelli, lamento, poetica e canzone nell'espressione kaluli

by Steven Feld, Melinda Meli (Translator), Carlo Serra (Editor)

Nella pianura della Papua Nuova Guinea, presso il vulcano del Bosavi, vivono i kaluli. Con Edward e Bambi Schieffelin, una coppia di antropologi, Steven Feld si è immerso nel 1976 nella vita della foresta e ha condiviso con il popolo del Bosavi i riti e il lavoro, i miti e i loro canti. Soprattutto ha scoperto che la musica dei kaluli, quella che dà vita al loro mondo immaginario, rielabora i flussi sonori della natura e le modulazioni del canto degli uccelli: questi non sono versi, ma voci nella foresta. Suono e sentimento è il frutto di una ricerca sul campo, approfondita nell'arco di venticinque anni; un trattato di etnomusicologia incentrato sul suono come sistema culturale e simbolico. Lo studio dei metodi di comunicazione sonora, del suono umano e della natura (dai canti dell'uomo ai versi degli uccelli) è il punto di partenza dal quale Feld elabora la comprensione dell'ethos sociale ed emozionale del popolo kaluli, di tutto ciò che può essere definito il suo sentimento. Analizzando la forma e le esecuzioni del lamento e del canto in relazione al mito di origine, questo libro mostra come le espressioni sonore siano incarnazioni di sentimenti profondi. Suono e sentimento, finalmente disponibile in lingua italiana, è un punto di riferimento irrinunciabile in discipline come l'etnomusicologia, l'antropologia del suono, la linguistica e l'estetica. L'opera di Steven Feld è arricchita da una conversazione tra Carlo Serra, curatore dell'edizione italiana, l'etnomusicologo Nicola Scaldaferri e l'autore.

Genres: Music, Anthropology, Nonfiction, Poetry, Animals, Ethnography

328 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1982

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I read this in 1999, when I was doing an independent study class on world music as an undergrad. It focuses on the Kaluli people and the idea of birdsong and water flow forming the background concepts of their musical themes and life. Pretty much an ethnomusicology classic.

[Mark]

If I had stuck with anthropology and ethnomusicology, this is the kind of book I would have wanted to write.

[oscar]

i think the best way of categorizing anthropology is as applied philosophy

the epistemological value of this book is absurd, i grow more and more jealous of postcolonial ethnographers every day, the idea of introducing grandmaster blaster to a people who communicate through music is so incredibly peak

[Tomas Serrien]

Impressive piece of fieldwork.

[Valentín Serrano García]

A classical master work which merges both ethnomusicology and anthropology and that, unlike the brillant "How musical is man?" by John Blacking, also attempts to focus on the methodological issues in such interdisciplinary approach.

It also shows how sorrow, sadness, meaning and music are the intertwined basic grounds of humankind.

[Trenchologist]

Dense and very specific, but that's to be expected. This book came to me by way of a music major friend who thought I'd enjoy it (I love birds & play piano so understand music theory enough I wasn't lost during the technical stuff), and I did. Music/syntax/symbolism in bird songs and water(falling-movement quality). Not a casual read; it took concentration and I reread some parts. But I liked what I got out of it in the end, and Feld's approach to subject v-v culture then -ism avoidance in explicating both.

[Onur Engin]

In Sound and Sentiment, Steven Feld presents an ethnographic study of the cultural significance of sound among the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea. He argues that the limited visibility of the rainforest environment has led Kaluli culture, communication, and aesthetics to be shaped around the spiritual words and natural sounds of their surroundings. Feld begins by examining a Kaluli myth about a boy who transforms into a bird after his sister refuses to share her food with him, and demonstrates how this myth serves as a metaphoric foundation for Kaluli aesthetics, with bird sounds representing the voices of the deceased. He then discusses the classification and symbolism of different bird sounds, the role of women in funeral "melodic-sung-weeping," and the connection between Kaluli poetry and bird sounds. In the final chapter, Feld synthesizes his arguments, arguing that Kaluli aesthetics are centered on the concept of "being a bird" and that birds and their songs serve as mediators for audible social sentiments such as singing, weeping, and communication. Feld employs a range of structuralist, anthropological, linguistic, semiotic, ethnographic, and musicological methods and techniques in his study, and raises questions about the relationship between environment, culture, and the meanings of sounds.