Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - the voice of velvet fire

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Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,  "The Long Road"  from the film Dead Man Walking

Listening? Read on...

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"Part Buddha, part demon, 
part mad angel...his voice is velvet fire, simply incomparable"

 Jeff Buckley, 1997

Global cultural flows involve transnationalisation and deterritorialisation, and a chief example of this is World Music, where music from one or more traditional cultures is produced (not necessarily in country of origin) and disseminated throughout the world, far away from its original context and geo-location, and often in hybrid forms and mashups (Connell and Gibson 2004, p342).  Klein acknowledges American ‘popular interest in many forms of Asian culture’ and her definition of Hollywoodisation, albeit based on the motion picture industry, can be extrapolated to the music industry: the knitting “together through the transnationalisation of audiences, labour pools, distribution networks and production capital” as well as “material and stylistic integration” (Klein 2004, p362).

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Tim Robbins’ 1996 film Dead Man Walking introduced me to the music of superlative Pakistani qawwali musician, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997), who achieved international prominence in the 1980s and ‘90s through collaborations with Western musicians, including Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder.  Qawwalli is sacred Muslim devotional music “derived from ancient Sufi religious poets, with accompaniment by harmonium, tabla drums and backup singers” (Bessman 2001, p22).

Khan’s rise on the global stage was assisted by performances at WOMAD festivals in the 1980s but notably it was his contributions to the Hollywood films Dead Man Walking, The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ, and Natural Born Killers that secured his place in the global cultural sphere (Jacoviello 2011, p324; Hajari 1996, p55; Hagedorn 2006, p492).

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Locally in South Asia, Khan’s identity was as a religious musician rather than “qawwali star” but his participation in the World Music arena drew secular audiences that gradually endowed him with the Hollywood concept of “stardom” (Qureshi 1999, p91). Khan was an innovator amongst qawwals (qawwali singers), where songs can last up to 30 minutes and concerts (or qawwali parties) can last for hours, shortening his songs and changing the rhythmic cycle to a more western sound (Jacoviello 2011, p324).

Transnational production and distribution channels of the Western music industry such as collaboration with “consumer products companies and specialist marketing firms” along with “aggressive retail marketing programs that include listening stations and prominent displays” assisted the spread of Khan’s music to the wider world (Jeffery 1997).

While not entirely Hollywoodised (he remained a true qawwal singing the poetry of the Sufi saints in Urdu), I would claim that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s fame was commensurate with the notion of “star”. 




References:
Bessman, Jim 2001, “Qawwali Vocalist Khan’s American/Legacy Debut Continues Uncle’s Tradition”, Billboard, 17 March 2001, Vol 113, Issue 11
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=b9ae172d-7917-4fe4-a99b-21ecd96ea761%40sessionmgr4&vid=2&hid=7&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bth&AN=4182572 viewed 20 September 2013

Buckley, J 1997, “Nusrat”, http://www.liquidgnome.com/JeffBuckley/nusrat.html

Connell, J and Gibson, C 2004, “World Music: deterritorializing place and identity”, Progress in Human Geography, June 2004, Vol 28, Issue 3, p342-361
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b3e175cc-dc22-40aa-b1ef-ac0e0874b267%40sessionmgr114&vid=2&hid=115

Jacoviello, Stefano 2011, “Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: the strange destiny of a singing mystic. When music travels…”, Semiotica, Vol March 2011, Issue 183, p319-341
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=093c6231-bd72-47e0-836f-e30eb2948e05%40sessionmgr113&vid=3&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ufh&AN=59338747 viewed 20 September 2013

Jeffrey D 1997, ‘If you play it, they will buy’, Billboard, 00062510, 06/28/97, Vol. 109, Issue 26
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=5a9cf094-a114-4068-be2b-af8a8fa10f60%40sessionmgr114&vid=4&bk=1&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bth&AN=9707062099

Hagedorn, K 2006, “ ‘From the one song alone, I consider him to be a Holy Man’ Ecstatic Religion, Musical Affect and the Global Consumer”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Dec 2006, Vol. 45 Issue 4, p489-496. 8p.
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0712502b-a6ab-48ea-ba22-2c7ed4ddd0d3%40sessionmgr104&vid=4&hid=115
viewed 21 September 2013

Hajari, Nisid 1996, Courtship of Eddie’s Fateh, Entertainment Weekly, 12 January 1996, Issue 309, p.55
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/ehost/detail?sid=0ed71574-1d8a-4920-8b1d-720ee533a93b%40sessionmgr12&vid=2&hid=107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=9602051382
viewed 21 September 2013

Qureshi, R B 1999, “His Master’s Voice: exploring Qawwali and ‘Gramophone Culture in South Asia”, Popular Music, Vol 18, January 1999, p63-98
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/853569.pdf?acceptTC=true&acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true viewed 22 September 2013

Specular economy - existential nightmare

Hell is other people (Sartre, 1944)

In discussion of the specular economy, Marshall’s (2010, p498) assertion that we are collectively ‘becoming more conscious of how we present ourselves and how others perceive us’ shot me right back to high school where I first encountered Jean Paul Sartre and existentialism in year 12 French.  Very basically (because this is a huge and complex topic way beyond me), existentialism is a philosophy of consciousness and being, and one of the main elements concerns the role of others in our own existence, whereby our existence is determined by the way that we are perceived by others.

Sound familiar?

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And here we all are, carefully crafting and presenting our mediatised selves to the world on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram, Wordpress and Blogger etc.  Why do we do it?  To satisfy our desire to participate, create our own identities, socialise and network with each other (Croteau, Hoynes & Milan 2012, p319).  We now have the technology to achieve self representation, not someone else’s idea of ourselves. Marshall points out that this is now 'an incredibly complex PRESENTATION of the self through screens of social media via the Internet and mobile communication" (Marshall 2010 p499).

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I would consider myself a ‘lite’ social media user.  I use Facebook and Twitter, but I also have two blogs, and in each I am trying to construct a different ‘me’.  One blog is for ‘arty me’ and I am very aware of and frequently manipulate my presentation: changing backgrounds and images in an effort to communicate the essence of my aesthetic.  It’s like a conversation, the more I tweak with the mediated presentation, the more I crystallise the essence of my taste and can ‘imagine a better version’ of myself (Marshall 2010 p499).  I’ve had my ‘frisson of fame’ (Marshall 2010, p499): validation in the form of ‘likes’ and comments from strangers who share similar interests.

In this blog I am constructing my studious persona, and I have tied myself in knots reading widely and getting myself more and more bamboozled about how much I don’t know. 

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Facebook is where I stay connected (and reconnect) with family and friends, that is people I know in real life, but it is also where I do my share of star stalking and my presence there is also highly mediated. 

However, issues of a private and intimate nature generally do not make it on to my Facebook page, or any of my blogs.  They stay in the real realm of the private – between me and the real people with whom I choose to share.

References: 

Croteau, D, Hoynes, W & Milan, S 2012, Media/Society: Industries, Images and Audiences, 4^th edn., Sage Publications Inc., Los Angeles

Marshall, P D 2010, ‘The Specular Economy’, Society Nov 2010, Vol. 47 Issue 6, p498-502

Sartre, J-P 1947, No Exit (Huis Clos) a pay in one act, & The Flies (Les Mouches) a play in three acts, A. A. Knopf, New York

I'm sorry, we have to get engaged before we can participate

Image source: http://www.symboliamag.com/

Joost Raessens (2005) makes a good case for digital gaming culture as THE participatory media culture, when viewed through three areas of participation: interpretation, reconfiguration and construction; and further, that it is four specific characteristics of this digital medium – multimediality, virtuality, interactivity and connectivity – that set it apart, but I don’t think it applies to all forms of media.

Take for instance, illustrated journalism digital magazine Symbolia, which provides an example of prosumption: it offers readers interaction and ‘tactile manipulation’ of stories (Polgren 2013).  Supporters can contribute story ideas, and provide financial support as well as receive, read and share the product.  Raessens’ definition of participatory culture relies on participating in culture in this ‘active and productive way’ (2005).

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Increasingly, varying forms of digital media are resisting the notion of passive audience and creating ‘opportunities for individuals to create, distribute and read multi modal texts with ease and enthusiasm’ (Williams & Zenger 2012 p1).  

But there is still no access for participants to directly alter or modify the constructs of other forms of media as game hackers can. 

In an interview with Richard Adie on ABC Radio National’s The Media Report, Erin Polgreen, co-founder and publisher of Symbolia, sees illustrated or cartoon journalism as “an opportunity to bridge borders and connect people in ways that don’t really happen in long form prose journalism.”  Authentic interaction with the community is the key to audience engagement (Polgreen 2013), and interactivity offers audiences the ability to contribute and create experiences that are memorable and meaningful (Figueiredo 2011 p92).  Comics allow readers to really immerse themselves in a story (Polgreen 2013) and ‘by becoming a contributor and/or creator of the world…the audience begins to become active members of the community of knowledge' (Figueiredo 2011 p92).

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Scott McCloud (1994 cited in Figueiredo 2011) remarks that “when you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a face, you see it as the face of another, but when you enter the world of the cartoon you see yourself”.  Media helps us work out our identities and where we fit in the world.  It “provides us a window back into our world.” (McCloud 2005)

References

Figueiredo, S 2011, ‘Building Worlds for an Interactive Experience: Selecting, Organising, and Showing Worlds of Information Through Comics’, Journal of Visual Literacy, Spring 2011, Vol 30, Issue 1, p86-100

McCloud, S 2005, Scott McCloud: The visual magic of comics, TED.com, http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html

Raessens, J and Goldstein J (eds) 2005, Handbook of Computer Game Studies, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass. USA

Williams, B and Zenger, A (eds) 2012, New Media Literacies and Participatory Popular Culture Across Borders, Routledge, New York

Polgreen, E 2013, ‘Erin Polgreen on illustrated journalism and engaging readers’, The Media Report, ABC Radio National, Thursday 5th September 2013

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/mediareport/erin-polgreen-on-illustrated-journalism/4902012 

http://www.symboliamag.com/

Blogosphere: fifth estate or new public sphere?

If the public sphere is the space between the state and society (Castells 2008 p78) where the ‘public’s open ended, critical argumentation and debate’ leads to consensus (Benson 2009 p176), what then shall we call the blogosphere, that ‘global public sphere built around the media communication system and Internet networks’ (Castells 2008 p90)?  As globalisation expands, the emergence of an international public sphere, a networked place where issues of global importance not just national sovereignty can be debated, is crucial (Castells 2008 p80). 

Image source: http://blogs.cornell.edu/newmedia10krd54/2010/03/18/how-social-network-sites-obscure-the-public-sphere/

An examination of the Australian political blogosphere, a ‘networked public sphere,’ acknowledged the importance of looking at ‘everyday and popular communication’ (Bruns et al 2011, p278).  The concept of network is integral to both the public sphere and the blogosphere: a ‘network for communicating information and points of view’ (Habermas in Castells 2010 p78).

Commercialisation of the press led to transformation of the public sphere from an independent forum for critical debate to a ‘platform for advertising’ (Habermas cited in Benson 2009).  As the traditional commercial media, such as newspapers, struggle to survive, the claim of objectivity in commercial journalism is questioned as corporate journalists inexorably fall prey to Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model and ‘self censor in order to protect and advance their economic position’ (Steel 2012 p163).

The Myth of the Liberal Media, with Noam Chomsky

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlyb1Bx9Ic

In civil society, the role of journalism is that of the Fourth Estate, a ‘watchdog’ over the state, the church and the people, but existing outside it, ensuring freedom of the press to facilitate democracy (Steel 2013, p36).  

The blogosphere now includes social media as well as “traditional” blogs.  The purpose of blogosphere is ‘to monitor the media, in much the same way that the media are believed to perform the role of watching the first three estates’ and some see it as superior to mainstream media (Jericho 2012, p1).

Image source: http://social-icons.com/50-free-social-media-icons-mixed-designs/

Ever-increasing concentration of media ownership sees inevitable reduction in diversity of commentary and opinion (Steel 2012, p5).   So to find our diversity in opinion, the unfiltered analysis, we increasingly look to blogs such as The Conversation, and Twitter feeds from respected journalists such as Michelle Grattan, Chris Uhlmann and Annabel Crabb (Jericho 2012, p297), although those with a media baron breathing down their necks would be inevitably self censoring.

When eminent political journalists such as Michelle Grattan leave the traditional commercial media (The Age newspaper) for the halls of academia and online journalism, it can only enhance the legitimacy of the blogosphere's role as the new, true public sphere.

References:

Benson, Rodney 2009, ‘Shaping the Public Sphere: Habermas and Beyond’, The American Sociologist, Vol. 40, No. 3, Springer. 

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/stable/pdfplus/20638842.pdf retrieved 28/8/2013

Bruns Axel, Burgess Jean, Highfield Tim, Kirchhoff Lars and Nicolai Thomas 2011, ‘Mapping the Australian Networked Public Sphere’, Social Science Computer Review, August 2011, Vol 29, no 3, 277-287

http://ssc.sagepub.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/content/29/3/277

Castells, Manuel 2008, “The New Public Sphere: Global Civil Society, Communication Networks, and Global Governance’, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616:78, March 2008 http://prtheories.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/45138545/Castells_2008_The_New_Public_Sphere.pdf  retrieved 28/8/2013

Jericho, Greg 2012, The Rise of the Fifth Estate: social media and blogging in Australian politics, Scribe Publications, Brunswick Vic, Australia.

http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/(S(xxq22u5r2twjpjrxe0pml30v))/Reader.aspx?p=1020873&o=154&u=XZi7W1iv2hK5FxAI8BGPcQ%3d%3d&t=1377662258&h=0C6EA8DE471011324FDBFF7FF5F22ACC2237091A&s=9730359&ut=484&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n retrieved 28/8/2013

Steel, John 2012, Journalism and Free Speech, Taylor and Francis, NY

http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/(S(dsxyqkr5qmdl4isav3zio0h3))/Reader.aspx?p=958660&o=154&u=XZi7W1iv2hK5FxAI8BGPcQ%3d%3d&t=1377924821&h=FD58F03C08D867CA82533AB28DB077E59C7F627A&s=9774698&ut=484&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/grattan-quits-age-with-call-for-diversity-20130204-2dtph.html  retrieved 1 September 2013

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/487737?uid=3737536&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102570956441

Dolphin View Apartment in the Reputation Economy

(Image: author's own)

Iris and Helly, my in-laws, have a surprisingly thriving holiday rental apartment beneath their beachside home in their quiet retirement town of Ulladulla, NSW.  They're booked out weeks, sometimes months in advance. In fact, if we stay there at Christmas, even before we leave Iris and Helly want to know what our plans are for the following Christmas as they need to know whether they can offer their flat to paying guests.  They are listed on Air BnB, Stayz and other sites, and their reputation capital is high. 

Web 2.0 technologies have benefitted them enormously as happy customers write positive reviews online.  Visitors’ online feedback is important and changes are made in line with suggestions given.  Prosumption consists of interrelated processes or a continuum, as George Ritzer (2013) explains and his notion of co-creation is at work on the Dolphin View apartment.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYf8rnMGHpE

Ritzer & Jurgenson (2010, p22) argue that the increase in digital prosumption is changing the nature of capitalism.  Traditional Marxist capitalism relies on the market economy to facilitate the exchange of goods and services for money, with profit (surplus value) being the goal.  Different types of economies now function that exchange intangibles: the reputation economy, the ideas economy or the economy of the mind (Barlow, cited in Doctorow, 2010).

Schwabel (2011) explains it well: “the reputation economy is an environment where brands are built based on how they are perceived online and the promise they deliver offline”.

The intangibles in the online world affect the real world and perception is the keyword here.  Social media is increasingly influential in shaping reputations (Finkle, 2013) and can make or break a reputation – business or individual.  Dolphin View’s online presence is not sophisticated or professionally managed; however its offline reality surpasses expectations, and thus their reputation grows.

(Image: author's own)

The notion of reputation value in a business transaction is not really a new one; ‘good will’ has long been considered part of the stock in trade of the commercial market. The ascent of the Internet is accompanied by a growing awareness of the importance of managing your online reputation, both in the business and personal spheres.  

References:

Doctorow, C 2008 Content, Tachyon Publications, San Francisco, USA

http://craphound.com/content/Cory_Doctorow_-_Content.pdf accessed 5 August 2013

Finkle, Jim 2013, ‘Virus targets social networks in new fraud twist’, The Age, 19 August 2013

Ritzer, G 2013, ‘Prosumption: Evolution, Revolution or Eternal Return of the Same’, video recording, Bowdoin College, Maine USA, 11 April 2013,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYf8rnMGHpE retrieved 31 July 2013

Ritzer, G and Jurgenson, N 2010, ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’’, Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol 10(1), 13-16, 2010

Schwabel, Dan, 2011, ‘The Reputation Economy is Coming – Are You Prepared?’ www.forbes.com, 28 February 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2011/02/28/the-reputation-economy/

We are wired to share (Botsman 2012).

Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/asterix611/9480969863/sizes/m/in/photostream/

File sharing and peer to peer (P2P) technologies allow artists to have greater control over the production, distribution and earning power of their creative output.  This is highly disruptive to the music industry business model.

When controversial performing artist Amanda Palmer’s label wanted to delete video scenes showing her stomach, outraged fans mobilised with The reBellyon.  Palmer’s counteraction to this devaluation/validation struggle was to leave her label and seek support through crowd funder, Kickstarter. 

Image source: http://jezebel.com/5101424/rebellyon

Author Cory Doctorow is another high profile file sharer.  He argues that distributing his books in this way means more people get to read his work; further, it’s ‘good for business’ as it brings him other opportunities (Doctorow 2008).

Palmer is motivated by trust of her fans and has been asked how she makes people give her money (for seeing her perform).

“I [don’t] make them, I let them,” she says (Palmer 2013).

Melbourne jazz pianist Nat Bartsch also recently crowd funded, via Pozible, her latest album, To Sail To Sing, facilitating and speeding up alternatives to music industry processes.  Nat acknowledges the benefits of independence for artists from a business whose products (CDs) are becoming less and less in demand (Bartsch, N 2012, email interview).

Image source: Samara Clifford, http://natbartsch.com/about-us/

Palmer provides an example of what Martin, Moore and Salter (2010) describe as ‘competing injustices’.  Palmer’s request for musicians to join her on stage (only hugs and beer as payment) was met with scorn from musician industry groups, who countered that musicians should be properly compensated (Wakin (a), 2012).  Palmer subsequently reversed her decision and paid the musicians Wakin (b), 2012).

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke also exemplifies the dichotomy in the changing landscape of the music business.  I remember the buzz around my household in 2007 when In Rainbows was made available as a download, with the suggestion that you pay whatever you want.  My sons downloaded it without paying, while my husband paid £10.  However, Yorke is now castigating music streaming service, #Spotify, claiming that “… new artists … on #Spotify will (not) get paid. Meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it” (Spangler, 2013).

Stevens (2003, p53) points out that the dominance of the media oligopolies is not absolute as new technologies of production and distribution change the way creative industries operate. 

Martin, Moore and Salter (2010) also raise the question of alternatives to the industry model and both Palmer and social innovator Rachel Botsman (2012) discuss the ‘currency of trust’ and how collaborative consumption empowers people to ‘make meaningful connections and engage in a marketplace built on personal connections’ (Botsman 2012).

References:

Bartsch, Nat 2012, email interview conducted with blog author.

Botsman, R 2012, ‘Rachel Botsman: The currency of the new economy’, TEDGlobal, Edinburgh, June 2012

http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_botsman_the_currency_of_the_new_economy_is_trust.html retrieved 5 August 2013

Doctorow, C 2008 Content, Tachyon Publications, San Francisco, USA

http://craphound.com/content/Cory_Doctorow_-_Content.pdf retrieved 5 August 2013

Martin B, Moore C, and Salter C 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, Vol 15 No 12, 6 December 2010

http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2986/2680 retrieved 5 August 2013

Palmer, A 2013, ‘Amanda Palmer: The art of asking’, TEDConference, Long Beach, Ca, USA, February 2013

http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html retrieved 5 August 2013

Spangler, T 2013, “British artists yanks solo album and Atoms for peace project citing music service’s payment terms’, Variety.Com, 15 July 2013.

http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/radioheads-thom-yorke-pulls-music-from-spotify-in-protest-1200562760/ retrieved 11 August 2013

Steven, P 2003, ‘Political economy: the howling, brawling, global market place’, The no-nonsense guide to global media, 2003, New Internationalist/Verso, Oxford, pp. 37-59

Wakin, Daniel J 2012, ‘Rockers Playing for Beer: Fair Play?’, The New York Times, 12 September 2012: C1(L). Expanded Academic ASAP.  Retrieved 12 Aug. 2013

Wakin, Daniel J 2012, ‘Musician Changes Tune And Will Pay Volunteers,’ The New York Times, 19 September 2012: C2(L). Expanded Academic ASAP. Retrieved 12 Aug. 2013