Online identity and creativity

Love Wordles! Give it a go! http://t.co/XEuaEhzqFU #ALC201 pic.twitter.com/I4hSrTUP6Z
— Mary-Anne (@mastgirl62) August 5, 2014

I used to think I was a ‘lite’ social media user.  Compared to my friends though, I am quite the accomplished doyenne. I have three Wordpress blogs, this Blogger, as well as About.me, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tumblr, Delicious and Behance accounts (I think that’s all…).

Online me is an extension of the real world me.  But it’s all me.  Or aspects of me. A mediated me.  But that’s not a new thing. From cave paintings, to smoke signals, to telephone calls, humans have been engaging in mediated communication for a long time.  Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is an extension of human interaction, and the same rules apply.

Source
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATadrart_Acacus_1.jpg
By Roberto D'Angelo (roberdan) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons from Wikimedia Commons

Like any human, I have different facets to my personality and my engagement with the various social media platforms has sprung from different needs at different times.  I edit my profiles and (restricted and publicly available) content to manipulate my identity for different purposes, but essentially my engagement is authentic: I use my real name and photos of myself.  I do not use a pseudonym, unlike a friend of mine who has two Facebook profiles neither of which are in her real name and one even uses another gender.

My identity is discursively formed; it is not fixed and unchangeable but ‘made meaningful’ through interaction and context (Page 2013:17).  Judith Butler’s theory of performativity is relevant to online identity construction as it is an ‘ongoing process of becoming’ rather than a fixed state of being (cited in Cover 2014: 56).

Image: M. Stuart 2014

Just as in real life, we construct our online identity by our actions and by our interactions with others.  Our identity (both online and real-world) comprises the purposeful presentation that we give, but also unintended impressions that we may give off (Goffman cited in Bullingham & Vasconcelos 2013:101).  By posting intensely art-focused content, viewers of this blog might think I am actually more knowledgeable than I really am (or is my knowledge as valid as anyone else’s?).

I found Smith and Watson’s toolbox of concepts helpful in understanding online self-presentation, and I wholeheartedly agree that ‘both offline and online, the autobiographical subject can be an ensemble or assemblage of subject positions through which self-understanding and self-positioning are negotiated’ (2014:71).  Who I am is not solely who I think I am, but also how others perceive me.

Image: M. Stuart 1976

Take for instance, the concept of the audience. I am pretty circumspect about what personal details and photos I post to social media – but then I’ve got a bit more life experience under my belt than the average third year uni student. 

Erving Goffman’s use of dramaturgical metaphors in conceptualizing identity construction – front stage and back stage behaviours – is applicable to the construction of online identity and something I (unconsciously) bear in mind in online interactions (cited in Bullingham & Vasconcelos 2013:101).  

However, this is not always the case for young social media participants who are often unaware of the performative nature of their online participation.  The ‘collision of professional and personal worlds’ can be traumatic for those who have uploaded images or words that may affect their colleagues’ respect for them (Ollier-Malaterre, Rothbard, and Berg, 2013:645).  This is most likely to be a problem for adolescents due to the permanence of online content clashing with their immature ‘cognitive-control’ systems. While it might temporarily boost their image amongst peers to post images of themselves drunk or naked, the clash of personal and professional worlds arises occurs when a future employer comes across these images (Gabriel 2014:105).

My participation on social media platforms has been tailored for different audiences, e.g. Facebook started as a place to connect and reconnect with friends and family, people I actually know. Now I communicate with distant strangers whom I have never met, but with whom I have warm and funny conversations.  Facebook is where I might post something indicating my political leanings, or activism but I would never post such things on my Tumblr or LinkedIn, which I reserve for my professional profile.  My privacy settings on Facebook are mostly for Friends.

In trying to craft a professional persona on my LinkedIn and Tumblr accounts, I am attempting to transition to a new ‘me’, a potential creative employee.  I’m trying to rebrand myself, what Smith & Watson called ‘the self regarded as a commodity’ (2014:79).  I’m also engaging in creating a ‘blended identity’ where my real world self informs my online persona, which then re-informs my real world self because of interactions that occur online (Bullingham & Vasconcelos 2013:102).  My online engagement with artists in far distant places has had an impact on my day-to-day art practice.

Image: M. Stuart 2013

A recent site of identity construction with which I am coming to grips is Twitter.  Not being much of a tweeter up till recently, I am now following and being followed by my university lecturers, fellow students as well as people I’ve never heard of on the other side of the planet – people I’ve never met in real life. So now I am faced again with a need for ‘ongoing reflexive performance and articulation of selfhood’ as I create my identity on this platform (Cover 2014:55).

But let’s take a wider look at online creativity and identity. Jaron Lanier ‘argues that interesting works of creativity aren’t normally produced by lots of people throwing stuff into a big pot and giving it a stir’ (cited in Gauntlett 2013:198).  I’m not so sure.  Take the Big History point of view.  How does a nation such as, for example, France become distinctly French?  A process involving lots of people and time, potentially a ‘mush-making process’, yet a cohesive, identifiable ‘self’ exists.

I’m also not sure I share the strength of Jaron Lanier’s concerns about ‘digital reduction’ and the loss of our humanity as we endeavor to ‘fit in with the requirements of a machine (or database, or a piece of software)’, (cited in Gauntlett 2013:196).  Lanier’s unease about the uniformity and predictability of, for instance, Facebook profiles, reminds me of a teenager’s unwillingness to dress in a more conformist way.

But we all live with rules and structure anyway, and we strive in varying degrees to express our individuality within these confines, but online ‘people will construct expressive resources out of whatever facilities are available’ (Miller 1995).  It is important to be mindful of how we conduct ourselves both in the virtual world and the real world to get the measure of a person.

_________________________________________________________________________________

References:
Bullingham, L and Vasconcelos, A 2013, 'The Presentation of the self in the online world: Goffman and the study of online identities', in Journal of Information Science, Vol. 39, No. 1, retrieved 21 July 2014, http://jis.sagepub.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/content/39/1/101


Cover, R 2014, 'Becoming and Belonging: Performativity, Subjectivity, and the Cultural Purposes of Social Networking', in Poletti, A and Rak, J eds., Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography: Identity Tehnologies: Constructing the Self Online, University of Wisconsin Press, e-book, retrieved 21 July 2014, ProQuest ebrary <http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/lib/deakin/docDetail.action?docID=10822251>.

Gabriel, F 2014, 'Sexting, Selfies and Self-Harm: young people, social media and the performance of self-development',  Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, No. 151, Jun 2014: 104-112, retrieved 21 July 2014 <http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=353961738626632;res=IELLCC>

Gauntlett, D 2013, Making is Connecting, Wiley, Hoboken US, e-book, retrieved 21 July 2014, <http://deakin.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1184117>

Miller, Hugh 1995, 'The presentation of self in electronic life: Goffman on the Internet', Proceedings of the embodied knowledge and virtual space conference, Goldsmiths’ College, University of London UK, retrieved 4 August 2014  <http://www.dourish.com/classes/ics234cw04/miller2.pdf>.


Ollier-Malaterre, A, Rothbard, N P, Berg, J M, 2013, 'When worlds collide in cyberspace: how boundary work in online social networks impacts professional relationships,' Academy of Management Review, October 2013, Vol. 38 Issue 4, p645-669, retrieved 22 July 2014, <http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4b302c9c-eeea-4a57-bdfd-e13ed4a5f300%40sessionmgr4005&vid=12&hid=4211>.

Page, Ruth E, 2013, Stories and Social Media: Identities and Interaction, Taylor and Francis, New York, 01 March 2013,
retrieved 22 July 2014 <http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/(S(yijxaakj3fhxoclgqvm5xgwq))/Reader.aspx?p=958478&o=154&u=XZi7W1iv2hK5FxAI8BGPcQ%3d%3d&t=1406012236&h=213DF0DF3AB3757E538082A5F9B43055FDD31592&s=13675919&ut=484&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n&cms=-1#>. 


Smith, S and Watson J 2014, 'Virtually Me: A Toolbox about Online Self-Presentation', in Poletti, A and Rak, J eds., Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography: Identity Tehnologies: Constructing the Self Online, University of Wisconsin Press, e-book, retrieved 21 July 2014, ProQuest ebrary <http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/lib/deakin/docDetail.action?docID=10822251>.

Will The Real Me Please Stand Up?

Looking at my about.me page, you might be forgiven for thinking I have multiple personality disorder. I have two Wordpress blogs, a Blogger, as well as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tumblr accounts (I think that’s all…).

But it’s all me.  Or aspects of me.

Like any human, I have different facets to my personality and my engagement with the various social media platforms (SMPs) have sprung from different needs at different times.  

Source

Just as in real life, our online self is constructed – by our behaviours and by our interactions with others – and constantly negotiated.  We strike a pose, or wear particular clothes to present our best possible self.

I find Smith and Watson’s toolbox of concepts helpful in thinking about online self-presentation, and I wholeheartedly agree that ‘both offline and online, the autobiographical subject can be an ensemble or assemblage of subject positions through which self-understanding and self-positioning are negotiated’ (2014:71).

Take for instance, the concept of the audience. The things I post to Facebook are vastly different to the things I put on Twitter because the audiences are different.

Facebook started for me as a place to connect and reconnect with friends and family, people I actually know. Now I communicate with distant strangers whom I have never met, but with whom I have warm and funny conversations, and share common interests.  My Tumblr is more for my professional profile; it’s where I post my artwork and writing.  In this, I am attempting to transition to a new ‘me’, a creative potential employee.  I’m trying to rebrand myself, what Smith & Watson called ‘the self regarded as a commodity’ (2014:79).

These online versions of me are still authentically me, though.

_________________________

I have also written previously here about the specular economy - we're all looking at each other and crafting our online personas, consciously and unconsciously.

Smith, S and Watson, J 2014, "Virtually Me: A Toolbox About Online Self-Presentation," in Poletti, A and Rak, J eds, Identity Technologies: Constructing the Self Online, University of Wisconsin Press, 2014, ProQuest ebrary. Retrieved 18 July 2014.

The internet - it's not just for cat videos

Media Studies 2.0

Mr Pet Cam

WOW! My husband has been saying for years that we need to get a Go-Pro on our cat and see what he gets up to! And lo and behold, it’s already been done.  Yet another example of someone with a great, innovative idea actually taking it to a market and making it a reality. 

I don’t think I’m so cynical as to think that the creators of sites like Mr Pet Cam and Dog TV are in it purely for the money. Sure it’s a business, but if they hadn’t already had an interest in animals it probably never would have happened. Is it a service fulfilling a need (or want)? How many people spend hours daily looking at cat videos for free; the interest is definitely there. Look at the burgeoning of cat cafes. And surely I'm not the only person who knows a cat with their own Facebook page?  

Melbourne's first cat cafe

Digital media’s accessibility and global reach allows people who do not have access to vast amounts of start up funds to build up a business without mega capital investment, in this case providing the content of the business itself, but also allowing marketing relatively cheaply.

William Merrin’s article, Media Studies 2.0: upgrading and open-sourcing the discipline, points to the vast complexity of the worlds that the interconnectedness of digital media allows. I think any aspersions he is casting are aimed firmly at his colleagues in academia, some of whom refuse to give up their hegemony on the bridge of media studies even as the boat is being tipped on its head.  

What is intimidating is the breadth of the subject with which we have yet to come to grips. If Media Studies 2.0 is ‘recognising, confronting and exploring’ the changes brought about by thriving digital technology, then perhaps we need to just get on with bridging the digital divide and get to Media Studies 3.0 where we know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

Merrin’s explanation of the mass communication era broadcast media model (one-to-many) being replaced by a horizontal, peer-to-peer, bottom-up model rings true.  

I really like the way Merrin acknowledges that media studies needs to open its arms much wider to encompass pretty much all other disciplines such as theology, engineering, science, social theory.  Its not just about the twentieth century mass communication industry business model.

The loss of ‘common culture’ is noticeable to me; I can see it in my own family where each of us is a  PRODUSER of ‘very different personal and peer-centred content’. 

I also feel the pull of and see sense in the new paradigm of ‘collective intelligence’. And this seems to be the direction Merrin sees us heading. Good. Sign me up.

And get this lazy cat off my desk. He needs to be out and about earning a living like the rest of us.

Change of focus - new media

I'm still globalised me. In fact, more than ever, but for the next three months I'm going to use this blogspace to comment and reflect on topics covered in my current Deakin university subject, ALC201 New Media: Users, Settings, Implications.

Twitter

Shorter, more timely and frequent reflections will be posted on my Twitter account with the hash tag #ALC201, which all participating students and tutors will see.

All my online presences are collated in my about.me page. One of the aims of my participation in this unit, which only crystallised in my mind yesterday at the first seminar, is to bring together all my online 'personas' to present a united, yet complex, version of me.

About.me

I've been on Facebook for 5 years, and have gradually added other forms of social media for different purposes.

Facebook really was primarily for staying in contact (and reconnecting with) family and friends in far away places.  It is my most private profile. I joined Twitter early 2012, but did not easily get to grips with it. Part of this current unit of study will push me to use Twitter more, and understand it better.

Wordpress

Tumblr

In the last 12-18 months I have opened Wordpress, Blogger and Tumblr pages to showcase various other uni-based participation, with variously an art, design, academic or writing focus.

So, for ALC201 writings, only look at anything from this date forward.

World Music - 'soundtrack to globalisation' (White 2012)

"A pleasant contamination" (Byrne 1999)

Listen to this whilst reading!

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder in 

The Long Road from the film Dead Man Walking

Peter Gabriel

If the naysayers of globalisation are concerned about loss of national identity, and the threat of a bland melting pot of cultures, World Music should provide reassurance of diversity.  However, not everyone agrees that globalisation has been a good thing as far as music is concerned.  Definition of World Music is difficult due to the ‘proliferation of styles, genres, sub-genres and cross-fertilisation’ (Shedden 2008) and ranges from ‘traditional and contemporary folk and roots music from the entire globe, as well as cross-cultural fusions and hybrids’ (World Music Central.org), and ‘an umbrella category under which various types of traditional and non-Western music are produced for Western consumption’ (White 2012, p1), and ‘anything other than Western rock and pop, generally played on traditional instruments’ (Shedden 2008) to the cynical ‘a catchall that commonly refers to non-Western music of any and all sorts, popular music, traditional music and even classical music. It's a marketing as well as a pseudomusical term’ (Byrne 1999).

Global cultural flows involve transnationalisation and deterritorialisation, and World Music is a chief example of this is: 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).

What seems to be common in any analysis of World Music is that it is the presentation of non-Western music for Western audience consumption and, for all the fear of hybridity and cultural remix, the sheer variety and cultural difference in world music is evidence of individual cultural and racial authenticity (Gilroy cited in Hutnyk 1998, p401), although the whole notion of authentic in relation to cultural products is always up for grabs. Is there any such pure, unadulterated culture anywhere in the world today? The trappings of World Music presentation – ‘foreign performers in native dress’ – keeps the ‘myth of authenticity’ alive for Western audience (Byrne 1999).

WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an internationally established festival and foundation which brings together artists from all over the globe (womad.co.uk).  It was founded in 1982 by UK artist Peter Gabriel who in 1989 also set up a recording label, Real World Records, with the aim ‘to provide talented artists from around the world with access to state-of-the-art recording facilities and audiences beyond their geographic region’ (realworldrecords.com).

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

One of WOMAD’s most successful contributions to the world music stage has been the late Pakistani Qawwali performer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997). Tim Robbins’ 1996 film Dead Man Walking introduced me to the music and soaring vocals of this superlative Qawwali exponent who achieved international prominence in the 1980s and ‘90s through his collaborations with Western musicians, including Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder. 

Qawwali 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). 

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). There is some argument that the Westernisation of Khan’s music was a desecration and

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Jeff Buckley

profanation of religious traditions, as it was broken down and reconstructed for Western audiences (Jacoviello 2011, p325) however Qawwali gatherings are not necessarily religious in nature, more spiritual and non-Muslims may attend. 

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).  Real World Records has since gone on to represent, records and distribute such diverse international artists such as the Afro Celt Sound System, Papa Wemba and The Blind Boys of Alabama.

The marketing of these non-Western forms of music relies heavily on the representation of them as ‘exotic’(Taylor in White p174, Hutnyk 1998, p404).  This commodification of the exotic is a trademark of the post colonial era where capitalist cultural production valorises difference; the product offered to the Western consumer is the very ‘otherness’ of the world musician (Hutnyk, 1998 p402).

It is interesting to note that it is precisely this exotic ‘otherness’ that is the attraction for Western consumers, which is ironic given that the vocals are generally incomprehensible to Western ears.  It doesn’t matter how much you adhere to the concept of music as a universal language, if you don’t understand Urdu you’re not going to understand a word in any Qawwali song (Hutnyk 1998, p403).  It is this perspective that causes the hackles to rise on the spine of US musician David Byrne.  The relegation to the ‘realm of the exotic’ plays up to cultural difference and further reasserts the ‘hegemony of Western pop culture,’ he declares (Byrne 1999).

David Byrne

Perhaps more than any other technology, music technology has fostered globalisation (Hutnyk 1998 p407). As early as 1986, Wallis and Malm identified four stages in the patterns of change when mass communication and increasing access to technology allows musicians around the globe to create hybrid forms of music ‘in the wake of cultural imperialism’.  The stages are indicative of the processes of globalisation as a whole:

*    cultural exchange;
*    cultural dominance;
*    cultural imperialism;
*    growth of transnational corporations involved in transculturation (Wallis and Malm 1986, p376).

Simon Emmerson of successful UK world music group, Afro Celt Sound System, is not a fan of globalisation and he sees WOMAD as an ‘antidote to globalisation’.  He sees globalisation as ‘destroying indigenous cultures and indigenous peoples. [It’s] destroying the detail in people's cultures’ (cited in Hart 2001). 

Afro Celt Sound System

But globalisation has facilitated World Music, a specific site of cultural production in which WOMAD attendees are complicit as they consume the cultural difference on offer (Hutnyk 1998, p402) and since its inception has become a cultural phenomenon with more than 120 WOMAD festivals have taken place in 21 countries and the annual Australian version, WOMADELAIDE, takes place each year in Adelaide (Shedden 2008).

Timothy D Taylor claims that World Music occupies a ‘noticeable niche’ in the growing sample libraries, which are essentially ‘digitized bits of…various kinds of music that can be pasted into compositions being created on a computer’ and in this way World Music is insinuating itself into ‘more mainstream kinds of pop and rock music’including ‘soundtracks for film, television and advertising’ (cited in White 2012 p173). 

Talvin Singh

This sampling has allowed remixing and reshaping of Khan’s vocals (along with a host of other Asian musicians) to be heard by new audiences on dance floors in inner city nightclubs all over the world, and other hybrid forms of Asian music such as banghra are embraced well outside of their original locales.  Ibiza’s Café Del Mar’s hugely popular chill out albums have moved from World Music bins of music stores to more mainstream categories such as Electronica and Dance Music by as artists such as ‘1990s Asian underground’ artists Nitin Sawhney and Talvin Singh (RealWorldRecords.com).

Byrne’s disdain is for the term World Music because he sees it as belittling and ghettoising what is, in fact, the peoples creating the majority (99 per cent) of the music produced today (Byrne 1999).  Yet it is the consumption by the West, and its attendant persistent hankering for the exotic, that keeps World Music from being truly global; so long as it remains under the spell of Western hegemony, World Music will continue to be seen as other and not mainstream. 









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

Byrne, David 1999, 'I Hate World Music', 3 October 1999, The New York Times
http://global.factiva.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/ha/default.aspx viewed 9 October 2013

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=97070
62099 viewed 20 September 2013

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=960205138
2
viewed 21 September 2013

Hart, Jonathon 2001, “It's not just the music,” Herald Sun (Melbourne), 10 February, 2001
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/eds/detail?sid=d620940f-646f-41c4-b779-
be0abbdcf16d%40sessionmgr12&vid=6&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=n5h&AN=200102101102051722
viewed 7 October 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

Real World Records
https://realworldrecords.com/world-music/

Shedden, Iain 2008, ‘With the world at their feed’, The Australian, 3 August 2008
http://ezproxy.deakin.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=200803081021999791&
site=eds-live viewed 7 October 2013

Wallis R and Malm K, 1986, ‘Culture and The International Recording Industry’, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Vol 3 Issue 3,
September 1, 1986, p375-378
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=7a6bf2d1-f5a5-40dd-af7c-
71aab123ddd5@sessionmgr4&hid=17 viewed 10 October 2013

White, B W 2012, Music and Globalisation: Critical Encounters, Indiana University Press

World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/ viewed 9 October 2013

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - the voice of velvet fire

Image source

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

Listening? Read on...

Source

"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).

Image source

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).

Image source

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