Book Launch for Michael E. Veal and E. Tammy Kim's "Punk Ethnography: Artists & Scholars Listen to Sublime Frequencies" (02/22)

Please join us Wednesday, February 22nd at 7pm for a discussion of the Punk Ethnography, edited by Michael Veal and E. Tammy Kim. This talk is co-sponsored by The Center for Ethnomusicology at Columbia University and Book Culture. It is moderated by Alessandra Ciucci from the Department of Music at Columbia University.Panelists include: Michael Veal, E. Tammy Kim, Will Glasspiegel, Rachel Lears, and Stanley Scott. .

A critical companion to the radical DIY record label that challenges the conventions of ethnography, representation, and the category of “world music.”

This ground-breaking case study examines record production as ethnographic work. Since its founding in 2003, Seattle-based record label Sublime Frequencies has produced world music recordings that have been received as radical, sometimes problematic critiques of the practices of sound ethnography. Founded by punk rocker brothers Alan and Richard Bishop, along with filmmaker Hisham Mayet, the label's releases encompass collagist sound travelogues; individual artist compilations; national, regional and genre surveys; and DVDs all designed in a distinctive graphic style recalling the DIY aesthetic of punk and indie rock. Sublime Frequencies producers position themselves as heirs to canonical ethnographic labels such as Folkways, Nonesuch, and Musique du Monde, but their aesthetic and philosophical roots in punk, indie rock, and experimental music effectively distinguish their work from more conventional ethnographic norms. Situated at the intersection of ethnomusicology, sound studies, cultural anthropology, and popular music studies, the essays in this volume explore the issues surrounding the label including appropriation and intellectual property while providing critical commentary and charting the impact of the label through listener interviews.

Alessandra Ciucci is Assistant Professor of Music (Ethnomusicology) at Columbia University. Her research interests include the music of North Africa, particular Morocco, music and gender, sung poetry, and music and migration. She is currently working on a monograph on music and the Moroccan migration to Italy.

Michael E. Veal is a musician and professor of ethnomusicology at Yale University. He is the author of several books, including Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon and Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae.

E. Tammy Kim is a writer and member of The New Yorker's editorial staff. She previously worked as a staff writer at Al Jazeera America and as a social justice lawyer.

Wills Glasspiegel is a multimedia journalist and artist with a background in music management. His work has appeared on NPR, Fader, Vice, Dis Magazine and Afropop Worldwide, As a manager, Glasspiegel facilitated the introduction of two niche electronic music genres: Shangaan electro from South Africa and bubu from Sierra Leone. He is currently a Ph.D candidate at Yale in African-American Studies/American Studies where his work is focused around footwork, a music and dance style from Chicago, Glasspiegel's hometown.

Rachel Lears is a filmmaker, writer, and musician based in Brooklyn, New York. Her first documentary Birds of Passage (2010) explored the everyday struggles of two Uruguayan songwriters. Her most recent documentary project The Hand That Feeds follows an historic labor campaign led by undocumented immigrant workers in New York City, and is supported by the Sundance Documentary Program. She holds a Ph.D in Cultural Anthropology from New York University, and her doctoral research on media and cultural policy in Uruguay was supported by grants from Fulbright-Hays and the American Council of Learned Societies/Mellon Foundation. Her ongoing video art collaborations with artist Saya Woolfolk have screened in numerous galleries and museums worldwide.

Stanley Scott teaches Indian music at Yale and Wesleyan Universities and directs the Rangila School of Music, serving Connecticut's South Asian community. He received the 2011 Mumbai Music Award for "contribution to the cause of Indian music by an overseas-resident personality," and the 2001 lifetime achievement award from New York's Cultural Association of Bengal.  His recordings include The Weaver's Song: Bhajans of North India and a major role in Anthony Braxton's opera Trillium E. He has performed as a featured artist at Kolkatta's Rabindra Sadhan, Mumbai's NCPA and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Delhi University, and New York's Chhandayan Institute.