Music and the environment in the Pacific: New US podcast programme released
The Society for Ethnomusicology, based at Indiana University in the United States, recently released a new podcast programme of the series “Ethnomusicology Today” featuring Dr Diettrich and musics he has recorded in the western Pacific. According to Dr Diettrich, music and dance in the Pacific Islands demonstrate close relationships with the environment, both land and sea, and these connections have only begun to be explored in research. Dr Diettrich’s work calls for renewed attention to these connections, especially given the implications of climate change for cultural practices in the Pacific.
Ethnomusicologist Trevor Harvey spoke with Dr Diettrich about his new article released last year in the journal Ethnomusicology, titled “Summoning Breadfruit and Opening Seas: Toward a Performative Ecology in Oceania.” In the interview Dr Diettrich describes how music links closely with indigenous sustainability and place in the Federated States of Micronesia, and especially how music demonstrates insights into reliance on breadfruit in the islands and in concepts of the ocean in wayfinding.
Dr Diettrich’s research relates his collaborations with a former breadfruit summoner, a specialist in music linked to the crop’s abundance. The podcast includes musical examples recorded by Dr Diettrich, and also one from the early twentieth century, a time when breadfruit summoners were recorded following devastating typhoons in the north Pacific. The interview discusses how knowledge about social and environmental connectivity is expressed in musical performances, and the implications for changing environments and cultural memory.
The new podcast programme, called “Performative Ecology in Micronesia with Brian Diettrich” is featured on iTunes and the website of the Society for Ethnomusicology.