Research, Ethnomusicology &
Anthropology in South Asia
Traditional Music in India - Music Research
Since November 2000 the British Library Sound Archive
(BLSA) in London and Rolf Killius (partly with Jutta Winkler)
have been working on a project - Traditional Music in India (TMI) - to
record, document and research folk, devotional and ritual musics of India. The
work is done with assistance from the Archives and Research Centre for
Ethnomusicology (ARCE) in Delhi and with Indian researchers and musicians
based in the project areas.
The work is mainly carried out in the
following areas:
- The kshetram (bigger temple) and kavu (smaller temple)
art forms of Kerala
- The musical genres on Majuli in upper Assam
- Adivasi music in Bastar (Chattisgarh, central India)
- The music of the Buddhist Monpa in the eastern
Himalayas (Arunanchal Pradesh)
- Musical genres of the Sora Adivasi in eastern India
(Orissa, Andhra Pradesh)
- Desert music from Banni in Kutch (Gujarat)
- Baul minstrels from West Bengal
- Devotional music in Orissa
- Music of the Chakma people in eastern Mizoram (north
east India)
- Village minstrels of Andhra
Pradesh
Sotra Musicians
in Assam Singers in
Kutch Singers
in Kutch
Gengkuli (Chakma)
Documentation & Research
Project
The anthropologist Wolfgang Mey and Rolf
Killius plan a research and documentation project
comprising traditional music and dance and ritualistic practices of the Chakma
people in the Chittagong Hill
Tract (CHT) in Bangladesh, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh
(three Indian states), which are related to the Gengkuli
ballads sung and performed by
hereditary experts. The Chakma are the largest group of indigenous
people in Bangladesh and follow Theravada Buddhism. Gengkuli are the
traditional bards/storyteller/musicians/singers of the Chakma people,
who are especially known for recounting the early history of this community and
their immigration into the CHT.
Tea
Music
The north east Indian state of Assam is well known the world
over for two things: its delicious teas and the wonderful green countryside with
fertile paddy fields and tea estates. The wildlife sanctuaries, such as
the Kaziranga, situated along the mighty Brahmaputra
river and on the slopes of the lofty hills attract foreign and Indian
visitors alike. What is not yet known much about, is the rich music and dance
culture of the tea workers and estate inhabitants, the tea garden
communities.
Rolf Killius is in the process of preparing
a project to record, document and research the disappearing folk, devotional,
ritual and Adivasi musics of the tea garden communities in Assam, north
east India. Though this project will be facilitated, organised and
conducted by experts in the field of Ethnomusicology, anthropology and media, it
is envisaged to bring together members of such interest groups as tourism
(private and government), Assam government agencies, tea garden owners and
members of the tea garden community
organisations.
The Future of the Past's Music
Rolf's
article The Future of the Past's Music first published in a
booklet by "Sutton
Subrang" for the
'Sitar Festival' on 5/6 May 2007 at the Bhavan, Indian
Cultural Centre London can be read by clicking on the link
below .
Publications of Rolf Killius
Killius, Rolf
2009 Review: “Sketches of
Kerala” in Ethnomusicology
Forum, Volume 18, Issue
1
June 2009 ,
pages 179 – 181. London
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a911421453
Killius, Rolf
2008 “Great Traditions in Little Villages” in Darbar Arts Culture
Heritage. Leicester: Darbar Arts Culture Heritage
Trust
Killius, Rolf
2007 "The Future of the Past’s Music" in Music Heritage of
India. London: Sutton Subrang
Killius, Rolf
2006 „Letter from Arunachal Pradesh, India“ in Songlines Issue 35,
London
Killius, Rolf
2006 Ritual Music and Rituals of
Kerala. Delhi: B.R. Rhythms
http://www.easternbookcorporation.com:80/moreinfo.php?txt_searchstring=12476
Killius, Rolf
2003 “...and the Goddess loves Music: Kshetram Vadyam – the ritual and ritual
music of Kerala, South India” http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20080902124601/http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/wtmkeralacontents.html
Killius, Rolf
2000 "The Roar of the South: Kerala Percussion" in Broughton, S.;
Ellingham, M. (eds.) World Music: The Rough Guide Vol.
2. London: Rough Guides Ltd
Perumanam Kuttan Marar and party
(CD)
1996 Drummers from Heavan –
Panchari Melam, the ritual percussion ensemble of Kerala. Leiden, Netherlands: PAN Records, recording and notes by Rolf
Killius
Pugatri Divagara Pooduval (CD)
1998 Ritual Percussion of Kerala: Vol. 2
Tayambaka. Genève: VDE-Gallo,
Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire, recording and notes by Rolf
KilliusVarious (CD)
1997 Percussions of Kerala, South
India. Boulogne, France:
Sunset-France, recording and notes by Rolf
Killius
Various (CD)
2006
Voices
for Humans, Ancestors and Gods. London: Topic Records / British Library Sound Archive, recording
and notes by Rolf Killius
http://www.songlines.co.uk/topoftheworld/top-of-the-world.php
Various (CD)
2003 Sounds for Divine Ancestors-The Music of Nepal's
Tamu Shamans London: SOAS, notes by Rolf
Killius
Various (CD)
2003 Drumming and
chanting in God's own country - The temple music of Kerala in South
India. London: Topic Records /
British Library Sound Archive, recording and notes by Rolf
Killius
Various (CD)
2002 Tune in to the Sounds of
Kerala. London: Horniman Museum,
recording and notes by Rolf Killius
Various (CD)
1998 Ritual Percussion of Kerala:
Vol. 1Kshetram Vadyam. Genève:
VDE-Gallo, Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire, recording and notes by
Rolf Killius
Contact
Rolf: rolfkillius 'at'
yahoo.com