Gesture and miniaturization

the phonographic album as a memory artifact in musicking

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2021.34826

Keywords:

Phonographic album, Memory, 'To music', Gesture, Minimization

Abstract

Inspired by Gregory Bateson’s works, musicologist Christopher Small coined the term musicking to express the central notion of his approach to the communicational and performative essence of music making. In this article, such notion and approach are applied to the sociocultural production /circulation of musical recordings in the specific format of phonographic albums. We consider these – from their conception and production to their being played and listened to – as collective gestures which resonate and ritualize social relations and cultural meanings, we suggest a parallel between the phonographic performance with that of photography as a miniaturization procedure, as elaborated by Walter Benjamin. To observe the memory effects of this way of making music, we follow some aspects of the reports and activities of an agent whose formation and musicality started with the album – the musician, producer, record collector and researcher Charles Gavin.

Author Biographies

  • Sabrina Dinola, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    PhD and MA in Social Memory (PPGMS-Unirio). She is currently developing his postdoctoral research entitled "Symmetries and asymmetries in the digitization of culture: sociability and collective memories around popular music in cyberspace" (PPGMS-Unirio/ FAPERJ). She works in the areas of popular music, memory and heritage, anthropology of music and sound and ethnomusicology. She holds a BA in Sociology and Politics (FESP-SP) and a specialization in Urban Sociology (UERJ). She is the author of the doctoral thesis: “On the trail of phonograms with Charles Gavin: the phonographic album as a memory artifact of music in Brazil”, the book “Images que give voice: memory of Brazilian song in documentaries” and articles related to the themes. Collaborates as a researcher and professor in the Graduate Program in Social Memory at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (PPGMS-Unirio).

  • Regina Abreu , Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    PhD in Social Anthropology (PPGAS-National Museum) and a Post-Doctorate at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra. She served as a visiting researcher at the Institute of Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur les Enjeux Sociaux-IRIS. Specialization in Recherches en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Associate Professor at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), CNPq 2 Productivity Scholarship; Member of the Graduate Program in Social Memory/UNIRIO. Leader of the CNPq Research Group “Memory, Culture and Heritage”, Coordinator of the Research Project “The Heritage of Differences” (support CNPq), Coordinator of the “Observatory of the Cultural Heritage of the Southeast” (support Faperj ). He has experience in the area of ​​Social Anthropology in the interfaces with Social Memory, Cultural Heritage, Museums, Audio-Visual and the Study of Trajectories.

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Published

2021-09-13

Issue

No. 41 (2021): General Topics

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Articles in Portuguese/Spanish

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How to Cite

“Gesture and Miniaturization: The Phonographic Album As a Memory Artifact in Musicking ”. 2021. Per Musi, no. 41 (September): 1-18. https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2021.34826.

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