Indigenous artists are frequently placed within the too‐tidy binary of traditional vs. modern. Indigenous culture is considered frozen and, thus, incompatible with modernity. This article examines the Inuk avant‐garde vocalist Tanya Tagaq (b. 1975), whose creative and communicate outputs demonstrate a larger political project of undermining mainstream representational practices regarding Indigenous identity (particularly in Canada) and presenting Indigenous‐centered sounds and perspectives. While Tagaq has constructed an artistic identity that challenges the simple binaries of past/present and traditional/modern, mainstream media often relies on representational practices straight from the Settler colonialist playbook. This article illustrates how she makes her agency clear in both her artistic output and in her social media activity on Twitter. I examine media coverage of Indigenous artists and Tagaq in particular and then dismantle the self/other and modern/traditional binaries with reference to her two latest albums—_Animism_ and _Retribution_— and two Twitter “wars” in which Tagaq's celebrity status incites both reactive and active critique of Indigenous—and specifically Inuit—representation in Canada. She, in turn, presents her own narrative as a deliberate strategy of cultural and political self‐determination.
Selon plusieurs compositeurs, le studio est un espace retiré qui permet d’intérioriser leurs idées, contrôler chaque élément et réaliser l’entièreté de leur imagination musicale. Bien que Normandeau soit un compositeur renommé pour ses oeuvres acousmatiques fixées, il ne se limite pas à l’espace solitaire et contrôlé du studio électronique. Il apprécie le processus, la transformation et l’adaptation. C’est ainsi qu’il adapte l’oeuvre acousmatique Le renard et la rose (1995) pour quatre chanteurs, six percussionnistes et électroacoustiques, dans le cadre de Baobabs (2012). Après avoir contextualisé l’utilisation des onomatopées dans les compositions du xxe siècle et dans l’oeuvre de Normandeau, et à la suite de la présentation du cycle Onomatopées et de Baobabs, l’article propose une analyse orientée du point de vue du rythme, des relations tonales et formelles, de la texture et du timbre. L’étude propose en conclusion une réflexion sur les différences fondamentales entre les deux compositions, particulièrement autour de la question du contrôle et de la dualité compositeur/interprète.For many composers, remaining in the secluded world of the studio allows them to completely internalize their ideas, to control every element, and to realize their exact musical imagination. While Normandeau is certainly most known for his fixed acousmatic works, he does not restrict himself to the closed and controlled world of the electronic music studio. He embraces process, change, and adaptation, in this case adapting the acousmatic work Le renard et la rose (1995) for four singers, six percussionists, and electroacoustics in Baobabs (2012). This article first contextualizes vocal onomatopoeias in 20th-century compositions and Normandeau’s output. Following an overview of the Onomatopoeias cycle and Baobabs, the analysis is divided into rhythm, tonal and formal relationships, and texture and timbre. The article concludes with a reflection on the fundamental differences between the two works, particularly as they relate to control and the composer/performer binary
Queer processes abound in fixed media electroacoustic music with voice, in both the composition and listening processes. ‘Queer’ means transgressive, unstable, and disruptive, and queer processes break down restrictive traditional binaries. In this article, I name the queer where some may have thought it does not or could not exist, in well-known works by Berio, Stockhausen and Lucier, as well as lesser-known works by Truax, Normandeau and Westerkamp. Any claim to the queer in these electroacoustic works is inherently political because the core of the term's meaning is to disrupt and perturb the status quo, which is maintained by existing power structures. I outline how composers unsettle the gendered voice and exploit its mediating role between the body and language. Studio manipulation is further enhanced by the acousmatic listening context, which is intimate and unsettling (‘queer’), and can depict the ‘third space’ between the bodies of the voice and listener.
At Babylon on Ottawa' s Bank Street, the dark dance floor grows progressively more humid, filled with the sweaty bodies of old and new friends, men and women, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. As their bodies respond to the aggressive beats blaring through the loudspeakers, the group becomes a euphoric mob that to an observer sitting in the booths along the side wall could seem like a coordinated effort, but from the dance floor itself, the group exhibits individual kinaesthetic expression of their shared physical and auditory pleasure. Aboriginal singing with high-register Northern-style vocables emanate from loudspeakers and inspire cheers from the crowd, and the sound of powwow drums intensifies the movements and calls forth more dancers from the sidelines. It' s Electric Pow Wow night, and A Tribe Called Red (ATCR) is on stage. At 10 pm on Saturday nights when Babylon' s doors open, Bank Street is mostly dead, except for the line of people eager to enter; as the night goes on, the line will grow and the club will be packed. 1 Electric Pow Wow occurs each month on the second Saturday, regardless of ATCR' s attendance. A busy touring schedule frequently has the group out of town.ATCR is an Ottawa-based DJ collective that is most known for developing "powwow step," a genre that blends samples of powwow drumming and singing with dubstep, a genre of electronic dance music featuring syncopated percussion, distorted sounds, and sub bass that resonates in the body due to its very low frequencies. The members of ATCR are talented Aboriginal musicians whose sonic signature attempts Alexa Woloshyn holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and is a visiting researcher at the Institute for Canadian Music. Her research focuses on mediating technologies in electroacoustic music, Aboriginal avant-garde and dance music, and contemporary vocal music.
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