Music, Dance and the Archive

This book explores the relationship between music, dance, and archives, highlighting the collaboration between Indigenous performing artists, community members, and academic researchers to bring life to historical objects stored in archives. It examines how music and dance are recorded, used, and the relationship between the live body and historical objects.

Format: Paperback / softback
Publication date: 01 November 2022
Publisher: Sydney University Press

This groundbreaking book brings together a wealth of Australian and international research on Indigenous music and dance, with chapters centred around practices from diverse regions such as Arnhem Land, Western Australia, the Tiwi Islands, the Torres Strait, Taiwan, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and North America. What sets this work apart is the involvement of Indigenous scholars as both authors and co-authors, accounting for more than half of the book's content. The book seamlessly combines practice-led scholarship with research-informed creative practice, challenging traditional boundaries between academia and the arts. By examining music and dance together as inseparable parts of performance practices, the book achieves an interdisciplinary approach that draws on the expertise of musicologists, dance historians, linguists, Indigenous Studies scholars, and practitioners.

One of the key themes of Music, Dance and the Archive is the interrogation of historical access and responses to archives. The book demonstrates how Indigenous performing artists and community members, alongside academic researchers (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous), are collaborating to bring life to objects that have been stored in archives. It highlights the relationship between music and dance, as embodied forms of culture, and the records that preserve them, fostering interdisciplinary research across musicology, dance history, linguistics, archival science, and dance.

The volume explores the various ways in which music and dance are recorded in audio-visual records, examining the uses made of these records in both renewal of cultural practice and revitalising performances that have fallen out of use. It also delves into the complex relationship between the live body and historical objects, shedding light on the ways in which these two elements interact and influence each other. While this book primarily focuses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music and dance, it also features research on Indigenous music and dance from beyond Australia, including New Zealand, Taiwan, and North America.

Music, Dance and the Archive is an insightful culmination of original, previously unpublished research from a diverse selection of scholars in Indigenous history, musicology, linguistics, archival science, and dance. The book offers valuable insights into the rich tapestry of Indigenous music and dance practices, contributing to our understanding of these cultural traditions and their ongoing relevance in contemporary society. It serves as a testament to the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and the importance of preserving and celebrating the heritage of Indigenous peoples.

Weight: 45g
Dimension: 254 x 178 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781743328675