In our book on Singing Meditation, Liz Hill and I mention the issue of misappropriation and the need for
Singing Meditation facilitators to be as sensitive as possible in choosing music from other cultures and traditions, so as not to choose songs inappropriately.
The word ‘misappropriation’ is most often used in a business and/or financial setting, where someone takes property and/or funds that are not rightfully his. A musical example would be using a traditional religious Native American song without any awareness of the significance of the song or even determining whether or not the tribe permits outsiders to use that song.
Of course mixing between cultures happens all the time — a pagan melody will be sung with Christian lyrics, an Englishman will pen English lyrics to a French tune. Our hymnbooks carry scores of examples of this. In our modern age where ‘fusion’ between cuisines (think Cuban Chinese) and music (think Afro Caribbean) is commonplace we often forget that some groups would prefer that their religious observances, songs, dances, etc. not be used by ‘outsiders’ simply for the sake of entertainment. There is a scene in “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” by Helen Simonson contains a vivid reminder of the perils of misappropriation.
In “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” the Major’s Upper Middle Class British friends choose the Partition between Pakistan and India as a theme for a country club dance. The planners keep confusing (or are ignorant of) the differences between Moslem and Hindu, Pakistan and India, and the keep trying to lump together events from more than one era for the sake of costuming, decor and general ambience. The Major makes an effort to set them straight, but without much success. They see him as tedious.
The organizers decide to stage a re-enactment of the Major’s father’s role during the Partition. His father had defended the life of one well-placed woman amidst much chaos, fighting, and killing. There is an effort to simulate this chaos at the Country Club dance.
An old man who is helping with the food preparation becomes extremely agitated by this re-enactment of the Partition as both his mother and sister were killed during the mad rush of Hindus and Moslems to cross the new borders. The old man grabs the microphone and begins screaming at the Englishmen, trying to explain what really happened that day. The Country Club set are upset that this man would have the audacity to ruin their evening’s entertainment and, except for Major Pettigrew and one other woman, there does not appear to be any awareness that this ‘entertainment’ has been done insensitively and was a poor choice.
An excellent reminder for us to remember as we choose songs for Singing Meditation.
Interesting post. I bet this happens in many areas without us ever even considering it. I understand that one common way to wave hello to someone in the U.S. is considered by Iraqi’s to be insulting, the equivalent of a middle eastern single finger salute. Sometimes, when I drive past a house down the block where some middle eastern folks live, I wave at them without thinking and then wonder, oh shoot. Which message did I just send them?