An Investigation of Eastern Cultural Influences in the Classical Guitar Solo Repertoire.

Samrat Majumder

Can Eastern cultures become a more integral part of the classical guitar’s cultural identity through repertoire influenced by these cultures? In this research exposition, I explore the ways in which cultural elements from Eastern cultures may inspire repertoire for the solo classical guitar. Through this repertoire, I shall examine how such cultural influences may promote Eastern cultures to performers and audiences of the classical guitar. In doing so, the cultural horizons of the classical guitar world may be broadened to represent a greater variety of cultures that also mirrors the growing global community of the classical guitar. In Part I, I look at some of the pre-existing works that have been influenced by Eastern cultures including works by Toru Takemitsu; arrangements of popular and folkloric music from Eastern cultures; and original compositions that have influences from Eastern cultures. Part II deals with the ethics of cultural inspiration and looks at questions like: “How can we represent cultures authentically through music?”, “Is cultural appropriation ok?”. Finally, Part III presents an overview of the new repertoire specifically written for this research. This comprises of two arrangements of songs attributed to the Bengali polymath, Rabindranath Tagore, as well as a commissioned work with an Eastern cultural influence composed by Italian composer and classical guitarist, Marco Ramelli. The findings of this research reveal the difficulty of assigning an objective answer to the issues surrounding cultural inspiration. I implore readers to approach this research with an open mind and hope that, at the very least, I can encourage the musical community to consider different types of questions concerning the use of cultural elements in art.

This was the topic of Part II where a number of ethical perspectives regarding cultural inspiration were considered. The ensuing chapters of this part looked at the terms "cultural authenticity", "cultural appropriation" and "cultural appreciation" in an effort to understand the potential pitfalls that can be present when trying to represent culture through music. As described, this is a sensitive field since the perception of culture varies from culture to culture and even from individual to individual. My discussions with my Research Supervisor, Professor Deurzen, were incredibly enlightening in this respect, as he encouraged me to continually question my thoughts regarding these ethics and guided me towards trying to establish some sort of objectivity in my findings. I must admit that this pursuit of objectivity in this field is something I found quite difficult to tackle since opinions vary dramatically between different scholarly sources and articles. One of my main anchors through all of this this was a dependency on the semantics of the words that we use to describe the way in which we express cultural inspiration in music. I concede that the words used in the definitions of these terms (e.g. 'clumsy', 'poor', 'harmful', 'earnestly', 'true', etc') are incredibly broad and therefore subjective (one person's idea of 'clumsy' may be different to another person's idea of 'clumsy'). This may seem to further complicate the discussion, however, I feel that to define every single word in a way that accurately captures an objective meaning is difficult within itself. These are broad and subjective words are also used by authors of the various sources drawn upon for this part of the investigation. Language is a flexible and subjective tool that can never entirely express meaning since the understanding of words can vary from individual to individual¹. This part of the research is not an exact science. There is no physical, definitive evidence that provides us with "facts" about cultural ethics. Instead, it is a matter of perspective and an effort must be taken to try to comprehend the different viewpoints regarding the inspiration of culture. My findings in this part lead me to believe that there is no objective right or wrong approach but that we should strive for an understanding of different approaches such that the risk of insensitive appropriation is, at the very least, minimised.

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Conclusion

Summary and Evaluations

How can Eastern cultures become a more integral part of the classical guitar’s cultural identity through repertoire influenced by these cultures?

How has the content of this exposition answered this question? Well, all three parts of this research consider this question from different perspectives. In Part I, we uncovered some of the methods that arrangers and composers use to integrate Eastern cultural elements in their works for solo classical guitar. The creativity and innovation in the use of these different cultural elements by composers like Takemitsu and Assad; and arrangers like Dyens, Yocoh and Koseki; brings a new stylistic approach to the classical guitar repertory which can draw inspiration from traditional, popular or folk styles of cultural music. What is exciting about this is the musical and cultural impact that such repertoire can have. The integration of a culture in the classical guitar's cultural identity requires more than just the composition or arrangement of new works. It requires the promotion of the culture within the wider classical guitar world and the promotion of the classical guitar within the culture, it's a two way street. This new repertoire can be a good starting point for this. The incorporation of cultural elements in works for the classical guitar introduces different aspects of culture to the wider, global classical guitar audience. These works bring with them certain cultural elements which will be promoted if the works are studied and performed across the guitar community, thus helping to spread the education and appreciation of these cultures across the world. This a wonderful way of connecting cultures through the classical guitar and will diversify, further, this ever evolving cultural identity of the instrument. Furthermore, this repertoire can also serve to promote the education and recognition of the classical guitar within the cultures that have inspired these new works (for examplethe arrangement of popular Chinese melodies appealing to Chinese audiences who were unaware of this capability of the guitar to perform such repertoire). In doing so, the audience for the classical guitar also extends its reach to encompass a greater range of cultures. One aspect that I feel is incredibly important is that this promotion can encourage new generations of artists from the cultures themselves. So, the cultural impact stemming from this repertoire can work both ways to promote Eastern cultures in the classical guitar world; and the classical guitar in different Eastern cultures. For this to be achieved, however, the incorporation of these cultural elements should be done in a way that authenitically represents these cultures and aims to avoid any harmful forms of cultural appropriation.

These findings set the environment for the practical tasks undertaken in Part III. In the arrangements, my awareness of the colonial history between British and Indian cultures (discussed in Part II, Chapter II) played an important role in my choice of songs and the arranging process. I approached the original songs in a way that tried to be authentic by keeping the melodic material faithful and making harmonic and contrapuntal additions where it was justifiable to do so. In the Scottish versions, I was slightly more experimental with the harmonic structures since different recordings of these songs varied harmonically from one another, however, with the Bengali songs, I tried to stay with the original harmonisations to respect the aural tradition of Rabindra Sangeet. The final chapter documented the collaboration and composition process of Dr. Ramelli's Improvvisazione, cammino e canto. Dr. Ramelli's understanding of cultural inspiration through music, brought another persepective to the investigation. A perspective that, I feel, suitably concludes this investigation. For Dr. Ramelli, a cultural influence is a pathway (a camino) to understanding a theme that is common to all humanity, an aspect of the human condition. In this work, the overaching concepts are meditation, breath and awareness. The implementation of these concepts have been influenced by Indian culture, however, the concepts themselves are not exclusive to this culture. Indian culture is the lens through which Dr. Ramelli approaches these concepts which are deeply human. This brings me to the final point that I would like to make of this investigation. Through the journey of this research, I have reached an understanding and belief that both culture and music belong to both everyone and to no one. Culture is a dynamic phenomenon which can inspire anybody. Yes, there are members of a culture that perhaps understand cultural elements in different way to members of another culture, but the art and the philosophy of these cultures need not be exclusive to them. Consider science. In 1928, the Scottish physician, Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic, penicillin, after accidentally leaving mould to grow on a petri dish in a London laboratory². This is technically a British discovery, and so, is penicillin exculsively administered in British hospitals? Of course not, the antibiotic is used worldwide to treat bacterial infections. In the scienctific community, any breakthrough is, ideally, for the benefit of all humanity. Can culture and cultural music not follow a similar approach? Perhaps, like penicillin, the sharing of these cultural elements through music could help heal those rifts and wounds between cultures that have been formed by historical and political cicumstances such as colonialism. I can understand that I am slightly romanticising the findings of this investigation but the benefits of cross cultural inspiration are a clear means of connecting cultures and peoples in trying to achieve that "worldwide commerce of heart and mind, sympathy and understanding" that Tagore speaks of³.

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