Audio file
Date recorded: July , 1963
Contributor(s): Contributor: Vizedom, Monica; Contributor: Arensberg, Conrad; Contributor: Lomax, Alan
Genre: interview/commentary
Location:
Physical form: Reel to Reel
Tape number: T1272
Track Number: 1
Archive ID: T1272
Note: Seamlessness versus networking groups and combinations. Some groups are seamless| others are seamless at the community level but are under many layers of hierarchy which are networked. Seamlessness expected to be associated with polyphony. When there is layering it is associated with orchestras and bardic music. Compound situations give rise to nodes in the system. Discussion of work group leadership. Alternating leadership is associated with initiative. Whether people have the freedom to jump into a song. Kinds of work groups, how free are people to go in and out of them. Can't rely on Murdock for ipso-facto types. Cooperative and reciprocal work groups, familial, rotating cooperative, and corvee. Custodial (obedience) organizations are politically based. There are six forms: corvee (American and African types); tenancy; peonage; serfdom; slavery. American corvee had a diffuse leader, who was elected or hereditary. Leadership was an honor. This type was found in Ancient Rome, Greek Polis. If he was in charge of maintaining ditches, he could say "Everyone to the ditch," and all the men would go and dig the ditches. Then they would throw a feast and the leader would, say, carry the saint in the procession. In Africa there would be rivalry for the position and leader would be killed. In Polynesia it was hereditary. Alan Lomax: Variety of experience in terms of work teams correlated with whether there is polyphony in the orchestra or the chorus. There is an explicit statement about the kind and degree of independence that can be rated on a five-point scale: responsibility training, independence training, achievement training, obedience training, and nurturance training. Hunters score high on independence and self reliance. Africans, who are polyphonous, score high across the board in all criteria. You need to have obedience training to work under people in cooperation but you also have to have a lot of independence and achievement in order to make it in African society. Pygmies have a high degree of both, can work in a group but also keep own autonomy. African corvees versus Oriental despotism (serfdom). Custodial groups have solo singing.
Belongs to: Arensberg/Lomax, 1963-1968
About the session: Conrad Arensberg and Alan Lomax discuss varied ethnomusicology and performance style and culture topics. Some conversations include Victor Grauer.
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