heartless, soul-less ethnomusicologists

[Judith R. Cohen <judithc...>]

Hi, the note about the Geneva concert is interesting, but I take
exception to a tendency I've seen before , expressed at the end of the
message.
> Katia et Christian n?interprètent pas ces musiques en ethnomusicologues, mais 
> avec leurs c?urs, avec leurs âmes d?ici ou
> d?ailleurs, d?hier et d?aujourd?hui. 
For those who don't read French, the musicians "don't perform this music
as ethnomusicologists; rather, with their hearts and their souls from
here or elsewhere, of yesterday and today..."

Great. So performing "as an ethnomusicologist" (whastever that means -
does one wave one's degree about in the air while singing?) is the
OPPOSITE , by definition, of engaging one's heart and soul. To me, this
is part of a tendency I've seen to excuse one's inability or
unwillingness to really research and understand a tradiiton one is
performing by claiming that that is just what academics do to spoil the
tradition in question; that one's own mystical intutions will do a much
better job, whether they are backed up by knowledge or not. As an
ethnomusicologist, I don't separate my heart and soul (or, hopefully, my
sense of humour, somewhat lacking in many of these presentations) form
my work, and will be writing to them shortly.
Cheers, Judith
>

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