From the Editor

Aloha kakou! An important milestone for any field of inquiry is the evidence of a balance between “discovery” of the new and a critical “revisiting” of established knowledge. For some, self-reflection is a sign of maturity of the field; and for others, an indication of dearth in content. Although we as individual scholars may arrange ourselves at various points along such a continuum, the value of self-reflection and self-criticism holds general consensus. Asian Music 48(1) presents challenges of revisiting established knowledges, to wit, gagaku, the Japanese iemoto system, coastal cultures along western Malaysia and Thailand, the contemporary recording industry in India, and the documentation of Southeast Asian music through historic recordings. Each author thoughtfully critiques previous scholarship and received knowledge, in some cases arguing for alternative perspectives and in others calling for a revision of thinking on the subject. As a common theme for the four major articles and the review essay, the critical revisiting of aspects of our field constitutes an important milestone.

The variable of individual agency is a second theme. Notable in this regard is the Yamada essay on the iemoto system, which examines its practice for a particular artist. One individual’s merchandising strategy in the Indian music recording market, as analyzed by Booth, is eventually rewarded via ring-tone technology. The Yampolsky review essay on historical recordings of Southeast Asian music problematizes its curation as idiosyncratic, in which personal preference—individual agency—rather than systematic representation seems to inform the selection of pieces.

Given the wide geo-cultural and genre interests of the Asian Music readership, I am pleased that each of the major articles addresses the “so what?” question, that is, each author shares methodological or theoretical concerns that are potentially applicable beyond the specific subject matter. For example, both articles on Japan deal with larger issues of taxonomy and ontology that provide trajectories for studies beyond Japan. The Ross study on shared drumming patterns along coastal Malaysia and Thailand and the Booth analysis of marketing of Indian recordings both suggest productive ways of “mining” data to yield hitherto unknown or unconsidered aspects. In addition to contributing to a thematic frame for 48(1), each article presents specific knowledge and individual contributions.

LeRon James Harrison interrogates a received, indigenous taxonomy of the position of gagaku court music in relation to traditional Japanese music, drawing on governmental as well as scholarly sources. His essay “Gagaku in Place and Practice: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Place of Japanese Imperial Court Music in Contemporary Culture,” presents an argument based on practice and on principles of spatial location that also argues for its inclusion within the realm of classical Japanese music hōgaku. He presents a challenging, if not provocative, perspective for our (re)consideration of the genre.

“Rethinking Iemoto: Theorizing Individual Agency in the Tsugaru Shamisen Oyama-ryū” by Keisuke Yamada constitutes a second challenge regarding Japanese music and its infrastructure. It shifts our attention from the ancient genre of gagaku to a most contemporary one, the globally popular tsugaru shamisen, a virtuosic instrumental genre with regional and folkloric roots. Like Harrison with gagaku, Yamada challenges the received (and generally accepted) notion of iemoto as a top-down structure by examining instances of individual agency among tsugaru shamisen artists. He has opened up new spaces and possibilities for further scholarly debates on the iemoto system and has added to the diversity of voices for them.

Lawrence N. Ross argues for the existence of hidden linkages among apparent diversities in his essay “Across Borders and Genres in Malaysia and Thailand: The Changgong Rhythm of the Andaman Sea Coast.” He examines the diverse cultural environments of a single rhythmic drumming motif and the timbral binary of muted and non-muted drumstrokes encountered along Malaysia-Thailand coastal areas. The author regards their presence, their various functions, and specific uses as manifestation of an earlier shared history that suggests a kind of pan-Andaman “cultural subconscious.” Further, he encourages us to revisit our “received” notions of the area’s ensembles essentialized as gong cultures, pointing out the omnipresence of drums in these ensembles.

We return to the theme...