User:BudjarnLambeth/Cultural appropriation-o-meter: Difference between revisions

;You are encouraged to form your own opinions on this nuanced issue.

This page aims to rate the [[Temperament naming|names]] of [[temperament]]s and other concepts in modern [[tuning]] theory based on where they fall on the spectrum between respectful inter-[[:Category:Traditions|cultural]] collaboration at one end, and disrespectful cultural appropriation at the other.

 

A temptation is to be so scared of cultural appropriation that you either never take inspiration from other cultures at all, or you do take inspiration, but try to pretend like you didn't to avoid getting in trouble.

It's sad to let this fear break down the open sharing of ideas between cultures. Cultures, musical and in general, have always cross pollinated and that's how most of the best concepts in music came to be in the first place.

Do keep taking inspiration from other cultures!

 

 

 

Just do it in a way where you say (1) "I took inspiration from x to make this tuning", instead of saying (2) "I found this tuning that is the same thing as x". The first of those is awesome and should be encouraged. The second is the one that will upset people.

You should also '''not''' name your temperament the "clam rock temperament", because that implies that it's the exact same as the traditional scale, which it is not. It's an approximation. You can't emulate all the [[Empirical tuning|subtle nuances]] of clam rock music because you didn't train in that musical culture for decades.

Not only is it leeching off of the respect afforded to the storied tradition you're claiming relationship to, it is also eroding the respect that people then pay to that culture's music theory. The more people who make unrelated bootleg copies of [[slendro]] scale or [[maqam]] biyati, the less seriously the public and scholars will take the actual, real slendro scale and maqam biyati, which is extremely unfair.

R.M.A. Koesoemadinata found that the temperament most similar to slendro scales is 9&17, i.e. [[bleu]] temperament. So bleu is the only temperament that could almost get away with being called "slendric". Though even then, it would be much better to have a name that acknowledges being similar but different to slendro, like "slendroesque", "slendro-like", etc., or a name after a city in [[Indonesian|Sunda]] like "palembang", "makassar", etc.

But none of that even matters because we're not talking about 9&17 bleu, we're talking about 5&36 slendric. Which has absolutely nothing to do with slendro at all. So referencing slendro in its name in any way is claiming false legitimacy and is blatant cultural appropriation.

The original name for 5&36 was "wonder temperament". Can we please change it back to that? There was nothing wrong with "wonder".  

Another name for slendric temperament is "gamelic temperament". This name is equally bad for all of the same reasons. The name "gamelic" implies this temperament is identical to the ones used by [[gamelan]] orchestras. But it is not remotely the same, so this name is stealing a term from another culture to try to lend itself legitimacy at that culture's expense.

I'm glad "gamelic" never caught on.

What the name fails to do however, is to communicate that it is not actually maqam music itself, it is only a heavily stripped down, rough, approximation of it to make it easier to combine with Western techniques.

Luckily, the name “maqamic temperament” isn’t in use anymore, and has been replaced with the still imperfect, but much better “neutrominant temperament”.

The name [[gamelismic]] is a bit unsuitable, because the temperament doesn’t really have anything to do with Indonesian gamelan. However, “gamelismic” is at least different enough from the word “gamelan” that it’s unlikely people will confuse the two, and as a result “gamelismic” is unlikely to muddy the perception or reputation of the gamelan tradition in any way.

 

 

The name “[[mabila]]” is not different enough from "mavila" to make it obvious that they're not the same thing.

As this tuning is further removed from actual [[African|Chopi]] tuning practices, there is more need for it to distinguish itself.

It's harmless though, just kind of underwhelming. It’s fine to stay as it is.

"Maqamic" has been renamed to "[[neutrominant]]". While that's an improvement, I actually dislike "neutrominant" too. It’s better than “maqamic”, but still mediocre.

Neutrominant was directly inspired by Arabic scales. Its explicit goal is to approximate them within an [[RTT]] framework. So the fact that its name includes no reference to Arabic music at all feels wrong. It's effectively stealing from Arabic music theory and claiming it as its own without giving credit.

The reason neutrominant does still get a passing grade, is that it does at least still reference neutral thirds in its name, which are a concept associated with Arabic music.  

So neutrominant is okay, it’s a good enough name, could be better, but it’ll do.

[[Slendrismic]] temperament is not actually named after slendro, it is named after the fact it has a slender generator. The name is similar enough to slendro that there is a tad possibility for confusion, so I can’t give too many stars, but really it probably is different enough that it’s fine. I don’t think anyone is likely to mix up “slendro” and “slendrismic”. So, it gets a high pass.

=== 4 stars (distinction) ===

[[Avila]] is related to [[mavila]] temperament, which itself is directly inspired by actual music from Mavila, Mozambique, so there is legitimacy to this claimed relationship and it's good the name gives credit for that.

The name could do a better job of making it clearer than this is not the original mavila tuning. "Avila temperament" does a good enough job of this to get a good star rating, but something that more overtly states that it's not real mavila, like "mavilesque temperament" or "almovila temperament" would push it up to 5 stars.

However, I am rating only the name of the scale itself, not anything else the creator has said. And the name itself is pretty great! It’s named after the main language family in and around Georgia. I think that’s a great way to give credit to the source of inspiration, without claiming to be the same thing as it.

Its name is the English translation of mohajira's name, so it does still give credit indirectly by doing that, so that's why it's still rated so highly. That, combined with the fact that it is further removed from the practice of Arabic music than mohajira, so it's okay for it to give credit less directly.

Still, a little bit more direct credit would be nice, and would push migration up to 5 stars. But it's still good enough.

Important to mention, too, Mavila is actually very very close to the Chopi tuning and is directly inspired by it, so it is very much right for it to have a name related to that. It's not just had the name tacked onto it, it really merits the name.

[[Mohajira]] temperament is inspired by maqamat, but is not the same as them, so it is absolutely perfect that it used an ordinary Arabic word for its name - muhājirah, meaning, roughly, "migrating".

Temperaments from the same [[Diaschismic family|lineage]] as shrutar, but they are named so much better! Their cultural origins are very apparent from their names, you can tell they are inspired by shruti, '''''but''''' they are also different enough from the word “shruti” that you can tell they are not the same thing, they are simply inspired by it.

These are awesome names, if only shruti temperament itself had a name this good, given that it’s the closest one to actual shruti. Oh well. These are really good!