User:BudjarnLambeth/Cultural appropriation-o-meter

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This page is only ever intended as a casual opinion column which never tries to be nor claims to be an encylopedic wiki article.

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This user page is editable by any wiki editor.

As a general rule, most users expect their user space to be edited only by themselves, except for minor edits (e.g. maintenance) and user talk pages.

However by including this message box, the author of this user page has indicated that this page is open to contributions from other users (e.g. content-related edits).


Author comments: You are free to add temperaments or other terms and place them where you think they should go.

You are also free to move temperaments currently on the list into a different category if you think their current category is incorrect according to the criteria of this page.

You are also free to add your own possible alternative names.

This page aims to rate the names of temperaments and other concepts in modern tuning theory based on where they fall on the spectrum between respectful inter-cultural dialogue at one end, and disrespectful cultural appropriation at the other.

DOs

DO give credit if you take inspiration from other cultures

Do be inspired by other cultures, that is a truly great thing when ideas are shared across cultures.

And do give credit when you take inspiration from another culture, their tradition deserves the praise for its contribution.

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 very same thing as x".

The first of those, (1), is really good and should be encouraged. You make the world a more fun, more connected, more respectful place by doing (1).

The second, (2), is the one that will upset people, because it is erasing the culture’s traditional description of their own idea, and overwriting it with your own theory. Don’t do that please.

DO differentiate your name from the original concept

Imagine there is a country called Otterpop, and they use a musical scale called the clam rock scale. Imagine you invent a temperament that approximates the clam rock scale.

You should not make it look like the temperament is completely original and has nothing to do with Otterpop, and name it something unrelated like "the beaver dam temperament".

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 subtle nuances of clam rock music because you didn't train in that musical culture for decades. So you can’t claim the exact same name.

What you should do is call your temperament something distinct and related. For example: "the hyperclam temperament", "the clambreaker temperament" or "the tumtumutensil temperament".

DON'Ts

DON'T name something unrelated after another culture's music

If you create a temperament, scale, or anything else that is not related at all to another culture's music theory, or is only very loosely, weakly related, then don't name it after that.

This is effectively just stealing the name from that culture to give the illusion of time-honoured legitimacy to your new concept. This is like when people claim to be practicing Native American herbal medicine when they're doing nothing of the sort.

This leeches off of the respect afforded to the storied tradition you're claiming relationship to, and erodes away the respect that people then pay to that culture's original 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 pretty unfair.

DON'T make it sound like your concept is an exact replica of the original concept

See the Otterpop example above.

Appropriation-o-meter ratings

Rating system

Passing grade, the name should be kept
  • 5 stars = Respectful name that encourages people to check out the tradition which inspired it, without claiming to be identical to that tradition
  • 4 stars = Respectful name with slight flaws, which encourages people to check out the tradition which inspired it, without claiming to be identical to that tradition
  • 3 stars = Name with substantial flaws, but more good points


Failing grade, the name should be changed
  • 2 stars = Name that risks overwriting or replacing a tradition, risks falsely claiming a connection with that tradition, or risks taking from a tradition without crediting it
  • 1 stars = Name that overwrites or replaces a tradition, or falsely claims connection to that tradition, or which takes from a tradition without giving credit


1 star (fail)

Maqamic

Maqamic temperament was a deliberate attempt to approximate Arabic maqam music with a regular temperament. So it is right for the name to reference that.

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

The name "maqamic temperament" is way too easy to get confused as being the exact same thing as "traditional maqamic tuning".

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

Slendro diesis

49/48, the “slendro diesis”, doesn’t appear to have much too in common with slendro, besides being tempered out in equipentatonic and quasi-equipentatonic tunings like 5edo and semaphore[5].

The big problem with this name is that "slendro diesis" implies that this comma is actually important to traditional, pre-RTT Indonesian music theory of the slendro scale. Which it is not.

Luckily, this interval has a few other names, “semaphoresma” being the one that seems to have caught on, but “large septimal diesis” and “semaphore comma” also seeing some use. At the moment most authors use both terms, saying something like “semaphoresma a.k.a slendro diesis”. Hopefully over time, as people grow more awkward towards “slendro diesis” (which in my subjective experience seems to be already happening) they will start just saying “semaphoresma” on its own.

Pelogic

"Pelogic” sounds so close to “pelog” as to give the impression they are the exact same thing, which they are not. The definition implicit in the name “pelogic temperament” is “the regular temperament which generates pelog scales.” And that’s not what it is. It is inspired by pelog scales, it doesn’t make them.

A musicologist could too easily confuse the terms "pelogic temperament" (the Western temperament) and "pelog tuning" (the Indonesian scale).

Possible alternative names?
  • "Pelographic" = "pelog approximated with RTT graphs", also sounds like "geographic" reflecting the cross cultural collaboration involved in discovering the temperament
  • "Pelogismic" = “a full 7 limit temperament generated by the pelogic comma” (no existing temperament is called pelogismic so the name is free)
  • "Peloglike" = "bears a likeness to pelog"
  • "Pelogram" = "pelog approximated with RTT diagrams"
  • "Pelomatic" = "pelog approximated with mathematics"
Difficulty of renaming - Medium. There is a moderate amount written about it around the wiki.

Srutal, shrutar, sruti

Srutal temperament and its siblings are audibly quite close to the Indian shruti system, so it is good that they give credit to that inspiration in the title.

The issue with these names, is that they are so similar to the word “shruti”, that they imply the tuning is identical to traditional Indian shruti. Which it is not. These tunings are inspired by shruti, and sound close to shruti, but they are not the same as shruti.

Terms like "srutal music" or "sruti music" are ambiguous, it's not clear if they refer to traditional Indian music, or music in the modern Western temperaments. This is a failure on the part of the names.

Possible alternative names?
  • "Srutalic, shrutaran & srutinic":
    • Resembles diatonic mode names, which makes sense on many levels
      • These temperaments are a compromise or a fusion between Indian shruti theory and Western diatonic-descended MOS and RTT theory, so it’s fitting for the names to be a hybrid of the two
      • Meantone and its diatonic modes are a kind of ‘sister tuning’ of srutal, so it’s fitting for the names of concepts in each to be faint echoes of the other:


  • "Zurutal, zurutar & zuruti":
    • The letter Z looks like a big barn door with the diagonal beam to stabilise it, representing how simple yet stable srutal is and how much harmonic weight it can bear with very few notes
    • The letter Z looks like the long winding road the temperaments took across the world to become what they are here and now
    • The letter Z calls to mind the idea of “alpha and omega”, of infinity and timelessness, representing the ancient tradition of shruti, and the cyclic nature of Hindu cosmology and the way that is reflected in the cyclic nature of the 22-tone scale of generators and periods


  • "Qrutal, qrutar & qruti":
    • The short "q" sound represents how nimble and efficient the tunings are at approximating 5-limit JI.
    • letter Q evokes the word “queen”, alluding to srutal’s elevated position at the top of the ranking of low harmonic entropy linear temperaments


  • "Krutal, krutar & kruti":
    • The short "k" sound represents how nimble and efficient the tunings are at approximating 5-limit JI
    • The letter K evokes the word “king”, alluding to srutal’s elevated position at the top of the ranking of low harmonic entropy linear temperaments


Difficulty of renaming - Very high. Lots of other temperaments are named in reference to these, lots of music and theory has been written with these, it'd be a massive pain.

2 stars (fail)

Buzurgic

Buzurgic temperament is named for the buzurg aka buzurk genus by Safi al-Din Urmavi.

It is good that it gives credit for its inspiration, however the name is way too similar to “buzurg” to the point where musicologists could easily mix up the two, and it could serve to erase or muddy the definition of the original.

The name dhavantaric has been proposed to replace “buzurgic”, however it is unclear what the origin of that name is so it’s hard to tell if it’s better or worse by the criteria of this list. It might be a reference to a Hindu god, or to a Pali or Kannada word, in which case it is only a better name if the temperament is actually related to one of those cultures’ musical traditions, not if it is arbitrary.

Possible alternative names?
  • "Dhavantaric" = a proposed alternate name, but we need to check first whether it gives credit to a relevant cultural influence
  • "Buzzlike" = "bears a likeness to buzurg", but also refers to the buzzing sound of its pseudo-unison comma of about 10 cents
  • "Buzzmatic" = "buzurg approximated with mathematics", but also refers to the buzzing sound of its pseudo-unison comma of about 10 cents
  • "Buzurgram" = "buzurg approximated with RTT diagrams"
  • "Buzurgism" = named after its defining comma, the “buzurgisma”.^

^(Not “buzurgismic”, because that is already taken by a full 7 limit temperament - “ismic” usually implies “not a subgroup temperament”, hence just “ism”) instead)

Difficulty of renaming - Very low. I don't know of temperaments named after buzurg nor much written about it, so it should be painless to change.

Slendric

Slendric is a 5&36 temperament which has only a little in common with real slendro scales.

R.M.A. Koesoemadinata found that the temperament most similar to slendro scales is 9&17, i.e. bleu temperament, not 5&36 slendric.

As for the name itself, it is a little too close to "slendro" for comfort. If a musicologist reads about "slendric chords", he might not know whether you mean chords from the real Indonesian slendro scale, or from the slendric temperament. So it fails for that reason.

"Slendric" used to be called "wonder", so maybe we can bring that name back?

Gamelic

Another name for slendric temperament but equally as bad. The term "gamelic" is very easily confused with the term "gamelan". That risks implying this temperament is identical to the ones used by gamelan orchestras. Which it is not.

Imagine saying "gamelic scales" - musicologists could easily assume you mean "scales used in gamelan music". The potential for confusion is too high.

Fortunately the name "gamelic" never really caught on and isn't widely used.

Possible alternative names?
  • "Wonder" = the original name for the temperament
  • "Gamelike" = "bears a likeness to gamelan", but also "approximates the 2.3.7 subgroup so easily it's like a game"
  • "Slenmatic" = "slendro approximated with mathematics"
  • "Slendrolike" = "bears a likeness to slendro"
  • "Slendagram" = "slendro approximated with RTT diagrams"
  • "Gamelism" = named after its defining comma, the “gamelisma”.^

^(Not “gamelismic”, because that is already taken by a full 7 limit temperament - “ismic” usually implies “not a subgroup temperament”, hence just “ism”) instead)

Difficulty of renaming - High. Slendric is mentioned quite a bit around the place, it is one of few temperaments to have a dedicated lumatone mapping listed on the wiki.

3 stars (pass)

Gamelismic

The name gamelismic is a bit unsuitable, because the temperament doesn’t really have much 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.

So it should be fine.

Neutrominant

"Maqamic" has been renamed to "neutrominant". While that's a big improvement, it isn’t perfect. It’s good enough though, especially given how hard the community struggled internally over the name, it makes sense to keep it. Anything good enough is, well, good enough.

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 feels a little bit like stealing from Arabic music theory and claiming it as its own without giving credit.

Neutrominant is still okay, though, because it does at least still reference neutral thirds in its name, which are a concept associated with Arabic music.

And also, the wiki page for neutrominant temperament does devote almost its entire length to explaining the similarities, differences and relationship with maqams (it’s a really good page), so it’s not as if the community is trying to hide the temperament’s origins, they are very enthusiastic about sharing them. Which makes me happy to see.

Rishi

Rishi is a higher rank version of sruti temperament, which itself was based on shruti in Indian music theory. Rishi is named after the rishis, sages who are believed to have created shruti texts.

I don't love this name, because it implies that the modern tuning is directly inspired by the ancient Indian sages, which seems like a pretty arrogant implication for a name to carry.

Nonetheless, it's better than straight up calling it "sruti", as that would be claiming to be an exact 1 to 1 representation of Indian theory. At least "rishi" does communicate that it's not exactly the same thing, and also does give credit to the culture too.

Rishi gets a barely passing grade.

Slendi

It is unclear whether slendi temperament is related to slendro or not. If it is, then this name is very good because it gives credit without being close enough to get confused. If that’s the case, then it should be moved up to 5 stars.

If it is not, however, the name is a tad too close to slendro, and risks benefiting off of an association with slendro that doesn’t exist. It isn’t close enough to warrant a name change, but it’s close enough that it can’t score any higher than 3 stars.

Slendrismic

Slendrismic temperament is not actually named after slendro, it is named after the fact it has a slender generator. For that reason it doesn't really even need to appear on this list, but we might as well give it a look.

The name is similar enough to slendro that there is a tad possibility for confusion, but it is probably different enough that it’s fine. I don’t think anyone is likely to mix up “slendro” and “slendrismic”.

Superpelog

The name superpelog could give the impression that it's "better than pelog", which would be bad, but I don't think that's how most people will interpret it.

I think most people will think of it as "pelog but more extreme", in the same way "superpyth" is "pythagorean but more extreme" or "supermajor" is "major but more extreme". In which the case, then the name is very good, because it gives credit to pelog without claiming to be the same as it.

4 stars (distinction)

Bipelog

The name bipelog is pretty good. It gives a straightforward description of what it is (a pelog-like fifth generator, two periods per octave instead of one). It gives credit to pelog while still making it clear it’s its own thing.

Biyatismic

Biyatismic temperament is inspired by maqam biyati, so it is good that it references that in the name.

The name is different enough from "bayati" that it's unlikely the two could be confused. If I hear "biyatismic chords" or "biyatismic tracks" for example, it's obvious these refer to the temperament and not the maqam.

The name is still maybe just a tad too close to the maqam, but it's pretty good.

Buzurgismic

Buzurgismic temperament is named for the buzurg aka buzurk genus by Safi al-Din Urmavi.

It is good that it gives credit for its inspiration, and the name is still distinct enough from “buzurg” that musicologists are unlikely to confuse the two, so buzurgismic will likely serve to bring much deserved attention to the original genus, rather than erasing it.

Injera

Injera temperament is named after an Ethopian flatbread, because 26edo supports it and the Ethiopian alphabet has 26 letters.

Admittedly a slightly goofy reason for a name, and the temperament doesn't have much to do with Ethopia, but it's not stealing anything, and it might encourage people to check out Ethopian breadmaking, so that's quite neat.

Kartvelian^

The inventor of the Kartvelian scale wrote a lot of dodgy stuff, claiming that his own new tuning was the exact same traditional tuning that is actually used in Georgia, erasing all the nuances of how Georgian music is actually tuned. If I was rating based on all that, this entry would get 1 star.

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.

So, everything else the inventor said about the Kartvelian scale, one star. But the name itself? Four stars! It’s great!

^The name is 4 stars, other stuff written about it is 1 star

Migration

Closely based on mohajira temperament, the name migration 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.

A little bit more direct credit might still be nice. But it's still pretty cool.

Rastmic

Rastmic temperament is inspired by maqam rast, so it is good that it references that in the name.

It is perhaps still named a little too close to "rast", but it is probably different enough to avoid confusion. "Rastmic scale" is unlikely to be confused with "rast scale", for example.

5 stars (high distinction)

Biyativice

Biyativice is a vicesimotertial (23-limit) temperament tempering out the biyatisma (same one that defines the biyatismic temperament). The name does a good job of clearly showing it’s inspired by biyati, while also showing that it’s different, and part of how it’s different (it involves harmonic 23). A very solid name!

Mavila

Mavila temperament is not directly named after a traditional Chopi tuning, but is instead named after a village where that tuning was used.

This is a great way to go about it, I think.

What would have been bad is to call the temperament "Chopi", because then you're claiming affiliation with that entire culture, which would be appropriation.

But using the name of a village instead is perfect. It gives credit to the original place where you were inspired by their tuning, without claiming to be their tuning.

This is actually kind of a timeless way to name scales and tunings throughout history: phrygian, dorian, etc. are all named after geographical places, so are many of the maqams. Naming a scale after a village or river or such, at or near where you found it, is a fun strategy.

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

Avila, cohemimabila, hemimabila, mabila, maviloid, mohavila, movila, trimabila

Derivatives of mavila, and they largely inherit the goodness of its name.

Mohajira

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".

Kind of a perfect name for a scale that “migrated” from one culture’s theory to another.

Using an everyday word from the language is the perfect way to give credit to the original culture, without claiming its traditions as your own or risking confusion with them.

Definitely something more names should emulate!

Pelotonic

Pelotonic is the TAMNAMS name for the MOS scale 2L 5s. This name is awesome!

2L 5s really does resemble the 7-tone version of the pelog scale, so it's quite appropriate to note that similarity in the name.

"Pelotonic" is also different enough from pelog that there's no possible way of confusing or conflating the two, they're clearly different but related. That's the goal for these type of names.

And even that added bit "tonic" is really smart, because it tells the theorist exactly in what way is this "pelotonic" similar to pelog: It's pelotonic, it has the same number of large vs small melodic jumps as pelog.

This name is perfect!

Quadrasruta, shru, shrusic, shrusus, srutal archagall, srutaloo

Temperaments from the same lineage as shrutar, but they are named so much better!

Their cultural origins are well 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 shrutar temperament itself had a name this good, given that it’s the closest one to actual shruti. Oh well. These are really good!

A note about 'renaming'

A temperament or other concept does not necessarily need to be completely renamed, in order to solve its problems. Often, it may be sufficient to just add a new name, and mainly use the new name moving forwards, but not deprecate the old one.

In such a case, composers and scholars moving forwards can choose to use the new name in order to avoid the ambiguity, confusion and colonialist vibes the old name created. While old software, old theory papers and old music under the old name won't make people confused, because they won't have abandoned the old name, it will still be listed there as an "also known as" on the wiki page.

In most cases, this could be the best approach to take to minimise the shock of a name change.

See also

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