Ethnic music gives new perspective to foreigners

By Rita A. Widiadana

CANDI DASA, Karangasem, Bali (JP): In modern countries like Australia and New Zealand, traditional music still has a place.

Roger Holdsworth, radio presenter from The Global Village, PBS-FM in Melbourne, Australia, and Piripi Walker from New Zealand recently shared their views on traditional music with participants of the Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting on Radio Programming of Traditional Cultures in Surakarta, Central Java, and Candi Dasa in Bali.

Holdsworth said there were several community radio stations in Australia which aired ethnic music. PBS-FM radio is one example. Established in l979, it consistently broadcasts "under- represented" music, he said.

"We broadcast a wide range of traditional and contemporary music programs from Spain, Greece, Latin America, Asia to Africa," he said.

Such radio programs enable listeners from all linguistic and cultural backgrounds to hear music from Indonesia, Vietnam, Ghana, Greece, Italy, Spain and Finland, Holdsworth said.

"More importantly, listeners can learn and understand something of the background to the music and of the cultures from which it comes," he said.

He also said many people outside Australia -- and some inside the country -- believed Australian traditional music meant "indigenous music", or music from Australia's Aboriginal community.

Holdsworth said that in fact, the country's traditional music ranged widely from aboriginal music to the diverse music of the hundreds of ethnic groups which made up Australia's population.

"When one wants to learn and to understand Australian traditional music, he or she should go back to the country's history," he said.

Australian society is made up of multiethnic groups, each with a different social, historical and cultural background, he said.

"I am a school teacher in Brunswick in Melbourne. Over 23 different languages including English, Greek, Italian, Turkish, Arabic and so on are spoken within the homes of students at the school," Holdsworth said.

For many years, he said, the policy of the Australian government was one of assimilation: Arriving immigrants should learn English, forget their culture and traditions and adopt mainstream Australian, i.e. English, culture and traditions.

"It was a failure and was in contrast to a policy of integration and multicultural Australia in which people, cultures and traditions would be acknowledged as existing side by side within a broader Australian culture," he said.

For years, debates continued within communities about the loss of their language, traditions and values, he said.

He also said the mainstream media, particularly television, film and radio, had the power to form and reinforce certain dominant images, particularly from the United States.

"The homogenization of culture and the loss of tradition is of concern to some people, both within specific communities and within the broader community," he maintained.

Faced with these challenges, communities have taken steps to maintain, transmit and reinforce their own traditions. Most communities have established cultural centers, developed their own media, including newsletters, newspapers and more recently radio stations, and to a smaller extent television stations.

In Australia, there is state radio, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Special Broadcasting Service, commercial radio and community-based radio.

The development of community radio stations began in the l970s when community groups were granted licenses to broadcast either to specific geographical areas or to a particular group.

"Some community groups have started to establish their own media, radio and television in the last ten years," he stated.

The Central Australia Aboriginal Media Association, a community-based organization from Alice Springs, operates radio and television stations throughout Central Australia and the Northern Territory, broadcasting programs on aboriginal culture.

"Community radio has become effective media to promote and to preserve not only traditional Australian music, but also local music from around the globe," he explained.

Yet, such radio stations generally have less power than commercial stations, restricting their range, and most are also financially insecure, he said.

Maori

Unlike Australia which focuses on various ethnic communities, New Zealand promotes mainly Maori culture and traditions.

Piripi Walker, a representative from Wellington, New Zealand, said that since l987, there had been significant development in radio stations which focused on the Maori community, most of which are operated by the Iwi community.

Prior to that year, very little Maori language and music was broadcast on state-owned radio stations.

"Most Maori radio stations were born from grassroots organizations in Maori tribal communities and are operated by volunteers," Walker said.

The establishment of Maori radio stations followed the Waitangi Tribunal's decision that the New Zealand government nurture Maori language and culture as one of the country's treasures.

The National Maori Organization defines Maori radio stations as stations which use the Maori language for more than 50 percent of its broadcast time.

Several local tribes have begun low-cost experimental FM stations since l983. These were independent radio stations which broadcast Maori music and cultural programs. Later, they also broadcast news, current affairs, sports, talk shows, radio dramas and children's programs.

"The operation of such stations has been very challenging. We faced a lot of difficulties," Walker said.

Some of the problems included the lack of infrastructure and inadequate human resources, financial resources and program material, he said.

"We can't broadcast old and classical Maori music. But to produce contemporary music in the form of the pop, rock, reggae and jazz music genres requires a lot of funds," he said.

Moreover, these stations face other serious obstacles, including the protection of the intellectual property rights of the Maori community, he said.

"Many Maori people do not want others learning and 'stealing' their classical oral literature," he said, adding that in the traditional Maori view, selling cultural treasures is seen as a cause of spiritual problems.

"Despite these problems, we have to continue broadcasting Maori music in an attempt to preserve and to popularize this culture nationwide," he said.