Ethnic music gives new perspective to foreigners

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.