Bernd Brabec
Biographic Data
| ID | 96401 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bernd Brabec |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bernd |
| FAMILY NAME | Brabec |
| SIGNATURE | BRABEC B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Vienna |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2150-4924 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 52 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
It's Not the End, but Something Feels off
My contribution defines musical data colonialism for the first time, and then discusses potential approaches to musical data (anti-)colonialism in ethnomusicology
The Shaman’s Drum: Eurocentric Interpretations of Non-European Sonic Worlds
In this contribution, I will focus on the history and meaning construction of the term â shamanismâ and its implications for the music that is attached to this concept. â Shamanismâ was brought to Europe from Russian Siberia in the 17th century and then, until the 20th century was re-interpreted as an epitome of the exotic and diabolic. During the last third of the 20th century, however, the term and concept were transformed and romanticised in a…
Resocializing recordings: Collaborative archiving and curating of sound as an agent of knowledge transfer
The authors discuss their methodologies for creating and relistening to recordings in collaboration with Indigenous People in Peru and Venezuela and contextualize them within the discourse about overcoming power structures that shape divides between the Global North and South, in both urban and rural trajectories, and in Western and Indigenous knowledges. When it comes to giving back or sharing sound recordings, we suggest the term resocializatio…
The Inkas Still Exist in the Ucayali Valley: What We Can Learn from Songs
Academic (In)Discipline, Research (In)Sanity and the Conundrum of (Indigenous) Timescapes
This contribution focuses on resonant, or empathetic, strategies to bridge what in anthropology is called ontological incommensurability: Indigenous worlds often seem inaccessible to modern thought. Instead of trying to open Indigenous worlds to westerners, I rather intend to make western worlds accessible to Indigenous thought; and likewise, academic disciplines accessible to transdisciplinary thought. The connecting principle, I suggest, is tim…
Sobre el canto mágico, las perspectivas sonoras, las multinaturas ambientales y la experiencia consciente
Hasta ahora la importancia de lo sónico, especialmente la música vocal, en el contexto del animismo y el perspectivismo ha sido subestimada en la teoría antropológica. Basandose en ejemplos de canciones mágicas de los shipibo-konibo extraídas de grabaciones etonomusicológicas propias del trabajo del campo del autor, se propone en este artículo que la experiencia en primera persona de médicos (curanderos o brujos) debe ser considerada de altísimo …
Breathing Song and Smoke: Ritual Intentionality and the Sustenance of an Interaffective Realm
In lowland South America, breath animates human and non-human bodies, pulsating through the materialities of organisms. Humans, however, should manage their bodies to recast and reconfigure breath in its most life-enhancing manifestations: singing and smoking. These are the specialized domains of those able to manage their vitalities in such a way as to produce potent effects in themselves and in the world around them, including influencing atmos…
Response to comments on “Postures of listening“
The authors of the initial proposal on “Postures of listening“ reply to the comments received from Jérôme Dokic, Robert S. Hatten, Tim Ingold, Michel Kreutzer and Elizabeth Tolbert
The Inkas Still Exist in the Ucayali Valley: What We Can Learn from Songs
A magia da canção, a invenção da tradição e a estruturação do tempo entre os shipibo, Amazónia peruana
O canto dos Shipibo-Konibo (grupo indígena das terras baixas peruanas) em curasrituais revela que um marcador de tempo em sua linguagem vernacular pode se referir aum passado mítico e a um "mundo espiritual" do presente. Neste artigo serãoapresentados e analisados o passado recente do grupo no que diz respeito à bebidaayahuasca, o significado de seus trançados e sua identidade "étnica". Aqui seráobservado que o passado é flexível, ou não fixo, pe…
Voies de guérison, voix de sorciers: L’ambivalence des chants curatifs shipibo en Amazonie
Les peuples indigènes d'Amazonie occidentale emploient fréquemment le chant comme une technique de guérison. Cette guérison est toutefois affaire de perspective : dans la mesure où elle implique une riposte contre celui ou celle qui cause la maladie, le bien des uns peut faire le désastre des autres. Pour être en mesure de chanter des chants de guérison puissants, il faut en tout cas connaître aussi le processus inverse
Postures of listening: An ontology of sonic percepts from an anthropological perspective
Listening as an anthropological issue In his argument “against soundscape”, Ingold (2007) highlights the problematic status of sound in anthropology. Most researchers (Ingold included) agree with the physicalist definition of sound as pressure waves propagating through the air. Sticking to this definition, sound should be the auditory equivalent of light. However, Ingold remarks, it is more often, and apparently unproblematically, compared to sig…
Paths of healing, voices of sorcerers: The ambivalence of Shipibo curative songs in Amazonia
Western Amazonian indigenous people often use song to "cure" people. Healing, however, depends on perspective: as healing is often achieved by overthrowing an assumed original causer of the illness, one's benefit may result in another's disaster. Being able to sing powerful healing songs implies that the reverse process is known too
Musical Spirits and Powerful Voices: On the Origins of Song
In present times, it may be surprising to see the word "origins" in the title of an ethnomusicological article. Reviewing historical and current hypotheses on the origins of song, or music more generally, it becomes apparent that most authors interpret a possible bifurcation between (spoken) language and (sung) music as the most plausible point from which "music" evolved. Curt Sachs states polemically, "Music began with singing" (1943:21). Such s…
Sonic Substances and Silent Sounds: An Auditory Anthropology of Ritual Songs
In Western Amazonian indigenous and mestizo medical concepts, substances play a great role.In order for a substance to be efficient, a ritual or medical specialist should sing a song or whistle a melody towards the remedy.The song is then 'contained' in the remedy.The song may be for instructing, negotiating with, or repulsing non-human persons, like animals, spirits, or ancestors.Magical singing is also effective by singing directly to a client.…
Los iskobakebo: Historia de un pueblo originario en peligro de extinción
El pueblo originario Iskobakebo —también conocido como —«Isconahua»—, constituido por apenas algunos pocos miembros, forma parte de la familia lingüística pano. Su territorio tradicional, habitado de manera seminómade, habría sido entre las cabeceras de los ríos Tapiche y Tamaya, donde existe evidencia actual de la presencia de pueblos en aislamiento voluntario. El pueblo Iskobakebo fue contactado en 1959 por la misión estadounidense South Americ…
Shipibo Laughing Songs and the Transformative Faculty: Performing or Becoming the Other
Shipibo indigenous people perform a sophisticated array of vocal musical genres, including short 'laughing songs' called osanti. These song-jokes make fun of certain non-humans, mostly animals. They are by definition sung from within the non-humans' perspective. Osanti are only performed by trained specialists in indigenous medicine and sorcery (médicos), because it is crucial that the performer owns the faculty of transforming into the animal in…
Introduction: Considering Music, Humans, and Non-humans
Research on music was almost neglected during the history of the anthropology of Lowland South American indigenous societies. This may be due to their difficult accessibility and lack of infrastructure in former research, as well as due to the different focus of researchers. However, the area is now thriving, because many anthropologists and ethnomusicologists have recognised the central role music performance plays in ritual, specifically when r…
Hill, Jonathan D: Made-from-Bone. Trickster Myths, Music, and History from the Amazon
Anthropos , Seite 651 - 652
"Sinchiruna Míriko". Un canto medicinal del Ayawaska en la Amazonía PeruanaShi
El artículo trata sobre las canciones que son empleadas por médicos tradicionales en la Amazonía peruana mientras se cura al paciente a través de la toma del brebaje alucinógeno ayawaska. Siguiendo una breve introducción al tema general de la medicina tradicional de la región analizamos una canción aislada del repertorio del médico tradicional Shipibo, Don Roberto; tanto la melodía y las palabras. La comparamos con dos canciones de otros médicos …
Introduction: Considering Music, Humans, and Non-humans
Research on music was almost neglected during the history of the anthropology of Lowland South American indigenous societies. This may be due to their difficult accessibility and lack of infrastructure in former research, as well as due to the different focus of researchers. However, the area is now thriving, because many anthropologists and ethnomusicologists have recognised the central role music performance plays in ritual, specifically when r…
Shipibo Laughing Songs and the Transformative Faculty: Performing or Becoming the Other
Shipibo indigenous people perform a sophisticated array of vocal musical genres, including short 'laughing songs' called osanti. These song-jokes make fun of certain non-humans, mostly animals. They are by definition sung from within the non-humans' perspective. Osanti are only performed by trained specialists in indigenous medicine and sorcery (médicos), because it is crucial that the performer owns the faculty of transforming into the animal in…
Postures of listening: An ontology of sonic percepts from an anthropological perspective
Listening as an anthropological issue In his argument “against soundscape”, Ingold (2007) highlights the problematic status of sound in anthropology. Most researchers (Ingold included) agree with the physicalist definition of sound as pressure waves propagating through the air. Sticking to this definition, sound should be the auditory equivalent of light. However, Ingold remarks, it is more often, and apparently unproblematically, compared to sig…
Musical Spirits and Powerful Voices: On the Origins of Song
In present times, it may be surprising to see the word "origins" in the title of an ethnomusicological article. Reviewing historical and current hypotheses on the origins of song, or music more generally, it becomes apparent that most authors interpret a possible bifurcation between (spoken) language and (sung) music as the most plausible point from which "music" evolved. Curt Sachs states polemically, "Music began with singing" (1943:21). Such s…
Resocializing recordings: Collaborative archiving and curating of sound as an agent of knowledge transfer
The authors discuss their methodologies for creating and relistening to recordings in collaboration with Indigenous People in Peru and Venezuela and contextualize them within the discourse about overcoming power structures that shape divides between the Global North and South, in both urban and rural trajectories, and in Western and Indigenous knowledges. When it comes to giving back or sharing sound recordings, we suggest the term resocializatio…
Breathing Song and Smoke: Ritual Intentionality and the Sustenance of an Interaffective Realm
In lowland South America, breath animates human and non-human bodies, pulsating through the materialities of organisms. Humans, however, should manage their bodies to recast and reconfigure breath in its most life-enhancing manifestations: singing and smoking. These are the specialized domains of those able to manage their vitalities in such a way as to produce potent effects in themselves and in the world around them, including influencing atmos…
Voies de guérison, voix de sorciers: L’ambivalence des chants curatifs shipibo en Amazonie
Les peuples indigènes d'Amazonie occidentale emploient fréquemment le chant comme une technique de guérison. Cette guérison est toutefois affaire de perspective : dans la mesure où elle implique une riposte contre celui ou celle qui cause la maladie, le bien des uns peut faire le désastre des autres. Pour être en mesure de chanter des chants de guérison puissants, il faut en tout cas connaître aussi le processus inverse
"Sinchiruna Míriko". Un canto medicinal del Ayawaska en la Amazonía PeruanaShi
El artículo trata sobre las canciones que son empleadas por médicos tradicionales en la Amazonía peruana mientras se cura al paciente a través de la toma del brebaje alucinógeno ayawaska. Siguiendo una breve introducción al tema general de la medicina tradicional de la región analizamos una canción aislada del repertorio del médico tradicional Shipibo, Don Roberto; tanto la melodía y las palabras. La comparamos con dos canciones de otros médicos …
Hill, Jonathan D: Made-from-Bone. Trickster Myths, Music, and History from the Amazon
Anthropos , Seite 651 - 652
Shipibo Laughing Songs and the Transformative Faculty: Performing or Becoming the Other
Shipibo indigenous people perform a sophisticated array of vocal musical genres, including short 'laughing songs' called osanti. These song-jokes make fun of certain non-humans, mostly animals. They are by definition sung from within the non-humans' perspective. Osanti are only performed by trained specialists in indigenous medicine and sorcery (médicos), because it is crucial that the performer owns the faculty of transforming into the animal in…
Introduction: Considering Music, Humans, and Non-humans
Research on music was almost neglected during the history of the anthropology of Lowland South American indigenous societies. This may be due to their difficult accessibility and lack of infrastructure in former research, as well as due to the different focus of researchers. However, the area is now thriving, because many anthropologists and ethnomusicologists have recognised the central role music performance plays in ritual, specifically when r…
Los iskobakebo: Historia de un pueblo originario en peligro de extinción
El pueblo originario Iskobakebo —también conocido como —«Isconahua»—, constituido por apenas algunos pocos miembros, forma parte de la familia lingüística pano. Su territorio tradicional, habitado de manera seminómade, habría sido entre las cabeceras de los ríos Tapiche y Tamaya, donde existe evidencia actual de la presencia de pueblos en aislamiento voluntario. El pueblo Iskobakebo fue contactado en 1959 por la misión estadounidense South Americ…
Sonic Substances and Silent Sounds: An Auditory Anthropology of Ritual Songs
In Western Amazonian indigenous and mestizo medical concepts, substances play a great role.In order for a substance to be efficient, a ritual or medical specialist should sing a song or whistle a melody towards the remedy.The song is then 'contained' in the remedy.The song may be for instructing, negotiating with, or repulsing non-human persons, like animals, spirits, or ancestors.Magical singing is also effective by singing directly to a client.…
Voies de guérison, voix de sorciers: L’ambivalence des chants curatifs shipibo en Amazonie
Les peuples indigènes d'Amazonie occidentale emploient fréquemment le chant comme une technique de guérison. Cette guérison est toutefois affaire de perspective : dans la mesure où elle implique une riposte contre celui ou celle qui cause la maladie, le bien des uns peut faire le désastre des autres. Pour être en mesure de chanter des chants de guérison puissants, il faut en tout cas connaître aussi le processus inverse
Postures of listening: An ontology of sonic percepts from an anthropological perspective
Listening as an anthropological issue In his argument “against soundscape”, Ingold (2007) highlights the problematic status of sound in anthropology. Most researchers (Ingold included) agree with the physicalist definition of sound as pressure waves propagating through the air. Sticking to this definition, sound should be the auditory equivalent of light. However, Ingold remarks, it is more often, and apparently unproblematically, compared to sig…
Paths of healing, voices of sorcerers: The ambivalence of Shipibo curative songs in Amazonia
Western Amazonian indigenous people often use song to "cure" people. Healing, however, depends on perspective: as healing is often achieved by overthrowing an assumed original causer of the illness, one's benefit may result in another's disaster. Being able to sing powerful healing songs implies that the reverse process is known too
Musical Spirits and Powerful Voices: On the Origins of Song
In present times, it may be surprising to see the word "origins" in the title of an ethnomusicological article. Reviewing historical and current hypotheses on the origins of song, or music more generally, it becomes apparent that most authors interpret a possible bifurcation between (spoken) language and (sung) music as the most plausible point from which "music" evolved. Curt Sachs states polemically, "Music began with singing" (1943:21). Such s…
The Inkas Still Exist in the Ucayali Valley: What We Can Learn from Songs
A magia da canção, a invenção da tradição e a estruturação do tempo entre os shipibo, Amazónia peruana
O canto dos Shipibo-Konibo (grupo indígena das terras baixas peruanas) em curasrituais revela que um marcador de tempo em sua linguagem vernacular pode se referir aum passado mítico e a um "mundo espiritual" do presente. Neste artigo serãoapresentados e analisados o passado recente do grupo no que diz respeito à bebidaayahuasca, o significado de seus trançados e sua identidade "étnica". Aqui seráobservado que o passado é flexível, ou não fixo, pe…
Response to comments on “Postures of listening“
The authors of the initial proposal on “Postures of listening“ reply to the comments received from Jérôme Dokic, Robert S. Hatten, Tim Ingold, Michel Kreutzer and Elizabeth Tolbert
Breathing Song and Smoke: Ritual Intentionality and the Sustenance of an Interaffective Realm
In lowland South America, breath animates human and non-human bodies, pulsating through the materialities of organisms. Humans, however, should manage their bodies to recast and reconfigure breath in its most life-enhancing manifestations: singing and smoking. These are the specialized domains of those able to manage their vitalities in such a way as to produce potent effects in themselves and in the world around them, including influencing atmos…
The Inkas Still Exist in the Ucayali Valley: What We Can Learn from Songs
Academic (In)Discipline, Research (In)Sanity and the Conundrum of (Indigenous) Timescapes
This contribution focuses on resonant, or empathetic, strategies to bridge what in anthropology is called ontological incommensurability: Indigenous worlds often seem inaccessible to modern thought. Instead of trying to open Indigenous worlds to westerners, I rather intend to make western worlds accessible to Indigenous thought; and likewise, academic disciplines accessible to transdisciplinary thought. The connecting principle, I suggest, is tim…
Sobre el canto mágico, las perspectivas sonoras, las multinaturas ambientales y la experiencia consciente
Hasta ahora la importancia de lo sónico, especialmente la música vocal, en el contexto del animismo y el perspectivismo ha sido subestimada en la teoría antropológica. Basandose en ejemplos de canciones mágicas de los shipibo-konibo extraídas de grabaciones etonomusicológicas propias del trabajo del campo del autor, se propone en este artículo que la experiencia en primera persona de médicos (curanderos o brujos) debe ser considerada de altísimo …
The Shaman’s Drum: Eurocentric Interpretations of Non-European Sonic Worlds
In this contribution, I will focus on the history and meaning construction of the term â shamanismâ and its implications for the music that is attached to this concept. â Shamanismâ was brought to Europe from Russian Siberia in the 17th century and then, until the 20th century was re-interpreted as an epitome of the exotic and diabolic. During the last third of the 20th century, however, the term and concept were transformed and romanticised in a…
Resocializing recordings: Collaborative archiving and curating of sound as an agent of knowledge transfer
The authors discuss their methodologies for creating and relistening to recordings in collaboration with Indigenous People in Peru and Venezuela and contextualize them within the discourse about overcoming power structures that shape divides between the Global North and South, in both urban and rural trajectories, and in Western and Indigenous knowledges. When it comes to giving back or sharing sound recordings, we suggest the term resocializatio…
It's Not the End, but Something Feels off
My contribution defines musical data colonialism for the first time, and then discusses potential approaches to musical data (anti-)colonialism in ethnomusicology
Art (14 works) · Diverse Musicological Studies (7 works) · Humanities (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · Ecology (6 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Indigenous (6 works) · Latin American history and culture (6 works) · Literature (6 works)