What does decolonisation mean/entail?
Here are a few of the answers given by fellow students during a lecture…
Overcoming horrific colonial trauma by talking about issues going on today as a result of that period
Reparations
Removing imposed values
“Formally, countries becoming independent and cutting ties with colonising Country.”
Trying to undo past injustices.
We further looked into decolonisation within contemporary western music.
A prime example of ideology for change is in George E. Lewis’ 8 steps for decolonising new music…
- Move beyond kinship. Invest in new populations
- Give up on meritocracy
- Diversify school programs
- Encourage ensembles to commission
- Make decolonisation an explicitly foregrounded part of cultural policy
- Internationalise music curation decisions
- Encourage media discussions of new music decolonisation
- Change of consciousness
The steps seem to be more of a “system of evaluating ethics in music” as said by Matthias in the lecture.
Having read the essay in my own time, I understand the perspective of where he is coming from and the need to put pressure on these institutions formed, and continue to be run by white people however I feel that in this scenario, we cannot escape the roots of these institutions and the narrative they continue to play out that is predominantly recognising and perpetuating the praise of white composers simply because it is based in cultural segregation, in my respective opinion. It is a vein of the systemic racism still in existence boiled into the nature of the United States and in all honesty will continue to be alive and well because these cultures love to hold celebrations idolising people of their shared racial identity to perpetuate self-empowerment and assert dominance in a way that doesn’t seem to be aggressive because they already hold the power of the media.
It is a step forward that academia is recognising this essay and that there are people fighting for systemic change like George E. Lewis, yet as time rolls on I feel the “backward-minded” perspective of these past generations will make their opinions feel hollow to younger people who don’t see value in their accolades because of the many years of visible lack of diversification. I do admire how he is “calling them out” and making many common people think about what is considered as “high art” in music, and even question the ethics of terms like this.
Essentially, I think time will render these ceremonies and meriting systems defunct and generations to come will trivialise the absurdity of these traditional colonial institutions in a similar way that contemporary Russian artists are calling their synth-based post punk today as “soviet wave”, ironically. …I know it’s a bit of a strange comparison, but it was the first that came to mind!
We must not allow others to shape and tamper with our personal subjective opinions because of what we are being told by a bigger ego, the best way to form our opinions on art is to experience it for ourselves first, placing personal value on the art intimately, and then sharing one and others thoughts with peers to rationalise differences in opinions and perspectives to develop a collective understanding of what is presented.
I decided to focus in on meritocracy as I felt passionate about the subject, however there are many great points presented in the essay that will change your personal approach to music and it’s current colonial slant, of that I’m sure.