Musical Exchanges in the Cross-Cultural
Context of Musicking with Refugees: Music
Sessions and Performances in the Netherlands
MA thesis Saskia Smith
Supervisor dr. Anne van Oostrum
University of Amsterdam
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1
Acknowledgements
3
Introduction
4
1. Musicking with Refugees in the Netherlands:
18
An Overview of Philosophies and Projects
2. ‘The Music Corpus’ of the Music Sessions in the AZC
33
and Catching Cultures Orchestra
3. Musical and non-Musical Communications
54
in an Asylum Seeker Centre
4. Catching Cultures Orchestra and Band
75
zonder Verblijfsvergunning: Musical Performance
and the Audience ‘Outside’ the AZC Setting
Conclusion
87
Abstract
95
Timeline Fieldwork
96
Table of Illustrations
98
References Primary Sources
99
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank all the people I have met during my fieldwork who have made me feel welcome and who allowed me to observe and occasionally participate in the activities. Thank you to Jonàs Bisquert, Caroline van Sprakelaar and the others from Stichting de Vrolijkheid as well all the refugees who make music at the AZC on the Joseph Haynlaan in Utrecht for all the input and for making me feel welcome every Thursday evening. Thank you to the musicians from Catching Cultures Orchestra who allowed me to witness a couple of rehearsals and who greeted me warmly whenever I attended a Catching Cultures Orchestra performance. I would also like to thank Anna Swinkel and the others from Musicians without Borders who allowed me to partake in the Welcome Notes training. I found the training extremely helpful for my later fieldwork.
I would like to thank my supervisor Anne van Oostrum who has supported me throughout my fieldwork and has encouraged and helped me keep positive in those moments that my fieldwork became heavy. Thank you to Barbara Titus, for helping me narrow down the possible subjects in the orientation phase of this thesis and for giving me feedback on some of my observations. I would also like to thank Oliver Seibt for challenging me on the idea of music as a universal language.
I would like to thank those participating in, as well as those leading and teaching the Worship Academy in Pretoria, South Africa for their support. I would also like to thank Annemie Behr for lending me a copy of the latest SAMUS. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for occasionally proof reading this thesis and for telling where my thesis really became unclear for those outside musicology.
Photo Disclaimer
Introduction
Music making with refugees was first bought to my attention through the World Blend café.1 This event generally occurs every two months. The issue of music making with refugees has been raised during several World Blend café evenings. The evening of the 2nd of March 2016 (in Rasa in Utrecht) was even completely dedicated to the issue of music making with immigrant musicians2. Several leaders of organizations (Musicians without Borders) and music groups (Catching Cultures Orchestra) spoke about their experience of making music with refugees.
I have lost count of how many times somebody has commented on how current my master thesis topic is. Yet, while the issue of music making with refugees remains extremely current, initiatives of making music with refugees is not a new concept. The initiative of Stichting de Vrolijkheid (translation by researcher: charity of happiness) that enables music making in an AZC in Utrecht was started four years ago.3 Indeed if one looks further than that, then much of the ‘world music scene’ in the Netherlands is built on immigrant and refugee musicians who settled in the Netherlands.
The world music scene in the Netherlands developed slowly through various immigrant communities arriving in the Netherlands. Migrant communities played various less well-known world music long before the term was invented in the 1980s (van Amstel and
Schippers 1995, 53; Bor, 2008). Van Amstel and Schippers discuss the rise of world music in their article including the rise of the ‘Royal Tropical Institute’ in Amsterdam and the world music and world dance podium Rasa in Utrecht (1995, 53, 56). While I am very aware that world music is a hugely problematic marketing term that does select specific music, leaving other musics of the world underrepresented. The issues of representation, underrepresentation and re-presenting (Bhabha 1994) are hugely important for music making with refugees. At the same time, I have observed that musicking with refugees takes up specific spaces within the performance scene of world music in the Netherlands and find it important to acknowledge the importance of that. As Van Amstel, Schippers and Bor assert performances by minorities from various parts of the world were not dependent on the term world music for their existence (prior to the invention of the term world music) (Amstel and Schippers 1995, 53; Bor, 2008). Therefore, I will continue to use the term world music throughout this thesis despite, its problematic connotations.
1
World Blend café is an event that is organized by the World Music Forum, every two months for those who are interested and/or involved in world music in the Netherlands. It is generally held in Amsterdam or Utrecht.2 It was dedicated to this theme in aid of International Music Freedom Day on the 3
rd of March:https://www.evensi.nl/world-blend-cafe-music-freedom-day-rasa-utrecht/171404759
3 http://muziekweek.nl/programma/band-zonder-verblijfsvergunning/
The concert hall connected to the Tropical Institute (Tropen theatre) closed its doors a few years back and as of the first of January 2017 Rasa will cease to exist as well.
In some ways, I become somewhat melancholy whenever I read about the rise of world music in the Netherlands, as at first glance it seems to have had its heyday. Yet, based on my current research, I have come to the somewhat hesitant and optimistic conclusion that music making by refugees as it is discussed in this thesis, with all its collaborations (see chapter one) represents a new and (slightly) different kind of wave within the world music scene in the Netherlands. The world music scene in the Netherlands has in the last few years been moving away from having specialized world music concert venues in favour of programming world music in regular concert halls. This development was discussed at length during the panel discussions of the Seven Seas Festival in The Hague on the 26th of November 20164. When one of the contributors to the fourth and final panel, (the topic of this panel being the cultural diversity policy), suggested that world music could easily have a place in regular concert venues on a Sunday afternoon - this was met with frustration, anger and disillusion by the audience (including contributors of earlier panels). I understand (and share some of) the frustration of the audience of Seven Seas Festival at world music being boxed into a slot on a Sunday as part of policies that are supposedly aimed at widening the reach of world music. However, I have witnessed a number of Catching Cultures and/or Band zonder
Verblijfsvergunning performances on a regular concert stage (also on other days than a Sunday) and have found that this opens the door to new audience members who are perhaps slightly outside the traditional world music audience. Music can be one way for Dutch people or European people more generally to see part of the culture of refugees in a non-threatening way.
Yet, at the same time this could raise the question who refugee musical performances are truly for? Are such performances for Dutch or European people in order to see refugee music through their own partial representational sense (Bhabha 1994, 159-160)? How much room is there for refugee musicians to truly represent the musical discourse that they feel connected to, regardless of where such music originated – regardless of how foreign the sonic sounds to European musicians or audience? It is impossible for me to fully answer such a question. Nor would I want to insinuate for a second that refugee musicians perform against their will. I think refugee musicians get at least as much out of performing as interested audiences get out of hearing music played by refugees. However, the question remains whether refugees are truly free to decide the sonic to represent themselves. These questions are not meant to cast a shadow on cross-cultural musical communication or encounters that happen through
musicking with refugees. But rather to keep in mind how representation might act as a cover for some of the less accepted or more unusual parts of refugee sonic discourse (Ibid).
4 https://www.facebook.com/events/1240247529339912/.
This thesis will explore how music functions as a communication and cultural exchange within the setting of musicking with refugees (Small, 1998). Christopher Small coined the word musicking to include much more than the act of music making alone. Small describes the variety of people who are involved with the process of music making – stating that the role of the cleaner of the concert hall is just as crucial as that of the musicians themselves (Small, 1998). For this reason, I have chosen to use musicking as a verb to describe the processes surrounding music making with refugees – processes that include many more people than the refugee musicians alone.
Music is often seen as a universal language – yet to what extent does musical communication really bypass language and other non-musical communications? I have witnessed language and non-verbal communications completely change the dynamics of musical communication. In the sense that whoever determines the spoken language (the language in which the jokes are spoken) has some form of agency to make musical suggestions within the musical dialogue Ansdell and Pavlicevic 2005). Moreover, within the setting of musicking with refugees, there are often two groups involved in the musical dialogue, namely the refugees and the European (musicians). There is however no simple binary between refugees and non-refugees or immigrant and non-immigrant, as many of the musicians and other people who are interested in reaching out to refugees are (former) immigrants or (former) refugees themselves. Therefore, my main research question is as follows: How does musical communication function within the setting of musicking with refugees?
Theoretical Frameworks
Adelaida Reyes’s book Music and the Vietnamese Experience: Songs of the Caged, Songs of the Free has served as a loose template for general structure and the ordering of discussed topics. Reyes starts her introduction by stating that: ‘Refugees barely cast a shadow on the ethnomusicological landscape. They make music and they use music, but their refugeeness [….] seems to leave the lightest, most ephemeral of marks on the study of their music [compared to the mark on other fields of study] (1999, 1). The amount of ethnomusicological studies into the music of refugees has somewhat increased since Reyes wrote her book. John Baily and Michael Collyer have written a clear and useful overview of ethnomusicological works regarding music and migration, however this overview remains quite limited (2006). While, the number of ethnomusicological works directly discussing the music of refugees remains quite limited – music making with refugees, immigrants or indeed migration in music draw on a wider scope of topics than simply traditional ethnomusicology. For this reason, I have used theoretical frameworks from various fields. Music making projects and events with refugees and/or immigrants relate to many fields such as music therapy, applied
ethnomusicology, medical ethnomusicology as well as philosophical discussions on definitions such as displacement, exile and refugeeness (Reyes 1999, 1). There are large varieties in the situations facing refugees and thus only a broad theoretical framework will do justice to the topic of musicking with refugee musicians.
Music therapy in a cross-cultural context is no stranger to using ethnomusicological theory to help develop and conduct culturally aware music therapy methods (Rohrbacher 1999, 265) Certain aspects of musicking with refugees such as music sessions or workshops in an asylum seeker centre relate almost just as readily to music therapy theory and practices as to applied ethnomusicology. Furthermore, the organization Musicians without Borders has developed training relating to working with vulnerable groups like refugees that has also proven hugely valuable to discussing musicking with refugees.
I have therefore relied on literature on applied ethnomusicology such as Music and Conflict (2010) that discusses music in conflict situations that go much broader than music in a forced displacement/exile situation. As well as the Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology: Historical and Contemporary Approaches (2010) that discusses a wide range of topics that fall in the broadening range of applied ethnomusicology. Ana Hofman draws on an older work by Jeff Titon and David Sheehy to argue that all ethnomusicological work is essentially applied as it treads the line between inside academia and practical action (Hofman 2010, 2 see also Titon 1992; Sheehy 1992). Moreover, Hofman argues for an ethnomusicology that embraces its ‘strong multisided nature’. Therefore, refugeeness as Reyes calls it, might not lie outside the scope of more traditional (ethno)musicology after all. Furthermore, forced displacement, for example within the context of urbanization is a phenomenon that has been studied more within (ethno)musicological framework than displacement in the refugee sense of the word (somebody who is in forced exile from his or her country of origin due to persecution, see next section). However, I have hopefully made clear that the use of a varied ethnomusicological framework that is supplemented by ideas from other related disciplines, provides the best way to approach musicking with refugees. Moreover, there is a wealth of literature about migrating musical styles in relation to diaspora, globalization, media, cosmopolitanism and migrating music or musicians that is often not directly related to the truly forced immigration that occurs when a person is a refugee (see next section). There have been a number of significant studies into the music of migrant communities or diaspora’s (see for example by Bailey 1999; 2005 and 2006; Kaufman Shelemay 2006; Stokes 2011). The book Migrating Music (ed. Toynbee and Dueck, 2011) is a good example of how broad the topic of music and migration actually is. This book shows how addressing both current globalization and historic (forced) migration can be of use when discussing migrating music (Ibid).
To musick with refugees has large relational and communicative aspects that reflect on the (unconscious) attitudes at the centre of cross-cultural musical interactions. As a result, I have chosen to use some post-colonial texts from Homi K. Bhabha to reflect on the nature of cross-cultural relations and interactions through music. I will use his book The Location of Culture (1994) to pose questions next to my observations on cross-cultural musical exchanges, and how such exchanges still raise complex issues of agency representation, and marginalization even in the face of liberal and welcoming ideas about music making together with refugees. In spite this, it is not my intension to cast a dark shadow on the many positive aspects of musicking together with refugees, however I feel compelled to gently point out some possible blind spots and thus help create some larger awareness of issues that do still colour musicking between European and refugee/immigrant musicians. In doing this, I wish to do my part in helping to make future musicking interactions even more inclusive to those who are marginalized. That is perhaps the greatest step that I will take towards the applied side of ethnomusicology.
There are many ways to describe different ways of communication through music; musical communication, musical community, musical dialogue and musical companionship to name a few mentioned by Gary Ansdell and Mercédès Pavlicevic in their chapter in the book Musical Communication. This chapter could be seen as part of the field of cognitive ethnomusicology. I will use this chapter as a base for my discussion of musical communication. Ansdell and Pavlicevic are fairly critical of the ability of musical communication cross-culturally (2005, 209). However, they acknowledge that ‘arguably there is no musical communication which is not at the same time a cultural communication’ (Ibid, 204). They extend cultural theorist Bakhtin’s argument that language is always half belonging to the other person within the communication to music, arguing that in musical communication ‘the tone is half somebody else’s’ (Ibid, 203). Furthermore, Ansdell and Pavlicevic argue that musical culture is a third party within this musical communication/ ‘musical dialogue’ (Ibid). Therefore, I will build on this theoretical framework for discussing cross-cultural musical communication/
dialogue/exchanges. Music is not so much like language that musical communication should be dissected like a verbal language; Musician A plays a phrase and musician B plays a response (though of course this does happen). However, musical communication as discussed by Ansdell and Pavlicevic is far subtler and based on unexpected and uncalculated musical utterances by mental health patients that a music therapist responds to (Ibid, 195-198). Thus music is far more unpredictable than verbal language. Music as a universal language is a statement believed by a number of people I met throughout my fieldwork, despite the ambiguity of this phrase. Therefore, I do sometimes refer to music as a language.
Furthermore, Hood’s bi-musicality can be interpreted as a willingness to learn a second, third or fourth musical language. Therefore, discussing musical culture as a musical language can
be a useful way to discuss how music functions as communication, despite this communication being much more subjective than that of verbal languages.
Lastly, at the time of finishing this thesis I have been in South Africa for nearly five months. I will use a few articles from the latest South African Journal of Music (SAMUS) to argue around the issue of social justice and (musical) aesthetics; as the manner by which South African musicology addresses such issues is also very much transferable to the uncertain and changing situation (surrounding refugees) in Europe (Titus 2015, 522). In Being Undone by Music: Thoughts towards a South African Future Worth having, Christopher Ballantine argues for a coming together through Western and African aesthetics (2015, 516).
Furthermore, Barbara Titus’ response to Ballantine’s article, problematizes issues of power and agency that arise when coming together. Such issues can make it less desirable or realistic to loosen one’s grip on some of one’s own aesthetics, culture in order to facilitate we-making (2015, 522, 524). I will use these articles in order to discuss the problematic friction between desirable musical aesthetics (for European musicians and refugees) and using one’s musical training and skills to reach out to a musical Other – and how such we-making through
musicking between refugees and European musicians can require each side to have to give up some elements of aesthetic preferences (Ibid). Furthermore, some of my experiences here in South Africa as well as the worship academy I attend at Hatfield Christian Church Pretoria have affected, expanded and challenged my viewpoint on musicking with those who are marginalized. Through living in community with many people from a large variety of cultures who are nevertheless nearly all South Africa, I have become much more aware of how critical truly listening to and hearing each other really is (Titus 2015, 527). This awareness has filtered through into how insistent I am in specific areas of the thesis that people need to be more aware of unconscious biases.
Definitions of being a Refugee
Refugees are also ultimately immigrants, however the word immigrant can be used for any type of immigration and thus using the word immigrant rather than refugee would be to ignore the specific connotations attributed to the word refugee.
The word refugee has both positive and negative connotations. In Dutch the word for refugee is vluchteling (translation by researcher: somebody who is fleeing/ has fled). I attended training days (Welcome Notes) for the music workshops that Musicians without Borders (MwB) are (aiming) to set up in asylum seeker centres (AZC) and temporary refugee centres (triggered by the ‘refugee crisis’). During the two training days we spent a significant amount of time discussing the definition of a refugee and the circumstances required for a person to flee. The session leader (Leslie) referred to some refugees she met (in the past) who were adamant they did not want the status of a refugee as ‘a refugee is somebody nobody wants’
(MwB Welcome Notes training, 30/04/2016). There are many other definitions for refugees. MwB take the stance that the term refugee gives a person who has fled a status - thus to deny such a person the ‘title’ refugee is to deny them a status (Ibid). Many scholars have discussed the meaning of being a refugee or being in exile – the terms refugee and exile are not
synonymous as Edward Said makes clear in his definition of a refugee. ‘Refugees […] are a creation of the twentieth century state. The word “refugee” has become a political one, suggesting large herds of innocent and bewildered people requiring urgent international assistance, whereas “exile” carries with it, I think a touch of solitude and spirituality.’ (Said 2001, 187-188).
In the preface of her book on the music of Vietnamese refugees, Adelaida Reyes discusses how many Americans believed that Vietnamese refugees came to the United States
voluntarily - that they were attracted by the prospect of belonging to a nation of immigrants (Reyes 1999, xiii). Similarly, it seems easy for many Europeans to believe in the element of choice in the refugees’ exile to Europe. Thus many people believe that being a refugee is a voluntary status. This affects how welcoming some people are towards refugees. What many people fail to take into account however is the level of discomfort or danger that it takes before a refugee is willing to flee (MwB training day, 30/04/2016). One of the main reasons why the terms refugee and exile are not synonymous is that refugees can be exile at ‘home’. Moreover, the term exile has tended to be over-romanticized - even by scholars like Said. His definition of exile as spiritual and solitude has definite elements of over-romanticizing the exile experience. Yet, his definition of refugees as large herds of innocent and bewildered people needing international assistance is however, an apt description of the portrayal of the ‘migrant crisis’ in the media. Bhabha asserts that global media has made the question of how culture is represented more complicated (1994, 280).
Moreover, it is worth emphasizing again that migrant crises are not new. Stokes discusses how the responses to a boat tragedy on the 31st of March 2009 and other less reported boat tragedies show how Europe ‘guards its waves’ from imposters (2011 chapter 2, 4-7 (eBook)) Stokes also describes how the Mediterranean (as it is the gateway to Europe for many refugees) has for a long time been subject to both fear and fantasy about immigration (Ibid). On the one hand refugees are often portrayed as innocent and bewildered people. This could be seen as part of the fantasy element that Stokes discerns. On the other hand, refugees are often seen as a feared ‘Other’ for their ‘foreign’ culture and religion but also for how they add to tensions in the (cheap) labour market (Ibid). The Netherlands has in the past benefited from cheap migrant labour (Van Amstel and Schippers 1995, 52). Unfortunately, many people in Europe not only see immigrant and refugee communities as a threat to the labour market but also as a threat to (Dutch and) European cultural norms. Moreover, at worst refugees are seen as a door for unwanted extremist views, but often people seem to forget that refugees are
fleeing some of the same terror that Europeans do not want brought onto their doorstep. Furthermore, Toynbee and Dueck argue that policy making in the ‘War on Terror’ tends to sidestep the roots of xenophobia and racism (2011, chapter 1, 23). And that ‘official policy […] has tended to not be overtly xenophobic until recently’ (Ibid). Many people in Europe seem to forget that among the influxes of refugees, there are only a select few with extremist views and as stated the majority of refugees are seeking to flee extremism and its consequent conflicts.
Yet, as the musicking with refugees’ projects in this thesis show, there are also plenty of people who welcome and want to reach out and help refugees. While the terms refugee and immigrant are both loaded with negative connotations, I will use the word refugee for the remainder of this thesis. I find MwB stance that the status refugee is better than no status at all more compelling than the negative othering also associated with the term refugee. I define refugee as a person who has fled oppression in some way, be it economic, political or war. I know many will disagree with this broad definition, however it is not for me to make a distinction between the reasons why refugees are here. Music projects with refugees do not distinguish between refugees based on their reasons for being here either.
Changeable Fieldwork
Reyes discusses how the finding of an ethnographic study can differ or change due to changes that occur in the duration and place where the study takes place (Reyes 1999: xii). She discusses Barbara Rubin’s self-named ‘failed ethnography’ as an example of how a study can produce totally new data, due to changes in the circumstances (of informants). Reyes
emphasizes how unexpected new data can show the richness of human experiences if it is placed within the right theoretical framework (Ibid).
My point here is that there have been many more challenges and changes than expected throughout my fieldwork. Despite or perhaps because of these challenges I have come up with ethnographical data on music making with refugees that I did not expect at the start of my research. I started out with the idea of interviewing refugees on how music helped them fit into their new ‘home’ situation. Yet, this proved to be both too difficult and undesirably presumptuous to the effect of music making in an asylum seeker centres. It takes a lot of time to build up enough trust in order to interview people. There was only a little continuity in the refugees coming to the music sessions in the asylum seeker centres (AZC). The European musicians who were making music with refugees seemed more interested in my questions than the refugees. Furthermore, it would have been unrealistic to measure the ‘success’ of musicking events through a few broken language conversations with a handful of refugees.
However, attending musicking sessions with refugees provided a wealth of data about the nature of both musical and non-musical communication between refugees and between
refugees and those interested in making music with refugees. There have been many changes to the ‘field’ of musicking with refugees throughout my fieldwork. The most noticeable of these is the ever-changeable make-up of musicking sessions with refugees – largely due to refugees (asylum seekers) being moved between AZC’s in various parts of the Netherlands. While the moving around of refugees between centres (due to Dutch immigration policies) was an inconvenience for my research – it can have far more far reaching consequences for refugees who work hard to find their place in an AZC (and city), only to be moved to an AZC over a hundred kilometres away. One refugee musician who was taking part in the training days of Musicians without Borders was moved from a refugee centre in Amsterdam to one in Doetichem. He spoke about how his old centre had been a community. This sense of
community was lost in the new centre, due in part to each refugee having their own room and therefore living in relative isolation compared to the group sleeping quarters of his old refugee centre. His old asylum seeker centre had six hundred people, yet there had been a sense of community that was lacking in his new refugee centre. He attended the MwB training days as he wanted further training to continue to use his music as a means to reach out to his fellow refugees (MwB Welcome Notes training – personal communication, 01/05/2016). Many refugees are uprooted a number of times before they are housed in a centre where they will stay till they receive news on their asylum process or housing.
Furthermore, Reyes stresses the importance of acknowledging (forced) immigration as a significant variable – she acknowledges that she and her colleagues failed to consider the importance of the differences between voluntary and forced immigration at the very beginning of their research (1999, xi-xii). I would argue that it is necessary to go a step further and acknowledge the variance within forced immigration groups. It is too over-simplified to think of refugees as a homogeneous group who make music together through their shared experiences. Countries and cultures do not consist of homogeneous groups of people - so why would refugees (even those who come from the same country or region) be seen as a homogeneous group? Ana Hofman problematizes this issue by citing Benhabib: ‘Cultures are not homogeneous wholes but consisted from the narratives and symbolizations of their members, and their complex social and [signification] practices’ (2010, 25). Hofman goes on to argue that ‘by neglecting the internal heterogeneity within communities [of refugees], a researcher can tend to single out the dominant narratives as more significant than others’ (Ibid). The changes within the refugee centre on the one hand pose a complication of my research, yet on the other hand should serve as a reminder of the differences between and even within groups of refugees.
Much has changed throughout the time that I have conducted my research. For example, Aleppo was still relatively safe when I started my fieldwork at the asylum seeker centre at the
end of May 2016. I remember one music session (at the beginning of June) when we spent half the session discussing music and the place of culture in Syria. The Syrian refugees emphasizing that Aleppo was relatively safe from the war and have also talked about how Aleppo was a place with rich cultural and musical traditions. These rich cultural and musical traditions have been discussed in depth by Jonathan Holt Shannon in his book Among the Jasmine Tree: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria. Around the same time that I first started reading the first chapter of Shannon’s book on music in modern day Aleppo, Aleppo started really being affected by the war; some months later and it lies in ruins. For this reason, as well as a part of Dutch public opinion being against the ‘influx’ of refugees, I have struggled somewhat with the implications of international media’s portrayal of the ‘migrant crisis’. The migrant crisis or refugee crisis as it has been dubbed by international media wrongly gives the impression of a refugee influx that happened overnight without warning. In reality, the migrant crisis has its roots in years of conflict in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Perhaps this is part of the reason why I would hesitate to call my fieldwork applied
ethnomusicology as the applied approach implies riding the lines between the political and academia (Hofman, 2010) and I have had to sometimes shy away from media reports of the ‘migrant crisis’ for my own sanity during the course of my fieldwork. I see the music sessions in the asylum seeker centre in Utrecht as a space that does not bypass the political and everyday struggles and difficulties of refugees, rather as a space where they can come together in the act of musicking despite this (Small 1998, Reyes 1999).
Emergency Refugee Centres and Asylum Seeker Centres (AZC)
Around 60 % to 80 % of refugees living in an AZC are statushouders. These are asylum seekers, who have obtained a provisional residency permit that requires refugees to start the integration process (inburgeringscursus). In an AZC, they receive language training and have their skills assesses in preparation for work (COA information meeting, 14/07/2016).
Statushouders are in fact free to live outside an AZC once they have accommodation (which is generally found for them by the local council) (Ibid). The rest of the refugees living in an AZC are either waiting for their status in the asylum process or are deemed to be from safe countries (Ibid).
Over the past few years, there have also been a number of emergency or temporary refugee centres. An emergency refugee centre usually houses refugees before their asylum process progresses. However, some emergency centres have housed asylum seekers who are further in their asylum process and are thus (almost) statushouder (MwB Welcome Notes training,
01/05/20165). Temporary emergency centres were opened to cope with the larger amounts of refugees coming to the Netherlands. Some of the temporary emergency centres have now been shut in favour of a temporary AZC (COA information meeting, 11/08/20166). The differences between a temporary emergency refugee centre and a more permanent AZC are thus flexible and changing.
There are a variety of different centres for different groups of refugees. There are refugee centres that are meant for families, or young men, or women. Then there are also centres that are meant for people from all these groups. The only group that is often placed in a more protected centre (environment) are the unaccompanied minors (MwB Welcome Notes training, 01/05/2016, COA information meeting 14/07/2016). The age, gender and cultural background dynamic of a refugee centre often changes over time. These changes can happen almost overnight, if refugees get moved to another centre or receive their residency permit and find housing outside the AZC. These extra-musical factors of the age, gender and cultural background of the refugees have a direct influence on the dynamic of music sessions in an AZC.
Home and Exile
Home and exile are both hugely complicated and ambivalent terms that have been discussed in a variety of fields. Craig Storti specializes in cross-cultural communication in the business world. However, MwB used a definition of home from Storti as part of our group discussion – during the Welcome Notes training - of the definition of home: ‘The place where you are known and trusted, and where you know and trust others, a place of rituals and routine interactions, of entirely predictable events and people, a place where you belong and feel safe and secure, a place where you can relax and be yourself, in short, where you feel ‘at home” (Storti 2001, 3). There are many layers and implications to this definition of home. Familiar rituals and routines, at first glance implies the culture that one grew up in. However, a few participants in the discussion pointed out that the place they felt known changed when they had been living in another country and that they felt at home and known in several different situations, in different countries on various levels (MwB Welcome Notes training
30/04/2016). Third culture kids or indeed adult third culture kids often lack the perception of home being a specific culture. Many of the musicians at the Musicians without Borders training days were adult third culture kids (ATCK). I am also an ATCK to some extent; I
5 ‘De Koepel’, is a temporary emergency refugee centre in Haarlem, which almost became an AZC due to most of
the refugees there becoming statushouders.6 The four temporary emergency refugee centre in Amsterdam were closed in August 2016 in favour of a
temporary AZC in the former (and converted) prison, the Bijlmerbajes. This temporary AZC is scheduled to stay till the end of 2017 - when the area is to be refurbished (COA information meeting, 11/08/2016).grew up in the Netherlands, with British parents. However, I attended a multicultural
(physical special needs) school up to the age of thirteen and grew up in a multicultural church environment from a young age. Therefore, I grew up in a very multicultural environment that was neither British nor Dutch. Moreover, the rest of my family (aside from my parents) lived in various European countries. My youth does not fit the original definition of the term third culture kid, coined by social scientists Ruth Hill Useem and John Useem in the 1950s – that was originally used for children of expats and missionaries (Pollock and Van Reken 2009, 28-29). However, David Pollock and Ruth van Reken extend the term to mean to include less traditional experiences of the terms third culture kid by adding the term cross-cultural kid (children who for any reason grew up in a cross-cultural environment) (Ibid, 14-15).
The terms CCK and TKC are not only key to my own background and how I experience the terms home and exile as somewhat fluid terms – many of those (musicians) involved with refugees are also from another culture. Of course there are also many organizers and musicians from a Dutch background. Yet, it is nevertheless important to acknowledge the importance of globalization of views of home and indeed culture.
In my opinion, the flexibility of the term home also shows the subjective nature of exile. I am not trying to downplay Said and other scholars’ notion that exile is a terrible experience. However, I do want to emphasize that how one copes in a situation of exile is subjective and dependent on whether the exiled life is better (i.e. safer) than the life at ‘home’ was. It is also very much shaped by whether one has family in the home country (MwB Welcome Notes training, 30/04/2016 and 01/05/2016).
Representation of a ‘Vulnerable’ People: A Reflection on my own Position.
Throughout my fieldwork, I have felt that my research was constantly treading the delicate line between (participant) observation and applied ethnomusicology. My research at the AZC music sessions has largely been based on my own observations. However, I now get
recognized by many of the refugees and even some of the audience performances (of Band zonder Verblijfsvergunning) as a ‘part of the team’ or at the very least a frequent attender of events associated with the music sessions of Stichting de Vrolijkheid in the AZC in Utrecht.7 I would not go as far as to call my research applied ethnomusicology as I cannot directly use my observations for social action. However, as stated before some like Hofman, argue that all ethnomusicological work is applied due to ethnomusicological work falling between
academia and the practical. Furthermore, Jonathan Stock and Chou Chiener assert that ‘many ethnomusicologists now intervene overseas, negotiating the resulting ethical dilemmas the best they can, but non-intervention has always been morally irresponsible for those who work primarily at home’ (2008: 144-145). Hofman warns furthermore against the danger of a
7 See chapter one for more detailed information of this project.
researcher trying to act as an agent for marginalized people who supposedly cannot represent themselves (2010: 26). In relation to the social impact of fieldwork, the term ‘home’ is generally discussed in relation to the researcher’s country of origin or current home base, however how does this insider/outsider positioning relate to refugees who are themselves not at home in the sense of their country of origin? I would argue that it challenges the binaries of home and abroad and insider/outsider to the extent that (almost) nobody is both fully an insider and at home in this context.
The issue of representation (in the context of making music with refugees) is vastly more complex than me (as a researcher) representing the refugees. In many cases the organizers and musician organizers have more agency to represent the refugees than the refugees themselves. By musician organizers, I mean European and (‘settled’) immigrant musicians who have obtained knowledge and are well-known enough to be approached for the purpose of organizing a performance with ‘world music’ or what is perceived as immigrant or refugee music. These are generally people who are using their music and their knowledge to reach out to refugees – yet they also have the power to represent the refugees. This process of
representation and the dichotomy between music sessions with refugees in an AZC and how refugee music is represented in a performance context has had a large influence on my observations. Moreover, it has left me questioning the extent to which I want to represent the refugees through my own observations and wishing there was a clearer way of letting the refugees be their own representatives. On that note, it is important to remember that this thesis is based for a large extent on my own observations and how I have experienced and witnessed musicking with refugees in various contexts.
Chapter Overview
This thesis presents a small snapshot of music activities with refugees in the Netherlands in the year 2016. This is by no means a complete overview of musical activities for and by refugees in the Netherlands – rather an outlook on the way musical (and non-musical) communication takes place within such contexts.
Chapter one will feature the goals and philosophies at the heart of the musicking projects and events in the Netherlands. The themes discussed in this chapter will be who organizes musicking events for refugees and why these events are organized.
Chapter two will feature musical analysis of a musical corpus of the most prominent songs used in the music sessions and the performance context with most prominently Band zonder Verblijfsvergunning and Catching Cultures Orchestra.
Chapter three will feature my fieldwork at the music sessions in the AZC in Utrecht. This chapter will discuss themes such as who holds the agency to decide what music is played, and how musical preferences effect the sessions. Another theme discussed in this
chapter will be the influences of digitalization and globalization.
Chapter four will feature the performance aspects related to the connections between the music sessions and Catching Cultures Orchestra (in part through Band zonder
Verblijfsvergunning)
The conclusion will draw on the various chapters in order to discuss how musical communication functions within the setting of musicking with refugees.
1. Musicking with Refugees in the Netherlands: An Overview of
Philosophies and Projects
There are many projects in the Netherlands that aim at musicking with refugees. Small’s definition of musicking as an act that includes many people who support the music making process. Similarly, there are many people and organizations that help make musicking activities with refugees possible, through organizational knowledge, musical interest and audience support (Small, 1998). In the complex bureaucratic and political situation that refugees face in European countries, like the Netherlands, many of the people and organizations involved with musicking with refugees (strive to) provide an extra support system. Aside from the European individuals and organizations that endeavour to use music as a means to support refugees – there are also many refugee musicians or (former) refugee or immigrant musicians who want to use their musical knowledge as a means of helping another refugee cope with their situation. The musicking with refugees reflects some of the complex emic and etic relations within the world music scene in the Netherlands. Musicking with refugees always encumbrances a two-way communication/exchange between refugees and those who want to make music with refugee musicians. Many non-musical factors such as cultural demographics (of refugees), non-verbal communications and the degree to which a refugee speaks English or Dutch all influence what it means to musick with refugee musicians.
The significance of other immigrants and refugees who are more ‘settled’ in the Netherlands cannot be underestimated. They bridge language and cultural communication issues that many non-immigrant Europeans cannot bridge. I will come back to this issue later, when I discuss various projects and the individuals who are involved in the projects.
Each person or organization that endeavours to reach out to refugees through musicking does so with his or her own philosophies and ideas of what musicking with refugees should look like. I have tried my upmost to shy away from value judgments on which types of musicking activities with refugees are successful and which musicking activities are less successful. Successful is a subjective term. Therefore, rather than try to argue for successful over un-success musicking projects, it is infinitely more helpful to observe the (conscious or unconscious motivations and philosophies that colour such projects and collaborations.
Therefore, the objective of this chapter is to show an overview of the how and why musicking activities with refugees are organized. Furthermore, I will give an overview of the activities that I have come across during my (online) preparation and research, and later during my fieldwork. This overview, while far from complete, will show the regional (local) and national scope of musicking activities for refugees in the Netherlands. The goals and
organizations discussed in this chapter with regards to musicking with refugees serve as a status quo to the other chapters, when I will zoom in more closely on several (often)
interconnected projects. Lastly, this chapter will also showcase some of the difficulties I faced while doing fieldwork – as this has influenced my perspective of the complex situations surrounding musicking with refugees.
The sub-questions dealt with in this chapter are:
What musicking projects are there for refugees and those interested in refugee music in the Netherlands?
Who organizes these music projects for refugees in the Netherlands?
What goals and/or philosophies are behind organizing music projects and events with refugees?
How have the differences in goals, policies and philosophies affected my fieldwork? How are music projects with refugees financed? (When known/applicable)
Musicians without Borders
As mentioned, I attended training days for the workshops that MwB hopes to organize in emergency centres and in AZC. Though organizing these workshops have yet to properly come off the ground at the time of writing this thesis, I will nevertheless include the
philosophies and goals of MwB. Despite the workshops of MwB still having to come off the ground - Welcome Notes trainees collaborate, help and start a variety of musicking projects for refugees in the Netherlands. Indeed, the Christmas choir project that saw a Dutch choir singing a combination of European carols (Dutch, English, German) and Middle-Eastern carols and songs with the refugees from the Stichting de Vrolijkheid music sessions in Utrecht was brought to my attention through both Stichting de Vrolijkheid and MwB (email communication MwB 28/11/2016 and email communication Jonàs Bisquert 25/11/2016). MwB has themselves also been involved in building collaboration networks to help refugee and immigrant musicians find their place in the world music scene in the Netherlands. I will come back to the issue of close collaboration between organizations, projects and individuals a bit later when I discuss collaborations of expertise. Furthermore, MwB has years of
experience in using music to help displaced people and people in conflict areas all over the world. There is much that can be learnt from their approaches to vulnerable groups of people. MwB will (try to) start a workshop with culturally neutral music. Culturally neutral is not synonymous with the use of Western music. For example, they managed to organize one workshop in de Koepel in Haarlem and one of the volunteers started the workshop with a simple South African children’s song.89 The music only had to be culturally neutral to the participants of the session. It was thus perfectly acceptable for the volunteer to bring in music
8 The volunteer (and Welcome Notes trainee involved was originally from South Africa.
from the musical culture she grew up with. MwB uses culturally neutral music when workshops have just started with a new group in order to build trust without showing preference for the musical culture of one participant over that of another participant. This approach stems from years of experience in using music as a medium to bring people from two conflicting sides closer together (MwB Welcome Notes training, 30/04/2016 and 01/05/2016). This approach could be seen as a way of building trust without some of the complexities of cultural and musical differences.
Some aspects of the approach of MwB can be related directly to existing music therapy practices. Ever since the 1950s, music therapy has looked to ethnomusicology as a way to find ‘information on music and culture in support of clinical practices (Rohrbacher 1999, 265). Furthermore, ethnomusicology also respects and discusses music therapy as an academic study/discipline (Ibid, see also Swijghuisen Reigersberg 2010).
Rohrbacher describes several music therapy session situations wherein hello and goodbye songs are used to structure the beginning and the ending of a(n) (individual) session (1999, 290, 292, 295). MwB use beginning and ending songs to structure a group workshop. Such hello and goodbye songs are used to get participants engaged through movement (moving around the space and shaking hands when the song dictates such action), song and rhythm (clapping).
(From the Welcome Notes training, used with permission from Musicians without Borders.)
Stichting de Vrolijkheid; Individual Musicians and Music Teachers
Stichting de Vrolijkheid focuses mainly on children and young adults, though many older adults attend the musical activities they organize in AZC’s. The objective of Stichting de Vrolijkheid is to reach children and young adults with creative arts (e.g. music, handicrafts). This charity does not play music or indeed partake in any other art forms directly. However, Stichting de Vrolijkheid make it organizationally and financially possible for a number of musicians and music teachers to work with various groups of refugees within an AZC. I will use the AZC in Utrecht where I conducted my fieldwork as primary example of the musical activities associated with Stichting de Vrolijkheid. There is a large room that Stichting de Vrolijkheid use for all the art related activities in the AZC. This space has a large area for handicrafts and other activities for children. At the back of this room – there is a comfortable living room area that has sofas and a variety of musical instruments.10 There are currently a number of musical activities a week in this AZC. The Thursday evening music sessions11 are open to any (adult) refugee (including those who are only there for the day to visit friends or family) in the AZC, who is interested in making or listening to music. Various music lessons such as guitar, piano or drum take place on varying days of the week – often given by young music teachers. These music lessons are open to both children and adults – though there are sometimes separate group lessons (with a variety of instruments) for children. The music lessons are generally either private or in small groups. In addition to these activities there is a music evening for children on Monday evenings. The Monday and Thursday evenings are run by Jonàs Bisquert, a Spanish musician who has lived in the Netherlands for five years. There is also a band (for the young adults) on the Wednesday evening that is run by Marco. The variety of activities is dependent on the availability of the musicians who run the activities – though the Monday and Thursday evenings are generally a constant activity.12
Generally, a volunteer, employee13 or intern of Stichting de Vrolijkheid is present at most of the evening musical activities. They help organize the music session and/or coordinate who is coming to the music lessons/sessions. There have been music sessions when Jonàs Bisquert has been left in sole charge of the evening – however he is there in the name of Stichting de
10 Sometimes instruments got moved around or went missing. The drum set got moved to an unknown location
however, reappeared after the summer break. Similarly, there was a djembe there one week and the next session two weeks later (one session had been cancelled), the djembe had disappeared. This was not unusual. It is unclear when the instruments went missing as the room was locked after the session – thus refugees do not have access to this room without staff of Stichting de Vrolijkheid, musicians or COA unlocking the door. There are many other activities held in the space where the music sessions take place (i.e. activities for children). However, these activities are all (to some extent) supervised.11 When I conducted my fieldwork.
12 Aside from the six-week summer break from the middle of July to the end of August.
13 ZZPer, a type of self-employment whereby a person works for themselves but through that for one or more
organization or company.Vrolijkheid. The staff members of Stichting de Vrolijkheid write down the name and room number and occasionally the date of birth (when communicating names is difficult) of those interested in music lessons in order to catalogue, who is interested in musical activities/music lessons. This is done with two purposes. Firstly, they receive finances for each refugee who signs up for music lessons and secondly they need to be able to locate the refugee at the beginning of the lesson. 14 Jonàs Bisquert and the staff members of Stichting de Vrolijkheid know the room number of those interested in musicking (Small, 1998).Though to my knowledge, this is for purely organizational purposes and not financial – in order to locate a refugee to ask him or her to the session. The session’s finances (made available through Stichting de Vrolijkheid) are occasionally used to buy instruments for the refugee musicians who were often unable to bring their instrument with them when they fled their home country.
Photo 1. A board at in the room where the sessions are held depicts the history of activities of Stichting de Vrolijkheid in the asylum seeker centre in Utrecht with a collage of photo’s.
(Migrant) Musicians and World Music
There are several different groups of musicians who have aimed to use their musical skills and/or knowledge about making music (professionally or as an amateur) in the Netherlands.
14 I have witnessed staff members of Stichting de Vrolijkheid ask refugees their name, room number and date of
birth for those two purposes.These musicians can be grouped into two broad categories, namely they are either (former) refugee or immigrant musicians who have ‘settled’ in the Netherlands and thus aim to help their fellow musicians ‘settle’ in this country. There are often multiple layers to the word settle in this context – both musically and non-musically. What it means to be settled is inevitably linked to what it means to feel at home. In the introduction, I already gave some definitions of what is needed for a person to feel at home. It is hugely important for one to feel connected, known and trusted as well as being in an environment with familiar routine and rituals (Storti 2001, 3; MwB Welcome Notes training 30/04/2016). This means that cultural familiarity with people who have been through a similar process of (forced) immigration and displacement can help refugees find their feet in a new ‘home’ country. However, Reyes highlights how there can also be friction between earlier groups of refugees and newer groups of refugees caused by differing displacement experiences (1999: 107-114). Reyes discusses the differences between those who were sponsored to leave and those who had to flee on foot but also between those who left prior to the conflict and those who experienced the war (Ibid). This distinction can also be seen between some of the refugees who arrive in the Netherlands. In some cases, earlier (Syrian) refugees were able to fly to their new ‘home’ country to apply for asylum there. At the September 2015 addition of the World Blend café (in the Bimhuis in Amsterdam), there was one Syrian refugee musician who was able to fly to the Netherlands three or four years ago. Most of his fellow musicians from his ensemble stayed behind and some were killed in the fighting. This musician was working towards bringing the rest of his ensemble over to the Netherlands and finding a place for them within the Dutch ‘world music’ landscape (World Blend Café, September 2015). However, his exile experience would inevitably be different to that of his fellow musicians who witnessed more of the war in Syria. Reyes describes similar distinctions between refugees who fled earlier or were able to fly earlier due to prior connections with the United States and those who stayed behind and witnessed more of the war in their home country. Moreover, there was a large distinction between those who had witnessed the horrors of fleeing on foot and those who were able to fly (part of the way) to their country of destination (1999, 107-114).
Despite these (sometimes) divisive distinctions – musicians from earlier waves of (forced) immigration often strive to use their musical skills and connections in their new country to help others. As I briefly discussed at the end of the introduction – these musicians have often established a network in the Netherlands and thus (often) have more agency than refugee musicians who have just arrived here. It is worth noting that the musicians mentioned in this category were (almost) all professional musicians or high skilled amateur musicians in their country of origin. Thus they had experience performing at important social events (such as weddings) and interacting with audiences.
The second category, I want to discuss under this heading are European musicians with prior experience and knowledge of ‘other’ cultures and world music. These are generally
professional (or high levelled amateur) musicians who want to use their music to reach out to refugee musicians. However, some of these musicians have very static ideas on world music and the music they feel (or do not feel) comfortable playing. This approach can be somewhat limiting as the organizer musicians (consciously or unconsciously) exercise control over the musical interactions that take place. They determine the musical ‘language’ that is to be used in the musical dialogue – in a sense they limit the musical exchange to that which they want to hear. The danger in ‘imposing one’s own sound, even if it imagines reconciliatory and inclusive worlds, easily silences the imaginary world making of others’ (Titus 2015, 527). In the case of European musicians who organize projects or events for refugees (musicians), they will sometimes opt for familiar sounds over unfamiliar sounds and thus it is not necessarily own sounds that are ‘imposed’ in this case. Imposed is a rather strong word, considering that most if not all of the European musician (organizers) who fall into this trap seem to have concern or reaching out the other in mind when they reach out to refugees through their music. Yet, as Ballantine discusses through Nussbaum, principals are not enough in the absence of love for one another (2015, 502, 504). In this context, to love one another requires some willingness to at the very least loosen one’s grip on own aesthetics ideas (or preferences) (Ibid). ‘[It] is to become more silent and let others do the musicking’ (Titus 2015, 527). ‘This is necessary for all of us ‘really’ to hear each other, and to be heard.’ (Ibid). Thus meaning giving up aesthetic space and preference in order for each musician to be heard within the musical aesthetics they are familiar with without imposing aesthetic preferences on other musical languages.
And the irony is that most if not all projects organized by European musicians for refugees are done so with implicit aim of creating a space of coming together through the act of musicking together. It would be unfair on European musicians (who combine their musical skills and social conscience) to overgeneralize this – as I am discussing this from the
perspective of a handful of musical events/ scenarios I witnessed – when European musicians were very specific in what music they wanted to play and how they want to play it. However, this pitfall can be found lurking in most projects at one time or another; whenever an
organizing European musician will go too far in describing how he or she thinks a specific piece should be played. It can also go as far as to influence which pieces are played in the first place. A lack of text recognition, of knowing what one is singing about makes some European (especially Dutch) musicians somewhat nervous. As a result, they (understandably) want to know what each possible song is about. Some of the European musicians of Catching Cultures Orchestra have talked about how some songs were rejected on basis of the songs
being about religion. Generally, songs that are about love are accepted without questions whereas songs about religion are viewed much more warily. This textual importance overlaps somewhat with the issue of what music is ‘more acceptable’ for European musicians
(Catching Cultures rehearsals - 10/04/2016 and 24/04/2016). Furthermore, it exposes a wider issue, namely that of European(s) (musicians) wanting to be selective in what they do and do not accept of the refugee’s home culture. It also exposes how Arabic texts are too often seen as synonymous with Islam, when in actual fact Syrian religious songs can just as easily be Christian as Jonàs Bisquert has explained to the audience of Band zonder Verblijfsvergunning on a number of occasions as well as to a choir who came to rehearse Christmas songs with the musicians who live (or have lived) in the AZC in Utrecht (Jonàs Bisquert 10/09/2016, 24/09/2016 and 08/12/2016). This is a far cry from the hate connotation of xenophobia; xenophobia that can unfortunately so often be read in the comments below articles about refugees, especially those who have had the misfortune of being forcibly returned to their country of origin. Despite this, it unfortunately does depict some of the remnant fear of the Other that lingers even within some of those who are excited to welcome refugees through musicking together. Even with those European musicians who musick together with refugees using the ‘music associated with refugees’, seem sometimes reluctant to loosen their own understanding of how music should sound aesthetically further than to musick using a Westernized foreign musical language15 that has been censored for suitable lyrics. They are understandably worried about what aesthetics values they will allow in by losing more of their musical aesthetic understanding (Touraine in Ballantine 2015, 502). Given the unequal power to make decisions within the musicking setting that is portrayed in this ‘so far but no further mentality’, I would say that while musicking with refugees is done with the best intensions to reach out, love and learn more about each other, it still does have some way to go in the equality of musicking together (Titus, 2015).
Jonàs Bisquert teaches composition at the Conservatory of Amsterdam as well as being a composer and while he visibly strives to let refugee musicians bring in their own music – he sometimes guides them in the rhythm of a song or how a specific musical style is played, in a way that shows him to be a (music) teacher and musician. Indeed, I want to argue that coming into a musicking project for refugees with strong preconceived ideas as to how music should be played, is part of several wider issues and binaries. The first of these is musicianship
15 Even after writing this thesis I am still somewhat unsure of the term musical language(s). However, I use the
term due to many Europeans, throughout my fieldwork, referring to music as bypassing language and thus implying that music is a language that bypasses barriers that other languages do not. Thus the term musical language alludes to how music is presumed as a form of communication acting as a language - yet seem as superior to language in its communicative value.(musical excellence) versus social conscience – it is a question what is more important to sound aesthetically pleasing versus using one’s music(al knowledge) for social justice. The second more implicit question connected to this is whether a musician is willing to loosen her grip on deeply embedded aesthetic ideas on what constitutes good music from a western perspective. This depends on willingness to let oneself ‘be undone by [the] music’ of others to the point of using the affordance of one’s musical knowledge to reach out and truly aim to hear the music of the Other (Titus 2015, 526-527). This could also be referred to as what I would like to call willingness to become bi-musical (Hood 1960) to the musical preferences of others (see chapter three and four). It is unfair and unrealistic to ask Europeans to be the only ones to be willing to loosen they grip on musical aesthetic ideas or musical preferences, despite European musicians in some ways having more affordance to do so. I will argue in chapter three that willingness to learn from each other is as important for the musicking relations between refugees (especially those from varied backgrounds) as it is for the musicking exchanges between European musicians and refugee musicians.
Then, there is also the issue of whether a project or event has existed prior to the ‘migrant crisis’. Many individuals and organizations Stichting de Vrolijkheid were involved with refugees or other groups of vulnerable people prior to the more prominent media coverage and public awareness of the plight of refugees. This can influence the above mentioned willingness.
Other projects have sprung up as a reaction to the increased social awareness of the plight of refugees. It is far from my objective to argue against the spread of musical initiatives for refugees. However, some musicians with less prior experience with vulnerable groups seem to show less willingness to compromise their musical ideals in order to promote musical dialogue in which refugee musicians decide part of the sound for themselves (Ansdell and Pavlicevic 2005, 203).
An example of an event that has been organized solely with the current situation in mind is a jam session that I attended in Delft that was organized for refugees with a status (statushouders). My parents are buddies through DelftseBuur (translation by researcher: Delft neighbour) - a buddy system that pairs a refugee with people living in Delft who want to connect with and help a refugee learn the language and culture. The newsletter of Stichting VluchtelingenWerk Delft16 (that is sent to refugees or anybody connected to DelftseBuur) advertised the jam session (only) a few days prior to when it took place. Two Dutch
musicians (Willem Overgraag and Wijbrand Luth) were the main musician organizers of the jam sessions
.
They play ‘world music’ (mainly Greece and Eastern European folk music) as16 VluchtelingenWerk is a national Dutch charity that works with refugees in asylum seeker centres (AZC) all
over the country.part of their professional work.One of them had also had djembe lessons for over ten years and thus organized a djembe workshop as part of the jam session. It is worth noting that this was only the first session of a proposed jam session. It was obvious that they were still finding the best way to organize it.
Prior exposure to ‘world music’ is not a guarantee for successful cross-cultural musicking. Indeed, there are also one or two European musicians playing with Catching Cultures Orchestra who seem to have some very rigid ideas on how the music should be played despite prior exposure to music from various countries (Orkest Tegenwind used to travel to find musical inspiration). Those musicians ended up spending half the rehearsals giving the refugee percussionists instructions (Catching Cultures Orchestra rehearsals, 10/04/2016 and 24/04/2016). Unfortunately, this exchange exposes that some remain somewhat unwilling to loosen their grip on musical aesthetics ideals despite musicking in a musical language other than one’s own. This could be interpreted in two connected ways, firstly as an unwillingness to lose more of one’s own music in the musicking exchange (Ballantine 2015, Titus 2015). Secondly, it could unfortunately also be interpreted as a more (unconscious) Eurocentric attitude regarding western musical aesthetics being of higher importance than Arabic musical aesthetics. I will discuss this further in chapter three in relation to who ‘leads’ musicking sessions in an AZC and chapter four in relation to the audience.
Catching Cultures Orchestra
Catching Cultures Orchestra was formed around a year and a half ago when musicians from the amateur Orchestra Tegenwind decided they were interested in playing music with refugees. It took them some time to find existing projects to get involved with, however they eventually got involved with various projects for refugees in AZC’s in various cities such as Utrecht, Alkmaar and Nijmegen. The music sessions of Stichting de Vrolijkheid in the AZC in Utrecht was one of the projects Orchestra Tegenwind attended. Catching Cultures Orchestra has given the music sessions and specifically Band zonder Verblijfsvergunning more publicity. Band zonder Verblijfsvergunning (band without a residency permit) was started three years ago with refugee musicians who attend these sessions.17 Band zonder Verblijfsvergunning is actually an ambivalent name as many of the musicians who play in the ‘band’ already have a residency permit.18
