In this episode you will hear from someone whose unique skills will be offering a critical perspective on the ways in which music interacts with culture. Dr. Michael O’Brien is a prominent professor and Department Chair at the College of Charleston and is an ethnomusicologist, someone who studies the music of the world. Ethnomusicology involves the interactive relationships between music and cultural anthropology, psychology, folklore, and conventional musicology. He recently published an article in Musicultures detailing his research on a soccer chant in Argentina that was turned into what he calls a “sonic meme” meant to be a protesting medium. When I lived in Charleston, South Carolina, I spent a lot of time in conversation with Dr. O’Brien, talking about the musical improvisation methods in different cultures, Haitian politics and classical music, communism in Cuba and the Cuban Rap Agency, the history of Argentinian tango music, and so many other things! These and other conversations expanded my vision on the wide ranging impact of music in the world. Today, you will also hear Dr. O’Brien share a number of inspiring ways in which we can all support artists in these challenging times.

Link to journal article:

https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MC/article/view/31403?fbclid=IwAR2q0_a9VbLLFmjYcRmbybL1HMF9Wo5HMkAzxmkvAMCnBPlRfpXV2-2SVdU

Instagram radio show: unosoenbicicleta

https://www.instagram.com/unosoenbicicleta/

Blog:

https://soundstudiesblog.com/michael-obrien/