CONSTRUCTS FROM THE FIELD:

Learning from Indigenous Cultures, Theorization, and Creative Productions

by Maria Chrustine Muyco, PhD

Years of experiencing research and music-making among various cultures in Asia and beyond have enriched the perspectives of what I will share in this talk. My creative-research projects became forms of Applied Ethnomusicology, starting with my research on the ideological substrates behind the Panay Bukidnon’s “Binanog”, a hawk-eagle music dance tradition practiced in The Philippines, to Southeast Asian indigenous groups such as the Tai-Yai of Thailand, the Bidayuh of Malaysia, the Hmong of Laos, the Turaloans of Indonesia, among others. The shared expressions and practices in these places became windows for me to understand issues and communal tensions. My interest is not just finding theories of practice, but also collaborating for spaces for audibility. For instance in my Asian Cultural Council (ACC) project titled: Voices Lost In Industrial Winds”, I drew upon a range of sound sources, especially chants and rhythms that echo socio-political, economic, cultural, and other issues relevant to my research participants and their communities. In all these actions, I welcome the local and the practitioner's point of view in developing the outcomes of my visits, which extend in various forms: the gradual process of connection formed through ongoing collaboration, and through such practices, production of knowledge and creative expression.