Where Rivers and Mountains Sing

Levin, Theodore; Süzükei, Valentina

doi:10.2307/j.ctvj7wm07

Cited by 22 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…The landscape has a moral and aesthetic character that singers can read and sound through their performance. This style of sonic construction and reconstruction of landscapes is well documented in Inner Asia (Levin and Süzükei 2010;Post 2007), as elsewhere (Feld 1996). Livestock, on the other hand, act as audiences rather than as inspiration for these performances.…”

Section: Animals As Audience For Songmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Studies of herders' use of song and instrumental music for calling to livestock and warding off predators detail a limited kind of audience agency on the part of herds, as they react to human calls and respond to voices they recognize (Campbell 1951;Ivarsdotter 2004;Johnson 1984). Ethnomusicology of Inner Asian nomadism goes further, to consider how animals take part in the composition of music, describing how people use mimetic performances of animal-derived song to achieve both mundane and spiritual ends (Levin and Süzükei 2010;Pegg 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Like a Lullaby: Song as Herding Tool in Rural Mongolia

Hutchins

2019

Journal of Ethnobiology

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This paper examines the application of song as a herding tool. Based on participant-observation and twenty semi-structured interviews in pastoral encampments in the Gobi Desert over four months, I explore what the practice of singing to sheep can elucidate about interdependent human-animal relationships. The livestock birthing season in rural Mongolia in early spring is a crucial time for humans and animals alike. While pastoralists throughout the country have many different approaches for managing the challenges they face during this time, herders in rural Dundgovi province have a special set of tools for adopting orphaned livestock to new mothers: species-specific, semi-improvisational songs. The herders I work with in this province report that these songs are their primary method for instigating nursing and developing parental bonds between orphaned newborns and foster mothers. This musical practice is interwoven with other forms of traditional musical performance intended for human audiences. This paper contributes to a growing body of literature in ethnobiology that examines the musical capacities of non-humans. I take instances of livestock-singing in the Gobi as opportunities for the creation of mutual empathy between herder and animal. These performances implicate humans in the emotional worlds of sheep and give sheep the role of consumers of music—a position usually reserved for humans.

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Section: Animals As Audience For Songmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Like a Lullaby: Song as Herding Tool in Rural Mongolia

Hutchins

2019

Journal of Ethnobiology

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“…The Tsimane are not unique in having little collective musical behavior. Coordinated group music (vocal and instrumental) is largely absent in traditional cultures in parts of Siberia, including among the Tuvans and Yakuts, both of whom engage in animal husbandry (Levin, 2006;Nikolsky, Alekseyev, Alekseev, & Dyakonova, 2020). Our informal canvassing of a few ethnographers who have carried out years of fieldwork with huntergatherers revealed a relative absence of collective music-making in the traditional practices of several such groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Sex and drugs and rock and roll

Pinker¹

2021

Behav Brain Sci

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“…Today, sounds of nature continue to inform, infuse, and inspire the music and singing of many different cultural groups across the world (Feld 1990;Levin and Süzükei 2010;Pegg 2001;Petrovic and Ljubinkovic 2011). Both verbal and non-verbal mimicry of natural sounds are common in songs used in shamanic communication with the spirits governing the natural world (Gutiérrez Choquevilca 2011;Hoppál 2002) or to attract animals during hunting (Sarvasy 2016;Welch 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%