Abstract

What is an intercultural arts performer? How does he/she interact in the field as a researcher? After exploring the identity of an intercultural arts performer and examining the evolving relationship of music performance and academia throughout the 20th century, this talk will focus on the dual identity of the performer as researcher in the field. Using the case study of a year-long fieldwork period in Mallorca and drawing upon relevant ethnomusicological and anthropological literature, I shall examine the insider/outsider dichotomy and endeavour to throw new light on how interculturality can be an advantage for field-based research. I shall also explore how research can be considered as performance, reinforcing the identity of the performer-researcher for the local residents.

Cassandre Balosso-Bardin is currently completing her PhD in ethnomusicology at SOAS , University of London. She is focusing on the anthropology of the xeremies, the Mallorcan bagpipes. Cassandre is the founder of the International Bagpipe Organisation and initiated the International Bagpipe Conferences in 2012, featuring on national and international news. A graduate teaching assistant at SOAS since 2012, she has given talks for different universities in France and in the UK. Cassandre also studied early music performance on the recorder at the conservatoire with Jean-Pierre Nicolas (Orsay, France). After discovering bagpipes in her late teens, she became increasingly involved with folk and world music. For the last 10 years she has been involved in many multi-cultural projects. She is a regular member of several bands including Amaraterra, World Scatterlings, Olcay Bayir, a new project with Senegalese kora player Kadialy Kouyate and the upcoming transglobal roots fusion band Världens Band.