Cracking the code: recordings, transmission, players, and smiths in the Norwegian munnharpe revival: Ethnomusicology Forum: Vol 0, No 0

Academic research –

Though it operates on the margins of the Norwegian folk music scene, the munnharpe (jew’s harp) revival has been active since the 1960s and today boasts an active network of festivals, musicians, and blacksmiths. After contextualising the instrument’s position within Norwegian folk music and outlining the history of the munnharpe community, I explore the transmission and revitalisation of the munnharpe tradition, suggesting that a large part of the revival’s success lies in the availability and accessibility of archival recordings. I examine the transmission of playing technique and repertoire amongst musicians, then compare it with instrument building transmission amongst blacksmiths, analysing how the dynamic between munnharpe players and makers has shaped the instrument’s musical and material spheres. Tracing the symbiotic relationship between archives, recordings, players, and makers, I argue that this interplay has been central to the revival in both its past and present iterations.

Cracking the code: recordings, transmission, players, and smiths in the Norwegian munnharpe revival: Ethnomusicology Forum: Vol 0, No 0

"Speaking in Tongues: Music, Identity, and Representation in Jew's Harp Communities." PhD diss., SOAS, University of London | Deirdre Morgan

Deirdre Morgan has made her PhD dissertation available via a Google Drive link on her website and her Academia profile. It will say no preview available, but you can click download for the full PDF. 

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ABSTRACT
Based on multi-sited fieldwork in Norway, Austria, and Sicily, this dissertation explores how the jew’s harp has become increasingly culturally significant in a number of regional and international contexts, and how it is today experiencing a global renaissance. Written from my perspective as a jew’s harp player, I combine research data from participant-observation, interviews with musicians and blacksmiths, and museum, archive, and private collection sources. I provide an overview of the history of the jew’s harp, then discuss the rise of its communities from individuals in the 1960s to the proliferation of societies in the 1990s through to the present. I situate my case study on the Norwegian munnharpe within a national folk music discourse, analyze its playing technique, and explore the role of archival recordings in transmitting the tradition. I look at elements of repertoire and performance practice, and conclude with an examination of the role of blacksmiths in the community. In my second case study, on the Austrian Maultrommel, I discuss the golden age of jew’s harp virtuosos in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Central Europe, tracing the lineage of two distinct playing techniques. I then examine how contemporary Maultrommel players situate themselves on local and international stages, and discuss the continuing legacy of Maultrommel manufacturing in the village of Molln. My third case study, on the Sicilian marranzano, analyzes connections to Mediterranean song style and vocal timbre then examines how the marranzano is embraced as a symbol of Sicilian identity, cultural renewal and political activism. I analyze marranzano economics and production, and conclude by looking at the instrument’s association with banditry in Italian cinema. My final case study discusses jew’s harp communities online, exploring how the Internet is today being used for ethnographic research and for understanding musical communities.

Morgan, Deirdre. 2017. "Speaking in Tongues: Music, Identity, and Representation in Jew's Harp Communities." PhD diss., SOAS, University of London. | Deirdre Morgan - Academia.edu

SEE ALSO:
Morgan, Deirdre. 2016. “Excavating heritage: The archaeology of revival in the jew’s harp traditions of Norway, Austria, and Sicily.” In Studien zur Musikarchäologie X, edited by Ricardo Eichmann and Lars-Christian Koch, 75-79. Rahden/Westfalen.: Verlag Marie Leidorf.

Morgan, Deirdre. 2008. "Organs and Bodies: The Jew's Harp and the Anthropology of Musical Instruments." MA thesis, University of British Columbia.

Deirdre Morgan | Simon Fraser University - Academia.edu