Why Suya Sing, a musical anthropology of an Amazonian people, is a book written by Anthony Seeger. Anthony Seeger is a professor, ethnomusicologist, archivist, anthropologist, and record producer. The title “Why Suya Sing” portrays the general idea of all ethnomusicologists, which is to further understand music in its cultural context (“What Is Ethnomusicology?”). Seeger is also the director emeritus of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. The author tackled field research for the book at Mato Grosso, Brazil, during 1971 and 1982. More specifically, Seeger traveled to Brazil to study the culture of the Suya Indians, today known as the Kïsêdjê (Mengel 1). According to Seeger, music is a part of social life because musicians and their audiences are
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There is a myth of the origin of the Mouse Ceremony. The myth briefly goes as is… One day before the beginning of the Mouse Ceremony Iawekidi, and elderly woman sat down, spinning cotton thread in its shadow. Her daughter was nearby making food, alongside some men, which made it a good time for them to learn from the women. To summarize, the myth says that the Suya used to eat rotten wood before they learned about garden crops from the mouse. The mouse told the pregnant woman about corn one day when she took her son to bathe. She kept corn a secret until her son was old enough to walk. Once he could walk, she sent him into the village to show the villagers the corn cake. The villagers stopped eating rotten wood and switched to crops, since that day (Seeger 29). For a ceremony like the Mouse Ceremony, I felt as if the myth behind it was a little less fulfilling than my prediction of the myth was before I read it. The Mouse Ceremony, along with several different social activities, is so embedded in music that the simplicity of this myth did not satisfy my predictions. The myth mentions the unison songs and singing slightly during the story, like when the men go out seeking logs and return home. I had a sensation that music was going to have a greater meaning within the myth, but apart from the letdown, the art of myth is greatly overlooked. The search in reason for the singing rituals within this myth didn’t completely fail, simply …show more content…
Although not all aspects in their society related to my own personal culture, it was interesting to perceive life differently than my own and I enjoyed that. I personally like chapter three in this review, because it exemplifies a way I can relate to the ceremony which was written about throughout the entire book. It differentiated in areas that the gender between The Mouse Ceremony and my example, but the overall idea remained equal. In contrast, I did not like the idea of “songs of men without spirits” that was mentioned in chapter five in this review. I like to think of myself as a religious lady, and the concept of associating with dark forces like witches and people without spirits is therefore unthinkable. In conclusion, I loved the way I have further knowledge on South American Indians and found some comparative and contrasting factors from their culture to my own. I strongly recommend this book, because it shows the philosophy in music of a culture that not many are familiar
There is a myth of the origin of the Mouse Ceremony. The myth briefly goes as is… One day before the beginning of the Mouse Ceremony Iawekidi, and elderly woman sat down, spinning cotton thread in its shadow. Her daughter was nearby making food, alongside some men, which made it a good time for them to learn from the women. To summarize, the myth says that the Suya used to eat rotten wood before they learned about garden crops from the mouse. The mouse told the pregnant woman about corn one day when she took her son to bathe. She kept corn a secret until her son was old enough to walk. Once he could walk, she sent him into the village to show the villagers the corn cake. The villagers stopped eating rotten wood and switched to crops, since that day (Seeger 29). For a ceremony like the Mouse Ceremony, I felt as if the myth behind it was a little less fulfilling than my prediction of the myth was before I read it. The Mouse Ceremony, along with several different social activities, is so embedded in music that the simplicity of this myth did not satisfy my predictions. The myth mentions the unison songs and singing slightly during the story, like when the men go out seeking logs and return home. I had a sensation that music was going to have a greater meaning within the myth, but apart from the letdown, the art of myth is greatly overlooked. The search in reason for the singing rituals within this myth didn’t completely fail, simply …show more content…
Although not all aspects in their society related to my own personal culture, it was interesting to perceive life differently than my own and I enjoyed that. I personally like chapter three in this review, because it exemplifies a way I can relate to the ceremony which was written about throughout the entire book. It differentiated in areas that the gender between The Mouse Ceremony and my example, but the overall idea remained equal. In contrast, I did not like the idea of “songs of men without spirits” that was mentioned in chapter five in this review. I like to think of myself as a religious lady, and the concept of associating with dark forces like witches and people without spirits is therefore unthinkable. In conclusion, I loved the way I have further knowledge on South American Indians and found some comparative and contrasting factors from their culture to my own. I strongly recommend this book, because it shows the philosophy in music of a culture that not many are familiar