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Broadcasting Swissness - Musical practices, institutional contexts, and the reception of traditional popular music: the acoustic construction of Swissness on the radio (Sub-project C : Decoding Swissness)

Research Project
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01.12.2012
 - 30.11.2015

The research project investigates the construction and distribution of "Swissness" by means of (popular) music. At the core of the research project is the "Dür collection" - a convolute of approximately 8,000 audio tapes with "Swiss popular music" collected by the musicologist Fritz Dür on behalf of Swiss Radio International (SRI) between 1957 and 1967 as a musical Swiss visiting card. The collection was taken up into the Swiss National Library in 1987. The central question of the whole project is how and under what social and institutional circumstances popular music together with the institution radio did emerge as a powerful voice in the construction of - an acoustic - Swissness. The project is interdisciplinary and examines the acoustic dimension of popular culture from the immediate post-war period to the present from the perspectives of music studies, ethnomusicology, and cultural anthropology. The joint analytical approach of all sub-projects towards the material is based on the question of the nature of the acoustic construction of a "Stimme der Schweiz" (Voice of Switzerland) by means of its fixation on a recording medium, which of course had its own influence as a form of media, in the compilation over a longer term of an acoustic catalogue, which had a canonising function, and finally through the mediation of the audio medium of broadcast radio, which stimulated the formation of an integrated ideal of acoustic Swissness. Three closely interrelated sub-projects based at three Swiss universities explore these negotiations of "popular music" through radio: Sub-project A, based at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts/Department of Music examines the popular music scene in the 1950s and 1960s and the audio-musical side of the archived repertoire from a music studies and artistic research perspective. The anthropological sub-project B based at the University of Zurich/Institute of Popular Culture Studies examines the institutional side of the formation, dissemination and preservation of the Dür collection in its social, cultural, political and ideo-historical contexts as well as the acoustic representation of Swissness. Sub-project C based at the University of Basel/Department of Cultural Studies and European Ethnology, examines from an ethnomusicological perspective the uses that Dür collection was put to and its reception as the "Stimme der Schweiz" at home and abroad. The Dür collection emerged under the auspices of SRI to represent the "Stimme der Schweiz". The then Director of the sound archive Fritz Dür, was mandated by the SRI to collect audio samples from the holdings of the SRG radio studios and "live recordings" from across Switzerland. The collection was used from the 1960s to the 1990s in domestic broadcasting and especially in broadcasting abroad as well as for other purposes, including the SRI Music Edition "Musica Helvetica". The collection (including both the sound and the conventional archives) is the central primary source for the whole project and thus allows for its coordinated analysis by all three sub-projects applying three different approaches. The synergies developed in "Broadcasting Swissness" emerge in the unique possibility to explore not only the sensual-audio or the socio-cultural embeddedness of a musical phenomenon alone but both musical-performative as well as institutional-political and reception-aesthetic aspects at once. The project thus contributes not only to the analysis of a hitherto unwritten chapter in the history of traditional popular music in its cooperation with the "culture industry" and a critical examination of an acoustic, institutionally forced construction of Swissness, but also takes up the challenge of a modern, multidisciplinary study of culture. The results of the project will not only be disseminated in the usual academic formats but also in non-discursive forms, among others, by means of an audio platform, the publication of musical transcriptions and via the listening stations at the Swiss National Sound Archives and by means of the inclusion of the digitalised collection in the Memoriav Online Database "Memobase". Finally, thanks to a media partnership with the SRG, the research will be made accessible in various forms to a broader public.

Collaborations & Cooperations

2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Benz, Irene, Leiterin Zentralarchiv, SRG SSR, Dokumentation und Archive, Research cooperation
2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Brülisauer, Markus, Leiter, Haus der Volksmusik Altdorf, Research cooperation
2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Delorenzi-Schenkel, Sylvia, Präsidentin, Gesellschaft für die Volksmusik in der Schweiz GVS, Research cooperation
2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Eggmann, Sabine, Geschäftsführerin, Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkskunde, Research cooperation
2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Müller, Rudolf, Bereichsverantwortlicher Ton/Radio, Memoriav, Research cooperation
2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Pellizzari, Pio, Direktor, Schweizerische Nationalphonothek, Research cooperation
2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on an international level
Bendix, Regina, Prof. Dr., Institut für Kulturanthropologie/Europäische Ethnologie, Universität Göttingen, Research cooperation
2014 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Schöneberger, Klaus, Prof. Dr., Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Research cooperation

Publications

Jäggi, Patricia (2016) ‘Sonic Ambiances - ‘Bruitage’-Recordings of the Swiss International Radio in the Context of Media Practices and Cultural Heritage’, in Rémy, Nicolas; Tixier, Nicolas (ed.). University of Thessaly: University of Thessaly.

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Jäggi, Patricia (2016) ‘Demo-Track’, Soundcloud. Switzerland (Soundcloud). Available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-976228230/demo-track.

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Hengartner, Thomas, Leimgruber, Walter and Müske, Johannes (2016) ‘Broadcasting Swissness - Schweizer Radio International und die Sammlung Dür’, in Hengartner, Thomas; Leimgruber, Walter; Häusler, Daniel; Müske, Johannes; Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline; Camp, Marc-Antoine; Rühl, Johannes; Gutsche, Fanny; Jäggi, Patricia; Järmann, Thomas (ed.) Die Schweiz auf Kurzwelle. Musik - Programm - Geschichte(n). Zürich: Chronos (Kulturwissenschaftliche Technikforschung), pp. 7–14.

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Jäggi, Patricia (2015) ‘Tagungsbericht: Framing, Compiling, Sampling - Sensory Practices in Cultural Analysis. Basel, 23.-25.04.2015’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Volkskunde, pp. 85–91.

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Jäggi, Patricia (2015) ‘Expo Soundscapes - Technik, Klang und die Frage nach der nationalen Identität’, Dissonance, 132, pp. 4–9.

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Jäggi, Patricia (2015) ‘‘Off the beaten track’ - Schweizer Volksmusik als exotisches Hörerlebnis an Bord der Swissair’, in Reiseziel: immaterielles Kulturerbe. Zürich: Chronos (Reiseziel: immaterielles Kulturerbe), p. S. 47–57.

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Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (2015) ‘Swissness für die arabische Welt. Auftrag, Programm und Rezeption des Arabischen Diensts beim Schweizer Kurzwellendienst’, in Forschungsgruppe Broadcasting Swissness, (ed.) Die Schweiz auf Kurzwelle. Musik - Programm - Geschichte(n). Zürich: Chronos (Kulturwissenschaftliche Technikforschung), pp. 87–112.

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Gutsche, Fanny and Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (2014) ‘Die Schweiz’ im Klang. Repräsentation, Konstruktion und Verhandlung (trans)nationaler Identität über akustische Medien. Basel: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkskunde. Available at: http://www.volkskunde.ch/de/dms/sgv/publikationen/Die-Schweiz-im-Klang_Gutsche_Oehme_Hg_2014/Die%20Schweiz%20im%20Klang_Gutsche_Oehme_Hg_2014.pdf.

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Jäggi, Patricia (2014) ‘Die (sur)realistischen Klanglandschaften des Schweizer Radio International’, Schweizer Volkskunde, 104(2), pp. 38–41.

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Müske, Johannes et al. (2014) ‘Broadcasting Swissness Scientific Report’.

Jäggi, Patricia (2014) ‘Stimmkonserven, elektronische Klänge und musizierende Maschinen. Zur Inszenierung einer (hyper-)modernen Schweiz an der Expo 1964’, in Gutsche, Fanny; Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (ed.) ‘Die Schweiz’ im Klang. Repräsentation, Konstruktion und Verhandlung (trans)nationaler Identität über akustische Medien. Basel: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkskunde (‘Die Schweiz’ im Klang. Repräsentation, Konstruktion und Verhandlung (trans)nationaler Identität über akustische Medien), pp. 23–49. Available at: http://www.volkskunde.ch/de/dms/sgv/publikationen/Die-Schweiz-im-Klang_Gutsche_Oehme_Hg_2014/Die%20Schweiz%20im%20Klang_Gutsche_Oehme_Hg_2014.pdf.

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Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (2014) ‘Die Konstruktion nationaler Erinnerung : die Schweiz in Hanns in der Gands Soldatenliedersammlung’, in Kuhn, Konrad; Ziegler, Béatrice (ed.) Der vergessene Krieg : Spuren und Traditionen zur Schweiz im Ersten Weltkrieg / Konrad J. Kuhn, Béatrice Ziegler [Hg.]. Baden: hier + jetzt (Der vergessene Krieg : Spuren und Traditionen zur Schweiz im Ersten Weltkrieg / Konrad J. Kuhn, Béatrice Ziegler [Hg.]), p. S. 45–64, Ill.

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Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (2014) ‘Zur Idee des Volkslieds’, in Institut für Kulturforschung Graubünden (ed.) Die Sammlung Maissen : ein Querschnitt durch das rätoromanische Volksliedgut. Glarus: [Somedia (Die Sammlung Maissen : ein Querschnitt durch das rätoromanische Volksliedgut), p. S. 15–29.

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Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (2014) ‘Klang und (trans)nationale Identität : eine Einleitung’, in Gutsche, Fanny; Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (ed.) ‘Die Schweiz’ im Klang : Repräsentation, Konstruktion und Verhandlung (trans)nationaler Identität über akustische Medien. Basel: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkskunde (‘Die Schweiz’ im Klang : Repräsentation, Konstruktion und Verhandlung (trans)nationaler Identität über akustische Medien), p. S. 7–22.

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Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (2014) ‘Volksmusik erleben : zur Ästhetisierung und Erlebnisqualität von aktueller Volksmusik in der Schweiz’, in Thomas Nußbaumer (ed.) Das Neue in der Volksmusik der Alpen : von der ‘Neuen Volksmusik’ und anderen innovativen Entwicklungen. Innsbruck: Universitätsverlag Wagner (Schriften zur musikalischen Ethnologie), p. S. 105–112.

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Camp, Marc-Antoine et al. (2013) ‘Broadcasting Swissness Scientific Report’.

Camp, Marc-Antoine and Jäggi, Patricia (2013) ‘Three steps to becoming musical heritage. The Dür Collection of Swiss Radio International’, bullletin CH-EM, pp. 52–59.

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Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline (2013) ‘Wie klingt die Schweiz?’, megafon, 1 January, pp. 6–7.

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Members (5)

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Walter Leimgruber

Principal Investigator
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Thomas Hengartner

Principal Investigator
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Fanny Jones

Project Member
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Karoline Oehme-Jüngling

Project Member
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Patricia Jäggi

Project Member