Gavin Steingo

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Gavin Steingo
Born1981
Education University of Pennsylvania
Occupation(s)Ethnomusicologist, Professor
Years active2010–present
Employer Princeton University
Notable workKwaito’s Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa

Gavin Steingo (born 1981) is a South African ethnomusicologist and Professor of Music at Princeton University. His work explores the roles of music and sound in shaping global modernity, with a focus on African music, sound studies, and acoustic ecology.

Contents

Early life and education

Steingo was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He earned his PhD in the anthropology of music from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010. From 2010 to 2012, he was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University in New York. [1]

Academic career

Steingo joined the faculty at Princeton University as an assistant professor of music. His research examines music and sound as fundamental aspects of global modernity, addressing themes such as interspecies communication, the politics of representation, and the aesthetics of freedom. He employs a multidisciplinary methodology, integrating theory, history, and ethnography.

Steingo's first book, Kwaito’s Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa (University of Chicago Press, 2016), investigates how South African musicians engage with concepts such as democracy and freedom. [2] The book received the Alan P. Merriam Prize in 2017 for its contributions to the field of ethnomusicology. [3]

His second book, Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music Beyond Humanity, explores human efforts to communicate with non-human species and the broader implications for language, beauty, and spirituality. [4]

Selected works

Editorial and collaborative projects

Steingo is the co-editor of the book series “Critical Conjunctures in Music and Sound” for Oxford University Press. [8] He also serves on the editorial boards of Analytical Approaches to African Music, [9] and is the co-founder of the Animal Song Collective, [10] which investigates animal song through interdisciplinary approaches.

Recognition

Steingo has received grants and fellowships from institutions such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Alzheimer's Association. His contributions to the field have been widely recognized, with Kwaito’s Promise earning praise in academic reviews [11] and inspiring creative works, such as an album by South African musician King Razo. In 2024, Steingo was awarded a Fellowship at the Getty Research Institute. [12]

Related Research Articles

House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture that consisted of Black gay men and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, house became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.

Musicology is the scholarly study of music. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, formal sciences and computer science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnomusicology</span> Study of the cultural aspects of music

Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context, investigating social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions involved other than sound. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investigate the act of musicking through various immersive, observational, and analytical approaches drawn from other disciplines such as anthropology to understand a culture’s music. This discipline emerged from comparative musicology, initially focusing on non-Western music, but later expanded to embrace the study of any and all different kinds of music of the world. Ethnomusicology development resembled that of Anthropology very closely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of South Africa</span>

The music of South Africa exhibits a culturally varied musical heritage in conjunction with the multi-ethnic populace. Genres with the greatest international recognition being mbube, isicathamiya, mbaqanga, afrofusion, kwaito, South African pop music, afro house, South African hip hop, Shangaan electro, bacardi house, bolo house, gqom and amapiano.

Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, between the late 1980s and 1990s. It is a variant of house music that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music and often contain catchy melodic and percussive loop samples, deep bass lines and vocals. They are also very similar tempos to early 1990s NYC house tracks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whale vocalization</span> Sounds produced by whales

Whales use a variety of sounds for communication and sensation. The mechanisms used to produce sound vary from one family of cetaceans to another. Marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, and porpoises, are much more dependent on sound than land mammals due to the limited effectiveness of other senses in water. Sight is less effective for marine mammals because of the way particulates in the ocean scatter light. Smell is also limited, as molecules diffuse more slowly in water than in air, which makes smelling less effective. However, the speed of sound is roughly four times greater in water than in the atmosphere at sea level. As sea mammals are so dependent on hearing to communicate and feed, environmentalists and cetologists are concerned that they are being harmed by the increased ambient noise in the world's oceans caused by ships, sonar and marine seismic surveys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aesthetics of music</span> Branch of philosophy

Aesthetics of music is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of art, beauty and taste in music, and with the creation or appreciation of beauty in music. In the pre-modern tradition, the aesthetics of music or musical aesthetics explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. In the eighteenth century, focus shifted to the experience of hearing music, and thus to questions about its beauty and human enjoyment of music. The origin of this philosophic shift is sometimes attributed to Baumgarten in the 18th century, followed by Kant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zulu music</span> South African music genre

The Zulu people are a South African ethnic group. Many Zulu musicians have become a major part of South African music, creating a huge influence in the music industry. A number of Zulu-folk derived styles have become well known across South Africa and abroad. Zulu music has dominated many genres in South Africa, especially house music, folk music, acapella, choral music and gospel. In fact, some of the most popular songs from South Africa are in isiZulu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YFM</span> South African radio station

YFM is a "Youth" radio station in Johannesburg, South Africa. Established in 1997, the station is formatted to mostly play urban music genres such as Kwaito, Hip Hop, and R&B along with a minority of its airtime being dedicated to talk shows. As noted by the name, the station's core audience consists of young South Africans.

Arthur Mafokate is a South African kwaito musician and producer. In 1994, he released his debut album, Windy Windy, which included the hit "Amagents Ayaphanda". He became known as the "King of Kwaito" with many hit singles such as Kaffir, Oyi Oyi, Mnike, Twalatza, Zombo, Koti Koti, Poppe Dans, Seven Phezulu & Sika Lekhekhe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan P. Merriam</span> American ethnomusicologist

Alan Parkhurst Merriam was an American ethnomusicologist known for his studies of music in Native America and Africa. In his book The Anthropology of Music (1964), he outlined and develops a theory and method for studying music from an anthropological perspective with anthropological methods. Although he taught at Northwestern University and University of Wisconsin, the majority of his academic career was spent at Indiana University where he was named a professor in 1962 and then chairman of the anthropology department from 1966 to 1969, which became a leading center of ethnomusicology research under his guidance. He was a co-founder of the Society for Ethnomusicology in 1952 and held the elected post of president of that society from 1963 to 1965. He edited the Newsletter of the Society for Ethnomusicology from 1952 to 1957, and he edited the journal Ethnomusicology from 1957 to 1958.

Interspecies communication is communication between different species of animals, plants, or microorganisms. Although researchers have explored the topic for many years, only recently has interspecies communication been recognized as an established field of inquiry.

Boom Shaka was a pioneering South African kwaito music group consisting of Junior Sokhela, Lebo Mathosa, Theo Nhlengethwa and Thembi Seete. They released their first single "It's About Time" in 1993, and subsequently released their debut LP, titled "Kwere Kwere" in 1994. Boom Shaka was one of the most successful bands of the mid-1990s in South Africa. Their music was the soundtrack for many young people in the newly democratic South Africa. The group was viewed as representing "the hopes and dreams of a people after liberation". Boom Shaka also achieved international success in London, among other places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thandiswa Mazwai</span> South African musician

Thandiswa Nyameka Mazwai is a South African musician, and is also the lead vocalist and songwriter of Bongo Maffin. She is also known as King Tha.

Trompies is a South African music group formed in 1995 who specialise in kwaito music. The members Spikiri, Mahoota, Donald Duck, Jakarumba & Mjokes grew up together in the Soweto township and agreed to form a band after they had all completed their music studies in college. Beginning to make music in the mid-1990s, they released their debut album Sigiya Ngengoma in 1995. Trompies have since sold over half a million records and have become very successful in producing and managing other artists as well through their record label Kalawa Jazmee.

Ecomusicology is an area of study that explores the relationships between music or sound, and the natural environment. It is a study which encompasses a variety of academic disciplines including musicology, biology, ecology and anthropology. Ecomusicology combines these disciplines to explore how sound is produced by natural environments and, more broadly how cultural values and concerns about nature are expressed through sonic mediums. Ecomusicology explores the ways that music is composed to replicate natural imagery, as well as how sounds produced within the natural environment are used within musical composition. Ecological studies of sounds produced by animals within their habitat are also considered to be part of the field of ecomusicology. In the 21st century, studies within the field the ecomusicology have also become increasingly interested in the sustainability of music production and performance.

Bop TV was a television station owned by the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation, which operated from 1983 to 2003. Initially a part of the black homeland of Bophuthatswana, the channel found its foothold by means of signal overspill, becoming an attractive alternative to the existing SABC and later M-Net channels. Following the end of Apartheid it was integrated to the South African Broadcasting Corporation, after which it shut down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spinning (motorsport)</span> South African motorsport

Spinning is a South African motorsport that involves driving cars at speed in circles and performing stunts in and out of the car. It originated in Soweto in the late 1980s, and was performed as a funeral ritual in which a car was spun around to honor the deceased. It is now a recognized motorsport.

Ratchet feminism emerged in the United States from hip hop culture in the early 2000s, largely as a critique of, and a response to, respectability politics. It is distinct from black feminism, womanism, and hip hop feminism. Ratchet feminism coopts the derogatory term (ratchet). Other terms used to describe this concept include ratchet womanism as used by Georgia Tech professor Joycelyn Wilson or ratchet radicalism used by Rutgers professor Brittney Cooper. Ratchet is an identity embraced by many millennials and Gen Z black women and girls. The idea of ratchetness as empowering, or of ratchet feminism, has been articulated by artists and celebrities like Nicki Minaj, City Girls, Amber Rose, and Junglepussy, scholars like Brittney Cooper and Mikki Kendall, and through events like Amber Rose's SlutWalk. Many view ratchet feminism as a form of female empowerment that doesn't adhere to respectability politics.

Marvin Ramalepe, widely known as DJ Spoko was a South African record producer and DJ. He gained fame for co-producing DJ Mujava's, "Township Funk" as well as his pioneering work in bacardi house.

References

  1. "Gavin Steingo Professor of Music". Princeton University Department of Music. Princeton University. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  2. Steingo, Gavin (June 2016). Kwaito's Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 320. ISBN   9780226362540.
  3. "Alan Merriam Prize". Society for Ethnomusicology. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  4. Steingo, Gavin (April 2024). Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music beyond Humanity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 256. ISBN   9780226831367.
  5. Steingo, Gavin (June 2016). Kwaito's Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 320. ISBN   9780226362540.
  6. Steingo, Gavin (April 2019). Remapping Sound Studies. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. p. 296. ISBN   9781478000464.
  7. Steingo, Gavin (April 2024). Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music beyond Humanity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 256. ISBN   9780226831367.2024
  8. "Oxford University Press". Critical Conjunctures in Music and Sound. Oxford University Press. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  9. "Editorial Board". Analytical Approaches to African Music. International Foundation for the Theory and Analysis of World Musics. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  10. "The Animal Song Collective". The Animal Song Collective.
  11. Clark, Emily Hansell (April 1, 2018). "Steingo, Gavin. 2016. Kwaito's Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press". Current Musicology (102). doi:10.7916/cm.v0i102.5376 . Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  12. "Getty Announces 2024/2025 Scholars". Getty. Getty. Retrieved December 8, 2024.