Hidden archives, hidden practices: debates about music-making

Abstract

In the last decades, musical research has expressed a particular attention to relational musical practices undertaken by professional and non-professional performers, with the argument that these are essential for the sustainability of groups and communities. This perspective inscribes music in the time and space of its practices, and underlies a paradigm that rejects its alleged timelessness, that is, the presumption that music is an entity that transcends the experiences of composing, performing, or listening. Performance, in this sense, detaches itself from a faithful textual rendition or from specific social and historical contexts, and creates a space where a musician can become an agent of social and cultural creation.