proposal

                                                                       
                                                                              Proposal

         For my fieldwork project I would like to explore the multiculturally diverse busking community and scene in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. There are many different avenues to go down while exploring downtown Asheville and one never knows what solo act or jam session that they might come across and if it would be a waste of their time or actually worth it. I plan to explore as much of downtown as I possibly can and analyze the diaspora, the type of people, and the various specific reasons they choose to busk in downtown Asheville. Exploring questions such as: Why do you busk in the first place? What brought you to the city of Asheville, North Carolina? What is your absolute favorite part of the city to busk? What has deemed you a successful busker and what has not?  What type of music and what instruments to you usually play and use when you busk? Is there a city ordinance that limits busking? etc. The list of questions can continue for quite some time. I also would like to explore the attitudes of city officials and if they have an issue with the busking scene and if so, what is it.  

         For the best results, capturing film and recording audio would be the best mediums to get the most of what this project entails but due to limited resources, I will most likely have to rely on taking field notes and remembering the gist of what people say. This has the tendency to be very difficult due to the possibility of missing important things and never retrieving them, but sometimes one misses things that they wish they didn’t. Due to the insanity of my schedule (it’s my last semester of college) it will be a genuine struggle to find time to do this project properly. Being a history major I am constantly research in various archives on campus and off and I barely have time for anything else. Even Saturdays during the day (typically from 1-4PM) I am doing research. So, the only feasible times that I can get downtown are Saturday evenings and I will have to rely on the bus for all transportation unless I can possibly find a ride that is willing to work with my insane schedule.

         As the coordinator of all student film and video relations at Warren Wilson College, I would be the first person to include a supplemental short film as part of this project. The only problem is the lack of resources and individuals with the appropriate equipment on this campus. I’ve already contacted a local filmmaker but she unfortunately is busy until after December. With that, the odds of including a much desired supplemental short film are slim. However, I could try contacting that same filmmaker and see if she knows anybody else that may be able to help me out.        

Allash

       

                                                                      

                                                             Allash

            On Wednesday, October 1^st I was fortunate to have had the amazing rare opportunity to enjoy a live performance at the Isis music hall and Restaurant in West Asheville of famed Tuvan Throat singing from the internationally acclaimed group called Alash. Each musician in the ensemble had won individual prestigious awards and the ensemble had played in every single one of the forty-eight continuous United States. In fact, they had done so much traveling that when they were asked what their favorite place in the United States was, they could not give a concise answer.  The music itself was extremely unique and certainly was not something to be taken for granted.

It’s a given that it must take years of training to master that impeccable skill of singing up to four notes at the same time with your throat. If anything, the intricacies of them doing just that, made me actively pay attention for the entirety of the show. One of the many “icing on the cake” moments was when I actually got the opportunity to meet one of the band members and he relayed to me that he has been training since he was a little boy and has won some of the top awards in Tuvan throat singing. I also thought it was really impressive that this individual from Tuva (a state in Russia) has been to all of the continuous 48 United States. I have been to 37 states, and I thought that was impressive!

As far focusing on their repertoire, I could not help focusing on their impressive dynamic range in all of the tones that they produced and their talents as multi-instrumentalists. It was also intriguing to see both how their instruments differed in their various timbres and sounds depending on the many ways that they chose to play them; For example: if the drummer stroke his drum in different area of the instrument, it made a different sound and thus brought a different “flavor” to the specific piece.  The stringed instruments were similar to the types that we are familiar with in America (banjo, guitar and violin) but with less strings and therefore less options to tune them with. They also brought a specific style of accordion that is specific to the culture of Tuva and one of the members performed a solo number on this particular instrument. I did notice that they did have a traditional acoustic guitar with them, but they definitely focused on using the Tuvan instruments. One other interesting flair that added to the overall status of the gig was that they brought out a local fiddle player to play with them for one number. In my opinion, this both showed how cultured Allash is, and showed the diversity of the talent in the city of Asheville.

As far as the band communicating with their audience, they didn’t.  They had an interpreter/manager that came out explained the culture of the state of Tuva and the context of virtually every number of the eager crowd of about forty people. Some of his explanations were quite humorous and they all were informative in some way. Overall, I felt very lucky to have had experienced a live Allash concert for only $12. That’s much cheaper than a trip to Tuva.