Christian Rosales Fonseca
Ethics and compositional responsibility behind the use of colonial phonographs recordings
A personal approach to Konrad Th. Preuss’ 1914 recordings from the Kágaba in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
This artistic research explores the confluence of contemporary music composition, free improvisation, indigenous sound ontologies, and decolonial processes. The research comprises three main components: the Kágaba’s practice of pagamento, the phonograph recordings made by Konrad Th. Preuss's in 1914 in the Sierra Nevada, and my decolonial approach to the ethic’s question in making use of this recordings.
The historical context during the early 20th century in German anthropology, marked by museum involvement and imperial policies, forms the background of this research. Driven by the pursuit of ethnographic objects and academic rivalries, Konrad Th. Preuss (1869-1938), an ethnologist and curator of the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde (KMfV) in Germany, embarked on an expedition to Colombia in 1913. Between November 1914 and April 1915, Preuss came into contact with the Kágaba community in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. These encounters were marked by the Kágabas' cryptic responses, inventive narratives, and their unwillingness to divulge their sacred knowledge, as well as their resistance against colonial influences.
This research's objectives involve crafting a personal ethical protocol for handling Preuss's audio recordings, incorporating consultations with relevant stakeholders, rights determination, community control, and the selection of appropriate storage locations. The artistic outcome includes the composition of a series of electroacoustic works and the organization of listening sessions within the Kogui community, fostering mutual cultural exchange and feedback. These sessions aim to build trust and respect, with a focus on aligning with the Kogui's cultural practice of pagamento.