Ethics and compositional responsibility behind the use of colonial phonograph recordings
A personal approach to Konrad Th. Preuss’ 1914 recordings from the Kággaba in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
This artistic research explores the confluence of contemporary music composition, free improvisation, fine arts, indigenous sound ontologies, and decolonial processes. The research comprises three main components: the Kággaba’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 these 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 Kággaba community in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This encounter was marked by the Kággabas’ cryptic responses, inventive narratives, and their unwillingness to divulge their sacred knowledge, as well as their resistance against colonial influences.
The objectives of this research include developing a personal ethical protocol for handling Preuss’s audio recordings, which involves consultations with the Kággaba community. The artistic outcomes consist of composing a series of electroacoustic works, organizing performances, creating installations, and holding listening sessions within the Kággaba community to encourage mutual cultural exchange and feedback. These sessions aim to build trust and respect, with a particular emphasis on aligning with the Kággaba’s cultural practice of pagamento, which is based on the principle of compensation, where exchange implies a three-way obligation to give, receive, and return.
Christian Rosales Fonseca 