Dr Barley Norton BSc (Mus), MMus, PhD
Position held:
Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology
Phone:
+44 (0)20 7919 7642
Email:
b.norton (@gold.ac.uk)
Dr Barley Norton studied music at City University and completed MMus and PhD degrees in ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Prior to joining Goldsmiths in 2008, he was Principal Lecturer in music at Roehampton University, where he was director of the Centre for Interdisiplinary Music Research (CIMR). He has served as a committee member and treasurer for the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (2003-2008) and is currently an external examiner for the undergraduate world music programme at Thames Valley University.
Academic qualifications
BSc (Mus), MMus, PhD
Research interests
Dr Barley Norton is an ethnomusicologist with research interests in the music and culture of Southeast Asia. Since the mid 1990s, he has conducted extensive field research in Vietnam and his book on Vietnamese ritual music and spirit possession titled Songs for the Spirits: Music and Mediums in Modern Vietnam is forthcoming with the University of Illinois Press. Research interests include music and trance, musical learning and creativity, improvisation and modal theory, cultural politics and memory, music and gender, applied ethnomusicology and music revival. Current projects include research on popular music and urban change in Vietnam, and on music and emotion.
He performs Vietnamese ca tru music (www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/music/catru/) on the three-stringed dan day lute and plays gamelan degung and the kacapi zither from West Java. For many years he has performed gamelan degung and kacapi with the gamelan group, Sekar Enggal. His research into Vietnamese music was featured in a 35-minute documentary called “A Westerner Loves Our Music”, which was made by and broadcast on Vietnamese Television (VTV).
Recent publications
Book (In press)
2009. Songs for the Spirits: Music and Mediums in Modern Vietnam. Urbana and
Chicago: Illinois University Press. [DVD included]
Selected Book Chapters and Journal Articles
2008. “Vietnam: Music on the Move” in Simon Broughton, ed. Rough Guide to World Music, Vol. 2, Europe, Asia and the Pacific (Third Edition). London: Rough Guides. [Co-authored with Philip Blackburn; In press]
2006. "‘Effeminate’ Men and ‘Hot-Tempered’ Women: The Performance of Music and
Gender in Vietnamese Mediumship", in Karen Fjelstad and Nguyen Thi Hien
(eds.), Possessed by the Spirits: Mediumship in Contemporary Vietnamese Communities, 55-75. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program.
2005. "Singing the Past: Vietnamese Ca Tru, Memory and Mode", Asian Music, 36(2): 27-56.
2004. "Len Dong Viet Nam: Cau Tao Am Nhac Cua Than Thanh (Vietnamese
Mediumship Rituals: The Musical Construction of the Spirits)", in Ngo Duc
Thinh (ed.), Dao Mau Va Cac Hinh Thuc Shaman Trong Cac Toc Nguoi O Viet Nam Va Chau A (The Mother Religion and Forms of Shamanism among Ethnic Groups in Vietnam and Asia), 310-41. Ha Noi: Nha Xuat Ban Khoa Hoc Xa Hoi.
2002. "The Moon Remembers Uncle Ho: The Politics of Music and Mediumship in Northern Vietnam", British Journal of Ethnomusicology, 11(1): 71-100.
2002. "Introduction: Ritual Music and Communism", British Journal of Ethnomusicology, 11(1): 1-8. [Co-authored with Rachel Harris]
2000. "Vietnamese Mediumship Rituals: The Musical Construction of the Spirits", The World of Music, 42(2): 75-97.
Reviews and CD Sleeve Notes
2008. Review of P’ungmul: South Korean Drumming and Dance by Nathan Hesselink, published by University of Chicago Press. World of Music [In press]
2007 “A review essay of recordings of music from Vietnam”. World of Music 49.1:199-206.
2005. Review of 6 CD Box-Set, “Vietnam – Mother Mountain and Father Sea, an Introduction to the Traditional Music of Vietnam”. White Cliffs Media WCM 9991 (2003)." Ethnomusicology Forum, 14(1): 121-3.
2001. Sleeve Notes for the CD “Ca Tru: The Music of North Vietnam”, Nimbus Records NI 5626.
Journalism
2008 Review of “Fragile Beauty” by Huong Thanh and Nguyen Le. ACT 94512.
Songlines: The World Music Magazine. March, Issue 50:101.
2007 Review of “The Rough Guide to the Music of Vietnam”. RGNET1183CD. Songlines: The World Music Magazine. Sept/Oct Issue 46:67.
2007 “Postcard from Hanoi, Vietnam” Songlines: The World Music Magazine. July/August Issue 45:51.
2007. Review of “Que Huong (Homeland)” Dunya Records FY8107. Songlines: The World Music Magazine. June, Issue 44:75.
2007. Review of “Vietnam: Vocal Music from the Northern Plains” VDE Gallo CD1207. Songlines: The World Music Magazine. January/February, Issue 41:75.
Grants & awards
Research has been funded by grants and scholarships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the British Academy, ASEASUK (Association for Southeast Asian Studies in the UK), the Vietnam Musicology Institute, Roehampton University and the School of Oriental and African Studies. He is currently undertaking a major interdisciplinary research project, funded by the Getty Foundation, which examines contemporary experimental performance culture in Vietnam. In recent years he has acted as a consultant for Ford Foundation and UNESCO-funded projects concerning the teaching and revival of Vietnamese traditional music.