Sonic Ethnographies and the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. A Restitution Project

Cooperating countries: Ethiopia and Austria

Coordinating institution: University of Innsbruck, Giovanni Chiriaco, Giovanni.chiriaco@uibk.ac.at

Partner institution: Bahir Dar University

Project duration: 1 May 2022 - 30 April 2024

Abstract:

The project aims to investigate the role of music and songs in shaping and chronicle cultural encounters within the context of the second Italo-Ethiopian war, here intended as a period of five years including both the invasion of Ethiopia and its military occupation.

As part of the fascist project of occupation, the Italian military and political leaders as well as scholars and civilians based in Ethiopia showed interest in Ethiopian culture, and specifically in local music. Like many aspects of the violent occupation, the interest was twofold. On the one hand, Italians understood that music was a form of expression that escaped their control, therefore they persecuted and killed many azmari and other musicians, in particular in 1937, as part of the infamous reprisal. On the other hand, both musical instruments and sounds were collected. In particular, sound records in the form of 78rpm vinyls were produced, both intended for institutional archive in Italy and for commercial distribution. As a result, a significant archive of records as well as an official monography on Ethiopian music in Italian were published within a short period of time.

The project aims to deeply analyze the sound collections and the published book in order to: 1) reconstruct both the historical and cultural background in which the collections emerged; 2) compare the material with later features of cultural production; 3) develop a project of restitution of the collections that can make it relevant for contemporary local communities.