An Embodied Musicology: Social, Political and Aesthetic Aspects and Implications of the Experience of Reggae Music in Areas of Indonesia and Thailand

Abstract

Some areas within the ASEAN region, specifically in Indonesia and Thailand, have thriving and multifaceted musical cultures based on reggae music and Rasta culture. While this adoption of a musical style originally from the Caribbean and with no immediately obvious links to the nations of the ASEAN region may seem surprising on its face, interviews with performers, a contextual analysis of their performances, and an examination of their contingent lifestyle and philosophy reveals significant synergies between the originators and ASEAN adherents of reggae music. Significantly, many ASEAN musicians who engage with reggae are not simply reproducing the ‘parent’ music as a simulacrum in a trite, formulaic manner, but are instead creating a sophisticated and embodied musicological critique with cultural relevance. The resulting music transcends the local and has global significance