Asian Studies Seminar Series: Alexander Murphy In brief Date - 25 September 2024Venue - Project Room 1.06, 50 George SquareSpeaker - Dr Alexander Murphy (Clark University)Title - Echo-locations: Toward a Sonic Aesthetics of Japanese Karaoke About the eventSince its advent in Japan in the early 1970s, karaoke has become a global phenomenon that has attracted a wealth of scholarly interest. Strangely, however, little attention has been paid to the actual sounds of karaoke performance, particularly those produced by one of its most characteristic (and seemingly ineluctable) features: the liberal use ofecho and reverb.As a corrective, this talk draws on karaoke's unique material and discursive history in Japan in order to theorize a sonic aesthetics of karaoke performance in our contemporary moment. In so doing, it argues that the use of echo and reverb constitutes a mode of "oceanic voice," where the resonant space of the karaoke room becomes a site for accessing an array of identities that exist both within and beyond the body of the singer.About the speakerAlexander Murphy is an Assistant Professor at Clark University and 2024-25 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University. His research centres on the relationship between sound, language, and the body in modern Japanese literature and media. He is interested to how aurality enlivens subject formation and social life in transmedial and border-crossing practice, and how the study of voice and sound can be brought to bear on matters of personhood and mobility.His current book project, What the Ear Sees, explores the cultural politics of the voice in interwar Japan at the crossroads of poetics, acoustics, and musical performance.How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required, simply turn up on the day.Are you interested in studying with us?We are the only university in Scotland to offer full undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in both Chinese and Japanese, as well as postgraduate programmes in Korean Studies and East Asian Relations. Find out more about Asian Studies at Edinburgh Sep 25 2024 16.00 - 18.00 Asian Studies Seminar Series: Alexander Murphy An in-person seminar by Dr Alexander Murphy (Clark University) examining the distinct sounds of karaoke performances in Japan such as echo and reverb as turning the karaoke room into a site to access identities. Project Room 1.06 50 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square
Asian Studies Seminar Series: Alexander Murphy In brief Date - 25 September 2024Venue - Project Room 1.06, 50 George SquareSpeaker - Dr Alexander Murphy (Clark University)Title - Echo-locations: Toward a Sonic Aesthetics of Japanese Karaoke About the eventSince its advent in Japan in the early 1970s, karaoke has become a global phenomenon that has attracted a wealth of scholarly interest. Strangely, however, little attention has been paid to the actual sounds of karaoke performance, particularly those produced by one of its most characteristic (and seemingly ineluctable) features: the liberal use ofecho and reverb.As a corrective, this talk draws on karaoke's unique material and discursive history in Japan in order to theorize a sonic aesthetics of karaoke performance in our contemporary moment. In so doing, it argues that the use of echo and reverb constitutes a mode of "oceanic voice," where the resonant space of the karaoke room becomes a site for accessing an array of identities that exist both within and beyond the body of the singer.About the speakerAlexander Murphy is an Assistant Professor at Clark University and 2024-25 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University. His research centres on the relationship between sound, language, and the body in modern Japanese literature and media. He is interested to how aurality enlivens subject formation and social life in transmedial and border-crossing practice, and how the study of voice and sound can be brought to bear on matters of personhood and mobility.His current book project, What the Ear Sees, explores the cultural politics of the voice in interwar Japan at the crossroads of poetics, acoustics, and musical performance.How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required, simply turn up on the day.Are you interested in studying with us?We are the only university in Scotland to offer full undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in both Chinese and Japanese, as well as postgraduate programmes in Korean Studies and East Asian Relations. Find out more about Asian Studies at Edinburgh Sep 25 2024 16.00 - 18.00 Asian Studies Seminar Series: Alexander Murphy An in-person seminar by Dr Alexander Murphy (Clark University) examining the distinct sounds of karaoke performances in Japan such as echo and reverb as turning the karaoke room into a site to access identities. Project Room 1.06 50 George Square University of Edinburgh EH8 9LH Find the venue: 50 George Square
Sep 25 2024 16.00 - 18.00 Asian Studies Seminar Series: Alexander Murphy An in-person seminar by Dr Alexander Murphy (Clark University) examining the distinct sounds of karaoke performances in Japan such as echo and reverb as turning the karaoke room into a site to access identities.
