Waiata-inspired song-writing with Kurdish folk music tradition and Hollywood film scoring as artistic habitus in a multicultural, Western Sydney narrative

Abstract

A culture lives and breathes within its arts—as such, there is a pressing necessity to maintain and support cultural arts for future posterity. Within musical composition, cross-pollination across cultures can actively circumvent marginalising certain cultural groups by creating a new hybrid ground of intercultural creativity that platforms and celebrates culture. Via creative, intercultural work produced through a framework of practice-based and practice-led creative research, this project has pursued musical composition as a means of communication, socio-political activism, and originality within a multicultural Western Sydney narrative. Ultimately, this project asked: in a creative compositional practice that seeks to blend and merge cultures and traditions, is there cultural and personal voice authenticity in Māori Waiata-inspired musical creative work that crosses Western Sydney diaspora (Māori and Kurdish) and Hollywood post-romanticism cultural borders as an expression of identity and originality? As such, through an EP album for small instrumental and vocal forces related to Māori waiata, Kurdish folk music tradition, Egyptian improvisatory singing, alto voice and Hollywood film scoring techniques, this project sought to develop a model of artistry that forges new hybrid ground within intercultural creative practice via demonstrating deep-level respect for culture. By taking marginalised communities such as Māori, Kurdish and Egyptian Diasporas and entering them into mainstream musical cultures—specifically, Hollywood post-romanticism and indie popular music—this project has contributed to narratives of inclusion and visibility within Western Sydney. By building such narratives of creative interaction and inclusion, intercultural creativity can promote cultural fusion and encourage widespread creative expression of cultural unity and identity.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Bruce Crossman (Supervisor)