Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment by Mark Pedelty (review)

Abstract

ETHNOMUSICOLOGY Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and Environment. By Mark Pedelty. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012. [xi, 229 p. ISBN 9781439907122. $29.95.] Illustrations, bibliography, index.Over past decade, musicologists and ethnomusicologists have become increas- ingly interested in ecomusicology, a mode of inquiry that Aaron S. Allen has described as the study of music, culture, and nature in all complexities of those terms (Ecomusicology, in The New Grove Dictio- nary of American Music, 2d ed., [New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming]; http://www.ecomusicology .info, accessed 20 September 2013). Interest groups devoted to development and re- finement of ecomusicological methods are currently recognized by American Musicological Society and Society for Ethnomusicology, and, in 2011, Journal of American Musicological Society pub- lished a series of essays by several noted ecomusicologists that outlined need for musicological methods that engage with ecological crises, articulated ecomusicol- ogy's relationship to existing musicological preoccupations regarding connections between music and natural world, and reflected upon ethical implications of ecocritical research in music (Colloquy: Ecomusicology, Journal of American Mu- sicological Society 64, no. 2 [Summer 2011]: 391-424). Using a rich combination of tex- tual analysis and ethnographic participant- observation, anthropologist Mark Pedelty's recent book, Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and Environment, extends current ecomusico- logical discourse through a careful consid- eration of ecological impacts of rock and folk production and consumption and challenges readers to engage in what Alexander Rehding has described as awareness-raising, praxis (in Marxian sense), and activism (Ecomusicology be- tween Apocalypse and Nostalgia, Journal of American Musicological Society 64, no. 2 [Summer 2011]: 410). Whereas much eco- musicological scholarship has, to date, fo- cused primarily on specific musical texts, Pedelty works to broaden term ecomu- sicology from its current use-describing specific modes of critical inquiry-and to transform it into a way of life, arguing that we should add sustainability to long list of musical values and expectations (p. 202). Through a series of case studies, he interrogates ways in which music making-and rock and folk music in particular-have been mobilized for greater ecological good or contributed to environmental degradation. Furthermore, he offers some general advice to assist com- munities in creating more sustainable modes of music making and to build local communities. Although book occasion- ally mobilizes utopian rhetoric, Pedelty is quick to observe that music's [ability] to play some role in fostering environmental sustainability, biodiversity, and human well- being (p. 202) is complicated by inevitable negative environmental impacts, vary- ing levels of engagement of audience mem- bers, and skill level and professional ambitions of musicians themselves.Pedelty opens book with a detailed exploration of environmental impacts of contemporary rock touring practices and organizations that are working to miti- gate negative consequences of global touring. Using U2's 2009-11 360° Tour (which required hundreds of trucks, as well as ships and airplanes, to transport equip- ment and personnel) and Al Gore's anti- climate-change Live Earth concerts as ex- amples, he demonstrates that, regardless of socially-oriented rhetoric of concert organizers and musicians, touring con- tributes to climate change, unsustainable land use practices, and localized pollution. Criticizing carbon offset programs used to counteract emissions of tour buses and trucks and drawing attention to contradic- tions between pro-environmental rhetoric of many national and international rock and pop stars and their lifestyles, he notes that 'eco-friendly' rock is still about celebrity and spectacle, massive apparatuses and media designed to project individual personas onto giant stages for large audi- ences to enjoy (p. …