Listening to the music of the landscape, with Professor Angela Impey

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In this episode, we step into the world of ethnomusicology with Angela Impey. Angela is a researcher, author, and senior lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where she explores the links between music, culture, and social change.

Angela shares her experiences during apartheid in South Africa, where music became a powerful form of political expression, along with stories from several ethnomusicology projects across the African continent. She explains how performance-based knowledge systems are important in addressing global challenges like the climate crisis, and what constitutes “proper knowledge”.  We discuss how we can bridge between mainstream paradigms and other, but no less valid, frameworks of understanding our surroundings.

Songs around the world hold histories, clues, concepts, connections, and characters that have been not listened to, not heard, by so many. You surely won’t listen to your surroundings the same way after hearing from Angela. I hope you enjoy this invitation into the world of ethnomusicology with Professor Angela Impey.

Mentioned in the article episode:
- Merlyn Driver and his curlew project
- Musician Jeremy Dutcher
- Angela’s book Song Walking: Women, Music, and Environmental Justice in an African Borderland
- Scholar Donna Haraway
- Acacia karroo tree
- Chinspot batis bird

Connect:
- Angela Impey’s work
- Rebeka Instagram
- The Heart Gallery Instagram

Credits:
Jonathan Raz for podcast editing, Cosmo Sheldrake for use of his song Pelicans We, podcast art by me, Rebeka Ryvola de Kremer.