A portrait of Chris McGuiness

5 “Haven’t I heard that before?” Chris McGuinness discussing authorship in music production

A charismatic voice featured in several pop songs, its singer unknown – or is he? In this Zethnopod episode ethnomusicologist Chris McGuinness traces a vocal snippet back to the sample library it was initially recorded for and follows the mysterious voice all the way to a village in Punjab, India. Thereby, he speaks about differing understandings of authorship in music production, global power dynamics and deceased voices having “their say” in music creation today.


Tracklist

  • Zero G - Deepest India (1997)
  • Tweet - "Call Me" (2002)
  • Missy Eliot - "Get Ur Freak On" (2001)
  • Ott - "Splitting an Atom" (2003)
  • M.I.A. - "Come Around" (2007)
  • Anastacia - "Sick and Tired" (2004)
  • Linda Solomon - "Mbube" (1939)
  • Gregory Coleman - "Amen Break" (1969)

Biography

Chris McGuinness is a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at the CUNY Graduate Center. He has authored publications on protest music in India, electronic music production in Mumbai, and sample libraries. Chris currently teaches anthropology courses at Universität Zürich and Universität Luzern. He received a B.S. in mathematics from The City College of New York and taught music at The City College of New York and Brooklyn College. Chris is a music producer and audio engineer: https://chrismcguinness.com.

References

  • Manuel, P. (1993). Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India. University of Chicago Press.
  • Stanyek, J. & Piekut, B. (2010). Deadness: Technologies of the Intermundane. The Drama Review, 54(1), 14–38. https://doi.org/10.1162/dram.2010.54.1.14
  • Seeger, A. (2004). Why Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People. University of Illinois Press.