Risto Pekka PENNANEN | University of the Arts Helsinki (original) (raw)

Books by Risto Pekka PENNANEN

COLLeGIUM: Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2010

Thesis Chapters by Risto Pekka PENNANEN

Westernisation and Modernisation in Greek Popular Music, 1999

Please note that because the file was scanned from a hard copy, the text contains errors, such as... more Please note that because the file was scanned from a hard copy, the text contains errors, such as ni > m.
The chapter was also published in a slightly revised form as 'Οργανολογική εξέλιξη και εκτελεστική πρακτική του ελληνικού μπουζουκιού (μέρος Ά)', Πολυφωνία, τ/χ. 14 (2009), σελ. 38-91 and 'Οργανολογική εξέλιξη και εκτελεστική πρακτική του ελληνικού μπουζουκιού (μέρος ΄Β)', Πολυφωνία, τ/χ. 15 (2009), σελ. 100-138

Papers by Risto Pekka PENNANEN

European Journal of Musicology Vol. 21 No. 1, 2022

Utilising archival documents and the press, this article scrutinises aspects of the connections b... more Utilising archival documents and the press, this article scrutinises aspects of the connections between local government, taxation and domestic music in Prague, 1910–1913; of all the European tax initiatives on musical instruments, the Prague one was the most ambitious and comprehensive. The administration aimed at raising considerable revenues and lessening the disturbance from music by taxing pianos, harmoniums, gramophones and orchestrions in inns and private homes. The initiative included an inventory of musical instruments, after which the officials began drafting the tax law. The press published on the inventory and planned tax measures, and several interest groups from the music and restaurant business submitted appeals to the city’s representative bodies. Some interest groups cooperated and cleverly exploited public opinion, forcing the city fathers to remove the tax from the agenda of the public sitting of the City Assembly. The initiative was doomed in several respects, including its unrealistic schedule, excessive complexity and lack of clarity.

Arti musices 53/2, 2022

The record industry grew rapidly between 1900 and 1914. Although record production was concentrat... more The record industry grew rapidly between 1900 and 1914. Although record production was concentrated in the largest industrialised countries, companies set out to create a global market by recording songs in all major languages. Typically, they sent their engineers on expeditions which took them to major European cities. They made recordings with local artists selected by the company's local representatives. The recording masters were shipped to a factory to be processed, and the fi nished pressings sent back to local retailers. The paper will discuss in detail the activities of the Gramophone Company (UK), which made at least 500 recordings in Zagreb and Osijek between 1902 and 1913. The company had several competitors, including the German Lindström group (Odeon, Beka, Parlophon) and Pathé in France, and their activities will also be considered. The Great War caused a break in recording, but after the war the companies returned.

ARSC Journal , 2016

From 1907 onwards, the Central European recording industry took an interest in marginal marketing... more From 1907 onwards, the Central European recording industry took an interest in marginal marketing areas such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under Austro-Hungarian rule before the Great War (World War I). The Bosnian output of the International Talking Machine Company m.b.H. (ITMC) and its labels Odeon, Jumbo, and Jumbola; Lyrophonwerke G.m.b.H. (label Lyrophon); and Theodor Pichler’s label A.B.C. Grand Record, has not previously been studied. In spite of the lack of detailed primary sources, this article strives to date the recording sessions. Furthermore, the study yields analyses of the recorded repertoire, with an emphasis on the recording artists, and the strategies of crossmarketing the recordings to neighbouring areas. The market life of the recordings is also analysed. The study results in a partial discography.

Muzikologija/Musicology 8 (2008): 127-147.

Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning vol. 87 (2005): 81-99.

Ethnomusicology 48/1 (2004): 1-25.

In Leena Pietilä-Castrén and Marjaana Vesterinen (eds), Grapta Poikila I. Papers and Monographs of the Finnish Institute at Athens 8: 103-30. Athens: Foundation of the Finnish Institute at Athens. 2003.

British Journal of Ethnomusicology 6 (1997): 65-116

World of Music 3 (1994): 49-67.

Anatolia moderna - Yeni anadolu

Asian Music 25/1-2 (1993): 1-7.

Book chapters by Risto Pekka PENNANEN

Eleni Kallimopoulou and Panagiotis Poulos (eds), Popular Music of the Greek World, 2024

The central issues of this article are the process of modernisation and the impact of the guitar ... more The central issues of this article are the process of modernisation and the impact of the guitar on the bouzouki methods and the left-hand technique. By modernisation I refer to a view, according to which Western elements are means of continuing the tradition rather than changing it. Furthermore, I will observe the gradual shift of bouzouki methods from etic to emic approaches.

Catherine Baker (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Popular Music and Politics of the Balkans, 2024

This chapter uses new discographic research to give an overview of the politics of the early reco... more This chapter uses new discographic research to give an overview of the politics of the early recording industry in Bosnia before World War I, when it was under Habsburg rule. Three phonographic companies made commercial recording trips to Bosnia between 1907 and 1912, including DGAG (a subsidiary of the Gramophone Company), ITMC, and Lyrophonwerke. Focusing on the selection of artistes and repertoire, the chapter scrutinizes artistes’ professional status, ethnic background, and gender. The repertoires raise several questions. What were the original performance contexts? Could some recordings be utilized as propaganda for the anti-Habsburg opposition, Greater Serbia, or Habsburg rule? How did the changing political situation affect the records’ repertoire and shelf life? The chapter also examines the competition between record companies, cross-marketing from Bosnia to Serbia and Croatia-Slavonia, and the shift of recording activity away from Bosnia and Bosnian music after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo and the beginning of the war.

COLLeGIUM: Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2010

Westernisation and Modernisation in Greek Popular Music, 1999

Please note that because the file was scanned from a hard copy, the text contains errors, such as... more Please note that because the file was scanned from a hard copy, the text contains errors, such as ni > m.
The chapter was also published in a slightly revised form as 'Οργανολογική εξέλιξη και εκτελεστική πρακτική του ελληνικού μπουζουκιού (μέρος Ά)', Πολυφωνία, τ/χ. 14 (2009), σελ. 38-91 and 'Οργανολογική εξέλιξη και εκτελεστική πρακτική του ελληνικού μπουζουκιού (μέρος ΄Β)', Πολυφωνία, τ/χ. 15 (2009), σελ. 100-138

European Journal of Musicology Vol. 21 No. 1, 2022

Utilising archival documents and the press, this article scrutinises aspects of the connections b... more Utilising archival documents and the press, this article scrutinises aspects of the connections between local government, taxation and domestic music in Prague, 1910–1913; of all the European tax initiatives on musical instruments, the Prague one was the most ambitious and comprehensive. The administration aimed at raising considerable revenues and lessening the disturbance from music by taxing pianos, harmoniums, gramophones and orchestrions in inns and private homes. The initiative included an inventory of musical instruments, after which the officials began drafting the tax law. The press published on the inventory and planned tax measures, and several interest groups from the music and restaurant business submitted appeals to the city’s representative bodies. Some interest groups cooperated and cleverly exploited public opinion, forcing the city fathers to remove the tax from the agenda of the public sitting of the City Assembly. The initiative was doomed in several respects, including its unrealistic schedule, excessive complexity and lack of clarity.

Arti musices 53/2, 2022

The record industry grew rapidly between 1900 and 1914. Although record production was concentrat... more The record industry grew rapidly between 1900 and 1914. Although record production was concentrated in the largest industrialised countries, companies set out to create a global market by recording songs in all major languages. Typically, they sent their engineers on expeditions which took them to major European cities. They made recordings with local artists selected by the company's local representatives. The recording masters were shipped to a factory to be processed, and the fi nished pressings sent back to local retailers. The paper will discuss in detail the activities of the Gramophone Company (UK), which made at least 500 recordings in Zagreb and Osijek between 1902 and 1913. The company had several competitors, including the German Lindström group (Odeon, Beka, Parlophon) and Pathé in France, and their activities will also be considered. The Great War caused a break in recording, but after the war the companies returned.

ARSC Journal , 2016

From 1907 onwards, the Central European recording industry took an interest in marginal marketing... more From 1907 onwards, the Central European recording industry took an interest in marginal marketing areas such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under Austro-Hungarian rule before the Great War (World War I). The Bosnian output of the International Talking Machine Company m.b.H. (ITMC) and its labels Odeon, Jumbo, and Jumbola; Lyrophonwerke G.m.b.H. (label Lyrophon); and Theodor Pichler’s label A.B.C. Grand Record, has not previously been studied. In spite of the lack of detailed primary sources, this article strives to date the recording sessions. Furthermore, the study yields analyses of the recorded repertoire, with an emphasis on the recording artists, and the strategies of crossmarketing the recordings to neighbouring areas. The market life of the recordings is also analysed. The study results in a partial discography.

Muzikologija/Musicology 8 (2008): 127-147.

Svensk tidskrift för musikforskning vol. 87 (2005): 81-99.

Ethnomusicology 48/1 (2004): 1-25.

In Leena Pietilä-Castrén and Marjaana Vesterinen (eds), Grapta Poikila I. Papers and Monographs of the Finnish Institute at Athens 8: 103-30. Athens: Foundation of the Finnish Institute at Athens. 2003.

British Journal of Ethnomusicology 6 (1997): 65-116

World of Music 3 (1994): 49-67.

Anatolia moderna - Yeni anadolu

Asian Music 25/1-2 (1993): 1-7.

Eleni Kallimopoulou and Panagiotis Poulos (eds), Popular Music of the Greek World, 2024

The central issues of this article are the process of modernisation and the impact of the guitar ... more The central issues of this article are the process of modernisation and the impact of the guitar on the bouzouki methods and the left-hand technique. By modernisation I refer to a view, according to which Western elements are means of continuing the tradition rather than changing it. Furthermore, I will observe the gradual shift of bouzouki methods from etic to emic approaches.

Catherine Baker (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Popular Music and Politics of the Balkans, 2024

This chapter uses new discographic research to give an overview of the politics of the early reco... more This chapter uses new discographic research to give an overview of the politics of the early recording industry in Bosnia before World War I, when it was under Habsburg rule. Three phonographic companies made commercial recording trips to Bosnia between 1907 and 1912, including DGAG (a subsidiary of the Gramophone Company), ITMC, and Lyrophonwerke. Focusing on the selection of artistes and repertoire, the chapter scrutinizes artistes’ professional status, ethnic background, and gender. The repertoires raise several questions. What were the original performance contexts? Could some recordings be utilized as propaganda for the anti-Habsburg opposition, Greater Serbia, or Habsburg rule? How did the changing political situation affect the records’ repertoire and shelf life? The chapter also examines the competition between record companies, cross-marketing from Bosnia to Serbia and Croatia-Slavonia, and the shift of recording activity away from Bosnia and Bosnian music after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo and the beginning of the war.

Anja Bunzel and Christopher Campo-Bowen (eds), Apostles of a Brighter Future: Women in Nineteenth-Century Czech Musical Culture, 2024

The history of street music in Central Europe remains a surprisingly little-researched theme—hard... more The history of street music in Central Europe remains a surprisingly little-researched theme—hardly anything has been published on professional buskers. These musicians were usually men, but this chapter concentrates on the careers of Anna Balcarová (b. 1848) with her husband František Balcar (b. 1863), and Marie Steklá (b. 1863) who all worked in the Poděbrady district, but also in the districts of Kolín, Kutná Hora, Nový Bydžov and Mladá Boleslav in Central Bohemia. While actual begging was forbidden, licensed busking constituted a form of social security especially for persons of disability. Buskers and Roma musicians were of the lowest social status and therefore subject to strict authority control. On top of that, concentrating on the often disturbing sound of barrel organs in streets, squares and yards, the public debate on busking tended to be negative. The sources used are music licences and other relevant documents from the State District Archive in Nymburk and texts on organ grinders in the press. The archive material consists of applications, statements, performance licences and examination minutes. The conclusions are that women were not marginal in organ-grinding, and that Anna Balcarová was much more than a simple member of the household. Professional female musicians outside the classical sphere deserve scholarly interest. This viewpoint is instrumental in challenging the canon of the highbrow greats in national music.

Anastasia Belina, Kaarina Kilpiö and Derek B. Scott (eds), Music History and Cosmopolitanism: 133-46. London: Routledge, 2019

Maximizing audiences and earnings in the restaurant music business before the First World War was... more Maximizing audiences and earnings in the restaurant music business before the First World War was a tough challenge in Germany and Austria-Hungary. The chapter analyzes the business strategies of three very different touring music and dance groups which worked in Habsburg Sarajevo. In essence, strategies had to negotiate what we may term ‘cosmopolitanism’. The underlying reason for this was the great diversity of audience and repertoire. The analyzed bands are the Viennese ladies’ orchestra (Wiener Damenkapelle) Portugal; the South Slavic folk costume band (Trachtenkapelle) Graničar of long-necked tamburica lutes; and the Serbian Roma band of the folk violin virtuoso and singer Andolija. The business strategies, repertoires, performing venues, audiences and sources of income of the groups differed to varying extent from each other.

Musik und Professionalität/Music and Professionalism. Lied und populäre Kultur/Song and Popular Culture: Jahrbuch des Zentrums für Populäre Kultur und Musik, 2017

Ian Biddle and Kirsten Gibson (eds), Cultural Histories of Noise, Sound and Listening in Europe, 1300–1918: 152-66., 2016

Owing to their Ottoman past and to contemporary Austro-Hungarian colonial policies, Bosnia and He... more Owing to their Ottoman past and to contemporary Austro-Hungarian colonial policies, Bosnia and Herzegovina were exceptional areas in late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Europe. In particular, their urban soundscapes were a mixture of Ottoman and Central European practices. The colonial administration, from the beginnings of the occupation, did not abandon the traditional Ottoman cannon signals for midday and fire alarms, for instance, while the presence of three main religions in Bosnia – Islam, Serbian Orthodoxy and Catholicism – meant that the spectrum of everyday religious soundmarks was more diversified than elsewhere. Through standardized sets of signals, the colonial authorities provided these religions with a much more pronounced position in the soundscape than elsewhere in the Empire or in the Balkans. Another important component of the Bosnian urban soundscape was, however, common to all Habsburg lands: the sound signals of the imperial festivals and salutes for high-ranking guests. This chapter addresses the hitherto unexplored themes of the use of church bells and the extra-musical sounds of rifle fusillades and cannon signals during religious and imperial holidays and other special occasions in Bosnia as well as their connection with Habsburg colonial policies and international politics. The contemporary Bosnian press forms the main body of sources for this study, but the German-language press of the Empire is also important for comparison and additional information.

In Vesa Kurkela and Markus Mantere (eds), Critical Music Historiography: Probing Canons, Ideologies and Institutions: 107-21. Farnham: Ashgate. 2015.

This chapter offers an alternative viewpoint to the canonised Bosnian-Herzegovinian national mus... more This chapter offers an alternative viewpoint to the canonised Bosnian-Herzegovinian national music history, and reveals how multi-voiced the musical reality of Sarajevo was only six months before the First World War. The current, distorted image of the musical past, is a result of Bosnian scholars’ neglect of certain musical idioms, which they have considered colonial and lowbrow or morally, aesthetically or otherwise improper. Furthermore, the postcolonial marginalisation of Central European non-Slavic musicians and most musical genres, which they performed, is a striking characteristic of the canon formation. However, Bosnian musical historiography on the Austro-Hungarian period can be rewritten from new viewpoints, taking into account issues such as gender and transnationalism, and scrutinising heretofore ignored sources, especially music licences at the Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Arhiv Bosne i Hercegovine) in Sarajevo and commercial recordings.

In Jürgen Elsner, Gisa Jähnichen and Jasmina Talam (eds), Maqām: Historical Traces and Present Practice in Southern European Music Traditions: 76-93. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2014.

Beginning with the first recordings in 1907, the history of improvised instrumental taksims and t... more Beginning with the first recordings in 1907, the history of improvised instrumental taksims and their vocal counterparts in flowing rhythm in Bosnia-Herzegovina is preserved on commercial recordings. However, today, most Bosnian musicians do not use the term ‘taksim’; instead, they speak about improvisation (improvizacija).
The theoretical background of this paper comprises the processes of Westernisation, modernisation and Orientalisation. Westernisation in particular decreased the occurrence of modal improvisation in Bosnian music, both live and on record, during the twentieth century. Therefore, the modal and improvised character of certain taksims seems dubious; such Orientalist taksim-like introductions aim at representing the Orient through Western musical devices. On the other hand, the blooming of the Bosniak cultural nationalism especially after the Bosnian War in 1995 contributed to the trend of (re-)Orientalisation and the increase of improvised taksims in Bosnian popular music.
In Bosnia, as everywhere in the Balkans, recording technology has caused a transition from the traditional primarily memory-based transmission of performance practice to the modern one, which is secondarily memory-based. By and large, the trend in Bosnian modal improvisations has pointed away from Ottoman makams towards their Balkan popular forms. The exceptions are taksims by musicians from Turkey and sometimes Iran, guesting on Bosnian recording sessions and concerts, and contemporary Bosnian Quranic recitators or hafizi.
The analysed examples include Ottoman makam pieces, Bosnian urban traditional sevdalinka songs and pieces in various styles of Bosnian popular music and Islamic traditional and popular songs.

Risto Pekka Pennanen, Panagiotis C. Poulos and Aspasia Theodosiou (eds), Ottoman Intimacies, Balkan Musical Realities: 31-50. Helsinki: The Finnish Institute at Athens. 2013.

This article focuses on two main themes, namely the use of Ottoman music in Austro-Hungarian colo... more This article focuses on two main themes, namely the use of Ottoman music in Austro-Hungarian colonial policies in the Habsburg-occupied Ottoman provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the one hand and the anti-Habsburg exploitation of such music in the twin provinces on the other. More precisely, this article analyzes various ceremonial events which the colonial administration attached to Islamic religious rituals and holidays, and the occasions – usually evenings of music and drama – which enabled the anti-Habsburg opposition to use Ottoman music as a political symbol. As we will see, the most powerful musical symbol of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II (reign 1876–1909) was his imperial march Hamidiye marşı, the cultural and political utilization of which I will analyse in detail.

In M. Schramm (ed.), Militärmusik zwischen Nutzen und Missbrauch. Militärmusik im Diskurs, Band 6: 17-25. Bonn: Militärmusikdienst der Bundeswehr. 2011.

In Risto Pekka Pennanen (ed.), Music and Emotions. COLLeGIUM: Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences vol. 9: 76-90. Helsinki: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. 2010. , 2010

In Pekka Gronow and Christiane Hofer (eds), The Lindström Project. Contributions to the History of the Record Industry – Beiträge zur Geschichte der Schallplattenindustrie vol. 2: 83-7. Vienna: Gesellschaft für historische Tonträger. 2010.

Božidar Jezernik et al. (eds), Europe and Its Other: Notes on the Balkans, 107-148. Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta. , 2007

In this present article I will explore the ways in which archive documents and discographical mat... more In this present article I will explore the ways in which archive documents and discographical material can be used
as sources in the study of music history – in this case the history of urbanised folk music in Bosnia-Herzegovina. For some reason, this approach is relatively rare in musicology although it can produce interesting results. On the other hand, discographical research rarely succeeds in uncovering data on early recording artists outside the realm of Western classical music.
I will, firstly, concentrate on the repertoire of the Gramophone Company’s Sarajevo recording sessions of 1907 and1908, and the recordings made in the neighbouring South Slavic areas and the marketing of the discs both before and after the First World War. Secondly, I will consider the musicians who made the recordings. Some of them were celebrated across the borders in the northern South Slavic lands before the First World War but nowadays they are almost completely forgotten.

European History Quarterly, 2017