Women Musicians from Syria:
Performance, Networks, Belonging/s after Migration
A research project at MMRC, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Project report:
This research project followed the lives and music of women musicians from Syria, focusing on selected women who migrated to Austria and Germany after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war and continued their musical work after migration. By exploring the networks, opportunities, and performances of these musicians through interviews and participant observation, the research documented their biographies and (musical) activities in their life after migration. The project shows which belonging/s – on an emotional and institutionalised level – are relevant in the lives and music of the women musicians. Is it more important to the musicians to be Syrian, migrants/refugees, women or mothers, or is it more important to be Muslim, of a certain age, musicians, artists, or an Alawite? How do these aspects depend on, and influence each other? How do feelings and politics of belonging change in different situations and over time, particularly after migration? How does being classified as ‘refugee’ or ‘Syrian’ by others influence the feeling of (non-)belonging? And most importantly: which aspects of belonging are present and presented in music, and how are they performed and communicated through music? How did this change with migration?
Placing the individuals and their experiences at the centre of the research, we were able to analytically engage with the multitude of possible belonging/s, effectively dismissing the widespread notion of a coherent Syrian diasporic group. Belonging is understood as a process, as changeable, and as interdependent to other belongings. This is particularly apparent within musical performances and musical life. Belonging can range from musical networks to family relations, to religious communities, to nationality, or to an externally asserted group such as ‘migrants’, and may also take structural categories like gender and class into account. Primarily working together with four musicians, the research shows that belonging that becomes relevant and is performed in music and beyond strongly depends both on different associations of belonging and on the context and intention to present certain belongings.
As a significant part of fieldwork coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, this research also provides valuable data on how migrated musicians navigated the specific challenges like social distancing and the temporary closure of performances spaces.
During the project, we were able to expand the focus in two directions. First, we undertook an ethnographic case study of a specific concert series that invited ethnically marked female musicians to perform in a classical concert hall, featuring one singer we had been working with closely. Second, we conducted a preliminary study on explicitly queer musicians from Syria, addressing a research gap that emerged during the early stages of our research.
Project lead: Anja Brunner
Project members: Tessa Balser-Schuhmann (2020–2024), María del Mar Ocaña Guzmán (2023–2024)
Project duration: 01/2020 to 12/2024, at MMRC since 04/2021 (previously at the University of Vienna)
Funding: The Austrian Science Fund FWF
Elise Richter Program Grant-DOI 10.55776/V706
Project website: https://anjabrunner.at/