• From Holy War to “Gang War”: Minoritization Through (and Against) Music In Post-Genocide Punjab

Davindar Singh

Across frameworks ranging from cultural sustainability to identity politics, ethnomusicologists frequently study how minoritized groups “give voice” to their aims through musical practices, typically in a liberal politics of representation. Though sympathetic to these aims and frameworks, this paper does the opposite. It examines how majoritarian and minority political organizations concurrently assign a minority population — in whole or part — the purportedly immoral character of its musics, and persecute its musicians. Sikh militants, the victims of a massive genocide and continued extrajudicial killings after the 1984 assassination of India’s prime minister, loom large in Hindu nationalist discourse. Recent massive Punjabi protests against agrarian logistics policy, allegedly the largest street protests in human history, massively swelled the numbers of Sikh militants. Some militants recently transitioned from making traditional martial odes, Dhadi (Nijhawan 2006), to rap and popular song. Some Punjabi popular musicians outside of militant networks also espouse militant sentiments. Beyond Sikh militancy, Punjabi music industries bear connections to both political parties and criminal organizations. This organizational structure, termed “intreccio” in ethnographies of mafia and other criminal-political organizations, is common in India (Michelutti et al. 2019).

Recent Hindu-majoritarian critiques of Sikh Punjabi politics draw the connections of intreccio through specifically Punjabi music. This paper draws on ethnographic data and mass political communications to detail how Hindu majoritarians in office and media organs particularly resort to musical characterizations when attempting to correlate criminality, Sikhism, and “anti-national” terrorism. Sikh politicians concurrently make similar critiques, often targeting the same musicians for censorship or, allegedly, extrajudicial killing. Both sets of actors correlate much contemporary Punjabi music to the 1984 genocide. Hindu majoritarians view these musics as symptomatic of violent Sikh propensities. Sikh politicians portray musics as symptomatic of continued anti-Punjabi conspiracies. As politically oppositional entities attack it, Punjabi popular musics indirectly further political minoritarization.

*Davindar Singh is a Presidential Scholar and PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology with a secondary field in Anthropology at Harvard University. His dissertation project (“Cultures of Cargo: Illicit Patronage, Musical Media, and the Corruption of Punjabi Supply Chains”) examines how people in Punjab, India, have used music since the colonial era to map, create, or combat patronage networks. His ethnographic work maps how the criminalized political economy of such networks connects village tractor and wrestling competitions, Sikh militancy, and the assassination of musicians. Punjabi undocumented emigration to work in American trucking is both a revenue source for these networks, and fuels efforts to escape them. His research has been supported by, among others, Fulbright-Hays, the Mellon Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council. He has served on the Society for Ethnomusicology’s Council and Constitutional Committee, and co-chaired SEM’s Sound Studies Section and Economic Ethnomusicology SIG. He used to be a saxophonist.

 

• Minority Musicking and the Restriction of Public Space: Sonic Color and Class Lines in a Rapidly Diversifying Provincial Germany

Juniper Hill

“I would just go down to the riverside and play music on a park bench and the kids would come – until I got banned in my own town, I got a cease-and-desist letter from the mayor.” So lamented José Sanchez, an Irish fiddler with Puerto Rican heritage and long-time resident of Würzburg, Germany. We explore how José and other post-migrant minority musicians experience sonic policing and how classism and cultural racism affect artists’ access to public space. Since 2020 we have conducted ethnographic research in Würzburg, interviewing 55 musicians and dancers with diverse backgrounds. This conservative Bavarian town has a population of 130,000, of whom over one third are first- or second-generation immigrants from across five continents. Musicking in public spaces is often essential for musicians with migration background to network and establish themselves in their new home. Unfortunately, artists, particularly those who do not pass as white or as European, often experience increased restriction of musicking in public and have difficulty accessing spaces for musicking and dancing. The city often associates music in public with negative behaviors such as littering, begging, drug use, and nuisance and the law on “unacceptable noise” leaves much leeway for (potentially biased) interpretations. Our questionnaire in progress aims to further reveal how diverse cultural expressions are differently curated and controlled in public spaces. In this paper, we explore the intersection of music and minority studies with theories of sonic policing along class lines (Stoever 2016) and color lines (Bijsterveld 2008, 2001; Dommann 2006) as well as European shifts between “biological” and “cultural” racism (Alcoff 2023). Finally, we strategize (and invite feedback on!) how to apply this knowledge to benefit of minority artists by writing policy papers and approaching municipal and state cultural leaders.

*Juniper Hill trained in Ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University and UCLA. Her publications include the film Music of our Neighbors (2025), the edited volume The Oxford Handbook of Music Revival (with Caroline Bithell, OUP 2014), and the monograph Becoming Creative: Insights from Musicians in a Diverse World (OUP 2018), as well as numerous articles and book chapters exploring intercultural dynamics, the transformation of traditional musics, and the development of creativity. On these topics, Juniper has conducted field research in Germany, South Africa, Finland, the US, and Ecuador. She has been awarded fellowships and grants from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Volkswagen Foundation, the European Research Council, and Fulbright, among others. Previous affiliations include the Sibelius Academy, UC Santa Barbara, University College Cork, Cambridge University, and University of Cape Town. She is currently professor and chair of Ethnomusicology at the Institute of Music Research at the University of Würzburg.

 

• Contested Performances of Serbian Minority Folklore and the Newer Political Sensitivities in Croatia

Jelka Vukobratović

The minority folklore scene in Croatia largely operates within a secluded space, confined to specialized festivals and cultural events. Its visibility among the broader public remains minimal, except in instances where political controversies arise—most often in response to performances by the Serbian minority. In such cases, visibility is not gained through cultural appreciation but rather through politicized reactions. Ethnomusicologists studying Serbian minority folklore may find themselves unintentionally drawn into cultural and political conflicts, while at the same time, their efforts to actively promote interethnic reconciliation often go unnoticed or are overshadowed by louder, more aggressive voices. By examining festivals, performances, and institutional frameworks, this paper investigates how the cultural expressions of Serbian minority in Croatia function both as a means of preserving identity and as a “litmus test” for the tolerance and inclusivity of Croatian society in general. Special attention is given to the shifting position of Serbian minority folklore groups in the context of the rising influence of the right-wing extremism uncovering how political climates affect the visibility, reception, and autonomy of minority cultural initiatives. Finally, the paper will tackle question of ethical and methodological responsibilities of ethnomusicologists in post-conflict societies.

*Jelka Vukobratović, PhD is an assistant professor at the Department of Musicology of the Music Academy, University of Zagreb. She graduated flute in 2008 and musicology in 2012. She obtained a PhD from the doctoral school of ethnomusicology at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz in 2020. Her doctoral thesis on the position of local musicians in Križevci area and their role in building local social life during socialism and post-socialism was published by the Croatian Ethnological Society. Her research interests are the role of traditional music and nationalisms, as well as ethnographic approaches to popular music production in Yugoslavia. She was a research associate on the project The Record Industry in Croatia from 1927 to the end of 1950s.