Ear on the sphere

While most people work it to the beat of top 40 pop, it might
appear that international music has fallen off of the college music
scene. Two graduate students are leading the fight to keep kids
from the typical radio fodder.

Starting last quarter, UCLA’s radio station KLA began
hosting an hour and a half program titled “Sounds from the
Vaults of the Ethnomusicology Archive.” The Internet radio
show, which airs every Wednesday from 1 to 2:30 p.m., can be heard
on www.uclaradio.com.

“We feel that the radio show is a great way of providing
people with access to archive material,” said John Vallier,
founder of the program and archivist for the UCLA Ethnomusicology
Archive. Vallier has a masters in ethnomusicology and is currently
an information studies graduate student.

Along with Jesse Wheeler (aka DJ Mwána Comète), a
current Ph.D. student in UCLA’s ethnomusicology department,
the two men DJ a gamut of music that includes both commercial and
non-commercial recordings.

“UCLA is a very multicultural campus, and we feel it is
important to have these songs being played,” Vallier
said.

The tracks featured on the show include releases from Nigerian
reggae to Korean pop to field recordings by some of UCLA’s
world-renowned ethnomusicology professors. While a majority of the
music played can be found in the archives, Vallier and Wheeler also
bring in songs from their personal collections and take requests
from listeners. After every show, a playlist is written out and
posted on the archive Web site for interested students to
browse.

Vallier intends to take ethnomusicology out of the classroom and
place it in a more applied atmosphere.

“Academia tends to focus mainly on theory, while this
gives listeners the opportunity to just relax and listen to the
music,” said Vallier.

Vallier, who began his musical career as a drummer, became
interested in other cultures and non-western rhythm after spending
a year in Guatemala when he was 10. He currently hosts an open
house for the public at the archive every Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday from 4:20 to 5:20 p.m.

The fledgling radio show has already encountered a few
problems.

Even though the archive hosts a huge sprawl of cultural
recordings, not all the material is able to make the airwaves.
Certain mediums, such as reel-to-reel tapes, can not be broadcast
over the Internet due to the lack of necessary audio equipment. The
fact that the show is broadcast over the Internet has also caused
Vallier and Wheeler to become concerned with piracy. But their
motivations are enough to keep them going as they work out the
kinks.

“The goal is to not only provide the public with access to
this material, but to also help preserve and protect the
music,” Vallier said.

So far, the two have not made a large effort to push the
program, and the few flyers they have handed out have yet to garner
a large following. Rather than concerning themselves with ratings,
both Vallier and Wheeler are just trying to have some fun and
affect anyone who cares enough to listen.

“I know the program will have succeeded if people become
interested in non-western music,” Vallier said.