Music Heritage, Migration and Identity

Gardner, Abigail S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2994-741X (2025) Music Heritage, Migration and Identity. In: XXIII IASPM Biennal International conference, Paris (France), July 7 - 11, Sorbonne University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The panel draws on research that uses recorded songs, chosen by the research participants as their ‘Inheritance Tracks’, as a basis for collective listening and a prompt for the sharing of music-related reminiscences (Cohen, Grenier and Jennings, 2022; Cohen, Shaw and Waldock, 2022; Gardner and Hansen, 2024; Cohen, Shaw, Smith and Waldock, forthcoming 2025). This use of “Inheritance Tracks” as a methodological device was devised by media studies scholar Ros Jennings and inspired by a pre-recorded segment of the weekly BBC Radio 4 programme Saturday Live (2006). The segment features a celebrity guest invited to talk about and play excerpts from their two ‘inheritance tracks’: a piece of music—a song or “track” that they have inherited and one that they would like to pass on to others: (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02p8zrg/episodes/downloads). Cohen, Shaw and Waldock used Inheritance Tracks as a prompt for remembering and storytelling when working with groups of older adults at community-based care facilities in the city of Liverpool. Through collaboration with Smith and Liverpool’s Yemeni, Ukrainian and Chilean communities, they subsequently adapted this method for research on music heritage, migration and identity. The main aims of this research, which began during the COVID pandemic, are to generate wellbeing benefits for communities from music-related reminiscence activities that directly strengthen inter-generational ties; enhance the visibility of the communities within the region; and deepen understanding of local cultural diversity and heritage. Running separately but in parallel to this was Gardner’s project ‘Mapping the Music of Migration’ (2019–2021, www.mamumi.eu), which likewise used ‘Inheritance Tracks’ as a methodological devise to investigate storytelling about music and its potential to enable intercultural exchange. The project involved partners from seven European countries and resulted in a collection of migrants’ ‘Song Stories’ – personal stories about music – that were made publicly available through an interactive app.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Subjects:	M Music and Books on Music > M Music
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Arts, Culture and Environment
Depositing User:	Abigail Gardner
Date Deposited:	05 Dec 2025 10:39
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2025 10:45
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/15631

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