Synästhesie ist ein bemerkenswertes Phänomen: Es vereint Wissenschaftler, Künstler, Fachleute und Laien sowie verschiedene Forschungsfelder wie Neurowissenschaften, Psychologie, Musikwissenschaft, Kunstgeschichte, Philosophie und ...

Synästhesie ist ein bemerkenswertes Phänomen: Es vereint Wissenschaftler, Künstler, Fachleute und Laien sowie verschiedene Forschungsfelder wie Neurowissenschaften, Psychologie, Musikwissenschaft, Kunstgeschichte, Philosophie und ...

This book is a collection of interviews with scientists and artists who explore synaesthesia. We asked similar questions to each of them: e.g., How can synaesthesia be defined? Is it inborn? Are synaesthetes special?

This week the #DataCreativities project team from the University of Melbourne presented a new model for visual data analysis - thanks to @kateycoleman @MDAP_Unimelb @MelbCSHE @fitzyjane @SpreadboroughKL @mazinbriz #Figshare

For over a century, flamenco has been closely associated with productions of Carmen around the world. Bizet’s gypsy protagonist is often depicted as a flamenco performer while it has become commonplace to perceive aspects of flamenco in Bizet’s score. Yet this nexus only developed gradually during the first three decades of the opera’s existence. Bizet was largely unfamiliar with flamenco and composed Carmen while flamenco as we recognise it today was still coalescing in Spain, especially in the flamenco-orientated cafés cantantes of Seville and Madrid. During the Belle Époque the rise of flamenco and its global recognition occurred almost in tandem with Carmen’s establishment in the international operatic repertory. French and Spanish opera singers of this period, from Emma Calvé to Elena Fons and Maria Gay, sought hispanic authenticity for their Carmens by drawing on the Spanish entertainment cultures of Seville, Granada and even Barcelona. The tripartite structure of this chapter employs the conceit of offering different perspectives on the intersection of Carmen and flamenco in the Belle Époque loosely framed around the basic elements of the artform: toque y palos, baile and cante.

The biola (violin) is an emblematic musical instrument of the Cocos Malay community, who have been based on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands – part of Australia’s Indian Ocean Territories – since 1826. In Cocos Malay culture, the biola accompanies local dance genres and occasional performances of bangsawan theatre. Malay melodies constitute the bulk of the repertoire; there are also melodies exhibiting Scottish characteristics. The latter are often attributed to the influence of the Clunies-Ross family, who maintained a commanding presence on the islands from 1827 to 1978. Since the mid-twentieth century, biola playing has been the preserve of two families on the islands and in Western Australia. The practice has declined over the past two decades, owing to a decrease in players; however, a revitalisation programme was initiated in 2014. This article explores aspects of the practice and cultural functions of the biola on Cocos and documents the history of the instrument on the islands, drawing on data from ethnographic and archival research.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, located halfway between Perth and Sri Lanka and part of Australia’s Indian Ocean Territories, are home to around 400 Cocos Malays and 150 others. Uninhabited until 1826, the islands became a coconut plantation controlled by the Scottish Clunies-Ross family and worked by Malay labourers from 1827 until 1978. In this isolated community there arose a unique and distinctive set of cultural practices, which drew from Malay, Javanese, and (some) Scottish influences. The rhythms of Cocos Malay life involve regular musicking and Islamic religious ritual: on specific occasions, including the week-long celebrations following Hari Raya (Eid al- Fitr), the birthday of the Prophet (Maulud Nabi), and weddings, the community comes together for festive public performances. This film and article present an ethnomusicological survey of Cocos Malay music and dance, based on fieldwork conducted in 2015 and 2016 during the festivities for Hari Raya. Among the genres presented and discussed are: zikir (remembrance of the Prophet), joget (popular Malaysian dance), nasyid (devotional songs), Scottish reels with Scottish dance music, traditional Cocos Malay dance with biola (violin), silat (a martial art), rudat (seated dance) with percussion, and bangsawan (popular theatre). Interviews explore the Cocos Malay biola tradition and projects for its revitalisation, and memories of music and dance for the Nuyar (New Year’s Eve) party that was held in the house of the Clunies-Ross family until the 1990s. The history and modern-day practice of Scottish dancing within this Malay Muslim community form a major focus of the narrative.

This article investigates how the combination of writing therapy and embodied empowerment, explored through the physical sport of non-contact boxing, can facilitate the recovery journeys of women survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and their move towards post-traumatic growth. It uses established quantitative psychological measurements and qualitative analytical approaches to examine the impact of an eight-week boxing and writing workshop for female survivors of CSA, called Left/Write//Hook (LWH), on participants’ recovery journeys. The hypothesis was that the LWH workshops would contribute to participants’ recovery and wellbeing. The article reports on the pilot study of the workshops as one aspect of an ongoing research project around LWH which uses concurrent, triangulation mixed methods design to gather and analyze qualitative audio-visual and creative-writing data produced by the women, alongside quantitative psychological assessment data. The findings of qualitative analyses of the participants’ creative writing and the quantitative psychological assessments of the impact of the LWH workshops on participants’ assertiveness, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, wellbeing, depression, anxiety and stress, along with preliminary findings of filmed material are presented and discussed in this article. The findings supported the hypothesis that the LWH workshops helped facilitate participants’ recovery journeys and supported their wellbeing. This article offers preliminary support for the argument that the dual approach of written/verbal and embodied creativity can enhance the wellbeing of survivors of sexual abuse and trauma.