Journeying with a musical practice : Existential mobility and transnational labour

Abstract

The relationship between migratory processes and the diffusion, appropriation and hybridisation of cultural practices has been systematically documented in the scholarly literature. Within these processes there are highly mobile people whose frequent travels and short stays make them less visible as agents of cultural circulation. They often do not see themselves as migrants, nor they are classified as such by national bureaucracies. Therefore, their participation in the diffusion of cultural practices has not been fully considered. This article focuses on the ways in which journeying with a musical practice entails forms of informal transnational labour and, simultaneously, meanings of diffusion, promotion and cultivation of regional cultures that are valued by geographically dispersed communities of practitioners. This account is based on an ethnographic study on the circulation of a traditional musical practice between Mexico and the US. It specifically focuses on the case of a musician, workshop facilitator and luthier who travels several times a year between these two countries performing, teaching and selling handmade instruments. Although his journeying with a musical practice represents a way of making a living, a job, he does not perceive himself as a labour migrant, but as a teacher, performer and cultural promoter. Differing from the experiences of international migrants, this article shows how the meanings of his mobility exhibits a distinct form of existential mobility.