Paper short abstract:

This audiovisual presentation summarizes my creative trajectory as an ethnographer, performer, and eventually a video producer in the Shetland Isles, northern Scotland, where I have been residing since October 2012. It will showcase range of genres, venues, creative projects and interviews.

Paper long abstract:

My PhD fieldwork project focuses on the variety of musical genres being played in Shetland, the role of venues and architectures, the work of sound engineers, study participants' mobilities and uses of technologies of musical production. I hoped to become involved in the local music scenes as a musician. My goal in this video is to represent how my experiences unfolded into unforeseeable creative paths, exceeding my earlier expectations of involvement. Still in 2012, I became active as a jazz musician, playing bass and guitar with talented local youth. In the summer of 2013, I became the bass player for the rock band SpootHawk, featuring Arthur Nicholson on guitar, winner of a 'Danny' award at the Celtic Connection festival in Glasgow for his work as a singer-songwriter. I was responsible for the photography and CD layout for Arthur's album 'Sticks and Stones' and directed his music video 'Ready to Go.' I was also involved as musician in the National Theatre of Scotland project 'Ignition,' and as a filmmaker and photographer in the local project 'Back from Beyond,' subjects of my ASA 2014 conference presentation. Eventually, in December 2013, I co-founded a small production company with a local, after producing three music videos that were chosen to be shown by Promote Shetland, an agency funded by the Scottish Government, during the Up Helly Aa 2014 broadcast. This video presentation seeks to represent my social and musical trajectory in Shetland by organizing clips from hundreds of hours of performance and interview footage.