ART on view The Music The exhibition does not restrict itself exclusively to the examination 104 of the instruments’ aesthetic aspects from a sculptural point of view, as its title might suggest. The director of the Fontana Foundation, who is also the curator of the exhibition as well as author of this article, has made it a priority to introduce viewers to extra-European musical practices through the presentation of examples being played and of the sounds they make, in addition to information relating to the instruments themselves. An advisory committee contributed to the conception of the show. In addition to Barcelona Museu de la Música director Jaume Ayats and its collections curator Oriol Rossinyol, this committee includes international specialists such as Madeleine Leclair (curator in the ethnomusicology department of the Musée d’Ethnographie in Geneva), Raymond Ammann (a researcher specializing in Melanesian music and a professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria), and Claire Chantrenne (musicologist and curator of the East Asian collection at the Musée des Instruments de Musique in Brussels). The result of this collaboration is an exhibition on two levels, in which a general introduction to the collection made through some twenty of its finest objects from four continents precedes the presentation of three specific realms: Africa, Oceania, and Asia. In each section, thematic groupings highlight selected instruments and present information about them. The African section, for example, emphasizes the instruments’ importance in ritual life. In the displays dedicated to Oceania, the idea of the secret that surrounds certain types of flutes from Papua New Guinea is highlighted, and in the Asian section, the emphasis is on the idea of the instrument as part of an ensemble as well as on the role certain types play in religious ceremonies. However, it should be noted that these thematic groupings, which are particularly representative of the objects and regions they originate from, are not closed categories. Indeed, a single instrument could illustrate several of these notions, while one theme could apply to several continents. There is no place for hard-andfast rules in an introductory exhibition to a subject as vast as extra-European musical practices—all the more so because the selection of objects presented is far from exhaustive. Certain types of instruments that are particularly well represented in the Fontana Collection complete the exhibition. These include lamellophones from Africa, known as sanza, drums from New Guinea, and naviform lutes from Indonesia. Lastly, multimedia installations in the exhibition galleries allow the visitor to associate the instrument with its sound, to show how the instruments are played, and to observe the relationships between the musicians and their audience. FIGS. 9 and 10: Harp, ñgomi. Fang, Gabon. 19th century. Wood, rattan, metal, brass tacks. H: 84 cm. Ex. Coll. Georges de Miré, París. © Fundación La Fontana, FI.2007.01.01. Photos: José Antonio Sancho.
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