4.2 People, Materials and Participation

A Performance is collective work. The most visible person may be a lead singer, dancer, narrator, actor or ritual specialist, but an event may depend upon accompanists, supporting performers, elders, organisers, priests, family members, space custodians, costume keepers, instrument bearers, stage workers and others whose contribution is not immediately visible. The Suvdugal event interview schedule for example, explicitly asks the fieldworker to identify both principal artists and the less visible participants who make the event possible.2

Identify who is doing what today

Record the people who actually participate in this event and the roles they perform on this occasion. Do not assume that a person has the same role in every performance. A senior practitioner may sing rather than dance; a usual lead performer may be absent; a student may take a supporting role; an accompanist may also give cues; a ritual specialist may supervise without appearing as a performer. Where people change roles during the event, note those changes.

Use the names and role terms preferred by the participants. Link people to their Artist Profiles where those records exist, but do not reproduce their full biographies inside the Performance Account. Section 2 asks how an artist learned, developed and transmitted the art. Here the narrower question is: What did this person do in this particular event?

Look beyond the performer-audience divide

Audience is not always an external group of spectators. People may answer a refrain, request a song, carry an object, make an offering, move with a procession, receive a blessing, regulate conduct, provide commentary or enter and leave the performance area at particular moments. Others may remain apart and watch. In some events, the distinction between performer and audience is itself unstable.

Observe who gathers and what forms of participation are expected or permitted. Ask whether everyone present is considered an audience, or whether some are better described as devotees, mourners, family members, patrons, ritual participants, community members or organisers. Record important differences only when participants consider them relevant and when doing so does not expose sensitive social information. The Performance metadata framework includes audience composition and participation pattern precisely because the social arrangement of an event is part of the event itself.1

Record the instruments, costumes and objects used in this event

A Performance record should identify the instruments and objects actually used on this occasion. This is different from listing everything associated with the Art Form in general. Note the musical instruments present, but also costumes, masks, puppets, props, ritual objects, offerings or other materials that shape the enactment. Ask whether any object is brought out only for a particular occasion or requires special preparation before use. The interview schedule specifically asks about sacred instruments, costume and ritual objects, and forms of preparation such as prayer, fasting, makeup or other practices undertaken before performers take up their instruments or roles.2

Do not turn the Performance section into an object catalogue. If an instrument needs a detailed account of construction, ownership, materials or repair, link it to the Instrument or Object record. Here the question is how the object functions in this particular event: who carries it, when it enters, where it is placed, how it is sounded or activated, and whether its presence changes across the sequence.

Notice preparation as part of the event

What happens before the visible performance may be culturally important. Performers may dress, apply makeup, tune instruments, prepare objects, receive instructions, pray, fast, assemble at a particular place or move together toward the performance ground. Some of this may be public and recordable; some may be private or restricted. Ask what belongs to the event and what may be documented. If preparation cannot be recorded, it can still be noted in words where permission allows.

By the end of this stage, the fieldworker should have a working map of the people, roles, instruments, costumes, objects and forms of participation expected in the event. This map is provisional. It should be corrected as the Performance unfolds, because what actually happens may differ from what was anticipated.