Yvonne Buchheim

b. 1972, Germany

Through my personal background I developed a multi-layered understanding of Heimat (homeland), which forms a basis for creative inquiry into the themes of origin, roots and identity. The project Song Archive emerges from a theory by German philosopher JG Herder that cultural peculiarities of a people are reflected in their songs. Herder founded this theory in 1773, and published a collection titled Voices of the people in songs.

Two hundred years on we live in a very different world. A globalised popular culture is replacing local ones, and the worldwide influence of American and British popular music through technological platforms like MTV and the Internet is omnipresent. In this context I set out to create a contemporary song archive. The project aims to explore the extent to which Herder’s theory can still be applied, and functions as a mirror of contemporary societies.

Over a period of three years I collected hundreds of songs in different countries. I have approached people randomly from different ages and backgrounds, and simply asked them to perform a song of their choice in front of a video camera. This spontaneous interaction is both surprising in the variety and the similarity of the singers’ choices. The Song Archive provides a framework to question cultural belief values, and playfully suggests many complex identities through songs challenging stigmatisation and stereotypical reading.

(Text: give(a)way catalogue, 2006)