Research output per year
Research output per year
F.28 - Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, University of Manchester
Caroline has her roots in North Wales. She has also lived in Oxford, Germany and Corsica. She taught at Bangor University before moving to Manchester in 2005. She now counts Georgia as her second home.
My research falls mainly under the umbrella of Ethnomusicology (the study of music cultures from a combined musicological and anthropological perspective), while also drawing on approaches from Cultural Studies, Performance Studies, and Community Music. My first fieldwork site was the Mediterranean island of Corsica, the focus of my PhD thesis and my 2007 book Transported by Song. Subsequent projects have taken me to Sardinia, Malta, Bosnia, Georgia, Mali, Senegal and Cuba. I have presented papers relating to this work at conferences in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Poland, Bulgaria, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Brazil, Mexico, the USA, Canada, Ireland and the UK.
Current and recent projects
My monograph A Different Voice, A Different Song: Reclaiming Community through the Natural Voice and World Song explores the history and significance of the natural voice movement and reveals how and why songs from non-Western traditions inform the movement's ideological, methodological and ethical principles while contributing in often unexpected ways to the rewards reported by participants. I show how the natural voice movement has become a key player in the democratisation of singing, representing a powerful force for building community and promoting intercultural understanding.
The Oxford Handbook of Music Revival grew out of my long-standing fascination with questions of cultural revival and transformation. The volume presents new theoretical perspectives on processes of revival, illustrated through a selection of ethnographic case studies of music and dance cultures from around the world by thirty contributing authors. Together, these reveal the potency of acts of revival, resurgence, restoration and renewal in shaping musical landscapes and transforming social experience.
My current research focuses on polyphonic singing traditions in Georgia, a country I first visited in 1998, and the recent proliferation of Georgian choirs outside Georgia. The Oxford Handbook of Music Revival includes a chapter in which I explore the links between cycles of national revival since the mid-19th century and the internationalisation of Georgian polyphony in the post-Soviet era. My subsequent investigation into contemporary processes of safeguarding and transmission of the musical heritage, with particular reference to Tbilisi-based vocal ensembles, is reported in my contribution to the volume Music as Heritage: Historical and Ethnographic Perspectives (2019).
PhD supervision: ethnomusicology and related areas
Caroline teaches a range of course units in Ethnomusicology and World Music Studies. With an academic background in music, social anthropology and languages, she holds degrees from the universities of Oxford and Wales.
Caroline is best known in the ethnomusicology world and beyond for her publications on the traditional musics of Corsica and Georgia (Caucasus), music revivals, and the natural voice and community choirs. Her book Transported by Song: Corsican Voices from Oral Tradition to World Stage (Scarecrow Press, 2007) was awarded 5 stars by Songlines magazine, as well as being positively reviewed in the academic press. Her latest books were both published by Oxford University Press: A Different Voice, A Different Song: Reclaiming Community through the Natural Voice and World Song (2014) and The Oxford Handbook of Music Revival (2014). Her current research focuses on the renaissance of vocal polyphony in post-Soviet Georgia and on music, health and wellbeing.
Caroline has served as Chair of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology and editor of the journal Ethnomusicology Forum. She is also active in the community music world as a voice practitioner and workshop leader and is a former Chair of the Natural Voice Network.
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Other contribution
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Keady, J. (PI), Bithell, C. (CoI), Gagatsis, A. (CoI) & Young, A. (CoI)
1/06/22 → 30/11/23
Project: Research
Bithell, C. (PI)
1/06/15 → 31/08/16
Project: Research
Caroline Bithell (Invited speaker) & Teona Lomsadze (Invited speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation › Research
Caroline Bithell (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation › Research
Caroline Bithell (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation › Research
Caroline Bithell (Plenary speaker), Madona Chamgeliani (Speaker), Nino Naneishvili (Speaker), Marina Decristoforo (Speaker) & Geoff Burton (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
Caroline Bithell (Invited speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Research
Bithell, C. (Participant)
Impact: Awareness and understanding, Health and wellbeing, Society and culture