How Black Girls Can Reclaim Their Voice in Music | Kyra Gaunt | TED

譯者: C T 審譯者: Shelley Tsang 曾雯海

I was on a date, just about to eat dinner,

有一次我在約會，正要吃飯， [TED 凱拉•高恩]

and I hear a growling sound.

然後聽見咕嚕咕嚕的聲音。

And I look at the guy,

我看著那位男士，

he says to me, "That's your stomach, not mine."

他對我說，“是你的肚子叫，不是我。” [2022年4月 溫哥華]

(Laughs)

(笑聲)

How do I not recognize the sounds coming from my own body,

如果我無法辨認自己身體的聲響， [TED 錄製]

not to mention my own voice?

如何辨認自己的嗓音？

I love the sound of my voice on a microphone,

我熱愛自己在麥克風裡的聲音，

but it didn't start out that way.

但之前並不是這樣的。

When I was younger,

小時候，

I was in love with other people's voices.

我非常喜愛其他人的聲音。

And like so many of us,

和很多人一樣，

the first time I ever heard my voice on a recording,

第一次聽到錄音裡面自己的聲音，

I hated it.

我討厭它。

I was 10 years old

我當時十歲，

when my mother bought me a Panasonic cassette recorder

媽媽買了一個松下卡式帶錄音機給我，

with a pack of Memorex cassette tapes for Christmas.

還有一盒錄音帶，是聖誕禮物。

See, singing on tape was my version of bedroom musical play,

唱歌錄音就是我的臥室音樂劇。

something that girls do all around the world,

全世界的女孩子們都會做，

and it's really gendered.

和性別有關。

Left alone with our devices, alone in a room, girls play.

只有設備，單獨在房間，女孩子們的嬉戲。

Singing, listening to music, dancing.

唱歌、聽音樂、跳舞。

So with a gift in hand, the very next morning,

有了這個禮物，第二天早上，

the first thing I did was record my voice.

我做的第一件事就是錄下自己的聲音。

And when I played the tape back,

當播出錄音的時候，

I was shocked.

我驚呆了。

It didn't sound anything like me.

完全不像我的聲音。

There was a huge gap between what I thought I sounded like

差異十分巨大，

我以為自己的聲音和錄音帶裡的完全不同。

and what the tape was telling me.

And it was traumatic because I didn't recognize me.

最痛苦的是我無法辨認出自己。

I think we all know that feeling.

大家應該都明白這種感覺。

But some of us are emancipated from the doubt triggered by technology,

有的人會覺得自由了，沒有了科技所引發的疑惑。

and some of us are not.

有些人則不是。

So I stuck to dancing in the mirror and lip synching,

於是，我繼續在鏡子面前跳舞，對著嘴型，

falling in love with other people's voices instead of my own.

沉浸於其他人的聲音而不是自己的。

Now I am a digital ethnomusicologist.

現在，我是一個數位民族音樂學者。

I study Black tween girls,

我研究黑人青少年女性，

particularly the unintended consequences

特別是她們私密的臥室音樂劇

of their intimate bedroom musical play.

所產生的無意圖的後果。

On today's mobile apps,

在今時今日的手機App上，

Black girls record and upload the most viral dances on the internet.

黑人女孩錄製和上傳網路最受歡迎的舞蹈。

But the songs that mute their voices

但是沒有她們的聲音，

and sound pornographic are overwhelmingly male.

而那些色情的聲音清一色都是男性。

For example, the song "Booty Hopscotch"

例如有一首歌叫做 “屁股跳房子”，

entices very young girls to record themselves

引誘非常年輕的女孩去錄製她們自己，

while a male ventriloquist grooms them to "Keep that ass jumpin',

同時有男性腹語的聲音培養她們”繼續扭屁股”，

Keep that ass jumpin'."

”繼續扭屁股”。

Girls say they don't listen to the lyrics, but when asked,

女生們說沒聽歌詞，但被問到的話，

they can sing every word with no concern for the consequences.

她們可以唱出每一個字卻不關心後果。

Before YouTube,

YouTube之前，

before WorldstarHipHop, the Black YouTube,

世界之星嘻哈、黑人Youtube之前，

on the playground and in the bedroom,

在遊樂場和臥室，

the voices that Black girls heard in their own musical play

在黑人女孩子們自己的音樂劇中，

were predominately their own.

最主導的聲音是她們自己的。

But these days, online Black girls are drowning

但現在網路上， 黑人女孩們被淹沒在音樂裡男性的說教。

in the sounds of musical mansplaining

while bouncing ther booty to the beats and rhymes of rap

還跟隨著Billboard和YouTube榜首嘻哈音樂 的節奏扭著屁股。

that tops the Billboard and YouTube charts.

Songs like, "Hands up, get low. hands up, get low, hands up,"

歌曲例如 “舉手、放下、舉手、放下、舉手、放下”

tell them what to do and how to do it.

告訴她們做甚麼和怎麼做。

Curiously, the hook for that song may have come, may have been appropriated

奇怪地是，歌曲表現的引誘可能是

from a Black girls' hand-clapping game called "Jig-a-low."

源於黑人女生的”Jia-a-low” 拍手遊戲。

Jig-a-low is a contraction,

Jia-a-low是一個簡稱。

“jig” meaning to dance and “a-low”, well, to get down.

“Jig”是跳舞，“a-low”，就是向下。

"Jig-a-low, jig-jig-a-low,

"Jig-a-low, jig-jig-a-low,

I do my thing, yeah, on the video screen.

我做的，就是在屏幕上的。

Yeah, well, my hands up high, my feet down low.

我的手向上，腳向下，

And this the way we jig-a-low.

這就是 jia-a-low。

Hands up high, my feet down low.

手向上，腳向下，

And this the way we jig-a-low.”

這就是 jia-a-low。

Girls across the gender spectrum, who love to twerk,

女孩子們，在整個性別光譜， 都有人喜歡扭臀舞。

which is a culturally appropriate and sophisticated style of dance

是一種文化適宜和有品味型格的舞蹈。

found throughout the African and Afro-Latina diaspora,

離鄉背井的非洲裔和非洲-拉丁美洲裔

are being enticed by sounds that are produced,

被九成由男性製作、編曲、創作

engineered and written 90 percent of the time by men

的歌曲所誘惑。

who are enticing and taking advantage of girls who love to dance

他們引誘並利用愛跳舞的女孩子們，

and treating them like adults in their intimate bedroom musical play.

並像對成人一樣，利用她們的私密臥室音樂劇。

How do I know?

我怎麼知道的?

For seven years,

七年了，

I've been studying a set of 650 bedrooms twerking videos by Black girls.

我研究了650個臥室扭臀舞，都是黑人女孩子的。

They were uploaded to YouTube between 2006 and 2014.

她們的視頻在2006年到2014年期間上傳到YouTube。

Over 1,000 girls from all around the world

一千多個來自世界各地的女孩

selected 200 twerk songs

挑選了兩百首扭臀舞的歌曲。

and only nine voices of women,

而只有九首是女性的聲音，

including Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, Ciara

包括: 妮姬•米娜、碧昂絲、席亞拉

and one indie artist named Katie Got Bandz.

和一個獨立歌手，叫做琪拉雅•格•斑斯。

So what's behind all this?

這說明了甚麼?

While girls are twerking, feeling themselves, feeling empowered,

當女生們在跳扭臀舞，感受自己、增加力量的時候，

arguably the oldest technology in our human evolution,

可能是人類進化過程中最古老的科技 -

music, is taking over.

音樂在主導。

Beyond our conscious thought, music lowers our threshold of pain

超出我們的意識思維以外，音樂減低了疼痛，

while it rewards us with the feeling of social bonding and intimacy.

回饋給我們社會歸屬感和親密的感覺。

That's why we go to concerts,

因此我們有音樂會，

that's why we crave that feeling even when we're alone,

因此我們雕刻出感覺，即便孤身一人，

that's why music is self-soothing.

因此音樂可以自我安慰。

And it is.

就是這樣。

It's a whole mood.

所有的情緒

But that mood is grooming younger and younger girls

在越來越小的女孩子身上形成。

to tolerate psychological violence in dating situations

要去忍受心理暴力，包括約會的時候

and in their own intimate bedroom musical play.

和她們自己私密的臥室音樂劇。

Girls repeatedly do what they're repeatedly exposed to.

女生們反覆做的事情總是在被反覆攻擊。

Left to their own devices,

除了自己的器材，

music as technology gives patriarchy and anti-Blackness a head start.

音樂、作為科技，令父權和反黑人有起步優勢。

Faced with doubt about my own voice when I was ten,

十歲的時候，面對自己聲音的疑惑，

the tendency to think that the situation was about me,

傾向認為是自己的問題，

about feeling insecure,

有不安全感，

that was the tendency, not the situation.

是傾向，並不是處境。

The role technology plays gets lost.

科技扮演的角色沒有了。

Being best friends with my own voice

和自己的聲音做最好的朋友，

could have been my first intimate relationship.

可能是我第一段親密關係。

If very young girls were surrounded by the voices of Black female voices,

如果年輕的女孩子們被黑人女性的聲音環繞，

chances are they'd assign value to their own.

可以令她們給自己賦予價值。

Bedroom musical play could be the first time

臥室音樂劇可能是第一次，

a girl tunes in to her own internal signals,

一個女孩子聽到她內在的信號，

self-regulates it,

自我調節，

and learns to say "Yes!" as well as, "Nope, not today."

學會說，“是”，同樣，“不, 不是今天”。

But online, bedroom musical play,

但網路上，臥室音樂劇

like listening to your gut or your stomach,

好像聽我們的肚子或者是胃的聲音。

well, it's not a solo act.

當然，這不是單打獨鬥。

Stereotypes and stigmas fed by algorithms and audiences are silencing us.

演算法和觀眾行成的性別偏見與羞辱 壓抑了我們的聲音。

But if Black girls produced their own twerk songs

但如果黑人女孩可以製作自己扭臀舞的歌曲，

and preferred female musicians,

並選擇女性音樂人，

well, they could break the internet in music and tech.

那麼就可以突破網路音樂和科技。

But that revolution in sound can only begin

但是，這場聲音革命

只能是她們學習了解自己的聲音， 從自己的卡式帶開始。

if they learn to like the voice on their own Memorex tape.

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

(掌聲)