Sound and meaning in Aboriginal tourism

Abstract Musical heritage is a profitable resource in the development of cultural tourism worldwide, yet the identities of the communities whose music is recontextualized at venues are frequently co-opted in the process. Centering on an Aboriginal tourism company operating in Ottawa, Canada, this paper demonstrates how marginalized communities having greater control over the space where products are consumed gain more flexibility and agency in the struggle to reappropriate the semantic, social, and economic uses of their cultural assets. The study’s findings confirm that interpreters are responding to opportunities generated by tourism development and changes in federal–Aboriginal relations to challenge non-native stereotypes and resignify aesthetic forms with indigenous meanings through musical interaction with tourists.