News

These are the latest news from ethnomusicologists and music scholars in the UK and elsewhere. To submit a news story or item, please email Christine Dettmann, BFE Website Administrator. For other news such as posts, call for papers, etc. please subscribe to our BFE email list.

BFE Conference 2012 in Durham

Find the booking forms for the conference in Durham now online: check the BFE website or the BFE Conference website. Please see also our new site on facebook which will help connecting people for the conference(s) and beyond!

Call for papers NOW: National Graduate Conference 2012

The BFE National Graduate Conference provides a forum in the UK for graduate students in ethnomusicology to meet, discuss, and network with graduates from other disciplines. The theme for the conference in 2012, 12-14 September, is "Music and Movement". For more information on the theme, the keynote speaker and this call, see HERE. The Call for Papers ends on January 31, 2012. 

For graduate and undergraduate students: Caribbean Music Journey, 3 - 24 June 2012

Undergraduate and graduate students from around the world can get to know Caribbean music from the inside in this unique course in Santiago de los Caballeros, the Dominican Republic’s second-largest city and the heart of its musical culture. The course will be taught by ethnomusicologists Sydney Hutchinson, Martha Ellen Davis, and Angelina Tallaj in conjunction with local master musicians. It may be taken for three units of undergraduate or graduate-level credit in music, Latin American studies, or Spanish through Syracuse University. Application deadline is 20 February 2012. For more information, please see here or contact Sydney Hutchinson.  

Review of Oxford Conference

Please read the report on the Conference “Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives”, held at the Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford, 1-3 September 2011 on the BFE website. More information on this conference, including the programme and the abstracts, can still be found here.

Fellowship for Subroto Roy 

Subroto Roy, scholar on Indian Art Music, received an international fellowship from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Colombo, Sri Lanka. It has started on November 1, 2011 under its mandated project 'Diminishing Cultures of South Asia'. Roy will especially focus on the 'Musico-religious Expression through Saama Veda Singing'. He is currently undertaking field trips to different parts of India to audio/video record living masters and students of the Saama Kouthuma branch of this most ancient form of formalised singing. Congratulations, Roy!

Soon: Anna Stirr at the University of Hawaii-Manoa

Dr Anna Marie Stirr, currently a postdoctoral fellow for Asian Modernities and Traditions at the University of Leiden (Netherlands), and formerly a Mellon Career Development Fellow in Ethnomusicology at Oxford University, will start her new post as Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa on January 1st, 2012. Congratulations, Anna! Please read more about her research and her book “Singing Across Divides: Music and Intimacy in Migrant Nepal” (in preparation) on her website.

Japan Society Award for David Hughes 

David Hughes (SOAS, University of London) is the recipient of the 2011 Japan Society Award, for "outstanding contributions to Anglo-Japanese relations and understanding" through his long-term "significant contribution to knowledge and understanding of varied Japanese musical traditions and practice”. The Japan Society’s citation further reads: “It is thanks to David that many in the UK have first encountered a wide range of music, including folk song from Okinawa to the north of Japan, music from noh, kabuki and bunraku theatres, gagaku, formal classical music, taiko and more. At the same time, he has been actively engaged in the establishment and development of groups within the UK devoted to practice, including the Okinawa Sanshinkai and the London Noh Group.” Congratulations, David, on this award!

Merriam Prize 2011 for Martin Stokes  

Martin Stokes was awarded the Merriam Prize by the Society for Ethnomusicology at its meeting in Philadelphia this year for “The Republic of Love: Cultural Intimacy and Turkish Popular Music” (University of Chicago Press 2010). The Merriam Prize is awarded yearly by the society "to recognize the most distinguished, published English-language monograph in the field of ethnomusicology”. Congratulations, Martin!

Fieldwork blog of Frances Wilkins 

Frances Wilkins, Visiting Lecturer in Ethnomusicology and Scottish Music at the University of Aberdeen, is currently undertaking a fieldwork trip to the James Bay area in (cold) Canada. Her research focuses on fiddle music of James Bay, Ontario, and its links to the musical traditions of the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland. See her blog with more information, photographs and videos related to the field research. This research has been possible thanks to a small Research Grant in the Arts and Humanities from the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a small research grant from the Foundation for Canadian Studies in the UK. 

Wingate Scholarship for Sue Miller 

Sue Miller received her PhD in Cuban flute improvisation in charanga performance at the University of Leeds in early 2011. Her book proposal Cuban Flute Style: Interpretation and Improvisation has been accepted by Scarecrow Press (USA) and will be published in late 2012. For an additional chapter on the five-key wooden charanga flute, she has now been awarded a Wingate Scholarship. This grant will be used for an intensive three week course of lessons on the five-key wooden charanga flute in Havana from 12 December 2011 to 4 January 2012. She will be studying with renowned five-key flute players such as Polo Tamayo (Buena Vista Social Club and Charanga Rubalcaba) and Joaquín Oliveros (Orquesta Enrique Jorrín). For more information on her research and the charanga orquestra she created in 1998, see this report and her website. Congratulations, Sue, on this award and all these good news!

Online now: Photos and Review from the BFE One-Day Conference 2011 

Please follow this link to see the photos of the inspiring One-Day Conference "Listening for a Change: Environment, Music, Action", held on 5 November 2011. There is also a review written by Jennifer Post online available.Many thanks to the organizer Angela Impey!

BFE "High Tea Party" at the SEM Annual Meeting in Philadelphia  

BFE was proud to sponsor its annual "High Tea Party" at this year’s SEM/Cord conference in Philadelphia. Over 250 people attended the event, where tea, scones and authentic British biscuits (provided by BFE members travelling from the UK) were enjoyed by all. Thanks especially to Katherine Schofield for providing the extra special Royal Wedding biscuits, pictured below!!  

Review: Conference on Music Pedagogy and Ethnomusicology

An inspiring conference, titled Beyond Borders: World-Music-Pedagogy, brought together leading scholars in the fields of ethnomusicology and music pedagogy at Rostock University of Music and Drama (Germany) from 11th to 13th November 2011. The keynote lecture was given by Professor Patricia Campbell (University of Washington, Seattle). Please read the report of this conference here. See photos and more on their website.

 

 


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