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 David Wong, BFE Website Administrator. If you would like to receive news such as posts, call for papers, etc. please subscribe to our BFE email list.

Call for papers: Music Around the Atlantic Rim, Cardiff, 19th Oct. 2013

This conference will consider the relocation of peoples and exchanges of culture, music and ideas in relation to seafaring. We seek new approaches and theoretical frameworks for the circulation and exchange of ideas and materials related to music around the Atlantic rim specifically, and more generally, in trans-oceanic context and around large bodies of water. We invite innovative research about multi-directional movements of musicians, musical artefacts (including instruments and recordings), repertoires and ideas within populations of free and forced migrants, seafarers, and other travellers. Research about music making on ships and in ports is particularly welcome. We encourage an interrogation of existing theories of diaspora and call for new models of enquiry in a changing Atlantic world. Building on representations and critiques of “the Black Atlantic” and proposing new analytical models, this conference will also include research about European forms that traverse the Atlantic but do not usually default to the transatlantic rubric. In particular, we invite work on the “Green Atlantic”: the circa-Atlantic emigration of Celtic peoples and musics, as well as immigration patterns into Celtic sites. As well as inviting new research on past triangulated movements of people between Europe, Africa and the Americas, we seek fresh research about contemporary patterns of relocation and exchange due to changing political, economic and technological formations. See further details.

 

New: Book on alphorns and ethnographic filmmaking   

"Modernity, Complex Societies, and the Alphorn" by Charlotte Vignau provides a fascinating examination of the musical instrument the alphorn, alphorn music and its performance. Indeed, it is the first book about this extraordinary instrument to appear in English. It not only analyses the alphorn phenomenon as a symbol of the Swiss nation, but also draws from case studies of Bavaria, the Netherlands, and Japan to shed light on the worldwide migration of alphorn practice in the modern world, as well as on the diverse concepts of a Swiss imagery. Read more on the PDF flyer which also contains a code for 20% discount on purchase.

NOW: Programme and abstracts of BFE conference in Belfast, 2013   

The final programme and all abstracts are now available online for next week's 2013 Joint Annual Meeting of the BFE/ICTM-IE, held at Queen’s University in Belfast (Ireland), 4-7 April 2013. Browse the conference website which also contains information on accommodation options, and other information of use to people intending to attend the conference. You can also register for the conference online at the site. All presenters should be either members of BFE or ICTM Ireland. See the BFE website for BFE membership details!

Frances Wilkins appointed at Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen   

Frances Wilkins, who completed her PhD at the University of Aberdeen in 2009, has recently been appointed Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, where she will be continuing her research and teaching in the area of Scottish music and related musical traditions in North America. She has been working as a visiting lecturer in Ethnomusicology, Scottish Music, and Soundscapes studies in the Department of Music since 2010 and has been conducting field research in Scotland and Canada since 2005. Congratulations, Frances!

New online journal: Access articles of first number!   

The first number of the biannual peer-reviewed journal El oído pensante is online and of free access. View articles by Allan F. Moore, Samuel Araújo or the critical reflection on ethnomusicology by the editor Miguel A. García here. The journal promotes critical thought aimed to dismantle usual concepts, discussing theoretical, methodological and epistemological dilemmas faced by different kinds of music research. Unpublished articles in Spanish, Portuguese and English dealing from ethnomusicology, anthropology, sociology of music, popular music studies, musicology, and cultural studies, among other disciplines, are received. See the homepage of El oído pensante for more information and the next deadline for submission.

Call for Papers: Special issue "Music, Music Making and Neoliberalism"   

Culture, Theory and Critique is a refereed, interdisciplinary journal for the transformation and development of critical theories in the humanities and social sciences. It aims to critique and reconstruct theories by interfacing them with one another and by relocating them in new sites and conjunctures. For the special Issue on “Music, Music Making and Neoliberalism”, completed essays need to be submitted before May 3, 2013 for full consideration. Find the full Call for Papers in this Word Document!

Subroto Roy: Guest Editor of "Popular Music of Asia"   

The Journal of Creative Communication, being published by Sage (New Delhi) has appointed Dr. Subroto Roy as one of the Guest Editors for the forthcoming special double issue on 'Popular Music of Asia: Cultural Perspectives'. The journal is being produced under the aegis of Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Dr. Roy has completed three post-doc researches. His latest research paper which is under publication with the Music Academy, Madras deals with Sam Vedic communication. He is a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in Sanskrit, University of Pune with support from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation for whom he completed a research on diminishing culture of Sam Vedic singing practices in India!

Back from Lisbon: Stefanie Alisch's research on Angolan kuduro 

Stefanie Alisch recently completed a two-month stay in Lisbon where she undertook research into the local kuduro scene as part of her PhD project in musicology at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS), Germany. Alisch interviewed DJs who were pivotal in the dissemination of the style in Africa during the mid-1990ies to 2002, visited music studios, attended kuduro events and participated in dance classes. She conducted a number of innovative participatory video interviews with kuduro dancers, in which she danced with practitioners, asked them to demonstrate dance moves, and recorded her attempts to copy the moves. The research trip was funded by BIGSAS. Read one of her posts at the "os kuduristas" website.

Image: Nelson Gomes (Príncipe Discos) and DJ Maboku (Pequenos DJs do Gueto) on stage at Noite Príncipe in Lisbon club Musicbox, December 2012

Review: Meeting of Middle East & Central Asia Music Forum, 6 December 2012

The Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum was established in 2007 to provide an opportunity for those researching the musics of the region. The Forum meets twice a year, usually in Senate House. With the support of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology and the Centre for Music Studies, City University London, the first meeting of the 2012-2013 academic year was held on Thursday December 6, 2012, at Senate House. The meeting featured presentations by John Baily, Carolyn Landau, Simone Tarsitani, Miranda Crowdus, Owen Wright, Nina ter Laan, Stephen Wilford, and Sara Manasseh. Please read here the review on this event, written by Marie Saunders, PhD student at City University. See also the Conference Archive of the BFE website which hosts a wide range of reviews of their own conferences and other conferences.

New book: The Eoan Group from South Africa   

The legendary Eoan Group has performed opera, ballet and drama since the 1930s. It was the first amateur company in South Africa to perform dance, theatre and grand opera often to packed houses in Cape Town’s best concert halls. Intensifying Apartheid legislation since the 1960s affected the Group’s morale, although they continued to perform whenever they could before mixed audiences. Based on extensive interviews with former Eoan members, and rich visual and archival material, the comprehensive publication “Eoan: Our Story” (edited by Wayne Muller and Hilde Roos) makes a unique contribution to South African music history. It illustrates not only how difficult it was for many people to work in the classical arts during the apartheid years, but also how music and the arts can bring meaning to the lives of communities and individuals. Read more about the Eoan Group on the website of The Documentation Centre for Music at Stellenbosch University (DOMUS) and find the press release of the publishers here. For more information, contact also Hilde Roos!

Postgraduate Funding at UK universities  

City University London is pleased to announce two full fee-waiver scholarships for entry to any of its MA Music pathways in September 2013 (Robert Anderson Scholarship and one from Newby Trust). The deadline for applications is Thursday 18th April 2013. For more information, follow this link or contact Dr Miguel Mera, Head of the Centre for Music Studies. The University of Sheffield announced four tuition scholarships of £4,000 for entering MA, MMus and MPhil/PhD students at the Department of Music (Julian Payne and Gladys Hall Postgraduate Tuition Scholarships 2013-2014). Applications must be received by Friday 26 April 2013. Find out more here. 

Reel to Real Project: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Reel to Real is a project running at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, designed to digitise and deliver the museum's unique ethnographic sound recordings. Please visit the project blog for project updates and emerging content, including a beautiful short professional film of the recent 'sound galleries' event on November 23rd 2012. Curated by Dr Noel Lobley and Embedded composer in residence, Nathaniel Mann, a four hour playlist of Bayaka music was programmed, broadcast and streamed live from within darkened galleries as thousands of visitors explored by torchlight. The webcast was watched live in the Central African Republic by a group of Bayaka people who walked for more than an hour to get to a satellite phone in the WWF office in Bayanga.  

For Music and Language Teachers: Using European Folksongs for Language Acquisition

The Digital Children’s Folksongs for Language and Cultural Learning (Folk DC) project is a European Union project designed to motivate young language learners to engage with language learning through using Folk songs, and activities around the songs. The songs are in 10 European languages (Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Turkish). The project has producing a complete package for schools (Autonomous Teacher Training Tool kit – ATTT) so that schools all over Europe can take part in the project. Browse the Folk DC website! The end of the project will be marked by simultaneous live concerts in five European countries (UK, Turkey, Finland, Romania and Spain), live streamed on 23 April 2013.

 

Ashgate offer for BFE members

Ashgate have offered 20% discount on their ethnomusicology titles to BFE members. By using this link, you'll be taken to a hidden area of the Ashgate site with the available titles. When you get to the checkout you'll need this promotional code "H11FJW20" to get the full 20% discount, rather than the standard 10% discount for ordering online. For more information on how to become a member, browse the BFE website


   

 


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