News
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July/August 2010
Annual BFE Conference: Call for Papers
7-10 April 2011 University College Falmouth, Tremough Campus, Cornwall, UK
Following a highly successful 2010 conference in Oxford, the annual conference moves to the rural south-west of the UK for 2011. The conference will take place in the new Performance Centre in Cornwall, built by University College Falmouth in 2010. This area of the UK is noted for its coastal scenery and mild climate and is also the location of an under-represented Celtic community with its own language, traditions and culture but little functional autonomy (unlike Wales or Scotland). UCF is a specialist arts college with schools of Art & Design, Media & Performance. The conference theme is chosen to provide an opportunity for cross-disciplinary links between Ethnomusicology and Media, Writing, Theatre and Dance. Download the call for papers here.
Ethnomusicology to be closed at the University of Birmingham
The BFE has learnt that, with great sadness, the ethnomusicology programme is no longer on the curriculum at Birmingham University. The cut was made despite protests and arguments in favour of continuation from past and present Birmingham students. Dr Peter Cooke taught the programme for eight years before handing over to Julia Higgins this past semester. The programme did produce numerous Masters students in EM who went on to other universities for postgraduate studies.
Steven Cottrell becomes Professor of Music
The BFE is delighted to announce that Steven Cottrell (currently Goldsmiths College, London) will join City University in the autumn as Professor of Music. Many congratulations!
New Book by BFE Member
Oxford University Press has just published a new book by BFE member David R. M. Irving (Christ's College, University of Cambridge), entitled Colonial Counterpoint: Music in Early Modern Manila. This pioneering study reconnects the Philippines to current musicological discourse on the early modern Hispanic world. Uncovering and interpreting many rare archival sources, the book reveals in vivid detail a fascinating mosaic of a virtually unknown area of music history. Dr Irving uses the metaphor of counterpoint to explain how music in early modern Manila was influenced by a pluralistic mixture of styles from around the world. For further information or to order this book please click on the following link: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195378269.do.
One-day BFE Conference: Call for Papers
THE IMPACT OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
BFE In association with THE INSTITUTE OF MUSICAL RESEARCH
4TH DECEMBER 2010
The winter one-day conference of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology will be held at The Institute for Musical Research, part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. The theme for the day will be ‘The Impact of Ethnomusicology’. To download the call for papers, click here.
Annual BFE Conference at Oxford University a Great Success!
This year's annual conference was held in the beautiful and historical settings of St John's College and the Music Faculty at the University of Oxford. A review of the conference is now available; please visit Annual Conference. You may also like to visit the conference website and facebook page.
News from the Royal Anthropological Institute: INTERNATIONAL VIDEO SALES LIST
The RAI sent us an updated list of selected films on "Music – Dance – Performance" that are available for purchase, which make wonderful research and teaching resources. The full list can be downloaded HERE. For queries and orders, please contact: Film Officer, Susanne Hammacher, Royal Anthropological Institute, 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT, United Kingdom, Tel: +44 20 7387 0455, Fax: +44 20 7388 8817, Email: film@therai.org.uk, Web: http://www.therai.org.uk.
Brian Moser and Donald Tayler Colombia recordings online
A significant collection of field recordings made by anthropologists Brian Moser and Donald Tayler in Colombia in 1960-61 has been added to the British Library’s Archival Sound Recordings website. The expedition’s aim was to record music among a range of indigenous Indian peoples, perceived even then to be disappearing. The expedition ventured to 5 different regions in Colombia:
• The delta of the Río San Juan in the Pacific coastal region - Noanamá [Woun Meu] people
• Amazonia, on the Río Piraparaná, close to the frontier with Brazil – Tukano people
• The northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta - Kogi [Cogui], Bintukua people
• The Guajiro Peninsula near Venezuela border - Guajiro Indians [Wayuu] people
• The hills bordering Venezuela – Molitón people
The collection features individual and communal song, such as lullabies and mixed choral singing and dancing at burials, as well as instrumental traditions, most notably solo and duet performances on a range of different flutes. Some recordings from the Sierra Nevada area are of music from the mission stations, and some forms of popular music (such as vallenato and conjunto), included partly to show the process of musical change. Recordings are made available completely unedited. The expedition is excellently documented by Brian Moser and Donald Tayler in their book The Cocaine Eaters (1965), which makes for fascinating reading. [BL shelfmark: HUS 789.298 Open Access]. Submitted by Janet Topp Fargion, Curator, World and Traditional Music, British Library.
SOAS Music Student to Perform at the Proms
MMus student Khyam Allami has been chosen to be the first protegé/mentee for BBC Radio 3's prestigious new mentoring scheme, World Routes Academy. Khyam Allami, who is of Iraqi origin, is an outstanding young player of the oud (Middle Eastern lute) and a budding scholar of Middle Eastern music. His mentor is the celebrated Jordan-based Iraqi musician Ilham Al Madfai, a pioneering Iraqi guitarist, singer and composer who was the first in his country to internationalise Iraqi music and blend it with contemporary world styles. See further: http://www.soas.ac.uk/news/newsitem59767.html.
ICTM Ireland Annual Conference 2010 Report, by Britta Sweers
On February 26-28, 2010 the ICTM Ireland section held its annual conference at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. This year’s meeting was set under the main theme of “Ensemble: Playing Together”. Having been kindly invited as a guest and participant observer, I was really taken with the extremely friendly and open atmosphere among my Irish colleagues. This points to the healthy situation of the Irish ICTM section – not least also due to the work of the current ICTM Ireland chair Liz Doherty. Download the full report here.
News from the Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater, Rostock
Dr Frances Wilkins and Dr Barbara Alge have gained a Eurolecture from the Alfred-Roepfer Foundation Hamburg. Frances Wilkins is invited to teach at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock for one semester from October 2010 until March 2011. She will develop teaching in ethnomusicology fieldwork with Barbara Alge, and will also be lecturing and teaching a performance course in Scottish traditional music.