European Seminar in Ethnomusicology
Euro-séminaire d’ethnomusicologie * Europäisches Seminar für
Ethnomusikologie


ESEM President
Udo Will, Dr.rer.nat Dr. phil
Route de Villars Dame
01210 Versonnex, France
Tel+ Fax: (+33) 04 5042 7519
eMail: [log in to unmask]


Versonnex,10.7.99

To all ESEM members

I am happy to be able, finally, to pass on to you the first call for
papers for ESEM99 and apologize for the delay. More details about the
organization of the autumn meeting at SOAS, London will follow in due
time.

With best wishes
Yours

Udo Will

________________________________

ESEM99  - Call for papers

        The XV ESEM will take place in London, from the 12th to the 15th
of November, 1999, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

We invite papers on the following topics:

1. Changing soundscapes and continuity of ethnomusicology

The turn of the century coincides with a crucial time for
ethnomusicology. The soundscape of the world is rapidly changing.
Several traditional cultures and contexts are profoundly transformed
while new musical genres and new ways of making music suddenly become
popular and widespread. All this requires to update aims, methods and
theoretical framework of our discipline, reconsidering notions
and concepts such as fieldwork, oral transmission, even the term
ethno-musicology.
On the other hand, some institutional characters of the discipline such
as comparative aim, definition of general taxonomies, description and
analysis of musical systems, seem to be increasingly crucial today while
becoming blurred in a scientific production that is more and more
differentiated and specialized in methods and objects of the research.
Therefore, now perhaps the moment has arrived to try to reaffirm the
statute of our discipline and its inner coherence. Aim of this session
is to develop a common thinking on this set of issues, trying to find
answers to questions such as: How to continue pursuing the comparative
task in this changed soundscape? How to deal with the changes while
maintaining a continuity of our discipline? How
to redefine our research aims and methods? What can be the European
contribution to this debate?
In the perspective of this general discussion, we would welcome papers
devoted to the above mentioned issues, preferably stemming (or fuelled)
from specific experience of research.

2. Music and space.

Music can be related to space at a symbolic level (cosmologies,
communication between natural and supernatural world, establishment of
social or geographical boundaries, and so on). However, also at a
physical (sonic) level, space is a fundamental aspect of sound in
performance. While space is becoming a standard parameter of sound in
contemporary Western music (Cage, Boulez, Berio) attention to the
physical setting of sound sources and of the listeners has not been a
major concern of ethnomusicology. Space has a deep impact on musical
performance, especially in rituals, ceremonies, festivals, processions.
Most of us ethnomusicologists have encountered in our research
situations in which musicians move in the space of the performance, and
so do the listeners. Sometimes, there is more than a source producing
sound in a same space.
What are the cultural and musical implications of a given sonic use of
space ? Are there specific analytical tools and categories to deal with
this ‘parameter’ of sound ?

3) Free papers

A session devoted to free papers that are not fitting into the two main
themes is considered. However, due to the limited time of the Seminar,
and to our intention to avoid as much as possible parallel sessions to
foster general discussion and exchange, free papers will be accepted
only if time allows for it. Priority will be given to abstracts
pertaining to the two main themes.


Abstracts of papers should be submitted before September 1st to the
Chairperson of the program committee Giovanni Giuriati,  at the
following
addresses:
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
fax:            06 ? 445.01.14
mail:           Via S.Giovanni in Laterano 85 ? 00184 Roma ? Italy

Accommodations:

A small number of hotel rooms have been reserved for ESEM members
attending this conference. Members wishing to book this accommodation
should do so through the Department of Music, SOAS, as soon as possible.
The details are as follows:

Address: The Bedford Hotel, Southampton Row, WC1B 4HD

Rates: 160 pounds total, for a single room for  3 nights (12, 13, 14
November), including the following:

Service charges and taxes
Dinner each night
Full English Breakfast
Free Car Park
Welcome Cocktail

Contact: Susan Perry, The Department of Music, SOAS, Thornhaugh
Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG
Tel/Fax: 0171 637 6182
Email: [log in to unmask]

Members are welcome to make their own arrangements for accommodation if
they prefer. Details of conference fee, meal charges etc. will be
available soon.



Italian Oral History Project
Department of Italian
212 Royce Hall, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095
U.S.A.

tel:  (310) 474-1408
fax:  (310) 474-3188
email:  [log in to unmask]



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