YORK UNIVERSITY TO HOST WORLD LEADERS IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
TORONTO, October 24, 1996-- York University will host a conference Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 bringing together specialists from around the world in the exciting, expanding field of Ethnomusicology, the study of the world's music.
Conference co-organizers are Robert Witmer, chair of York University's Music Department and Beverley Diamond, founding director of York's PhD program in Ethnomusicology and Musicology, the first of its kind in the country.
"This conference will offer an impressive international array of artists and scholars who will share their understanding of what music means in and to cultures around the world," says conference program chair Diamond. "We will meld the academic with the artistic by interspersing the presentation of papers with live performances, midnight jams, film viewings and round table discussions," she adds.
The conference provides a forum for the 41st annual meeting of the international Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) which is meeting jointly with the Canadian Society for Traditional Music/Societe; canadienne pour les traditions musicales. This is the first time in almost 25 years that SEM has met in Toronto, a testament to Toronto's growing importance as a centre for study in the field.
Program highlights include:
More than 150 academic presentations on an eclectic array of topics, including several sessions on Asia-American music and the music of disaporic communities. Subjects range from the music making of Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps to "Creative Vitality Conceived in the Margins: Gordon Lightfoot as a Product of Place" to "It's Part of My Rock and Roll Fantasy': Men, Music and Marketing at Q1043 (WAXQ-FM New York)." A small sampling of other titles: "Motown and the Beatles: Symbols of Two Interlocking Youth Cultures"; "Beads and Baseball Caps: South African Popular Music and the Expression of Nationalist and Identity through Musical Style"; "Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark as a Sonic Document of the Women's Liberation Movement"; "Development of Listening and collecting habits among the college student population."
The Charles Seeger Lecture by influential musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez of the Universite) de Montreal. (Charles Seeger, uncle of the famous Pete Seeger, was one of the founding fathers of ethnomusicology.)
Lunchtime concerts; performance demonstrations, jams until 2 a.m., including Armenian songs by Ashugh Sayat Nava, presented by the ensemble, Kotchnak; Korean traditional music performed by Jonathan Kramer, Jung Ae Lee; Turkish traditional music by Ezgi; Afro-Cuban traditional drumming & dancing by Ilede; North Indian music featuring George Ruckert; Iranian Santur by Majid Kiani; the Traditional Arabic Music Ensemble
Film and videos, including such disparate documentaries as Folklorists and Franco-Ontarian Oral Tradition; Vietnamese Court Music by one of Japan's leading ethnomusicologists Yosihito Tokumaru; and "Carrying the Show: The Real Untold Stories of Tap" by New York filmmaker Barry Dornfeld
Heavy metal scholar Rob Walser will chair a session on American Popular Music and Jazz Studies which includes "Funk and James Brown" by York professor and Grammy Award Winner Rob Bowman. Bluegrass scholar Neil Rosenberg will present a paper on "The Whole Don Messer Show: Elites and Proprietary Interests."
Saturday evening showcase featuring special guest artists: The Six Nations Women Singers (Haudenosaunee eskanye singers)
Forums, round tables, workshops such as Music, Memory and War and Afro-Cuban Music and Jazz
All conference events will be held at the Downtown Toronto Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel, 475 Yonge St., except for the Charles Seeger Lecture which will take place Sat., Nov. 2 at 3:30 p.m. in Burton Auditorium, York University, 4700 Keele St. Public registration is available daily.
York University, situated in Metropolitan Toronto, is well known for its outstanding programs in the fine arts and for its interdisciplinary work across Music, Dance, Theatre, Film, Visual Arts, and Fine Arts Cultural Studies. The Department of Music offers an MA and PhD program as well as a full range of undergraduate programs, emphasizing musicianship, composition, improvisation, and the study of music in a broad range of social contexts. Special prominence is given to ethnomusicology, contemporary concert music, jazz and South Indian music, as well as Western chamber ensemble repertoire.
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A full conference program is available upon request. Reporters interested in covering the conference or interviewing participants should contact:
Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
sinem@yorku.ca
Brigitte Kleer
Manager, Public Relations and Development
Faculty of Fine Arts
(416) 736-2100, ext. 77143
bkleer@yorku.ca
YU/051/96
Conference Phone Line
(416) 924-0611, ext. 6056
8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Thursday, Friday)
8:00 a.m. to noon (Saturday, Sunday)
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