UAB to host First Conference on Ethnomusicology and Anthropology of Music

La UAB acull el I congrés d'Etnomusicologia

The First Conference on Ethnomusicology and Anthropology of Music will take place on 2 and 3 July at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts. Conferences will be given by Josep Martí, from CSIC, and Gerd Grupe, from Kunst Universität, and there will also be a Gamelan workshop.

30/06/2015

Beyond its structural components in terms of sound and performance, music in practice entails a series of cultural codes, implicit norms, classifications and references to social orders which form part of the symbolic systems existing in our society. Based on this, the conference aims to create an academic space in which to discuss and share perspectives and strategies of both disciplines. Through comparisons and contrasts between specific cases, put into comparable contexts, the organisers aim to contribute to gaining new knowledge on the phenomenon of music.

The event, in which almost 100 students and researchers from all over the world will be participating, offers a total of 60 papers grouped into 15 sessions on themes such as ethnicities, nationalisms and practices in contemporary societies, music in mobility scenarios related to transnationalisms and refugee camps, and the theories and methodologies applied to the study of music in this context.

The plenary session will be offered by CSIC researcher Josep Martí and will mark the inauguration of the conference. Entitled “Not Without My Music: music as a social fact”, the musician and cultural anthropologist will explain how music has the capacity not only to suggest identities, social orders and exchanges, but is also capable of co-generating them. In addition, Gerd Grupe, researcher at Kunst Universität, will offer a plenary session on “From Tacit to Verbalized Knowledge. Towards a Culturally Informed Musical Analysis of Central Javanese Karawitan”. Lecturer Jordi Casadevall will offer a workshop on Gamelan (a traditional instrumental set from Indonesia) at the Museum of Music of Barcelona.

The conference, with the support of the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, is organised jointly by the research group egolab-GRAFO, from the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, the Research Group in Anthropology and Artistic Practices (GRAPA), the Research Group in Music of Contemporary Societies (MUSC), the Milà i Fontanals Foundation (IMF-CSIC) and the Museum of Music of Barcelona.

More information: Programme for the Conference on Ethnomusicology and Anthropology of Music