ABSTRACT. In this panel, we will explore the complex dynamics of migratory musical flows between Brazil and Europe. Since the beginning of the 20th century until today, Brazilian and Portuguese musicians have crossed the Atlantic Ocean in search of opportunities, carrying with them a wealth of sounds that resonate in the host contexts and reverberate in the original one. Throughout the session, we will examine and contrast a set of strategies adopted by some of those artists to establish themselves in new territories, both at a musical and social level. We will address this problem through four case studies in which both individual musicians and musical groups, through their musical practices, are not only impacted by the new context but also act as agents of transformation in their surroundings. The panel will address key issues, such as the paths and strategies adopted by migrant musicians to continue their profession in the host context. Additionally, the institutionalization of musical activity in both the countries of origin and destination and how it contributes to the development of musical expressions rooted in the migrants' experiences, will also be discussed.

1. Musical Journeys: Artists in Overseas Transit during the Era of Mechanical Recording (1902-1927):

Throughout the 20th century, phonographic industries unprecedentedly intensified the circulation of music between countries and territories with Lusophone heritage. Local music genres such as samba and maxixe in Brazil, and fado in Portugal, were promoted through musical industry to the symbolic status of national music, becoming part of a vast and complex system of transoceanic circulation. This presentation will address three musicians who played a key role in building sonic bridges between Brazil and Portugal during the early phase of phonography, whose trajectories are largely forgotten due to technological obsolescence. These are artists whose productions actively contributed to the construction of shared sonic imaginaries and who moved between Portuguese and Brazilian artistic contexts in the early decades of the 20th century, participating in the emerging entertainment industry. The presentation is part of the project "Liber Sound: Recorded Music, Transcontinental Experiences, Connected Communities," which proposes the liberation of musical heritage stored in obsolete sound carriers with the aim of providing memory reactivation through innovative archiving processes. The project is developed at INET-md of the University of Aveiro (Portugal).

2. Echoes from Brazil: Unraveling the Influence of Brazil on Amalia Rodrigues' Artistic Journey (1944 – 1949):

Amália Rodrigues's first visit to Brazil occurred in 1944, with a series of notable performances at the Casino Copacabana, on the radio, and in the main theatres in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The following year, Amália recorded the first albums of her career in the same city by the Continental label, a milestone that led to the dissemination of her voice in domestic settings and, later, worldwide. This paper aims to trace Amália's paths in Brazil during the first five years of her activity in the country (1944-1949), observing the reasons and contexts that led her to record her first albums in Brazilian lands and not in Portugal. How was the circulation of Fado and its audience in Brazil at that time? Had other Portuguese Fado musicians already migrated to Brazil to perform concerts and record albums? What effects did Amália's release in the Brazilian record industry have on her career and on Fado? These are some questions that guide my research. Amália's artistic trajectory is widely documented in biographies and audio-visual productions. Her presence is also noted in academic works in areas such as literary studies, marketing, and cultural sciences. However, in the field of Ethnomusicology, there are no productions dedicated to addressing the importance of Brazil in her career. Therefore, I will present a topic that is still little studied but of fundamental importance not only to better understand the career of this influential Fado singer but also the musical exchanges that she promoted.

3. Empowering and Integrating Migrants in Host Countries through Forró Festivals:

This paper presents the early-stage research about forró festivals in Europe. As an accordionist, forró player, Brazilian and recently inserted into the context of forró festivals in Europe, I have been developing an investigation whose main methodology is performative ethnography, in which I actively participate, collaborating artistically with my interlocutors. Forró is a performative practice that involves music and dance. Its history is linked to a series of mobilities: between contexts, social classes and modes of production and listening. In 2021, forró was classified as intangible heritage in Brazil and reached a transnational scale in the 21st century, with great expression in European countries. In 2023, we counted 57 forró festivals in Europe. These festivals constitute spaces for the circulation and strengthening of a transnational community of forró, formed not only by Brazilian immigrants, but also by individuals from the host communities. Through these spaces, Brazilian immigrant musicians build a musical job market, subverting the logic of the migrant seeking work offered by host communities. Discussions about "affective work" and the "economy of festivals" provide us with important references to analyze this context. In this presentation, I aim to understand how immigrants, through heritage festivals, aggregate musicians and dancers from the host community and provide work for themselves. To do this, I observed one of the biggest forró festivals in Europe: Forró Douro (Porto, Portugal). Through my participation as musician and researcher in forró festivals, I have crosscutted stage, backstage and audience spaces. I will discuss how forró festivals have become fields of material and immaterial labor and how they accommodate bottom-up strategies to promote self-empowerment and integration of migrants in host countries.

4. Diversity of processes in Choro´s Institutionalization in Europe based on pedagogical action and communities of practice:

This work addresses the institutionalization processes surrounding Choro in Europe. Choro is an urban musical genre that emerged in Brazil during the 19th century. From the beginning of the 2000s choro undergone several modifications and achieved significant prominence on the European continent. This paper will discuss several actions carried out by groups and individuals in Europe, which enhance, feed, and in some cases, anticipate the institutionalization of choro, whether formally or informally. These actions include festivals, concerts, meetings, teaching and learning actions like private lessons and workshops. I note that the ability to create and maintain such actions enabled the creation of "Choro Clubs" and "Choro Schools", presented in several European cities, such as Paris, Toulouse, Munich, Porto, Lisbon and Rotterdam. In this presentation Choro is adressed as a social ecosystem, composed of a network of individuals and mediators who constantly attribute meanings and symbolic constructions to this musical practice. I also present some pedagogical initiatives developed in this context of choro, supported by the concept of community of practice coined by the theorists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger. In many of the choro institutions that emerged in Europe teaching and learning choro is their inherent action. This paper is a result of my doctoral research, where I developed multi-sited fieldwork in institutions in Europe that carry out formal and informal activities around Choro.

ABSTRACT. The Tibetan Yungdrung Bön tradition claims that it predates Indian Buddhism in Tibet and that it originated in Zhangzhung. The Bön founding Buddha, Tönpa Shenrab, regarded men and women as equal. Consequently, monks and nuns of Yungdrung Bön have the same doctrinal and ritual authority, even if the monks are seen to be more prominent than their female counterparts. Since the 1959 Chinese invasion of Tibet, some Bon monks and nuns can be found in the Tibetan Bon settlement of Dholanji, a relatively remote settlement in Himachal Pradesh sourrounded by Hindu villages, and far from the Tibetan Buddhist traditions that are concentrated in Dharamsala. In this relatively displaced and isolated environment, the ritualistic training of the nuns has flourished and is gradually becoming more evident and respected, in deliberate contrast to the cultural practices to which both monks and nuns were previously accustomed. What motivates young women and girls to enter a Yungdrung Bön nunnery and engage in ritual chanting and music, and what is it that makes both lay people and monks value these nuns and their chanting so highly?

In my paper, I will argue that the motivation for women and girls to become nuns is often either their own or their parents’ desire for them to receive an education. I will also consider why the Bön religious authorities, monks, and lay people attribute to the singing nuns a superior ability to protect and heal through their connection with the divinities.

Christiane Strothmann has conducted 4 years of field research on ritual music in the Tibetan Bön settlement of Dholanji. She completed her doctoral thesis in 2022 and has recently published a book based on her thesis: Learning from a Monastic Musician: Masters of Chant and the Function of Ritual Music in the Tibetan Bön Tradition.

ABSTRACT. In studies of sacred soundscapes in modern public spaces, the effectiveness of ritual music is often believed to have faded away under modernity (Sykes 2015: 382). In contemporary China, the practices of rituals and music in villages upholding clan traditions have been greatly impacted by rapid modernization. Rural-urban population migration since the 1980s once resulted in the dispersion of village bands that used to accompany ancestral ceremonies due to the lack of male players. However, with the growing personal wealth earned in the city, villagers now, in turn, generously contribute to the financial needs for holding ancestral ceremonies. This paper, therefore, discusses the function and efficacy of ritual music, taking Paiziluo music popularized in villages of central China as an example. Despite its depleted repertoire and decreased participation in ritual processes, Paiziluo music remains in the ritual space centering on the ancestral temple, representing the traditionality of the ceremony. Although not being musically appreciated by locals anymore, villagers argue for the efficacy of Paiziluo music at ancestral ceremonies, driven by their imaginations of and nostalgia for the collective past. It has been argued that Chinese villagers advocate their own public authority by building ancestral temples and constructing their collective memory alongside state ideology (Feuchtwang 2001: 249). Considering a broader range of sonic materials (Novak 2015), including music, noise, linguistic utterances, as well as written texts in ritual spaces, this paper further explores how these ritual necessities help mediate the negotiation of ritual legitimacy among the traditionality of collective history, local authority, state ideologies, and modern forces such as social trends and economic resources.

References: Feuchtwang, Stephan. 2001. The Imperial Metaphor: Popular Religion in China. Surry: Curzon Press. Novak, David. 2015. “Noise.” In Keywords in Sound, edited by David Novak and Matt Sakakeeny 125-138. Durham: Duke University Press. Sykes, Jim. 2015. “Sound Studies, Religion, and Public Space: Tamil Music and the Ethical Life in Singapore.” Ethnomusicology Forum 24 (3): 380–413.

ABSTRACT. Ethnographic descriptions of Chinese Buddhist rituals are important accounts that contributes critical insights into the contexts in which music are used in such rituals. Various travellers, such as missionaries and diplomats, traversed across the great Chinese empire during the 18th and 19th centuries, and would later go on to publish their observations and experiences on life in China. These discourses provide invaluable perspectives on regional customs and landscapes, thus enriching contemporary understanding of China's historical milieu. In this paper, I seek to further develop a historiography of the music used in Chinese Buddhist rituals, and to examine the influence that location has had on religious musical practices.

This paper first scrutinizes travel narratives from the 18th to early-20th centuries, illuminating the role of music in Chinese Buddhist rituals and, more broadly, its function in other religious practices. These descriptions are then geographically classified to discern regional musical idiosyncrasies in ritual music and determine any universally shared features across temples in disparate Chinese regions. The paper then presents a comparative study of the data against descriptions of modern-day Chinese Buddhist musical practices to form a more comprehensive understanding of ritual music activity across different environments and time periods. I conclude by summarising any findings on musical shifts and continuity in the use of music in Chinese Buddhist rituals and evaluate its relationship with geographic location.

ABSTRACT. Guangdong Music (also known as Cantonese music), a distinguished genre of traditional silk and bamboo music, predominates in the Pearl River Delta and the Guangfu dialect region, with Guangzhou as its nucleus. This genre stands as a pillar of Lingnan's folk cultural heritage. Throughout its evolution, Guangdong music absorbed various cultural influences, transitioning from an obscure art form in the late Qing Dynasty to a mainstream musical style by the early 20th century, earning widespread acclaim. The 1920s and 1930s marked a critical phase in its historical development, during which the genre flourished and matured. He Liutang, a seminal figure from this era, played a pivotal role in the evolution of Guangdong music. This study employs historical research, fieldwork and musical analysis to elucidate He Liutang’s background, contributions, and historical achievements, thereby enriching the understanding of Guangdong music’s genesis and progression. Regrading to research findings, an examination of his adapted works has revealed the dynamics and specific attributes of stylistic changes in Cantonese music in the early 20th century. Further, an analysis of He Liutang’s original compositions underscored his unique contributions and innovations within the framework of traditional cultural amalgamation. This research offers both practical and scholarly insights, facilitating the exploration and innovation of traditional musical culture in contemporary settings.

ABSTRACT. Teachers' language and behaviour are essential ways to construct learning situations and convey learning materials, and humour, as a form of communication, is undoubtedly a powerful tool for teachers. Using some form of humour in the classroom can help students increase and maintain interest and attention in the subject matter, creating a more engaging classroom. However, not all forms of humour have a positive impact on students. Conversely, some forms of humour can lead to ridicule, isolation, ostracism, and rejection. Humour can sometimes be aggressive; it emphasizes the power distance between teachers and students, arouses fear and shame in the target audience, or induces schadenfreude in both the audience and the sender. In China, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and other schools have different views on humour. The drag between different philosophies complicates the deep-rooted appreciation of humour in Chinese culture, which makes Chinese people very ambivalent about humour. The main goal of this article is to elucidate how Chinese teachers' humorous behaviour in classroom settings creates humiliation and impacts students' identities and relationships. In order to give students a better educational experience and sense of self-actualization, this paper constructs the complexity of self-discourse types according to the experiences and feelings of different students. Thus, it implies the problems existing in the management construction and power distribution of higher education in China and the future development ideas.

ABSTRACT. Ethnomusicologists have long sought out musical-cultural concepts and terminology of their subjects, seen in the glossaries essential to musical ethnographies. However, these efforts have largely underscored differences among "local knowledge," rather than forming cross-culturally significant "focal points" sharable among musical civilizations. Stephen Blum, in his new book (2023), and Shen Qia, in his 42nd ICTM World Conference keynote address (2013), both call for compilation of a worldwide music theory thesaurus. This task is important: our efforts towards "decolonization" promote conservation and sustainable development of local music, and we aim to build a platform for mutually understandable heteroglossic music theory, whereby musical concepts from different societies and self-expression of musicking by culture bearers are fully communicated, the use and meaning of words in different cultures and languages can thus be further assessed at the level of mutual understanding of difference. Otherwise, if we only discuss ethical justice, the power of discourse, social action, and expansion of the local music market at a political ideological level, it will ultimately be difficult to counter globalization of Western discourses of art music analysis. Here I report on a move towards this goal within the China context. In 2015, I organized a group of young ethnomusicologists to collect, collate and compile the Dictionary of China Musical ldioms, which will be published how contexts for idioms and musical soon. This paper shares our compilation methodology—how contexts for idioms and musical proverbs are communicated as thoroughly as possible. We emphasize internal variability of multi-ethnicity in China music, tacit knowledge in mechanisms of oral transmission, and a comparative perspective among ethnic groups, regions, and genres. Through sharing of musical perception, sound use and sound expression, and acquisition of idioms directly related to sound musical terms defined by culture-bearers, our knowledge and mutual understanding are deepened, and comparative data regarding musical discourses and representations provided.

ABSTRACT. In Spring 2024, Graz Opera invited residents of Styria to participate in the urban culture of Austria’s opera world in their own towns. Sixteen performances of a newly composed opera in Styrian dialect, based on the local legend of the Schöckl mountain spirit, took place in libraries, community theatres, and small-town auditoria. Intended to demonstrate that opera can be cheap, mobile, and meaningfully local, this opera was also designed to draw regional audiences to the city and the Graz Opera. Only the first half of the work was performed locally, the conclusion of this operatic reconceptualization of the legend was presented once at a grand finale at the Graz Opera in May 2024. I conducted ethnographic observation and interviews with audience, performers, and the creative team throughout the whole project. While performances received resounding applause and engagement in the after-production discussions, a surprising number of respondents did not attend the final performance in Graz, which rendered the marketing success and goals for the popularization of opera through the production partially unmet. Nonetheless, the project raised important research questions. What did opera mean to audiences and performers when it was performed in small towns in Styria? What impact did the localization of the opera – through story, language, performance location – have on the reception of opera as a type of “classical” musical performance? Preliminary research results suggest that opera/classical music was already familiar to most in the audience. Pride in hosting such an event at ‘home’ was stronger than the desire to go to Graz to learn the conclusion of the story. The use of local dialect made the experience especially amusing and appealing, causing audiences to feel closer to the actors and their story. For most, the experience was neither exotic nor normal but rather surprisingly fun, even excellent.

ABSTRACT. Creative approaches to composition and arrangement in Irish traditional music have become fundamental to Irish traditional performance practice in modern society, many of these incorporating Western musical influences along with various examples of cultural hybridity (McAvoy, 2018). The dichotomy surrounding the dual competencies of the oral tradition non-textual aesthetics in contrast to the non-orally orientated Western performance practices presents diverse independent characteristics. Based on continuous fieldwork, this paper will explore how certain composers and performers interface both of these musical worlds into their works, along with how they address any disparities that arise in the process.

The creativity and a certain ‘looseness’ associated with the oral creative process in Irish traditional music, and also how the “creative impulse lives in the moment of performance itself” (Ní Shíocháin, 2009) will be highly relevant throughout this paper whilst exploring the ways in which these composers and musicians competently interface these musical worlds. Bi-musicality (Hood, 1960) plays a pivotal role in their creative endeavours. In relation to Irish traditional dance music, the limitations of music notation (Cook, 2013), as well as the significance of bowing (Cranitch, 2008) and rhythmic enunciation will be explored with focus on the distinct characteristics of each musical tradition. The benefits of both their formal and informal learning (Folkestad, 2006) throughout their careers will be examined, displaying how this has greatly augmented the dual competencies of these composers and musicians.

Elaborating on the topic of creativity in music (Bayley, 2017; Hill, 2018) and the creative process in Irish traditional music (Ó Súilleabháin, 1990), the aesthetic values of creative and compositional practices will be explored in depth, with particular focus on how they interact, co-exist and combine to create new cross-cultural arrangements drawing on Irish traditional practices

ABSTRACT. A master of the spoken word, a faithful guardian of oral tradition and the undisputed guardian of ancestral customs, the griot plays an extremely important social role in Mandingo society. His status makes him the most enlightened and closest advisor to the king, the prince, and today's politicians. The village of Kéla is located some 100 km southwest of Bamako in Mali. The village of Kéla is home to a large community of griots (jeliw), most of whom belong to the Diabaté family. Their mastery of the jeliya (the Mandenka griot tradition) is recognized throughout West Africa, and many griots come from all over to stay, sometimes for several years, in the hope of becoming either a master lyricist or singer. Among the Mandings in West Africa, oral tradition is still dominant. Conventional speeches and songs of praise are produced by griots and passed down orally from generation to generation. With modernization and the emergence of music schools in Mali, many musical artists such as Salif KEITA have created their own music inspired by the griots, but without necessarily going through the griot school. However, griots, the masters of the spoken word, still hold the privilege of singing and playing certain musical instruments better than others. What's left of the music of yesteryear, generally sung on special occasions to special people (having demonstrated bravery or nobility) that is currently under the strong sway of modernity? In this film, we look at the role of the griot in African tradition and the new challenges of modernity.

ABSTRACT. Film 1: Music in the Mountain Kingdom (8:52). The film crew goes in search of musicians still performing little-remembered Lesotho instruments featured in the clay figurines commission by Percival Kirby, renowned colonial collector of Sub-Saharan instruments, and made by Lesotho clay figurine artist Samuele Makhoanyane. A poignant film about people who live on the margins of society yet continue to play these national instruments, mostly forgotten by the modern world of digital technology. Film 2: Riel Dance (10:20) showcases an ancient rural dance tradition in southern Africa. This dance has experienced a revival during the mid-200s through annual competitions and when one of the groups wins gold at the World Championships of Performing Arts in 2015 in Los Angeles, the dance is catapulted onto the international stage. Still a rural form of entertainment and competition, it has not yet been commercialised although the competitions and the recent international focus have stimulated its revival and more younger people are involved in its sustenance. Film 3: Performing Respectability (10 mins) showcases the colourful Christmas Bands Movement in Cape Town, one of three parading practices in the city. Typically comprising family networks and wind band instruments, this century-old tradition continues to thrive in the twenty-first century. Through interviews with band members, we come to understand the significance of the community practice in the lives of band members and the larger community. Although from a marginalised community in the political landscape of South Africa, the band members build community through musical performance, annual parades and competitions. Together these three films, although quite different in their subject matter and contextually, contribute towards an awareness of lesser-known music and dance practices in southern Africa.

ABSTRACT. In my video presentation, I will discuss my film documentary, Gone to the Village: Royal Funerary Rites for Asantehemaa Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II, within the broader framework of Asante history and embodied experience as a manifestation of its musical and allied arts. Filmed on location in Kumase during the funerary rites of the Asantehemaa in January and December 2017, we witness traditions that have stubbornly and proudly resisted the onslaught of colonial rule and globalization. Exceptional scenes of singing, drumming, instrumental and verbal poetry, and dress code will highlight Asante past in the present.

ABSTRACT. At the end of 2019, an interdisciplinary and international research team was created with the aim of conducting research on the different types of porros that can be found today in Colombia. Led by Juan Sebastian Ochoa (Universidad de Antioquia), the Colombian team, subsidized by Minciencias, was made up of 8 co-researchers from several Colombian universities and institutions in Medellin, Cartagena, Bogota and Monteria. The Quebec team, led by Ons Barnat (University of Quebec in Montreal) joined the Colombian team in 2020 to participate in the transcription phase of the porros pieces which would give birth to the recording of 3 discs of porros (traditional porros, rearranged porros in guitar-voice format, and electronic porros). In addition, the Quebec team, funded by the FRQSC, was able to carry out 2 virtual reality experiences, filmed in San Pelayo in 2022 during their first research fieldwork after the pandemic, as well as a virtual instrument (a virtual gaita which was sampled in the anechoic chamber of the Music Department of UQAM), as well as a 35-minute film, entitled "El Porro es Rey", which features 5 co-researchers of the project. In addition to having allowed the creation of several types of outcomes (book, discs, virtual reality experiences, film and virtual instrument), this international-based and collaborative research-creation project was able to use an extremely promising methodology for all types of ethnomusicological research seeking to move away from the “scholarly ethnic recordings” which have marked the discipline since its beginnings.

ABSTRACT. Khele is a traditional call associated with the Talesh people of Iran. Its origin lies in the geographical and occupational needs of Talesh individuals engaged in farming, ranching, and maritime activities. Today, khele is featured in local concerts within the region, embodying nostalgic reflections on rural life. My research, based on Talesh studies literature and fieldwork, reveals significant transformations in the Talesh rural community over the past fifty years due to urbanization, technological advancements, and shifting lifestyles (Shokouri 2003; Abdoli 2007; Tavana and Amir Entekhabi 2007; Bazin 2015). Through interviews, ethnographic, and netnographic research, I have discovered that khele remains intertwined with the daily life, traditions, and changes of the Talesh rural community. In this presentation, I will also explore the role of khele in the context of the Talesh people's seasonal migration. Second, I will discuss the impact of the transformation of the Talesh rural community on the practice of khele. Lastly, I will investigate how khele has gained a new significance in musical settings, serving as a reminder of the Talesh community's rural origins. Despite its reduced practical use in everyday life, khele retains cultural importance, connecting the community to its traditions, land, and history.

ABSTRACT. In a place of two distinct musical traditions, overlapping members of the Tongan and British brass banding movements struggle to construct senses of place and belonging within two disciplines that are ideologically at odds. Ideals of worship and service at the core of ifi Tonga (Tongan banding) push up violently against values of competition and individualism of ifi Pālangi (British banding). After tracing a brief history of brass banding in Tonga and and its diaspora in Aotearoa through the limited materials available, I contextualize the analyses of three long-form interviews of members of this overlapping community, as well as fieldwork performed at the New Zealand Brass Band National Championships and Auckland Regional Championship in 2022. These three interviews are the centrepiece of this research. Inspired by discussions of the dynamic, collaborative and volatile role of the modern ethnographer (Miller 2012, Sunardi 2015, Lassiter 2001, Widdess 1994), I present this project as an audiovisual collaborative dialogue between myself and the interviewees. Together, we argue and explore how their cultural displacement and tension of ideals, rather than further alienate them, forces them to form unique identities in-between the traditions of ifi Tonga and ifi Pālangi. The interviewees construct for themselves a place of belonging defined strictly by their sense of disconnection from their own communities. However, it is through this construction, not despite it, that the interviewees feel they are able to form a more fortified sense of their cultural identity. Placing themselves in the space in-between allows them to reconcile, reconnect to, and reclaim their musical spaces. As the connection between Aotearoa and its Pacific neighbours continues to grow, observing and analysing these connections and ambivalent positionings in constructions of place and belonging will only become more important in the national cultural landscape of Aotearoa.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the role of music in a small Christian community its origin was in Lebanon and in the nineteenth century moved to the Galilee in northern Israel. The community presented here is the Greek-Orthodox community located in the Arab village of Sakhnin in the Galilee. This community consists of eight hundred people that live in an Arab town of Muslim Arabs that consists of thirty thousands citizens. The study presented here found that this community struggles to preserve its unique religious and cultural identity as a small community within two majority groups – the Muslim Arab society of their town and the Jewish society of the Israeli state. The main issue of the paper is the significant role of the liturgical and paraliturgical music performed in the church of this community as a tool of preservation of cultural and personal identity. The music of this Church will be described mainly by presenting the central figures that are active in the music of the church. The paper will describe their different narratives concerning the musical situation in the church and the ways to keep the tradition of this community. We will also refer to the influence of the cultural environment on the music of this church. The study presented here is based on fieldwork that has continued for the last five years. It includes regular participant observations in the religious services on Sundays and the holidays, active participation in lessons and meetings of the church choir and interviews with the main figures of this church and with members of the community.

ABSTRACT. By employing ethnographic research (interviews and participant-observation), this study discusses and analyses the ways in which two of my family members (my grandmother and my cousin) experience and used/use music in their daily lives. The results stress what research on this topic has indicated, illustrating that some of the most common functions of music in people’s lives include social bonding, mood regulation and identity formation. An additional function includes dealing with grief. I have created a matrix to organize the findings of my study and that will hopefully be employed into future studies on the field of music in everyday life. This study is inspired by Tia DeNora’s fascinating work on music in everyday life. As addressed by DeNora (2000), the connection between music and society was acknowledged in Howard Becker’s Art Worlds (1982), which revealed a trend that had been developing since the 1970’s in American scholarship (the “production of culture”) by Richard Peterson (1976), Lewis Coser (1978), Janet Wolff (1981) and Vera Zolberg (1990) (DeNora, 2000). T.W. Adorno was the most noteworthy advocate of this approach in the field of music (DeNora, 2000) (see Adorno, 1967; 1973; 1976). Adorno believed that music, a force in social life, was connected to cognitive behaviours, means and building of consciousness, historical advancements, and social structure (DeNora, 2000, 2003). The roles that music played/plays in my family member’s lives are common themes of music consumption, which are underpinned by the literature on each topic (refer to the paragraph above to see some important references). Although my family members’ past life experiences, ages and current lives are very different from each other, music still had and has some similar functions in their lives.

ABSTRACT. Panel Abstract: The papers in this panel reveal some issues about alternative educational methods in ethnomusicology, including the new research field of "educational ethnomusicology" and the alternative educational methods in three case studies within different social and cultural contexts.

The first paper mainly emphasizes the interrelationship and complementarity between music education and ethnomusicology. To explore the developing trends and possibility of "educational ethnomusicology", this paper will focus on following aspects: the research overview of educational ethnomusicology, the educational ethnomusicology under the applied ethnomusicology, the learning and teaching of educational ethnomusicology.

The second paper examines how an indigenous musician reshapes paiwan music identity in Tjuveljevelj’s hometown in contemporary Taiwan, and how she applies strategies to education in paiwan music. Her workshops bridge different generations in paiwan ethnicity, and other cultures, functioning in two main aspects: to increase the visibility of this instrument, and to encourage indigenous kids to form their identity.

Thus, the main contribution of this panel would engender a multifaceted understanding of the new research field of "educational ethnomusicology" and three case studies within different social and cultural contexts.

Paper title 1: Music, Education and Culture: Trends and Possibilities in the Development of Educational Ethnomusicology

Abstract: The ethnomusicology community has concerned about the issue of music education for a long time, until recent years, the new research field of "educational ethnomusicology" has gradually taken shape. Educational ethnomusicology regards music education as a social behavior from the perspective of cultures. Through the research methods and theories of ethnomusicology, it sorts out the socio-cultural contexts of music education, assists music educators in understanding, interpreting, criticizing, and adjusting music education, and makes music education adapt to the changes of music contexts, so as to achieve the social goals of music education. Although music education and ethnomusicology differ in the concept of academic disciplines, there are also closely linked research materials, methods, and theoretical systems between disciplines, which also promote the connection and integration of the two different disciplines. This paper mainly emphasizes the interrelationship and complementarity between music education and ethnomusicology, such as the nature and basic concept of ethnomusicology and the commonality of music education and culture, so as to understand the correlation between ethnomusicology and music education, and the research on music education in the ethnomusicology field in recent years. To explore the developing trends and possibility of "educational ethnomusicology", this paper will focus on following aspects: the research overview of educational ethnomusicology, the educational ethnomusicology under the applied ethnomusicology, the learning and teaching of educational ethnomusicology, the fields covered by educational ethnomusicology, and the possibility of the development of educational ethnomusicology in the Chinese contexts.

Paper title 2: Enculturation of Tradition: The Cultivation of Performers of Gua-a-hi Troupes in Taiwan

Abstract: With the development of the Western classical music education model in Asia, many schools in Asia have gradually adopted technical training methods from western classical music, and marginalize many Asian traditional music education methodology that were mainly based on "oral transmission" in troupe education. Although traditional music has become a part of official education system in schools, the traditional education methodology as Xiqu is very difficult to be used in the official education system because of conflicts between two systems. This article takes Taiwanese Xiqu named Gua-a-hi as an example to explore the differences in traditional music education between schools and troupes in Taiwan. Firstly, in terms of teaching relationships, schools only have teachers for students, but there are masters or relatives for young learners in troupes. Secondly, teaching forms in schools are mainly collective classes, while troupes usually provide individual guidance. Thirdly, schools mainly train various techniques separately in teaching content, while troupes provide integrated training by performing. Fourthly, schools cultivate students with exquisite stage performance in terms of teaching outcomes, but troupes can cultivate improvised performers. Fifthly, schools follow rigid managements in their teaching system, but troupes are more flexible and autonomous. If schools hire teachers from troupes, there will be conflicts in educational ideas. Today many local traditional Xiqu still active in troupes, and their unique performance styles are passed down through intergenerational enculturation. Therefore, performers trained by troupes inherit tradition while constantly innovating through performances. Ultimately, this raises a reflection on the diversity and equality of traditional music cultivation methods in different educational systems.

ABSTRACT. Digital Humanities offers a set of tools to help humanists, ethno/musicologists, ethnographers, and our students to tell stories in compelling new ways that are accessible not only to the public but, with careful design, can also be collaborative, responsive and accessible to the communities with whom we work. By incorporating multimodalities, multimedia, and diverse ways of visualizing and representing data, Digital Humanities offer greater capacity to center the voices, quite literally, of the performers, audiences, and people we work with. And, equally important, it helps put sound and performative practices at the center of the stories. This workshop explores and questions the dominant modes of representing ethnographic knowledge, arguing that the Digital Humanities help us radically reimagine the ways knowledge is constructed and shared. Not only can multimedia become integral to the project, but digital platforms offer flexibility in modeling the vernacular epistemologies of the sonic, visual, and spatial worlds we investigate, allowing users more proximate access to “the source of knowledge” (Hsu 2013; c.f. Feld & Brenneis 2004).

Many people are interested in the capacity of the Digital Humanities but don’t know where to start. A seasoned Digital Humanist offers a hands-on approach to the process, taking participants behind the scenes to see the moving parts, scalability features, and best practices in designing a digital humanities project. We will explore the merits and limitations of several digital platforms as storytelling tools for student and faculty projects, including Scalar, WordPress, ArcGIS StoryMaps, Omeka, and TimelineJS. We will also discuss the ways in which DH might be evaluated and celebrated both within academic processes of tenure and promotion and within relevant scholarly societies. Ultimately, participants will leave with the hope that the Digital Humanities are a viable and creative platform for knowledge production in 2025.

ABSTRACT. This panel investigates rhythm, belonging, and musical practices in diverse Lusophone contexts including Cabo Verde, Lisbon, and Afro-Brazilian traditions. Interrogating the intricate interplay between musical practices and senses of belonging, the panel sheds light on how musical practices shape identities, foster connections, and navigate the complexities of cultural exchange. Each paper within the panel delves into distinct yet interconnected aspects of this theme. From the beat-making practices of Lisbon's male afro-diasporic DJs and the transcultural resonances of world music singer Cesária Évora's music to the drumming patterns of Cabo Verdean Kolá San Jon and the traditions of Brazilian Quilombola communities, the papers collectively highlight how musical practices shape and negotiate senses of belonging across and within different postcolonial communities. Through ethnographic explorations, musical analyses, and sociocultural examinations, the panelists uncover how Luso-African Black Atlantic rhythms of music, dance, and social interactions serve as both expressions and creators of belonging that transcend geographical and social boundaries. By considering the complexities of cultural exchange and social engagement apparent in these musical practices, the panel offers insights into the role of music in shaping individual and collective identities within the Lusophone world.

Paper 1: Reflecting on Cesária Évora's Musical Affect: Weaving Threads of Belonging with Nostalgia, Rhythms, and Memories. Cesária Évora (1941-2011), a singer from Cabo Verde with numerous award-winning albums and world tours, was a somewhat unlikely global superstar. She was a small, late middle-aged woman of color from an unfamiliar place when she was discovered in the mid-1980s. Nevertheless, Cesária became a beloved figure worldwide as a musical ambassador for Cabo Verde. Cesária sang mornas (slow ballads) and koladeiras (lively dance songs) in her native language Kriolu, yet her musical messages nevertheless spoke across borders, tugging the heartstrings of listeners faraway. Why did her music speak to international audiences? I discuss here Cesária Évora’s communicative strengths and detail how a confluence of sociocultural global factors and individual agency helped Cesária achieve her full potential as the iconic “Barefoot Diva.” Cesária always remained grounded in her culture, yet she became a world citizen; albeit one who believed in the innate equality of all people and rejected hierarchies based on geographical or social origins. I maintain that while outsiders were initially drawn to her as the exotic other, they ended up identifying with Cesária as a fellow human being and learned something profound about themselves in the process (not unlike tourists who travel abroad and learn from experiencing the hospitality of others). Cesária extended hospitality to her audiences, opening her heart and arms to all listeners with her sorrowful mornas and high-spirited koladeiras. Empathizing with deep emotions expressed through such songs, outsiders and cultural insiders remembered their own joys and losses and connected as members of shared humanity. Cabo Verdean music’s familiar African Diaspora rhythms, structures, and gestures resonated with listeners, rejuvenating memories, and solidifying connections. In sum, I contextualize Cesária Évora’s reception at home and abroad as a groundbreaking, unique world music artist (1988-2009) while addressing the complexity of her legacy for Cabo Verdean musicians today.

Paper 2: "My son is also a DJ, he’s 8 years old”. How Lisbon DJs of African Descent Produce Beats, Knowledge and Masculinities Since 2013 Lisbon, the metropolis of the former Portuguese empire, has been put to the forefront of international avantgarde EDM outlets such as CTM, Unsound, Nyege Nyege, Boilerroom or Berghain by DJs like Marfox, Maboku or Firmeza. They produce their electronic dance musicstyles kuduro, tarraxinha or afrohouse (subsumed under "batida do gueto") in Lisbon‘s Angolan, Bissau-Guinean or Santomean immigrant communities in peripheral neighborhoods like Quinta do Mocho. Their tracks circulate via mobile phones and internet communities in Lisbon and reached the dancefloors of international hipster clubs via the Príncipe label. This paper situates Lisbon batida within the larger context of sound system cultures of the Black Atlantic (Alisch 2017) and foregrounds practical knowledge of beat-production in light of marginalised masculinities (Connell 2004). DJ Amorim is an Angolan DJ in Lisbon who was influential in the early 2000s through his „megamix“ compilations (Alisch 07 2022). DJ Marfox, the scene‘s foremost protagonist, states Amorim’s mixes as an important inspiration. Marfox moved to Quinta do Mocho to live in this hotspot for beatmaking (ibid.). This neighbourhood was built in 1990s to house people who‘d fled exacerbating wars and poverty in former Portuguese colonies in Africa. In their hyper-local Lisbon networks, younger DJs like DJ Maboku, DJ Firmeza or DJ Liocox share knowledge and teach their male younger peers and family members how to produce beats and DJ. The DJ Crew "Piquenos DJs do Gueto" (Little DJs of the Ghetto) namend themselves after the DJ crew "DJs do Gueto"(DJs of the Ghetto), whom they admired. During interviews and thick participation (Spittler 2001) around studios and on dancefloors since 2012, the Lisbon beatmakers often cited important elder figures who inspired them and also spoke of their own sons as active or aspiring DJs. This paper thus conceptualises how Lisbon batida DJs construe masculinity through generation.

Paper 3: Rhythms of Belonging - Sounded Affiliations in Cabo Verdean Kolá San Jon This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the performative and sound poetics of Cabo Verdean Kolá San Jon, focusing on different San Jon drumming patterns as technologies of spatialization and belonging. Following sociologist Vanessa May, “belonging” can be understood as “the process of creating a sense of identification with, or connection to, cultures, people, places and material objects” (2011, 3). Belonging describes a “feeling at ease” with these relations although it is “at times, a fiercely contested social and political issue that has tangible consequences” (2011, 3). Belonging emphasizes a phenomenologically informed understanding of identity and stresses the importance of relations to others. This paper brings into sharp relief the practices of San Jon drummers on São Vicente as means of creating and negotiating different senses of belonging. Central to this is the term toka which is used to denote specific drumming patterns as well as the act of playing Kolá San Jon as such. I examine how toka become vehicles for senses of belonging during the festas juninas on São Vicente. First, I show how senses of belonging are formed through learning and acculturation. Second, I discuss the aesthetics of Kolá San Jon in relation to both sound and material aspects. Finally, I provide a close examination of the various drumming patterns played during the festas juninas. I will demonstrate that these tokas express multiple forms of belonging. What I propose is an understanding of the toka as sounded affiliation. As sociologist Julia Bennett contends, “[b]elonging is also rhythmic”. To understand belonging, one must understand the relations to place, time, and community (2015, 956). I argue that through a close examination of drumming practices, the rhythms of belonging in Kolá San Jon shed light on the more intricate relations to place, time, and community in Cabo Verde.

Paper 4: Txôru, Résa, Trabadju i Festa: cosmopolitics of musicking across the Atlantic In Cabo Verde Islands, traditional festivities known as Tabanca (Santiago) or Kolá Son Jon (Santo Antão) are defined as a brotherhood, a sisterhood or even a confraternity that supports the fostering of mutual aid among its members through happy and sad moments of life. Conceived as territory-based organizations, the relational conception of these institutions requires processes of mobility which are essential to their survival as they regulate the most important aspects in the lives of their members and communities. They establish prescribed forms of behavior on the important occasions of social life. Therefore, these institutions coordinate substantial part of agricultural work, the collective activities for cleaning the fields (djunta môn) based on solidarity and reciprocity among their members. But, most importantly, they provide original forms of sociability and conviviality for social groups who do not have access to the modes in use by local elites. In other words, through these organizations one learns to mourn, pray, work, celebrate, and live in community. On the other side of the Atlantic, in the semi-arid region of the Piaui State, Brazil, the Caatinga holds the fourth major Quilombola territory of the country (IBGE, 2022). The socio-productive organization through Território Quilombo Lagoas, for instance, converges to a broad mesh of reciprocity that has guaranteed for centuries the reproduction of structures of confluences which are characteristic to Afro-Brazilian populations. This work proposes a debate on the cosmopolitics of musicking reverberated in all dimensions of Quilombola traditions, and how they echo with tabanca and kolá Son Jon institutions through resonances and discontinuities perceived during fieldwork activities. I argue that these cultural manifestations are oriented by holistic perspectives – relational-guided, diversity-conscious, and equality-friendly – that provide structures of belonging and celebrate hospitality through transnational frequencies and rhythms of belonging.

ABSTRACT. In her Palanca Award-winning essay, Filipino professor Rosario Cruz-Lucero asserts that “it is only when we are deeply rooted in our own intellectual and creative traditions can we create an art and literature that will make a mark on our economic structures in a more profound and radical way than technological and political changes can ever do” (Lucero 2007). One of Philippine’s creative traditions that is embedded within the Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) and is crucial for both cultural maintenance and socioeconomic survival is bamboo (kawayan) music, such as that of Talaandig indigenous community. Talaandig’s IKS is a “holistic and integrated framework” (Saway 1998) that relates to the “sustainable management and utilisation of biological resources in the environment” (ibid.), therefore complementing with ecomusicological approaches focusing on interconnectedness and interdependence of elements. In this paper, I aim to explore bamboo music’s role in cultivating resilience and sustainability by combining ethnographic contextualisation, Talaandig indigenous cultural framework of Agpangan, the eco-trope model-metaphor (Titon 2023), resilience theories, and music analysis of bamboo musical instruments’ elastic materiality serving as sonic markers. For the Talaandig tribe, bamboo music strengthens their environmental advocacies, economic pursuits, and empowerment to reaffirm their identity according to their own perception and proclamation.

References

Lucero, Rosario Cruz. 2007. “The Music of Pestle-on-Mortar” [in] Ang Bayan sa Labas ng Maynila. Quezon City: Ateneo University Press.

Saway, Datu Migketay Victorino L. 1998. “Indigenous Knowledge System and Survival of the Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines.” Talamdan – Views on Mount Kitanglad, Philippines, Official Publication of the Kitanglad Integrated NGOs (KIN). Vol. 3, No. 2, Second Quarter 1998. https://talamdan.wordpress.com/

Titon, Jeff Todd. 2023. “Eco-Trope or Eco-Tripe? Music Ecology Today”, in Aaron S. Allen, and Jeff Todd Titon (eds), Sounds, Ecologies, Musics (New York; online edn, Oxford Academic).

ABSTRACT. The Rebab is the only bowed string instrument in the Central Javanese Gamelan ensemble, playing contrasting decorative melodies; it holds an important position and role in the ensemble, being seen as a leader in melodic aspects. This paper focuses on the performance system and rules of Central Javanese Gamelan music, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between the presentation of Rebab music and the cognitive processes and behaviors of the performers. The Javanese term "rebaban" not only refers to the music played on the Rebab but also signifies a unique method of incorporating Rebab parts into Gamelan music. This method is understood as a way of playing music that adheres to the rules and requirements of Javanese Gamelan music and specific musical pieces. It is linked to an aesthetic tradition with historical and cultural roots, continuously created and developed by individuals. Drawing from two important concepts in the performance tradition of Central Javanese Gamelan music - "garap" and "rasa", this study discusses the various rules, experiential knowledge, improvisational elements, and aesthetic pursuits and expressions in Rebab playing, and interprets these through ontological analysis of specific Gamelan music pieces. The concept of "garap" can encompass the cognitive and behavioral processes of Rebab instrumentalists, involving steps such as analyzing, understanding, interpreting, creating, and enhancing music. Ultimately, it points towards the aesthetic concept of "rasa" as a holistic emotional experiential goal. The Rebab players, based on traditional experiential knowledge, make a series of instant musical choices within a framework of rules and improvisation during performance. This process involves both conventional elements and personal creative factors, directly linked in traditional societal concepts to the performer's individual abilities and level. It is worth emphasizing that the experience derived from "tradition" has gained tremendous energy in the Javanese Gamelan music performance, serving as a guarantee for the inheritance and continuation of traditional ethnic musical styles, while also obtaining lasting vitality and vigor in creative performance practices.

ABSTRACT. In every composition, the latent structures of both music (dhātu) and text (mātu or sāhitya) are intrinsically interconnected. It is only when the two are organized within a precise aesthetic framework by a composer, the composition becomes a vehicle of expression. Therefore, every composition can be analyzed as a multimodal semiotic system from the point of view of music alone, text alone, and music and text together. Composers will have to make several aesthetic decisions to organize music and text such as doubling, halving, and substitution of one prosodic meter with another, usage of metric accents and melodic accents to minimize the musical and prosodic phraseological gaps and enhance the overall singability of the text. This ubiquitous exercise of setting music to text is called text-setting. There are broadly three types of text-settings namely syllabic setting (each syllable is assigned a note), melismatic setting (a syllable is assigned more than one note) and isochronic setting (syllables are repeated in regular intervals without any constraints on the number of notes in each interval). In my paper, I will be discussing how Saint Tyāgarāja treats the explicit interactions between music and text in his first Pancaratna kṛti jagadānandakāraka set to rāga nāṭa, using the framework of Generative Theory of Tonal Music (GTTM). GTTM proposes a rule-based scheme for cognition and interpretation of music. GTTM has been widely applied to study the hierarchical structures of mostly score-based Western art music. In my work, I will show that by making sufficient modifications to the rules of universals of musical grammar proposed in GTTM, it is possible to analyze Non-western music as well. Saint Tyāgarāja (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847) is one among the trinities of South Indian classical music popularly known as Karnatak music. Among all his compositions, his Pancaratna kṛtis occupy a very important place in Karnatak music for their lyrical splendor and melodic magnificence. I will be showing that the tonal and metric configurations employed by the composer to symbolize various imageries, and emotions are not incidental, but ontological.

ABSTRACT. Puppetry, a traditional folk art in China, is a multifaceted discipline that amalgamates melody, repertoire, dance, and visual art, boasting significant historical, artistic, and educational value. Wuhua string puppetry, a variant within this genre, serves as a crucial component of Hakka culture, mirroring the cultural psychology and aesthetic preferences of the Hakka people across various epochs and exhibiting pronounced regional traits. This study adopts an ethnomusicological approach, utilizing both historical research and fieldwork. After delineating the context of Wuhua puppetry, this research focuses on a puppetry workshop in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, as a case study. It examines the organizational structure, personnel dynamics, performance practices, and daily operations of the workshop. Additionally, it provides a comprehensive analysis of the historical evolution, current state of transmission, artistic features, cultural implications, and functional attributes of Wuhua puppetry. Concurrently, it addresses the challenges faced in its preservation, proposing strategies for its safeguarding within the framework of intangible cultural heritage protection. This extensive study of Wuhua puppet theater aims to authentically document and reflect on the enduring legacy of puppet theater culture, contributing insights for the safeguarding and development of puppet theater and folk arts, while offering guidance for the preservation and perpetuation of Chinese traditional culture.

ABSTRACT. Between 1975 and 1981 my wife and I spent four years of fieldwork in Aboriginal camps in the Northern Territory and Western Australia  A trilogy of monographs on Aboriginal music followed.

In 2007, when the Federal Government's Intervention legislation came into force, the population of one camp — at Honeymoon Bore — were compulsorily moved to a site called Ampilatwatja, where they remain. In 2018 the camp leaders (whom we knew as teenagers) asked me to return to discuss what I had recorded, written and published on their music. In stark contrast to the 1970s, ritual life, so I was told was dead. This, however, was not the case thanks to an unexpected event. A re-visit was recently requested.

In 2023, a second community — at Balgo — asked me to return with digitised copies of audio recordings and documentation. One man, grandson of my main co-researcher,  had been identified as the appropriate person to receive the materials. As before, the existence of current ritual activity was initially denied, but this view was subsequently changed on perusing my book. 

At an indigenous level, repatriation was possible only because of a change of  attitude towards accessing photos and recordings of deceased family members and ancestors, a shifting over half a century from anathema to desirable. But my own extramusical credentials were also instrumental, including contributions to land claim hearings, invited participation as a dancer at initiation rituals, siding with the community in an altercation with a local cattle station owner and books foregrounding the indigenous perspective.

I examine these and other issues in the context of the pros and cons of institutional and personal repatriation. 

ABSTRACT. In resonance with global movements toward cultural heritage preservation and sustainability, Taiwan has witnessed a proliferation of initiatives and organizations dedicated to cultural revitalization since the late 20th century, with a notable engagement in music, including ethnic genres. Supported by both local communities and governmental bodies, the endeavor to sustain ethnic traditions through music manifests in various forms in terms of the agendas to the contents of musical practices. However, scholarly investigations into the everyday cultural activities within these communities remain scarce. Focusing on a Hakka music organization involving the elderly community in a rural community in north-central Taiwan, this article explores how ethnic music provides pathways for community identity construction and cultural sustainability. My study is based on interviews and ethnography conducted at the Zhusen (“Bamboo-Forest”) Village Community Development Association in Miaoli County during 2023 and 2024. By scrutinizing this local organization in terms of its sponsorship, content of music sessions, types of activities, participants musical understanding, and its interaction with the broader social context, this paper assesses how music and relevant endeavors advocated and reinforced the community's ethnic identity and cultural sustainability. Furthermore, this study delves into how the activities of an amateur music group contribute to defining the Hakka community and shaping its cultural aesthetics of aging. Preliminary observations on the Zhusen Community suggest that vocal music plays a prominent role in fostering participants' sense of being Hakka. On the other hand, instrumental music offers a diversified cultural and sensory experience, enabling aging participants to imbue reflections on rural life into their evolving ethnic identity. This investigation illuminates the flexible role of music in fostering ethnic identity, community cohesion, and cultural sustainability within the Hakka community, offering insights into the dynamic interplay between tradition and modernity in Taiwan's rural landscapes.

ABSTRACT. The objective of this project is to explore the collaborative methods in preserving the wealth of krung, one of musical resources in Nan province. The curatorial and collaborative methods engaged with the process of developing plans together with artisans, testing the model with stakeholders, adapting to learn the lessons and mistakes in the field, and to implement a longitudinal activity to integrate cultural and biological ecology. Active agents are the only two instrument makers in the village who possess local wisdom of plant identification, wood cutting, forest hiking. Stakeholders are the local administration of the village, local organization of water management, district administration, educational personnel, and high school students and teachers. The model included meetings, forest survey, seminar with local students, collaborative design for a workshop, an instrument making workshop by backward design thinking process, musical instrument design, and a student presentation.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines how Turkmen musicians, within the formal institutions of post-Soviet Turkmenistan, uphold traditional ways of knowledge transmission and performance. Drawing on my experience as an indigenous performer of Turkmen music, I begin by conceptualizing the meanings of “pata” (blessing) and “gaýybana şägirt” (disciple-in-absentia), mystically imbued stages through which an emerging musician is distinguished as exceptional not only technically but also spiritually. By illustrating the ways in which these indigenous methods of transmission find meaning within the state schools of Turkmenistan, I argue that, in practice, these are tactics that aim to subvert an institutionalized rupture with the intimacy and spiritual potency of lineages, which are evoked here through the enduring impact and undiminished cultural presence of absent masters. The account I offer highlights the complexity surrounding musical knowledge transmission, thereby contributing to scholarship (Cohen 2009; Harris 2008; Wilf 2014; Fossum 2015) that challenges assumptions regarding the inadequacy of formal institutions for instruction in traditional arts.

ABSTRACT. Using Regression-Based Analysis in Digital Musicology

Figures can be viewed here: https://imgur.com/a/ZxncRe8 Note: The Imgur account is under a Pseudonym

In this research, I advocate adopting regression-based analysis when visualising data across multiple online platforms such as Spotify and YouTube. Regression-based analysis utilises the concepts of statistical regression (commonly used in fields such as finance or investing) and can be used to visualise musical data. Regression, in financial fields, determines the relationship between two independent variables. As such, there is untapped potential for musical analysis, such as comparing trends in songs released to multiple streaming services. In Fig. 1, regression (an experimental regression model) is used to identify the relationship between Spotify and YouTube streams from songs released in 2020.

In this particular rendition, the blue dots each relate to 148 individual songs that charted in the top 100 songs released on Spotify or music videos uploaded to YouTube. The line represents the average ratio, and this input intends to identify songs with major discrepancies in popularity between platforms. In this case, the outliers include songs that performed well on one platform but fell short of expected views/streams on the second. Using a model built on Python code, the songs and their respective view counts on both platforms can be fed into the program, which then outputs this image, alongside an Excel document listing the songs “by error”, with the Spotify-heavy songs at the top, and the YouTube-heavy ones at the bottom (see fig. 2 and 3).

This method allows for easier identification of key music trends, especially when using large data sets. Regression-based analysis has the potential to break new ground in musicology, as it can assist in visualising and identifying outliers from independent sources.

ABSTRACT. Academic research on the performing arts faces a challenge when it comes to sharing research results due to the dominance of writing as the accepted medium of knowledge dissemination. I argue that digital storytelling (DST), a multi-modal method that can present findings concisely and reach audiences beyond academia by way of ‘ “showing,” rather than “telling'' ’ (Lambert & Hessler, 2018, p. 60), is a suitable alternative medium (especially for those in the arts-based sectors) to the written word.

In this presentation, I will critically analyse existing scholarship on DST, starting from its launching on the StoryCenter's platform up to a recent article by Fu, Mahony and Liu (2023) that offers a new, community-led outlook on the method. I will examine the limitations of DST and suggest its potential in the performing arts, particularly through the inclusion of videos and sonic layers, along with the potential of the preservation of cultural heritage and oral storytelling.

To support my argument, I will draw from my multidisciplinary PhD practice-based research (2021-2024), which investigated the tradition of folk music arrangements for piano in Latvia and the UK. My research led to the creation of a new model of free improvisation for soloists, fused with Latvian folk music and contemporary compositional practices. The model includes experimental improvisation on the piano and the indigenous Latvian folk instrument 'kokle', technological advancements (acoustic microphone/amplifier/electroacoustic reverb filter/loop pedal for 'kokle'), and archival recordings of Latvian folk songs. To reach global audiences beyond academia, I shared my PhD findings through a self-built online platform that includes an interactive component.

References Cited Fu, Y., Mahony, S. and Liu, W. (2023) ‘Reconstruction of cultural memory through digital storytelling: A case study of Shanghai Memory project’, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 38(4), pp. 1522–1535. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqad044. Lambert, J. and Hessler, B. (2018) Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community. 5th edn. Routledge. StoryCenter (no date). Available at: https://www.storycenter.org/

ABSTRACT. New technologies and media have not only become an integral part of our lives, but also an inseparable part of our ethnographic work. Musicians use social media and other digital technologies to represent and market themselves, but also other stakeholders construct and participate in the discourse around these musical practices via these media. Yet, digital natives are experiencing new media in a more intense and more confidential way, perceiving them as an extension of their own reality. This has enabled them not only to construct new mixed and virtual identities, but also to make increasingly clearer the interrelation and interconnectedness between physical and virtual multi-local spaces, and to act more fluidly in their musical practices and knowledge constructions. This appropriation of the virtual worlds, as well as the development of new virtual platforms, provided new spaces to develop new forms of musical practices. I am going to present my work on multimedia music practices exemplified on the app TikTok, in order to discuss methodological and theoretical possibilities and challenges of musical ethnographies in digital worlds. Drawing on reflections of my ethnographic research, I will briefly review the ethnographic model introduced by Alan P. Merriam (1964) to introduce to this model the concept of E3 Internet by Christine Hine (2015), looking to understand the internet and its (musical) practices as a daily, highly embedded, and embodied experience. Proposing to conceive our musical practices as auditory expressions, that different interacting physical and virtual identities perform and experience in asynchronously networked multimedia spaces, I suggest that a digital performance can be, aside from a representation of reality, an integral part of it, and likewise, contribute to the construction of an extended lived world.

ABSTRACT. This paper aims to analyze the Lip-Sync phenomenon within the TikTok application, specifically a lexical variations in Mexico City known as “cantadita”, trying to answer the question: How can we understand from ethnomusicology a network of interrelationships continuously mediatized that restructures the understanding of preferences and social relationship as mediatized action and the user in the TikTok application? How can we understand the audio and its preponderant vocal content within this circulation of ideas and emotions filtered and driven by the cell phone? From a digital ethnography carried out since 2021 in which the dynamics of content creation, publication and relationship building are introduced, attention is focused on the behavior of the body-cellular link and adopting the role of the creator of continuous exposure as a methodological tool in order to visualize the possibilities of reaction, understand the digital practice and concretize connections with possible interlocutors. We found that the reactions and the construction of social relations extends to the possibilities of creation, and this is mediated and strongly impelled. There is a community that consumes, creates synchronicities and feels identified with the "cantadita" way of speaking, with the aesthetics, with the speeches and messages. The reaction and the construction of more publications linked to discourses, ideas and emotions are incentivized in different ways. Synchronization responds to a logic of possibility of response to what is seen with a complex symbolic meaning. The notion of preferences is reconfigured under the dynamics of the cell phone and the app. From this work, questions and necessary questions arise to carry out research within these digital phenomena, reconfiguring notions and methods of data construction, ethnomusicology must rethink its tools to study multidisciplinary sonorus problems.

ABSTRACT. If we see indigeneity as a positioning, this positioning has been excluded from the academic, media, and thus public discourses of China. The Chinese state has been asserting that “there is no indigenous people in China,” even at the United Nations General Assembly meetings after it voted to support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. However, my ethnographic experience with some native tribes inhabiting Southern, Northwestern, and Southwestern China led me to question that official assertion. These native dwellers had established their own cultures before their lands were annexed to China or before the Chinese regime gained comprehensive control over their socio-cultural lives. But, as my research suggests, while denying the existence of indigenous peoples, the state reorganized and combined these diverse native tribes into freshly created Chinese ethnic groups and gave them a new identity of ethnic minority. Such an official positioning has been hindering the employment of indigeneity or “indigenous people” as an analytical starting point or a mode of representing cultures, experiences, and musical practices of these cultural others in China. Tina Ramnarine (2009) notes that indigeneity is a mechanism through which people are understood and understand themselves as being different. In this paper, I argue that both minority and indigeneity are mechanisms of understanding being different: The former draws attention to the risk of discrimination and social inequality, while the latter has the potential to legitimize the native settlers’ appeals for land rights and sovereignty. This paper will examine the Chinese state’s practices of inventing ethnic minorities as a safer mechanism of managing and representing the native settlers of China’s frontier regions. I will discuss the role of music in erasing indigeneity, in creating new ethnic groups, and in transforming culturally diverse indigenous tribes into a homogeneous ethnic minority.

ABSTRACT. In 2023, Sweden nominated Karl Tirén's joik collection to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. The official nominator and owner of the collection is The Swedish National Collections of Music, Theatre and Dance supported by the Sámi Parliament in Sweden. In this paper we will discuss and the nomination from a Sámi and a Swedish perspective.

The nomination is of great importance for the Sámi peoples in Sweden. It raises the status of an indigenous minority culture and will make an important cultural heritage more visible and accessible to researchers and practitioners. At the same time, the nominations to UNESCO take place on a national level - it is Sweden as a nation that nominates the collection - not the Sámi community. In a way the joik will become a Swedish symbol. Such situations call for a discussion about power relations. Should this be seen as a sign of acceptance and appreciation by the majority or as a kind of cultural hijacking? There are several related questions. What is the place of the music of minorities in national museums and archives? In what way is the music of minorities presented in exhibitions and in publications? Who takes responsibility for collecting, maintaining, and presenting the cultural expressions of minorities?

When Tirén made his recording trips, the Sámi joik was seen as rapidly declining. This had many causes, not least a forced adaptation to Swedish culture. Joik was seen as an expression of traditional Sámi religion and opposed by the Lutheran state Church in Sweden.

We see the inscription of the Tirén collection as a step towards increased recognition of the Sámi culture, and it might serve as a good example of how UNESCO’s actions for archives and cultural heritage can support the global work for democracy.

ABSTRACT. In 2020, Japanese Indigenous policy entered a new era. More than a decade following the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Ainu people were officially recognized as indigenous to Japan in 2019. The subsequent establishment of the Upopoy National Ainu Museum & Park in 2020 by the Japanese government marked a significant milestone. This national endeavor, situated on ancestral Ainu land in Shiraoi, Hokkaido, is a focal point for cultural revitalization, succeeding a half-century of Ainu-run indigenous museum stewardship in the region. The policy shift and the inauguration of this national institution have profoundly influenced traditional Ainu performing arts. This paper adopts a cultural policy and management perspective to delve into these transformations. Collaborating with indigenous co-researchers, the author, a non-indigenous researcher at the Museum, conducted a research project from 2021 to 2024, examining the contemporary landscape of Ainu performing arts. This presentation illuminates several pivotal findings from this research endeavor. The foremost impact of these institutions lies in their establishment of the first professional, full-time employed group dedicated to Ainu traditional performing arts. Moreover, this professional group has assumed a new role in the preservation and dissemination of endangered songs and dances from diverse regions, unlike the inherent example of knowledge passed down within communities. Additionally, the institutionalized stage performances have catalyzed community-based Cultural Preservation Associations, prompting a deeper recognition of their importance within the community. Finally, both institutional performers and community-based groups emphasize the necessity of a non-discriminatory social environment as a fundamental cornerstone for performance. Understanding these shifts and their implications is integral to the evolving cultural policy for Ainu, furthering the mission of cultural resurgence and fostering a society devoid of discrimination.

ABSTRACT. While ethnographic literature historically divested joik performances of other-than-human agency – defining it as an exclusively human practice – Sámi onto-epistemologies underscore how joiking transcends human performativity and rather represents a biocultural sonic expression that any organic or inorganic inhabitant of the Indigenous Arctic can voice. Joik melodies are heard in the howling of wind, in the grunting of reindeers, in the buzzing of mosquitoes… But how musical is mosquito? This paper seeks to address this provocative question, firmly embedded in issues of acoustemological relativism. Whereas travelers and missionaries – extending to today’s mass tourists – have hopelessly lamented the agonizing and persistent buzz of mosquitoes in the Arctic summer, Sámi auditory culture ascribes strong musical values to them, with evident aesthetic implications on how listening to other-than-human voices defines Sámi joiking. Confronting the divergent onto-epistemologies of Sámi and non-Indigenous audiences, a dialogic analysis delves into the culturally contingent concepts of “musicality” and “sonic undesirability” towards the disputed sonic agency of mosquitoes in Arctic Europe. Through this critical case study, the paper addresses current gaps in ethno-eco-musicological research dealing with multispecies voices, advancing an Indigenous methodology that challenges top-down and often-unquestioned applications of ethno-anthropocentric acoustemological paradigms that overlook the plurality of Indigenous aesthetics and sustainabilities associated with sounding practices and listening experiences. This approach is informed by Sámi ways of storying, modes of scholarly publication and knowledge co-creation that foster musicking and traditional storytelling as 'research methods', more than 'study objects'. Thus, throughout this paper, joiking and Indigenous storytelling are adopted as bioculturally sustainable pathways for analyzing mosquito voices. Findings reveal an inextricable tapestry of ecosystemic relationships, situated knowledge and multispecies memories that extend beyond musical realms. Ultimately, this approach urges a decolonizing re-evaluation of relevancy and applicability of musical paradigms and methods in the ethnographic consultation of Sámi and other Indigenous onto-epistemologies.

ABSTRACT. Malaysia comprises of many indigenous groups, also referred as “Orang Asal/Asli” or Original People”, apart from the main ethnic groups such as the Malays, Chinese, Indians and groups from East Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. Among the many indigenous groups in Peninsular Malaysia, Mah Meri group has received the most attention. Known as the “sea people” in the early writings, they are now referred as the “forest people”. Mah Meri people have preserved many of their arts and cultural practices despite of the test of time, namely, the celebration of the annual “Hari Moyang” (Ancestral Worship Day), which falls sometime after the Chinese New Year, following the lunar calendar. This study will foreground two groups of Mah Meri, from the villages of Sungai Judah and Sungai Bumbun in Carey Island, which conducted celebrations to commemorate their ancestors. While the former conducted rituals and performances in the sea (during low tide), the latter performed these on the land. In both cases, rituals during the celebrations culminated in a performance of the traditional Tari Jo’oh (Jo’oh dance) accompanied by live music. These events drew a large group of onlookers from outside the community, particularly tourists. Tourists’ participations as witnesses and voluntary performers turned the communal celebration into a tourist spectacle. Dance simultaneously played a dual role, as an offering to the ancestors and as an indigenous tourism product. The community, meanwhile, stayed away but watched the spectacle from the margins of the performance space. This study finds that the tourist participation could bring efficacy to the community and not an act of mere “exoticization”. To examine the different layers of participation and gaze in relation to power and agency, this ethnographic study draws data from observations, recordings, and interviews from the fieldwork conducted from February - March 2024.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the cultural dance at the Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV), which is hailed as the only living museum in the state. Situated in Kuching the capital city of Sarawak, this tourist site has become one of the most popular cultural spaces in the state. SCV claims itself as a living museum as it showcases and exhibits indigenous people and their cultural practices and artifacts to the spectators, namely tourists. During the first decade of its establishment in 1990 until 2000, SCV hosted “real” indigenous communities from the longhouses to exhibit their culture to the tourists. It was deemed as a way to promote cultural authenticity. However, the ecosystem slowly shifted and the engagement with the “real” longhouse communities declined. Today, SCV hires artistes from the urban city. SCV employs a conventional work arrangement that requires young performers to engage in multifaceted roles as dancers, musicians, and story-tellers while assuming ethnic identity of each ethnic house replicas that is on display. Dancers embody diverse ethnicity, be it the Iban, Penan, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, or Melanau, on a rotational basis. They take on “diverse” identities not only in the exhibited ethnic houses but also during dance performances performed twice a day at the main auditorium. This study interrogates the concept of living museum when the indigenous ethnic groups are replaced and represented by young people from the urban city. It does not intend to argue that this practice is wrong but finds that mimicry becomes a crucial strategy for survival in the tourism industry, although some parties criticize the “ethnic disguise” as misleading. This ethnographic study engaged with dancers, choreographers, musicians, employees, tourist guides, and tourists at SCV to gather their perspectives about the phenomenon. This study offers a new take at the promotion of indigenous culture at tourism site.

ABSTRACT. Among LGBT musicians in Central Thai traditional music, queer male musicians in the string ensemble are arguably the most representative. Not only is this ensemble a site where queer musicking bodies are enabled, seen, and tolerated, but it is also notorious for the possibility of an explosive speed of performance almost beyond perception. However, the explosive string ensemble is not without criticism, as several respected queer male musicians expressed their concerns over the loss of "authentic" musical values caused by the obsession with speed over precision. Some musicians attribute this musical style to the recent increase in tolerance for and relaxed self-censorship among queer male musicians.

My presentation examines the social meanings behind this trend of playing string instruments at an explosive speed, particularly among queer male musicians. Using ethnographic methods focusing on the musical and social lives of these musicians, I first historicize this style of performance, tracing its emergence to two notable female musicians from the Government's Public Relations Department during the 1970s. The fast-paced style of performance, I argue, challenged the feminized musical characters associated with the ensemble and later developed into a key performative as well as expressive aspect of queerness.

Drawing on the tension between the nostalgic yearning for the pre-capitalist queer past and contemporary queer formations, I then examine the sentiment of losing authentic musical and social values surrounding the fast-paced string ensemble performances. I argue that such bemoaning is not only nostalgic but also strategic, which in turn demonstrates the heterogeneous queer social formation within the musical tradition presumed to be immune to the impact of globalized LGBT discourse. My presentation calls for a nuanced understanding of the queer complicity-critique slippage and a mindful contemplation of the nostalgia that often arises when linking the LGBT discourse with changing queer culture.

ABSTRACT. At the 2019 Society for Ethnomusicology Pre-conference on Audiovisual Ethnomusicology, Frank Gunderson described cine-ethnomusicology as perpetually stuck in potential. From Margaret Mead’s critical comments about ethnography training in the introduction of the 1974 Principles of Visual Anthropology to this panel, cinematic ethnomusicology has perhaps not yet found itself.

Cine-ethnomusicology was derived from the concepts in the field of visual anthropology, mentioned by the scholars like Dauer (1969), Feld (1976), Zemp (1988), and Baily (1989). It laid an important groundwork in the descriptive techniques of filming music, and more important, with strong ethical implication. These approaches were mainly taken as a tool for documentation. Practical and pedagogical questions have not only not been settled but radical technological changes have proposed many new questions and approaches. A great deal has happened in recent years with a number of publications, the creation of the working group for Audiovisual Ethnomusicology and the creation of the online Journal for Audiovisual Ethnomusicology.

Ethnomusicology has always been open to influence and inspiration from outside the discipline, this is no different for cine-ethnomusicology. This panel of practicing cine-ethnomusicologists will discuss their practices and will show clips of their work. We will emphasize that perhaps potential is not a weakness but instead an ongoing openness that can contribute to the ongoing development of ethnomusicological theory and practice.

Paper 1: Beyond Observation: Perceptual Methodologies in Cine-Ethnomusicology

Cine-ethnomusicology was derived from the concepts in the field of visual anthropology, mentioned by the scholars like Dauer (1969), Feld (1976), Zemp (1988), and Baily (1989). It laid an important groundwork in the descriptive techniques of filming music, and more important, with strong ethical implication. These approaches were mainly taken as a tool for documentation.

My research explores a new avenue by employing audiovisual tools to analyze and interpret music within its very own cultural context, providing a comprehensive approach that expand and advance the methodologies in the field of cine-ethnomusicology, by sharing my experiences in filming instruments, ritual, and stage performances of indigenous musics in Yunnan and other regions in China. The new methodology I discovered through these experiences are: 1) a channel for understanding and communicating the local knowledge/wisdom embedded in a community’s musical traditions; 2) discover the multiple dimensions of indigenous people’s music making beyond the researchers’ visible spectrum; and 3) as a sensory amplifier, enriching our interactive perceptions of sound/music between the locals and ethnomusicologists. This shift from a primarily observational and documentary approaches towards an analytical and interpretive approaches in Cine-ethnomusicology suggests a new direction for the field, especially in terms of encouraging the researcher’s great and a more ethical imagination towards the indigenous people and their music.

Paper 2: How Can Ethnomusicologists and Commercial Cine-Documentary Filmmakers Collaborate? A Proposed Set of Guidelines

“Should one person be both filmmaker and anthropologist? Or should there be a filmmaker in addition to the anthropologist?” (Heider, 2006, 114) How does this apply in the case of ethnomusicological films? These questions lay at the heart of our ethnomusicological cine-documentary “Beyond Tradition”, which was successfully screened in public cinemas and at film festivals in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria in 2024, and won an honorary mention from the ICTMD film prize committee. In retrospect, however, the collaboration between an academic ethnomusicologist and a professional film team did not always prove easy, and as a team, we faced several severe challenges. In this paper, I would like to self-critically reflect on our entire film project, considering the often-contradictory interests of members of the film team’s artistic, scientific, and commercial perspectives. Comparing my own experiences to secondary literature by Heider (2006), Ballhaus and Engelbrecht (eds., 1995), D’Amico (2020) and others, I evaluate where “Beyond Tradition” was successful and where it failed. Based on this evaluation, in a second step, I propose some guidelines for a more successful collaboration between professional and commercial filmmakers and ethnomusicologists, demonstrating how I am currently applying these insights to my new ethnomusicological cine-film project “Herding Calls”: during the film’s preparation, while fund-raising, on location and during the editing process.

Paper 3: CineWorlding: feminist materialism and research-creation as inspiration for a renewed cine-ethnomusicology

CineWorlding (MacDonald 2023) as ritual performative (liminal) space extends the ongoing project of connecting performance studies and ethnography (Keil 1989; Waterman 2019) to investigate contemporary complexity (Marcus 1998) by making “trials or contests of norms” (Marcus 2013:200) in ethnomusicological practice. Turner’s theory and the performance studies that it contributed to has been enhanced by feminist technoscience and is taking new shape in research-creation (Stevance & Lacasse 2018; Loveless 2019, 2020; Manning 2016; 2020). CineWorlding, following Deleuze and Guattari, inquires after the ways that the intensive energies of homo sapien sapien are machined into the extensive coordinates of modern Humans and extramodern Humans. It is also more radically interested in the potentially ecologically problematic pharmotechnocapitalist enhancement of modern Humans and their transhuman becoming, along with the emergence of a variety of xhuman responses or modern Human alternatives (posthuman, metahuman, ahuman etc.). X is both a variable and a negation. An xhuman image of body and its transmemory goes far beyond the flesh of homo sapien sapien and in different directions with different orientations, histories, values, ethics, and dreams for the future. What happens to modern Human ethnographers when they become enhanced by cinema technologies?, does our becoming cyborg invite us to rethink cine-ethnography through feminist technoscience?, does it open new directions for cine-ethnomusicology?, does it shed light on xhuman formation?, and does it open new questions of political and ethical practice?.

ABSTRACT. In Mala, Mawie Ga (I Will Sing, I Will Speak Ga), a contemporary folk song by the Wulɔmɛi cultural music and troupe, the persona bemoans and resists the loss of a certain original Ga indigeneity and identity, specifically, of a distinct Ga historical memory and cultural identity. Through the song’s nostalgia poetics, the persona negotiates a symbolic dilemma about whether to sing and speak (in) Ga or Hausa, as well as determined resolve to return to and remain in said original indigenous Ga identity.

Having first established the histories of Ga people and their language in ethno-cultural politics in the then Gold Coast and in present-day Ghana, and given context from some Ga religious and other cultural traditions, this paper examines how the persona’s dilemma and determination may incite an interrogation of, and consequently, a possible reimagination of the peculiar nature of the originality of Ga indigeneity and identity. For example, as an invocation used in public prayers for the Ga people and their posterity, “Ablekuma abakuma wɔ” in the song is only one of many, albeit crucial evidence of the diverse peoples and histories that (continue to) constitute Ga cultural identity.

To this end, this paper suggests that Ga indigeneity might be a matter of essence, rather than a necessarily and originally purist and singular one, and perhaps, a cosmopolitan one. And so even though the persona’s dirge-dilemma resists cultural colonialisms of their imagination of an original indigenous Ga identity, this may be an indication of anxieties about the possible cosmopolitan personality of this indigeneity, as well as an indication of pride in the parts of the identity that will always remain, and will ensure the essence of it all – a certain integrity and peculiarity of Ga indigeneity and identity.

ABSTRACT. The viola da terra is a native chordophone of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal located in the North Atlantic Ocean. The 12-or-15-stringed instrument features two hearts carved into the hollow body, thought to symbolize the separation of two lovers or the diasporic relationship between Portuguese immigrants in North America and those who remain on the Azorean islands. The viola da terra (hereafter referred to as just the viola), and other hollow-bodied chordophones like it in other regions of Portugal, are understood as a telltale sonic feature of Portuguese culture stirring saudade, or nostalgic longing, and conjuring memories of a former, pastoral reality (Almeida, 2010; Juslin et al., 2015). Players of the viola in centuries past were single males who would project both their voice and the viola’s sound as an invitation for locals to join in song (whether they sang, danced, or made percussive sounds) following a day of agricultural or marine labor.

While this lasted from the 17th to early 20th century, individuals additionally learned the instrument to perform in folkloric or religious groups and presently play for leisure – as many women learn an instrument that was formerly taboo for them to play. Understanding musical play and listening as cultural, gendered, and political acts (Attali, 2012, 30), I argue that the continued resonance of the viola da terra in communal performance and gatherings signals futurity, allowing the instrument to take on new meanings within Azorean society. Using ethnographic data, the phenomenological analysis of viola performances, and my own experiences learning the instrument, I explore the ontology of the viola da terra as a sonic, gendered, and environmental cultural object, with a focus on its distinct, metallic sound within the spaces in which it is used as a marker of Portuguese labor and leisure.

ABSTRACT. Bali, a vibrant hub of traditional music, grapples with unique challenges in preserving this rich heritage. Despite endemic corruption, an outdated education system, and environmental and neo-colonial pressures stemming from tourism, overdevelopment and pop culture, Balinese musicians demonstrate remarkable resilience and unwavering passion for their indigenous gamelan traditions. For centuries, knowledge about gamelan has been transmitted orally, creating a dynamic yet incomplete legacy. Local scholars in Bali have conducted limited academic research on gamelan that is often specific rather than general in nature, while most published comprehensive studies are by foreign scholars conducted a century ago or during relatively short stints in Bali, leading to literature that quickly become outdated and not in Indonesian.

Living and researching gamelan in Bali since 1997, I've witnessed musicians' preference for learning both visually and aurally. They excel at copying music taught by their gurus, demonstrating acute listening skills and precise replication. However, few demonstrate knowledge about the historical or sociological background of their traditions. Existing literary resources are often inaccessible, overly academic, and challenging for those outside the tertiary education system.

In response, I embarked on a mission to empower the Balinese community with easily accessible, egalitarian knowledge. Over the past four years, inspired by my supportive family, friends, guru, and generous informants, as well as the monotony of staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve curated two online encyclopedias focused on Balinese gamelan ensembles and instruments.

These resources, in both Indonesian and English, are subscribable and updateable with links to multimedia that makes them come to life. Aside from encouraging Balinese to love and feel proud of their incredible musical heritage, these resources aim to enlighten youth, inspire further research, and ignite local revivals of lost repertoire, instruments, and even entire ensembles.

ABSTRACT. The Burgenland Roma, recognized as an autochthonous ethnic group in Austria since 1993, have endured centuries of discrimination and oppression since their migration to what is now the Austrian federal state of Burgenland in the 16th century. The most egregious persecution occurred during the 20th-century National Socialist genocide, which tragically decimated much of their oral cultural heritage (Matras 2015; Fings 2024). In the realm of music, only a scant number of traditional, primarily monophonic songs have been preserved (Halwachs 2000; see also Cech 2001 and Fennesz-Juhasz 2003). Despite various initiatives (Fennesz-Juhasz/Gärtner-Horvath 2013; Lugenbiehl 2021), their dissemination has remained minimal. The aim and essence of the presented concept is to elevate this music to a new level of prominence and visibility.

The following considerations are spurred by a forthcoming research focus at the Joseph Haydn Private College of Burgenland on the music of the Burgenland Roma. Through this concept, the academic focus will be broadened to encompass artistic dimensions, with the overarching goal of safeguarding Roma music from gradual obscurity.

This expansion primarily revolves around two key facets:

1. Creation of New Music: Through arrangement and composition, new music will be crafted to supplement and enrich the traditional song repertoire. By rendering the music more appealing and diverse, it aims to enhance accessibility to the general public through avenues such as concerts, lecture-concerts, workshops, and teacher training programs. An historical precedent for the success of such an approach can be found in the artistic reinterpretation of Hungarian songs by Béla Bártok and Zóltan Kodály.

2. Cultural Synergies: The close geographical and cultural ties between the minority groups of the Burgenland Roma, Burgenland Croats, Burgenland Jews, and Hungarian Roma suggest their inclusion in both research and artistic realization. This interdisciplinary approach enriches the field of Roma research, broadens the audience base, and provides further avenues for bringing traditional songs to contemporary audiences. To exemplify this artistic-scientific approach, the author presents recent arrangements of Klezmer music and demonstrates how the arrangements can be applied to Roma music.

[Supplements not submitted with this abstract: bibliography, discography, sheet music with arrangement analysis]

ABSTRACT. The online repository of the Old Church Slavonic Institute in Zagreb – Croatia contains an exceptionally rich and diverse collection of digitised sound recordings of Glagolitic chants. This collection consists of more than 3000 digitised units – liturgical and ritual chants in Croatian Church Slavonic and various Croatian vernacular languages, recorded in Istria, Dalmatia, the Dalmatian hinterland and the Neretva region in the period from 1954 to 2020. These valuable recordings are the result of generations of ethnomusicological field research and several institutional projects spanning more than half a century, aimed at recording and preserving this endangered and unique musical and spiritual tradition that has been transmitted for hundreds of years, mainly orally, by folk singers in local communities across the eastern Adriatic. In order to better preserve the collection and make it accessible to a wide range of interested parties – from local communities to professionals from cultural heritage institutions and academia – the Institute launched a new, updated web repository in 2022. The sound recordings were digitally processed and the repository metadata was formatted and added to each individual unit. Since January 2024, the Old Church Slavonic Institute has been carrying out the project Development of the Digital Infrastructure Model of the Old Church Slavonic Institute – DigiSTIN, the aim of which is to develop models for the development of the digital infrastructure of the Old Church Slavonic Institute that will be applied in practice – primarily the Institute's domain stin.hr. As part of the project, the repository of Glagolitic chant will be improved and further developed. In this presentation, we will introduce the Croatian Glagolitic chant, its online repository and explore the opportunities which new technologies and approaches offer for the preservation, interpretation and revitalisation of musical and spiritual heritage through stakeholder collaboration, innovative and sustainable management and communication practices.

ABSTRACT. What started as a random fieldwork project in 1994 has steadily grown into a large-scale institutionalized effort for the preservation of the unique cultural heritage of an entire region. Changing perceptions and approaches determined by modified conditions surrounding the tradition under study have led to a constant re-definition of research methodology and objectives. What began as a simple task of research and analysis transformed into an enormous interdisciplinary effort encompassing almost all branches of the humanities. What are the reasons behind this transformation? How come that straightforward analytical approaches were no more sufficient to bear justice to a given tradition, and what were the conditions that surrounded the tradition on a larger scale, resulting in all the changes and transformations? The present paper examines the circumstances that led to the shift of focus from research and analysis to documentation, preservation and dissemination. What happens when on the one hand, rapidly progressing technological development provides more and improved means of documentation, while on the other hand, the tradition being documented turns from a vivid, living entity into a vanishing art. Where does the scholar set his priorities in such a situation, and in what manner can academic research help to bring an endangered tradition back to life? The hypothesis is that preservation becomes imperative and acts as a prerequisite for research wherever a tradition is threatened by extinction. To support the argument, reference will be made to efforts in this direction reflected in the work of Vraja Kala Sanskriti Sansthana, Vrindaban.

ABSTRACT. As ethnomusicologist Keith Howard points out in a recent article in the International Journal of Cultural Property, "discourse about music as intangible cultural heritage frequently overlooks the importance of instruments in conserving traditions inherited from the past and making live performance possible." (Howard 2022:23) He concludes that "fusing our intangible heritage with our tangible heritage demands efforts to sustain the skills of crafting and maintaining instruments." (ibid: 41) Goong: Sound Through Fire addresses this neglected area of instrument making, focusing on Sukoharjo in Central Java, one of the few remaining centres of bronze gong forging in Indonesia. The film follows the creation of a large Sundanese gong (goong) in Sutarno's forge in Jatiteken, Sukoharjo, taking an immersive, sensory approach, elucidated by the occasional comments of Sutarno. The rich, multi-layered soundscape of the forge and the shifting colours and intensities of the fire guide the stages of making: the smashing and melting of the raw materials of copper and tin; the rhythmic pounding, shaping and firing of the emerging, red-hot bronze disc by a team of craftsmen; the voicing of the forged instrument, and finally the sounding of the goong by the gong-maker. Aside from the multi-sensory intricacies of the process and their connections to gamelan performance, the film raises broader questions about the role of film-making in ethnomusicological research. What particular kinds of knowledge and experience are revealed through taking a film-based approach to our research? And how might the prioritization of these kinds of knowledge and experience transform research project design?

ABSTRACT. The cantaram is a musical genre that forms an integral part of Goan local theatre. Each tiatr play has six to seven acts, interspersed with two to three songs named cantaram.

From the early 20th century to the present day, cantaram, often was considered the side-show of tiatr. This film argues that this sideshow has been the main show, capable of transcending the stage, reaching people's homes through records, airing on the radio, and expanding further through social media platforms. Furthermore, these cantaram are used as a powerful tool to raise awareness and foster political consciousness among audiences, to the extent that they have alarmed the government, which has been unable to enact laws to censor their lyrics.

Cantaram is always sung in Konkani, which has been the official language of Goa since 1987. Despite Konkani's lack of acceptance, having been overshadowed by the neighboring state language, Marathi, the very existence of this musical genre reaffirms the significance of a language that was neglected until 1987 and is now being gradually supplanted by English in Goa.

This documentary explores the roadmap forged by these Konkani songs and their enduring relevance today.

ABSTRACT. Displacement due to river erosion is a common incident in Tazumuddin, on the coastal island of Bhola in Bangladesh. Here, most of the displaced people are not only displaced once but several times in their entire lifetime, and as they become landless, they relocate themselves to another vulnerable area with the potential threat of displacement again. The research documentary film is aimed at exploring the resilience of these landless people after being displaced and how they confront the uncertain future by relocating to a new vulnerable place.

The film intends to unfold the complex interaction of culture, climate change, and human resilience through an observational documentary approach, following a character named Mohammad Monju, an artisanal fisherman, his family, and the people around him who were forced to be displaced due to river erosion and threatened with continuous relocation. Monju is relocated with his wife and a child, and he begins his fight to repay the loan he took for his new house with a tiny income by fishing with a small boat.

Their fight for a permanent home is an endless process that carries not only a whole lifetime but often through generations. The change in climate and commercial fishing reducing their income directly impacts their livelihood and cultural practices. With all shorts of trouble, these people have big smiles on their faces and songs on their lips that expose the remarkable human capacity to adapt and be optimistic even though the environment is changing and salty water is approaching their home.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this research paper to study the revival of divine music on screen to become part of inclusivity in Indigenous Peoples’ Music and Dance music. For this analysis I have taken into consideration my own two different songs belong to the mix genre of world and pop music those are “Yada Yada” produced in Mumbai and London and “I am virus” produced in Brisbane. An encrypted secret of divinity belongs to indigenous Indians are shown that might indicate end of civilization through present scenario of war and crisis in various fronts of the world if not understood and that may be relegated by orientalist to make it a part of inclusivity in the indigenous music. The music video of “Yada Yada” persuasively is crucial for making the visual aids relic for the awareness of audience or consumers. Lyrics of the song written mostly in English language and one verse is in Sanskrit borrowed from Indian indigenous epic Mahabharata. In this music video the sound effects and video are incorporated to add dimension to dramatize the video’s plot to improve the viewer's experience in the theatre. Whereas the record “I am Virus” having been anthropomorphic in nature unadulterated object of hybridity which is essentially opposing the ideas of purity and authenticity of origins. Such approach I presented in my songs which is oppositional to the authoritarianism and racialism that gains both colonial rationality and cultural essentialism and contributes for a pluralistic culture. This add a weightage to Indigenous Peoples’ Music.

ABSTRACT. This research study explores the potential of person-centered music and virtual reality (VR) to transform the lives of older adults living with dementia. This study, which is based on Person-Centered Care and Inclusive Art principles, seeks to create a replicable framework for involving those living with dementia in meaningful storytelling activities. Participants at an adult day club will explore topics like their childhoods, travel experiences, music, culture, and love, among other things, through VR sessions coupled with customized music tailored specifically for them. This study seeks to respond to major societal challenges posed by the increasing numbers of people suffering from dementia within an aging population. By providing a channel for personal expression together with social connection, this study aims to foster personhood among people living with dementia, thereby enhancing their overall quality of life. The research employs various qualitative data-gathering techniques, including immersive conversation, ethnographic interaction, video and audio recording, and reflective journaling. The results of this study hold implications for dementia caregiving practices, highlighting the importance of empathetic and individualized approaches. Through interdisciplinary collaborations and the use of new technologies, this research provides compassionate understanding and strategies to support the well-being of people living with dementia.

ABSTRACT. This paper first presents an overview of the range and scope of personal cumulative field data since the 1980s and the significant place of “donors” and peer collectors in the evolution of my personal archive. Next, the paper provides critical and revised definitions of “community” in the context of the notions and practices of Community Archiving, drawing on original models, data, and personal experiences from select Ewe communities of Ghana. The rest of the paper focuses on current and long-term plans and objectives of establishing a community archive, both digital and physical and within the dialectics of ownership, authorship, authenticities, and the residual impacts of digitization and digitalization. Additional details include (1) practicalities and politics of access, tools and skill levels, questions of sustainability and the place of monitoring systems to track progress and ensure viability and in relation to changing community needs; (2) rationale, nature and frequency of future updates and questions of representativeness in time and place; (3) ongoing intra- and inter-community contestations of belonging, ownership, histories, and (4) regional variations and general cosmopolitan tendencies and their influences on contemporary (re)productions of music and dance performance traditions are among the challenges. The following questions provide directions and summarize the scope of the paper:

To what extent do these collections suggest and promote the identification of future genres that are least represented or are missing in professional or research repositories, irrespective of their shortcomings?

What are some potentials of amateurs in generating community interest not only in reevaluating but also in actively co-producing and thus building up heritage?

What are specific examples of “uninformed” practices and those that seem to contravene or challenge the source community norms, especially those that guard senses of the “sacred” and “private”?

In what ways do the “sacred” and “private” challenge the well-informed, well-placed collaborator-researcher in the areas of public access, restrictions, and yet without undermining the ultimate purpose of upholding celebrating, and sharing heritage towards positive community identities, past, present and future?

With focus on a particular case, what are some ways in which to meaningfully and productively re-egange (or even train) amateurs and their data in the principles of co-ownership, ethical clearance, and selection methods that are informed by deep-level familiarity with performance genres and their sociocultural histories?

What are some opportunities, challenges and benefits in collaborating with private and institutional archives?

What are some potentials of the envisioned Ewe community archives and related preliminary work in contributing to current decolonial projects?

ABSTRACT. The paper will discuss the launch of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive’s Bake/Jairazbhoy Digital Archive of South Asian Traditional Music and Arts. Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy visited eight states in India, recording tribal, folk, devotional, and classical musics. Their research was designed to supplement and, in many cases, restudy Arnold Adriaan Bake’s pioneering 1930s surveys of music throughout the South Asian subcontinent. The Jairazbhoys’ audiovisual recordings, still images, and field notes representing fieldwork undertaken in 1963, 1984, 1991,and 1994, are now available online, open access, as the Bake/Jairazbhoy Digital Archive of South Asian Traditional Music and Arts. The Digital Archive also includes audio field recordings made by Bake in India on a Tefiphon (a machine that cuts grooves on loops of 35mm film) in 1938-1939. Open access of archival collections is an opportunity to decolonize the archive and showcases the power in connecting through the archive. It encourages new associations and interactions between the communities of origin and their recorded intangible cultural heritage. In creating the metadata for the project, the Ethnomusicology Archive, and its partner in hosting the Bake/Jairazbhoy collection, the UCLA Digital Library Program, worked with Amy Catlin-Jairazbhoy, Indian scholars, and members of the communities of origin in a culturally sensitive manner to help make the accumulated knowledge in the Archive discoverable to those communities and to scholars and researchers. The Bake/Jairazbhoy Digital Archive will link audio recordings, moving images, still images, and field diaries organized by the event recorded. We believe this project to be the first-of-its-kind. The Bake/Jairazbhoy Digital Archive resonates both within and beyond the academy, focusing on equitably and ethically sharing soundscapes, opening the shared sounds to the archival multiverse, to community members, to scholars, and to those who simply want to learn more about the musics of the world.

ABSTRACT. From 1949 to 1959, during the nation-building decade of the new People’s Republic of China, the Chinese government organized multiple musical festivals in Beijing and other major cities. These events were guided by the principle of “developing socialist culture and art activities to serve socialist construction” and proved to become a turning-point in China’s music history, music theory trajectories, and music education. National festivals included events like the First National Traditional Chinese Opera Festival in 1952, The First Art Festival of People’s Liberation Army in 1952, the First National Folk Music and Dance Festival in 1953, the First National Music Week Festival in 1956, and the First National Quyi Festival in 1958, whilst similar smaller events were held in regional centres across the country. These musical events involved participants ranging from national leaders, Chinese military personnel, professional musicians and music theorists, to folk artists and the general public. Through staged performances of Chinese traditional folk opera, Quyi, instrumental music, dance and folk songs, as well as some forms of Western music, as well as ancillary meetings and symposia, these festivals sought to cultural exchange between performers, music theorists and government officials at various levels, and using music to promote the social and cultural construction of China. However, these once important artistic activities have been forgotten and overlooked by modern scholars and the public. My dissertation integrates first-hand materials I have gathered over the past three years from major libraries, official archives, cultural research centers, and private collectors throughout China, as well as interviews with participants or people knowledgeable about the musical activities 60 years ago. Through examining some of the most significant features of these festivals – including their regional characteristics, performance forms, and cultural connotations of the programs performed – we gain a clearer understanding of how China’s massive musical developments during the twentieth century took shape, as well as the complex relationships between Chinese music, society and politics.

ABSTRACT. Bangladesh is a small but populous country of South Asia and there are 55 small ethnic groups including Chakma, Garo, Marma, Mro, Kheyang, Chak, Bawm, Lusai, Pankhoa, Tripura, Santal, Manipuri and some other tribes. They are constitutionally known as Small Ethnic Groups in the country and the Bengalis are the mainstream of the population. With a population of 16.5 million (0.99% of total) the indigenous peoples live in the remote and hilly areas of Chittagong, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Rajshahi divisions of the country. `Ethnic Minorities’ or `Indigenous Peoples’, whatever be the name, they are symbols of ethnic and cultural diversity of Bangladesh.

Each of the indigenous tribe has unique language and distinct cultural characteristics with brilliant music, excellent dance, multicolored dresses, festivals and agricultural methods. Some tribal languages have their own alphabets. Matriarchal societies and clan systems also exist in some of them. There are both similarities and dissimilarities in community structure, religious festivals, food habits, marriage ceremonies, social customs and judicial systems among different tribal societies. Sometimes some festivals, customs and events are comparable with those of the larger Bengali societies of Bangladesh.

There are some dissatisfactions among the cross sections of the indigenous peoples about their ethnicity and they have been demanding for their recognition as `Indigenous People’ of Bangladesh. Some of them are engaged in struggles and movements to develop their own land, language, culture and ethnicity.

My presentation documents the process, how the cultural aspirations and life styles of the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh are being translated into influence to strengthen their position in the power structure.

ABSTRACT. Kandoni Bishahari songs are well situated within specific anthropological structure of indigenous performance lore in Bangladesh. This unique way of performing Manasa Mangal verses in the form of Panchali (synthesis of song and dance) is a means of worshipping goddess Manasa, an act includes a complex set of meanings and significations. The reading of this musical and choreographic form of theatre offers interdisciplinary research while at the same time it contests a modernist-nationalist discourse that is born of indigeneity-worshipping. This paper seeks an emerging methodology to analyse the ephemeral form of theatrical performance that problematises the Euro-centric notion of colonial modernity through the critical notion of ‘epistemic violence’ of cultural imperialism. Hence, this research aims to negotiate the singular meaning of indigeneity as a contested term asking question whether the performance of Kandoni Bishahari brings any different semiotic possibility in a neoliberal location of homogeneity. This research critiques the unilinear notion of modernist indigeneity in relation to the contemporary performance of Manasa rite as a living phenomenon of pre-colonial theatrical heterogeneity. This research employs the subjective method of sensory data along with the objective approach of positivist field research observing this performance in its original topographic setting and cultural context.

ABSTRACT. The significance of embodying dance experience has gathered increased attention within both the practice and scholarly discourse on dance. Amidst the prevailing narrative-driven traditions dominating performance practices of dance worldwide, the question arises: where and how does the embodied experience of dance fit into the realm of performance? While the dancer’s lived experience is embodied and internal, how can we integrate it with the aesthetic experience of an external audience member? In this paper, I explore these questions in the context of traditional Indian dance adopting a multidisciplinary approach integrating theoretical frameworks with practical applications. In the Indian context, the use of abstract or non-representational dance, where no meaning is intended to be conveyed, is prevalent across the different classical dance traditions. The origin of abstract dance is in the ancient pan-Indian movement system of the marga-karaṇas from which all other regional dance traditions are believed to have evolved. By examining the inherent nature, cultural history, structure, usage and musical frameworks of these abstract dances, this paper argues that the presence and practice of such dances in the largely narrative-driven classical Indian dance genres is a means to an embodied experience of joy. Whether this experience is characterized as somatic, psychological, or metaphysical, the traditional Indian movement systems of abstract dance collectively converge towards the embodiment of joy. To substantiate this hypothesis, I use hermeneutic interpretations of ancient Indian treatises on aesthetics, movement, and performance, such as the Nāṭyaśāstra through which I examine and apply insights to the present-day traditional movement systems aiming to bridge the gap between the aesthetic principles of non-representational dance and their practice.

ABSTRACT. Through a decolonial lens, this paper examines heteronomic compositions from the Sikh musical heritage as pedagogical means to instruct and transform the minds of practitioners and listeners. According to Sikh thought, the divine Word emanating from a non-human force (the Sat Gurū), is the agent that attunes the mind of the disciple, operating a transformation from a self-willed individual (‘manmukh’) into a guru-oriented person or (‘gurmukh’) (Mandair 2023). Since early Sikh history, the Word-as-Guru was imparted in musical forms, according to specific raga and tala settings functional to the transmission and embodiment of the Word. Such heritage compositions express an entire cultural system of the pre-colonial era, in which raga-based renditions were not regarded as decorative to the Word but rather an integral part of Gur-Sikh education. These raga-based songs compose the main body of the Sikh canonical Scripture, archived according to 31 main ragas. Among the scriptural hymns is a group of 55 compositions designated as ‘partal’, whose mutualism between the Word's poetry, the raga, and the rhythm changes was meant to impact the listener’s cognitive process. Authored by the fourth and fifth gurus, between 1574 and 1606, these partals are a historical marker and a distinct signature of the Sikh musical heritage. Cases of heterometric music in South Asia are known however their origins and purposes are unclear in most cases (Widdess 2019). The impact of colonial modernity and nationalist education has dramatically affected the Sikh repertory, contributing to minimizing the importance of singing the scriptural hymns according to the indigenous system and forms. The study of partal compositions that survived as ‘original’ from the Sikh Gurus’ time, significantly contributes to advancing the scholarship about heterometric music and their role in the indigenous pedagogy.

ABSTRACT. The song “Nancher dan fi” (Carry water from under the south bridge) tells of the bitter destiny of a young woman married to a ten year-old boy (something that wasn’t unusual during feudal times). She suffers the fate of a domestic slave, taking care of her husband’s aging parents. The girl sings about how she lives in her husband's family and compares this to life in her own home. Ancient Dungan songs (сhuzy) depict the life of this ethnic group in feudal China. The lyrical songs were mostly composed by women, although they were often sung by men, due to religious restrictions on women singing. These songs clearly expressed resentment of the feudal system and the harsh life suffered by women in China during ancient times. The Dungans, a Chinese Hui Muslim minority, migrated to Central Asia from the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi in China at the end of the 19th century. During the Soviet era, Dungan songs appeared reflecting Soviet realism, glorifying the Communist Party, Lenin and Stalin, and collective farms. However, women's songs continued to be popular and helped the Dungan women express their suffering in the early years of settlement in Central Asia. In this study, I aim to shed light on the topic through research conducted in Kyrgyzstan. I will review articles by Russian and Central Asian scholars, focusing on their analysis of Dungan women’s songs. In addition, I will analyze the Dungan songs found in the archives of Kyrgyz National radio. This review will provide a deeper understanding of a rich musical tradition and will help to fill a gap in the study of the Dungan music of Central Asia.

ABSTRACT. In my presentation I would like to discuss the situation of female singing of Iranian traditional music within Iran since the 1979 revolution. Since coming to power, the ruling regime has banned women from singing, especially as soloists. Nevertheless, attempts to completely eliminate female singing have not been successful. Research questions: 1) What is the status of women's singing of Iranian traditional music in Iran ruled by the Islamic regime? 2) What point(s) of conflict could there be in Iran between female singers of Iranian traditional music and the regime? Participatory field research served as the fundamental method for this study. Research partners contributed interviews and shared opinions. The project Forbidden Voice: a Multimedia Tribute to Women’s Singing in Iran (premiered in Vienna in 2024), in which I collaborated as organizer, composer and santur player with artists from Iran and Austria, additionally provided a wealth of information. A literature review was carried out to clarify historical and social backgrounds. Wherever relevant, reflections on my personal experiences as an Iranian musician were included. My interest in Iranian traditional music, which I have practiced since childhood in post-revolution Iran, prompted me to conduct this research in conjunction with my ongoing dissertation on santur. After the 1979 revolution, female singers in Iran experienced one of the first waves of music censorship, which still continues. Nevertheless, they made notable contributions mainly through unofficial activities. In this presentation the oeuvres of those singers are explored within the context of Iranian society. I utilize extensive citations of female singers to reflect on the topic. The matter of censorship and associated gender positionalities contribute to theoretical approaches. A key aspect of the presentation is addressing the discourse of conflict and peacemaking through music.

ABSTRACT. Dinah Asamoah, a female Ghanaian gospel musician in the gospel performance space, has employed her soulful voice and fashion sense to leave a mark on the gospel scene in the country over the last decade. With a deep Christian background that exalts the notion of suffering for Christ, Dinah found herself at the crossroads of remaining true to her religious convictions against building and maintaining a musical brand where fashion plays an important role. It is against the backdrop of a period in the gospel music industry in Ghana where females who dared to embrace fashion choices similar to their secular counterparts were criticized. Amidst such expectations and perceptions, Dinah's journey serves as context to understand the changing dynamics of Ghanaian gospel music. Crucial to her transformation is a change in her fashion sense, epitomized by the emergence of the catchphrase "slaying for Christ," which became synonymous with her artistic persona. Since then, this phrase has become the theme of her annual concert, which reflects an intentional alignment of her faith and fashion choices. My paper explores how she uses fashion as a performative tool in redefining the conventional notions of spirituality and style within the gospel performance space in Ghana by challenging stereotypes and accepted norms.

ABSTRACT. A community dance project established in 2021 in the Costa Rican rural location of Los Santos involves fifteen women in the practice of improvisational dance and expressive techniques. Moreover, the creative process approaches life stories as sensitive material held in the bodies and explores the building of body-based narratives related to the territory. The practice of dance created new bonds among women, and creative movement allowed for the expansion of expressive possibilities. These actions are recognized by the women as the main results of the process, bringing new perspectives on themselves, other women, and the patriarchal dynamics present in this society. The article analyses the social and artistic process titled “From Within” from Suely Rolnik’s concept of micropolitics, concerned with gender issues within the community. Taking micropolitics as a keystone, the project is viewed as a subjectification device that promotes liberation through experimentation and opens new possibilities for women’s life choices. The analysis contributes to the concept of dance activism as a practice that operates on a micropolitical level through embodied micro actions that open channels for social change in everyday life.

ABSTRACT. In order to gain an idea of the importance of dance ensembles in Burundi, it was necessary to conduct at least three field studies, each lasting one month in 2023 and 2024. Civil wars, political instability, an autocratic regime and refugee flows in several directions have weakened the country for decades. 85% of Burundians live in rural areas, agriculture barely ensures survival. In addition to the welcome change of pace provided by attending Sunday mass followed by a beer, their dances are often the only light-hearted diversion in their daily struggle against poverty and hunger. There is hardly a hill without a group that can turn their festivals into an event, fights for peace, strengthens their cohesion and reminds them of their traditions. Out of 38 groups, especially the women's ensembles (23 groups) showed an almost standardized choreography. State-organized competitions and performances in the name of the party obviously encourage a certain standardization. Our visit to them on the hills, however, and a trust that grew as we worked together, brought to light almost different movements, gestures and arrangements, coupled with greater joy and freer dance expression. The different design and expression of the Burundian dances seems to be due to the different "patrons". A people under pressure seems ready to "adapt" traditions in one way and to continue them authentically in another.

ABSTRACT. The indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka have a rich musical tradition, including hunting songs, honey gathering songs, lullabies, occasion, and ritual songs. This diversity can partly be attributed to their deep connection with the natural environment, which has inspired a range of musical expressions reflecting their interactions with the forest, wildlife, and spiritual beliefs. The aim of this research is to explore the rich musical traditions of the indigenous Vedda people in Sri Lanka across different time periods. Drawing on historical recordings and contemporary fieldwork, the study explores the evolution and preservation of Vedda music. In this research, I refer to early recordings dating back to 1938 by Arnold Bake, the 1960’s by W. B. Makulloluwa, the 1970’s by C. de S. Kulatillake, and contemporary recordings conducted by the researcher. As part of the community engagement process, historical Vedda’s music recordings were shared with the Dabana, Hennanigala, and Pollebedda villages Veddas, followed by interviews were conducted to investigate the evolving nature of their musical traditions. The study identified that interactions with other communities, forced geographical relocation due to government projects, formal education, deviating from indigenous systems of transmission, as well as intermarriage, have contributed to the diversity of music cultures.

ABSTRACT. The release of Davido’s song ‘Assurance,’ dedicated to his ‘girlfriend’ Chioma, sparked widespread excitement. Amid rumors of infidelity, the lyrics, resonating with Chioma’s name, assured her of Davido’s commitment to their relationship. The groovy tempo, blending Highlife and pop, captivated diverse age groups across Nigeria and the diaspora. Notably, younger women named Chioma expressed enthusiasm, envisioning the song at their weddings. Similarly, Flavour’s song, ‘Chimamanda,’ had a profound impact, popularizing the name influenced by the literary icon Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Igbo mothers bestowed ‘Chimamanda’ for its meaning, symbolizing a mother’s prayer for a happy home and the children’s success. This article explores the role of women’s names in Nigerian songs, addressing their cultural, emotional, and artistic significance, influencing identities and relationships while contributing to the dynamic Nigerian musical landscape. It contributes a new perspective to the growing onomastic literature with its timely focus on the intersection of music and naming.

ABSTRACT. Throughout history, Iranian Jews have played a significant role in the development and transmission of Persian classical and folk music, and of distinct regional para-liturgical repertoires. The Jewish community of Esfahan was particularly prolific, creating a large repertoire of songs and blessings known as "shira". The repertoire of Esfahani shira, subject of scant academic attention, is kept alive today by only a handful of musicians and singers, endangering its place in collective memory. This gap in the literature represents a cultural loss for the Jewish communities of Iran and its diaspora, and a lost occasion to examine the importance of local practices within the intersections between Jewish and Iranian culture. This paper aims to redress this knowledge gap by presenting an overview of the musical and thematic characters of the shira repertoire as it survives today in Israel, and by clarifying the socio-cultural dynamics that brought it to the brink of extinction. Examining ethnographic recordings, transcriptions and musical analysis collected through interviews and lessons with Esfahani singers and musicians in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in 2023, I argue that this repertoire facilitates the expression, transmission, and re-contextualisation of diasporic memory and identity. Focusing on songs sung in a mixture of Persian and Hebrew, including blessings for weddings and circumcisions, Shabbat, and songs expressing nostalgia towards Israel, I will demonstrate that musically this repertoire draws from modal and melodic materials of Persian music, but employs them in unique ways to support the texts and their messages. Thematically, it is rooted in Jewish religion and tradition, but reinterpreted through the lenses of local culture. In the process, I argue that the intersections between Jewish, Iranian and Esfahani culture, and the discourses surrounding the them provide seemingly-hidden insights into the multi-cultural identity of Iranian Jews in Israel.

ABSTRACT. In the early decades of the socialist revolution, Fidel Castro declared Cuba an Afro-Latin nation to the dismay of those who readily embraced a White identity, via Spain, and at the same time obfuscating the cultural inheritance of minority groups, such as Cubans of Chinese descent. Further, the attempt to construct a homogenous national identity, expressed through voguish food metaphors—for instance, that of the Cuban ajiaco, a concoction that fuses a multitude of ingredients into one unique native flavor—has left very little room for local exploration or discursive expression of identities that fall outside the official narrative, which suggests, promotes, and naturalizes the idea and logic of a perceived universal Cubanness. In this paper, I explore the role music plays in the creation of alternative spaces of being and belonging. I observe that the practice of lion dance embeds and is embedded with forms of knowledge that signal a less visible Cuban identity, and comments on the relevance of the White and Black binary upon which Cuban national identity is predicated. Such a claim for an alternative definition of who is Cuban is constructed and reenacted through rituals of movement, sound, and visual displays. I argue that the symbolic power of the Cuban lion-dance performance provides practitioners and community members with a form of non-textual discourse that needs neither to align, nor contest official narratives. Instead it allows to signal an alternative Cuban identity registered in the body through the performative process. My work is based on field research conducted in Cuba since 2016 and constitutes an effort to give visibility to a less known but significant element of Cuban culture.

ABSTRACT. Mappila Kolkkali (Stick dance) is a group performing art with sticks practiced mainly by the Mappila community. Among the Mappila art forms, Kolkkali belongs to a special category, it is a mixture of music, movement, physical strength and emotional stability. More resemblance to the martial art kalarippayattu. The first part beginning with Mappilappattu and a simple body movement known as ‘marinjadi minkkali’ and ended with an intricate step ‘ozichil mutt’. The pattern of body movements varied in accordance with the rhythm of Mappila songs and oral commands (vayitari). There are two body movements, first one is slow known as Chayal and fast movement is called as Murukkam. Talakali kolkkali is prevalent among the fisherman community of Malabar and Kurrikalum kuttikalum is popular in interior parts of Malabar. Generally the band consists of twelve members. They divided into two groups to form an inner circle (Agam) and an outer circle (puram). In order to demarcate the inner and outer circle generally the band wear different colors of costume and belt either in green or black in color. Kolkkali was a source of inspiration in the anti-colonial struggle and played a key role in the socialization process of Mappila community. This is an attempt to understand the link between Mappila song, body movement, and emotional stability within the Indian Ocean framework. This paper also looks into the tradition and changes that happened in Kolkkali by analyzing its different steps, styles, and costumes which are recorded by Dutch ethnomusicologist, Arnold Adriaan Bake in 1938. Through this musical voyage, connecting different historical phases in the light of Bake recordings of 1938 and restudy conducted by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin Jairazbhoy in 1991, I hope my paper provides wider dimensions into Ethnomusicology and Ethnochoreology.

ABSTRACT. The Japanese kabuki accompaniment ensemble, known as nagauta-bayashi, exhibits a number of unique features in terms of ensemble coordination and synchronisation. One of these is that, although there is no 'conductor' at the front and the performers cannot necessarily see each other, a total of more than ten performers in different parts (voice, three-stringed lute shamisen, Japanese flute and three types of drums) can co-ordinate by precisely matching their timing or, conversely, by deliberately shifting their timing. This presentation aims to explore the nature of nagauta-bayashi music from both empirical and ethnographic perspectives, analysing the audiovisual and physiological data of two performance takes of the representative dance piece 'Musume Dōjoji' recorded on 9 December 2023. Our empirical analysis employs sound information from multitrack audio, as well as information from accelerometers worn by the performers, to examine the onset timing of each part and the bodily movements of the performers before and after. By contrasting the data with the results of semi-structured interviews with the participating musicians, we consider their attitudes towards time organisation and coordination from multiple perspectives. Of particular interest is their emphasis on internal body control rather than visually large movements, and the high importance given to respiration not only in singing but also in the shamisen and percussion parts. Previous multi-part analysis studies have been based on traditional notation, stave transcription and interviews with performers (Malm 1963, Gamo 2000, Haikawa 2016, etc.). Yet the performances themselves have not been analysed. Close examination suggests that each part rather gives cues to the others through subtle performance conventions that are not immediately apparent to the first-time audience. By empirically capturing performance expression and communication, which have been challenging to articulate, we provide new insights into the reality of temporal organisation and coordination in this ensemble music.

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes three traditional dances—Chapsuz, Doraqi, and Mailis—along with the accompanying dance music in Chinese Tajik weddings, drawing from the author's fieldwork in Tashkurgan Autonomous County, Xinjiang, in 2023. Through an examination of dance practices, this study delves into the social dynamics and the status of women in Tajik Chinese society. Chinese Tajiks associate the eagle with national identity, symbolizing freedom and bravery, traits reflected in their music and dance. Known collectively as "eagle dances," these performances embody reverence for nature. Within Chinese Tajik wedding traditions, dance serves both celebratory and courtship functions, characterized by distinct norms and movements for each gender. Traditionally, the Chinese Tajik wedding band comprised solely of local folk instruments, such as the eagle flute nai, tambourine dap, and rewap. However, in contemporary Chinese Tajik weddings, significant changes have occurred in the accompanying music. Alongside the traditional folk instruments, electronic keyboards and sound equipment have been introduced, leading to the replacement of the dap—the sole female musician in the band. This shift has fundamentally altered the relationship between music and dance. Previously, dancers dictated changes in tempo and repertoire, with the band following suit. However, in modern weddings, the wedding band now dictates tempo changes, marking a departure from the traditional dynamic. It explores the perspectives of dancers，band and audiences, shedding light on the interaction among them during dance performances.

ABSTRACT. This presentation will discuss changes of dance and accompanying music of chigo-bugaku in relation to the imperial bugaku tradition. The term bugaku indicates the dance repertoire of imperial court music gagaku, while chigo-bugaku the folk dance genre performed by chigo or ‘children of festivity’ in the festivals of local temples or shrines. Currently chigo-bugaku tradition can be found in Yamagata, Toyama, Shimane, and Shizuoka prefectures. Chigo-bugaku is believed to be a descendant of court bugaku tradition introduced at some point in time to the provinces by the court musicians, but it transformed into different styles in each region in the process of being passed down over hundreds of years. As a result, similarities with the court bugaku are found only in titles of music and costumes of dancers today. Among the chigo-bugaku traditions, the example of Shizuoka-sengen-jinja deserves special attention. They had lost the relationship with the court musicians for several hundreds of years but regained it when five former gagaku musicians migrated into Shizuoka at the beginning of the Meiji period (around 1869). The contact with professional gagaku musicians caused a ‘correction’ of the style of chigo-bugaku to the authentic imperial one. ‘Corrections’ were made several times since the Meiji era and has eventually made today’s chigo-bugaku an amalgam of local and authentic imperial styles in terms of music, dance, and religious connotations of gestures. This presentation will examine the process of ‘corrections’ and clarify the reality of mixing different styles in the chigo-bugaku of Shizuoka sengen-jinja.

ABSTRACT. In the Black community in South Africa choral music is practiced as a popular, amateur, extra- curricular social activity. An offshoot of missionary institutions that thrived in the Eastern Cape and Natal from the mid to late 19th century, this cultural pursuit has largely grown and has been sustained through competitions modelled on colonial and currently international choral eisteddfods. Competitions are thus frequently held events associated with prestige, decorum and presumably objectivity and ethical practices by all participants. At the center of competitions are adjudicators assumed to be musically astute and morally upright to ensure ethical conduct and fair results.

Despite popularity, choral competitions have largely been self-contained and in circulation within limited networks of participants and interested audience, very marginal in mainstream media. More recently, however, with the advent of social media networks like Facebook and YouTube, choral competitions are receiving a wider media presence and circulation. Incidentally, fandom has emerged quite strongly. Pertinent discursive practices in which fans and participants engage in order to discuss aspects of the competition such as the prescribed music, (de)merits of upcoming and previous competitions and or predictions for who deserves top honours proliferate. Increasing tensions among fan groups result in waging of contests on and off stage. Possibly these contestations might yield subtle, yet powerful influence on the eventual outcome of staged performances during the competition event.

Through this research and presentation, I seek to problematize the presumed neutrality of the adjudication process, yet I also ask to what extent might growing fan groups, choir pages, YouTube posts have changed the face of choral competitions among Black choirs (amakhwaya/iikwayala) in South Africa? I also explore the manner and extent to which social networks not only influence competitions in performance, but further extend the notion of competition to include public visibility and popularity of some choirs. I argue that social networks provide a broad array of advantages for choirs such as gaining entry into the commercial world of government and private gigs for further sustenance within an industry that often has minimal economic returns. By galvanizing social network support, choirs are changing the terrain of choral competitions in quite varied and productive ways that are worthy of further scholarly investigation.

ABSTRACT. Tangshan shadow play is an important traditional musical genre in Chinese musics. This paper is based on “participation observation” fieldwork, combined with historical literature，aims to write an ethnography of “interactive” performance in Tangshan shadow play, focusing on the phenomenon of interactions between performers during real-time performance, especially the “stable” and “unstable” elements, to describe and analyze musical relationships amongst three subjects in the shadow play performance. Taking the performance process of Tangshan shadow play as the entry point of the study, the article reveals the internal logic between the concept of performance and the results of performance generation within the bureau from the experience of the researched as well as the researcher himself. Through the writing of the ethnography, the research perspectives and positions are constantly shifted, and the method of descriptive notation is used in an attempt to present a panorama of performances, thus assisting the writing of the ethnography, and shedding light on the interactions and historical connotations embedded in the results of shadow play performances.

ABSTRACT. For the Thai, Lao, and Cambodian diaspora communities of Denver, Colorado, performing arts ensembles serve as conduits of cultural identity, providing community members with a space for group expression as well as a metaphysical link to their homeland cultures. What happens when these conduits undergo structural shifts? In the few years since the COVID pandemic, the community arts ensembles of Denver’s Thai, Lao, and Cambodian communities have each experienced their own crisis of change. These include situations such as multiyear gaps in community activity, severe loss of ensemble membership, and splintering of leadership. Despite these structural crises, the Thai performing arts ensemble of Wat Buddhawararam, dance troupe of Wat Lao Sidaounaram, and dance troupe of Spirit of Cambodia Cultural Alliance have each persisted by seeking partnership and assistance from the city’s other Southeast Asian diaspora communities. This paper explores this phenomenon of intercultural collaboration occurring between Denver’s Southeast Asian arts ensembles. Through a discussion of my ethnographic research, I address how generational shifts in community leadership during and after the COVID pandemic have led to a social setting in which intercultural collaboration is encouraged more so than in the immediate past. In addition, I discuss my own positionality as a scholar-practitioner and cultural intermediary, being the music director of the Thai community’s ensemble with an academic foot in multiple Southeast Asian communities of Colorado.

ABSTRACT. The Musical Knowledge Exchange project aims to provide a space for the exchange of knowledge in an intercultural context, through workshops and lectures given by invited masters and mistresses by the Ethnomusicology Laboratory of Federal University of Pará (UFPA), as well as individual guidance actions and collective knowledge construction about music, in intercultural dialogue with students of the Bachelor's Degree in Music Education at the UFPA School of Music. The project is based on the perspective of the Encounter of Knowledge Program, developed by the University of Brasília, which had an edition held at the UFPA School of Music, through a partnership with LabEtno, in 2015. The aim is to ensure the plurality of knowledge about music in the Bachelor's Degree in Music Education, as well as to offer a space for collective creation of concepts and practices about musicalities among the peoples of the forest. Concrete results include lectures, workshops, the production of documentaries, musical performances, and the creation of didactic materials constructed by the masters and mistresses and incorporated into the mandatory curriculum of the Introduction to Ethnomusicology and Sociology of Music courses. It is considered that the actions of this project constitute decolonial interventions, as they include non-hegemonic knowledge in the school curriculum, expanding the possibilities of musical conceptualization and practice. In dialogue with José Jorge de Carvalho regarding pluriepistemic encounters, and Paulo Freire, with inclusive, popular, and life-integrated education, the project is based on discussions aimed at the decolonization of traditional music education, the musical diversity to be implemented in Eurocentric curricula, and the valorization of the knowledge of masters and mistresses of Brazilian popular and traditional culture.

ABSTRACT. Developing highly trained physical performance techniques–the motor sequencing we use to execute particular actions–is essential for dancers and musicians. Techniques such as violin vibrato are challenging to master, requiring intricate coordination and fine control over simultaneous movements of multiple body parts in tandem. Practice is key, but personal practice is often hampered by difficulty of self-monitoring all these simultaneous movements.

This work focuses on violin vibrato: a nuanced expressive left-hand technique of pitch oscillation. Physically, vibrato impetus may emanate from finger, hand, wrist, arm or some combination, and varies in speed, width and shape, depending on the intended musical expression. Vibrato may be performed with any finger on any note of any duration, while simultaneously bowing with the right hand.

This work adopts a computer vision approach to develop a feedback system for personal practice. Using recent advances in AI pose recognition, I replace the traditional calibrated multi-camera marker-based 3D motion capture approach with smartphone single-camera input.

Vibrato video is processed with MediaPipe to estimate 3D coordinates of joints across time, and then analyzed to compare the inferred trainee’s movements to a prerecorded expert reference. The key innovation lies in the hierarchical comparison method: I compute 3D spatial alignments based on translation of key anchor points followed by translations/rotations of secondary points and tertiary structures (eg. finger arcs) that minimize distance between trainee and reference. Temporal alignment is based on best-fit spatial alignment of trainee data across time to reference key frames.

This method not only allows the violinist to visualize components of motion requiring adjustment compared to the expert reference, but also allows for greater specificity in movement range and timing. It can be generalized to other body motions to improve the fine details of motion across music or dance performance–wherever physical technique mastery is pursued.

ABSTRACT. Fandom: The state of being a fan of somebody or something. Engaging with fan culture through a creative performance practice may be underestimated in scholarly research, yet it is well-known to be profoundly formative in shaping individual and collective identities. The research involves six tertiary/dance performers from diverse backgrounds. We engage in a FanZoning methodology that has been influenced by Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) notion of the rhizome methodology. I have also considered these through conceptual approaches such as simulation (Baudrillard, 1994) and testing (Ronell, 2005), using dance and choreography in the expanded field (Harvey, 2011), as a way to explore and share its significance in both artistic expression and pedagogical discourse.

The emergence and development of this research delve into the performance aspect of fan culture, where participants and dancers engage in my creative practice and material fandom. Our material exploration varies, from personalised keychains to elaborate artistic tributes, fans participate in acts of creative expression.

This research also critically examines the pedagogical implications of fan culture. Through an artistic research lens, I explore how engagement with fan culture and fan community fosters expanded literacy skills, encompassing traditional forms of reading, writing, creative practices, and material culture. This expanded literacy, rooted in fan participation, holds significant implications for pedagogical teaching and public education, offering new avenues for cultivating critical thinking and cultural awareness. Furthermore, I consider the role of studio teaching in harnessing the creative potential of fan culture within educational settings, providing opportunities for students to explore themes of identity, community, and artistic expression through the lens of fandom.

Through this interdisciplinary inquiry, this research intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of fan culture as a dynamic and influential force in contemporary society, with implications for both artistic practice and educational discourse.

ABSTRACT. New Era, New Traditions: Case Analysis of Sustainable Development of Traditional Chinese Music Culture in Current Social Environment The evolution of traditional music culture relies on the specific social environment of different historical periods. During this process, the styles presented by traditional music, as well as its modes of dissemination, development, and inheritance, will inevitably undergo corresponding changes, even radiating to neighboring countries and regions.

In the current Chinese traditional music culture, although still deeply influenced by Western classical music and popular music, under the adjustment and promotion of national cultural policies, many composers have already infused new vitality into Chinese traditional music through innovative composition techniques, endowing it with new connotations. On the other hand, neighboring countries such as Japan and South Korea, representing the enthusiasm for Chinese traditional music culture, continue to maintain their interest and strive for localized development. At the same time, many creators also attempt to break through national boundaries and create music with an "Eastern flavor." Against this background, our group combines relevant cases to discuss issues related to the sustainable development of Chinese traditional music culture.

The 1st paper focuses on professional music works composed by Chinese composers in the past half-century as the research object, exploring the changes in compositional styles and the phenomenon of interchange between Chinese and Western styles based on different historical backgrounds；

The 2nd paper takes the recent popularity of "national style music" in China as the research object, analyzing its development process under the background of cultural confidence policy, music technology development, and internet technology progress, exploring the influence of external environment on the creation of "national style music" and the integration and innovation of traditional music culture within it.

Paper 1： The phenomenon of interchange of external style and internal style in professional music composition in modern China

Chinese traditional music culture is dominated by the pentatonic melody and monophonic musical texture; in contrast, Western art music is based on a muti-voice structure tonal functional harmony of major and minor key. Since the introduction of Western art music to China, many Chinese composers with overseas backgrounds have begun to try to use Western music forms to create music works in the traditional Chinese music style, including instrumental solo works, chamber music works, and art songs. In creating these multi-voice music works, an inevitable problem is how to deal with the stylistic differences between Chinese and Western music traditions, such as the conflict between the pentatonic scale and tonal harmony system. In the early stage of professional music composition in China, composers drew heavily on the compositional theory of Western art music in external factors such as the genre of the work and the form of the music. However, in term of internal compositional factors, they tried hard to avoid the harmonic function of Western major and minor keys as much as possible, and established a series of compositional principle of Chinese pentatonic harmony. Surprisingly, in recent Chinese professional music composition, those principles of pentatonic harmony have gradually been abandoned. Although external factors such as genre, structure and narrative theme often have strong Chinese national attributes, the use of harmony no longer deliberately avoid western tonal functions, instead by using typical chords from tonal harmony of major and minor keys.

This study focuses on the stylistic changes in Chinese music composition over the past half century. The discussion includes multiple perspectives such as national policy changes, public aesthetic, and important historical events, to explore the phenomenon of the exchange of external and internal style of professional music composition in modern China.

Paper 2: Impact of External Environment on Music Creation from the Development Process of "National Style Music"

As a popular music form with distinct Chinese traditional cultural characteristics, "national style music" has been enthusiastically pursued by a large audience in recent years, with its popularity continuing to rise. After more than a decade of development from early imitations of Japanese and Taiwanese popular music to original compositions, national style music now has the following characteristics:

1. It closely follows mainstream popular music creation techniques, not being confined to the traditional pentatonic scale system, being flexible and versatile, retaining the essence of "Eastern flavor," and making it more in line with modern aesthetic demands; 2. The orchestration tends to use symphony orchestras combined with traditional instruments, emphasizing emotional expression and scene creation. Because a considerable portion of music works are used in games and film and television scores, the music pieces have a strong visual sense, and during the recording process, well-known foreign orchestras are invited to participate; 3. The performance environment has shifted from early virtual spaces on the internet to offline physical performances, from virtual sound software to live instrument performances, and in stage design, a large amount of Chinese traditional culture, such as calligraphy, costumes, etc., is showcased. This diversified performance environment brings a new visual and auditory experience to the audience and provides a broader creative space for creators of national style music.

Through analysis, it is found that the development of national style music is deeply influenced by the external environment and closely related to national cultural policy promotion and scientific and technological development. As a popular music culture, it endows traditional music culture with new connotations, making positive contributions to the inheritance and promotion of traditional culture.

ABSTRACT. In his Code de musique pratique (1760), Jean-Philippe Rameau introduced a whole-tone hexachord that he purported to be recorded by a Chinese, describing it as “perverse” (vicieux). This Chinese whole-tone scale was drawn from the pitches of a pan flute illustrated in Jean Joseph Marie Amiot’s De la musique moderne des Chinois (1754), which is a partial translation of Lülü zhengyi (The Correct Principles of Music, 1713), a music treatise commissioned by the Kangxi emperor. The pan flute in the treatise has sixteen pipes. According to the pitch labels of the pipes, each of them appears to be a whole tone apart from the adjacent pipes, seemingly forming two interlocking whole-tone scales.

What was not translated in Amiot’s manuscript and thus was overlooked by Rameau is the musical system giving rise to the apparent whole-tone scales, founded on a pipe tuning system that divides the octave into fourteen pitches. Although some Chinese music historians also interpreted them as whole-tone scales, I argue that they are actually hemitonic in nature. The Chinese pitch labels are dissociated from the twelve chromatic pitches that they are supposed to represent, as a pitch (lü) is not conceptualized as a perceptual property but rather as a physical entity associated with the length of the pipe that absolutizes it. By analyzing the fourteen-tone system and reconstructing the pitches and hence the scales that the system generates, I show the way in which pitch name translations could pose challenges in understanding traditional Chinese music theory.

ABSTRACT. PANEL ABSTRACT

Inclusive dance challenges conventional notions of dance and the experiences of individuals identified as having diverse bodies and abilities, who often encounter barriers in participation, professional development, training, and recognition of artistic excellence within the field. This panel critically examines the conceptual underpinnings of inclusive dance and its implications for therapeutic and educational contexts, as well as professional training trajectories. This panel aim to explore the interplay between conceptual understandings of dance, disability, vulnerability, and their impact on dance. The presentations will underscore the intersection of dance, participation, disability inclusion, theoretical frameworks, highlighting the transformative potential inherent in inclusive dance practices. The first presentation challenges traditional notions of dance by examining the concept of inclusive dance and its impact on individuals with diverse bodies and abilities. provides a conceptual review of inclusive dance, through a narrative literature review. The third presentation explores the role of dance, specifically ballet, in addressing vulnerability and exclusion. The panel discussion will further explore these themes and their implications for practice, education, and advocacy in the dance community.

PRESENTATIONS ABSTRACTS

1 A conceptual review of Inclusive Dance

The concept of inclusive dance in the late 60s, first concerned with the promotion of participation of individuals with disabilities. In Portugal, this concept emerged in the 80s, associated with educational dance activities as well with inclusive dance companies opening the field of dance as well as questioning the professional development and training opportunities in dance for individuals with disabilities.Thus questions may be concerned with how does inclusive dance has been described from a scientific, cultural and artistic view. This research aimed at conducting a narrative literature review examining the conceptual definition of inclusive dance as well as to identify the barriers and opportunities ispecialized artistic training face Methodology: a comprehensive search using online databases, B-on (Online Knowledge Library), ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Grey literature was conducted, using the keywords Inclusive, Dance, Integrated, Inclusion, Disability between 2011-2023. Preliminary results suggest that a reduced number of dance students with disabilities are elective and enrolled in specialized dance training. We hope to bring fresh insights and questions about how we critically engage with and value inclusive dance at a training level.

2 Outcomes framework in dance Interventions when facing vulnerability and exclusion

This paper explores the value of the arts within mental health promotion guided by principles of community mental health, artivism, dance movement therapy and inclusive arts. We aim to highlight the pivotal role of the arts, and particularly of Dance to build social support networks, enhance quality of life and well-being for individuals facing vulnerability and exclusion. Furthermore a reflection on the value of dance under a conceptual framework in Dance, firstly developed in the Dance Movement Therapy area, Dunphy Outcomes Framework (DOF), as well as kits related Movement and Assessment reporting app, which blends physical, cultural, emotional, cognitive social and integration domains. Under this theoretical framework, we aim to explore the value of Dance in the deconstruction of mental health stigma, as well as mental health promotion in diverse contexts (schools, centers for individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities, community centers supporting individuals with mental illness). A retrospective analysis aims at describing previous collaborative research studies developed across the last 10 years in order to bring insights towards the effectiveness and value of dance-based interventions for individuals with disabilities and mental health problems.

3. Ballet Teaching and Practice: Bridging Academia and Inclusion Post-Stroke

The with companies such as Berlin Opera Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Rothlisberger Tanz Co., in Germany, the United States, and Switzerland, respectively." author presents her trajectory in dance with companies such as Berlin Opera Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Rothlisberger Tanz Co., in Germany, the United States, and Switzerland, respectively and the transformations that occurred after having a stroke. While approaching her academic experience since her PhD until joining the higher education as a dance professor she brings relations among dance, disability, somatic education and creation. In addition to her academic experience, also approaches her return back to scenic dance and how she ended up finding relations among the stroke, disability studies and inclusive ballet teaching possibilities within contemporary crossings. Through this narrative, gets to an exposition of what she denominates Possible Ballet, the center of her current research.

ABSTRACT. Ethnomusicologists routinely report on rehearsals as part of research, but few theorize rehearsals for their own sake. While the field of rehearsal studies arose from theatre in reference to sessions that prepare for a staged performance, much of the literature on Western classical music rehearsals emanates from music education and is mostly concerned with pedagogy. That said, some ethnomusicologists and historical musicologists have examined rehearsals for different genres as crucial for composer-performer transmission, extramusical pedagogy, group composition, and socialization (e.g., Bayley 2011, Dueck 2013, Odria 2017, Morabito 2020). This panel centers rehearsals as generative social spaces and processes of becoming in which some conventions structure roles, but the actual practice of music provides participants opportunities for creativity and even temporary social inversions. Rather than merely cultural fields that delimit roles, we argue that music rehearsals are places where a variety of social affordances can be actualized through sound practice. Thus, while rehearsals seem mundane in comparison with presentational performances, we show how rehearsals are special types of performance through and in which participants negotiate the intersection of micro and macro socio-political forces.

Our papers concentrate on rehearsals characterized by liveness and co-presence. The first paper celebrates the imperfections that in some ways define rehearsals as activators of sonic intimacy in a Filipino American community rondalla. The second traces the reconfiguration of traditional positions and relationships in taiko and care work within rehearsal spaces in Japan and the US. The third establishes a model of networked sonic and social interactions to explain the overlapping mediating practices of artists and audio engineers as they rehearse sound for an imagined and eventual audience. Altogether, we hope to further ethnomusicological studies in rehearsals, not only as fieldsites but, more importantly, as social phenomena with their own revelatory and distinguishing qualities.

Paper 1 Rehearsing Imperfection, Intimacy, and Inversion in a Filipino American Community Rondalla

While theorizing social formation in music rehearsals (McIntosh 2018), it is tempting to overlook imperfect musical sounds as by-products. Relatedly, a model that casts conviviality as in tension with musical goals in community music (Dubois 2018) does not capture the nuances of sound and sociality intertwined. This paper suggests that the work of attachment and intimacy also happens through the mundane experience of musical foibles in rehearsals, which are understood as generative social spaces. Mistakes may spur moments of merriment through facial expressions, jokes, and laughter, while praise may be met with humble silence – responses that parallel idealized social interactions within the community. Through playing several decades with a Filipino American rondalla (plucked string ensemble), I have come to experience the sounds of unreliable intonation, wayward fingerings, and mistimed rhythms as contouring an aesthetics of intimacy (Berlant 1998).

Mistakes accompany the excitement of new pieces, sight-reading challenges, and fatigue, and cannot be subsumed under a single category of undesirable sounds. Indeed, flaws tell the story of poorly constructed or failing instruments, a narrative that is inextricable from migration and local economies. They highlight inexperience and inattention, but also the differing needs of people participating in an ethnicity-based school within a multicultural society. Not incidentally, in this intergenerational group, it is often elders with the least musical experience making the most mistakes. Because of this, the phenomenology of accidental soundings may include a temporary role inversion between teenagers and their parents that Tan describes as a kind of equality in his democratic model for instrumental practice (2014). While it is arguable whether mistakes are the point of rehearsal, I show how familiarity with sounded imperfections can build intimacy and strengthen a sense of community.

Paper 2 Rendering Interdependency: Mediating Power Dynamics between Disabled Taiko Musicians and their Caregivers in Rehearsal

Disabled taiko ensembles have been active for over half of the history of kumi-daiko, or group drumming, and is a popular activity in welfare associations for the intellectually and developmentally disabled (IDD) throughout Japan. Taiko has received thorough scholarly treatment in its exploration of race and gender (Wong; Ahlgren; Bender; Yoon), but disability has not been examined outside of music therapy and education. The role of women has been the subject of much discourse within the transnational taiko community, where women make up the majority of members but lack representation in leadership roles. IDD taiko ensembles almost always feature women in positions of authority due to their prevalence in care work. Nondisabled women generally participate as music therapists, caregivers, or simply taiko instructors interested in working with disabled musicians. By utilizing Bourdieu’s (1993) concept of cultural fields and Kittay’s (2011) work on the ethics of care and interdependence, I examine how traditional positions and relationships in both taiko and care work are reconfigured within rehearsal spaces in Japan and the US. While the disabled taiko players are ostensibly presented as the lead musicians in performances, observing rehearsals unveils a more complex negotiation of power dynamics between the disabled musicians and their nondisabled caregivers who often perform with them. Rehearsal constitutes a process through which these performers must depend on each other while alternating roles and shifting textures as they produce sounds together. The oscillation of musical roles throughout taiko rehearsals constructs a space for reclaiming agency through interdependent relationships.

Paper 3 Anticipating the Audience: Soundchecks as the Last Rehearsal for Artist and Engineer

To audiences of technologically mediated live performance, the show starts with the strike of the first chord or pound of the kick drum. In actuality, the perfect moment emerges a few hours earlier during the soundcheck, or the final rehearsal that takes place onstage. In this in-between time, the artist and the audio engineer do a delicate dance of decision-making that anticipates the experience of the expected audience. As a performer, sound engineer, and ethnographer, I understand soundchecks before live performances as a special kind of rehearsal. Instead of artists practicing musical accuracy and togetherness, soundchecks rehearse technological aspects of performance like pitch/frequency balance and the ability to hear one another on stage.

Building off of Simon Frith’s definition of the popular music authenticity paradigm (1996) and Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter’s discussion on the chaotic nature of sound in space (2007), I theorize the audience during the soundcheck as an imagined, yet powerful entity. Regardless of the “realness” of a musical narrative, for the audience, the inner workings of a musician's personality and life journey is only accessible via their music. With these audience expectations in mind, artists often instruct audio engineers during the soundcheck to mix a musical experience following the constructed imaginations of the eventual audience. Additionally, the audience, as human body objects, absorb, reflect, and make sound. Because the audience is not present during soundcheck, the audio engineer in tandem with the artist must construct an optimal auditory mix that anticipates the aural nature of “bass-trapping” and chatting audience bodies. Through the authenticity paradigm and bodies in space, the imagined audience maintains control throughout the soundcheck. In order to appease the not-yet-present audience, during the soundcheck, both audio engineer and artist scramble to build trust in pursuit of the audience’s eventual flawless experience of liveness.

ABSTRACT. Displaced populations including refugees, migrants, and indigenous people, form minority groups precariously settled on provisional or contested territories. The mores and cultural identities and practices of these groups, which often differ from those of the dominant populations around them, as well as the prejudices attached to them, can exacerbate their isolation, hindering contributions to and engagement with wider society. This roundtable will present minority groups with disparate histories and environments who ascertain their place in society through musical arts, building confidence that enriches civic participation and a cohesive, inclusive social fabric.

Presenter #1's opening contribution will extend on recent books he has developed, to elucidate foundational concepts, such as empowerment and envoicement, and explore ethical and legal aspects of music as a form of cultural diplomacy in intercultural performance contexts.

Presenter #2 will discuss efforts in the Nordic countries to sustain Indigenous Sámi singing traditions through online learning and performance communities. The presentation will highlight issues related to sharing intangible cultural heritage as a means of giving voice to minority peoples and building cultural understanding.

Presenter #3 will explore the Syrian music scene that has emerged in Vienna since 2015 as a result of the refugee movement. The presentation will focus on the NAI Oriental Orchestra, its peace- and community-building role, and its challenges representing and empowering people whose musical and linguistic practices differ from those that dominate locally.

Presenter #4 will discuss the interplay between Singapore's cultural dynamics and Tamil Hindu identity by examining the uṟumi mēḷam Tamil folk drumming ensemble during Thaipusam, a major Hindu festival, highlighting how uṟumi mēḷam practitioners leveraged community outreach programs to challenge the 2015 ban on their music at the festival, and its 2024 reinstatement.

Presenter #5 will describe music initiatives welding Aotearoa Pasifika communities impacted by colonial legacies and global warming in their island territories. These include Samoan King Kapisi’s hop-hop movement, which provides a cultural anchorage for disenfranchised urban youth, and the Porirua-based Virtuoso Strings orchestral group.

ABSTRACT. This panel aims to explore the role of music as a practice of cultural diplomacy, offering new perspectives on the interaction between language, culture, and international relations in the post-colonial world. Colonization during the modern era profoundly transformed the linguistic map through exercises in oppression, erasure, and imposition. The end of great empires gave way to the resurgence of silenced languages, the emergence of creolized languages, and the persistence of colonial linguistic expressions as a form of distinction in contexts of non-independent postcolonial territories. Within the scope of this panel, we designate these different linguistic processes as post-colonial languages because their affirmation occurred after the end of historical colonization and is independent of subsequent official languages. The aim, therefore, is to explore how musical expressions in post-colonial languages act not only as vehicles for the preservation of cultural heritage but also as influential tools in shaping international relations and mutual understanding. The panel focuses on case studies in Goa, Cape Verde, and Mozambique, where linguistic choices for creating local repertoires have impacted global music scenes, thus facilitating intercultural dialogue and redefining identity narratives within postcolonial discourse. The panel will address the following key questions: How do postcolonial languages in music articulate cultural identity and historical memory? How do they contribute to international cultural diplomacy? What are the implications for linguistic diversity in the global music industry?

Paper 1 - Harmonizing Histories: The Preservation and Diplomatic Role of Fado de Goa in Contemporary India

Abstract: This presentation investigates the phenomena of Fado in Goa and its fundamental role as an ambassador of Indian culture. Fado, a performative genre deeply rooted in Portuguese tradition and declared a UNESCO World Intangible Heritage in 2011, resurged in Goa after 2014, leading to the establishment of the Fado de Goa brand. In 2017, Indian institutions officially recognized and classified it as an Indian music genre. The inclusion of a musical genre sung in Portuguese in Indian diplomatic circles, given Goa's history as a Portuguese colony until 1961, raises a nuanced topic that demands careful investigation. Therefore, this article will explore how Fado de Goa catalyzed the preservation of the Portuguese language in Goa, ensuring its continuation and relevance in contemporary Goan society. Furthermore, it will examine the role of Fado in strengthening India and Goa's cultural diplomacy, facilitating connections between Goan communities around the world and maintaining dialogue with Portugal. Through active engagement with the global Fado community, Goan musicians contribute to a broader discourse on cultural preservation and the transformative power of music in sustaining linguistic diversity. In short, by presenting historical connections through music, this presentation aims to contribute to broader discussions about cultural sustainability and the strategic use of music in diplomacy. It offers insights into how these connections can shape postcolonial cultural and linguistic politics, shedding light on the lasting impact of cultural heritage in defining contemporary postcolonial and decolonial narratives.

Paper 2 - Between Marrabenta and Pandza: Generations, Languages, and Identities in Mozambican Music

Abstract: Mozambique was a Portuguese colony until it gained independence in 1975. Following independence, Portuguese was adopted as the official language. Marrabenta and Pandza are two popular music genres in Mozambique that have become national symbols. Marrabenta emerged during the colonial period, between the 1930s and 1940s, a time when the Portuguese language was imposed as a symbol of colonization, associated with cultural domination and assimilation. Marrabenta is primarily sung in indigenous languages such as Xironga and Xichangana and is considered a symbol of Mozambican identity and cultural resistance to colonization. It is predominantly practiced by a generation that lived through the colonial period. Pandza emerged in a period when Portuguese was already the official language of Mozambique, specifically in 2005, three decades after the country's independence. Pandza combines Portuguese with indigenous languages, aiming to reach an international audience in an era marked by globalization. It is practiced by youths born in the 1980s, a decade after the country's independence. This paper examines the relationship between the Portuguese language, identity, and music in Mozambique, observing how the Portuguese language manifests in Mozambican music in different historical contexts and how distinct generations of musicians perceive and utilize it. This study is part of a broader research project on musical practices, society, and creative musical interactions in the Mozambican capital, Maputo.

Paper 3 - “I became the ambassador of my island”. The Role of Cesária Évora in Cultural Diplomacy of Cape Verde

Abstract: This paper discusses the role of Cape Verdean singer Cesária Évora in bringing global attention to the Creole language through her unusual, unique, and distinctive artistic career, thereby contributing to the internationalization of her homeland. Cesária Évora (1941-2011) was relatively unknown outside her home island and country until the late 1980s. Before Cape Verde's independence in 1975, her performances were confined to the bars and cafes of Mindelo on São Vincente Island, catering primarily to Portuguese sailors and military personnel. Although Portuguese was the official language before and after 1975, Creole is the language of dreams, whispers, and everyday communication among Cape Verdeans. Despite not being the language of instruction in schools, public spaces, or official communications, Creole has always been the preferred mode of expression for musicians reflecting their identity. In the late 1980s, Cesária Évora's artistic career took an unexpected turn under the guidance of Jose da Silva, a Cape Verdean producer based in Paris, where the scene of world music was thriving. This paper explores Cesária Évora's journey as an artist and her significant role in promoting her country and its "silent" language on the world stage, thus becoming an unexpected diplomatic cultural ambassador.

ABSTRACT. Belo Horizonte is a Brazilian city created in 1889 to be the new capital of the State of Minas Gerais. It was the first planned capital city in Brazil and intended to bring some “new” concepts of modernity and progress in its urban and architectural plan. The general plan of the city foresaw three different areas: urban, suburban and ranches, and historically that division created a segregated space, which has a strong racial feature. Analysing samba culture, that is one of the diaspora culture of the segregated people, it is interesting to note that many of samba compositions bring in their lyrics many different aspects of that segregation. We aim to analyse the issues of space and culture segregation present in those songs. First we aim to analyse how the “sambistas” see their environment, how they portrait the place where they live, the suburban area. Than we will analyse some lyrics which characterize this city division, showing that to the samba culture rests the suburban area, and the urban area is for the “dominant European culture”, pointing to a spatial and a cultural division of the city. We rely on the concept of structural racism to develop the argument. The study shows how racism is part of the structure of the city, and creates a central area that is structurally and culturally more “fixed”, and in the other hand it is possible to see the suburbia that is in constant changes.

ABSTRACT. Chilean singer-songwriters throughout the twenty-first century frequently align themselves within lineages of folk music icons to connect themselves with both legitimizing musical figures and national patrimony. Scholars have focused on how artists who passed away decades before—most prominently, Violeta Parra and Víctor Jara—influence musical canons and creation today (Valdebenito 2017, 2018; Party 2023). In contrast, this paper explores how popular singer-songwriters who studied with nationally-renowned folklorist Margot Loyola in the final years of her life have attached their musical practices to the Chilean traditions that Loyola researched while combining their music with popular music styles. Extending theorizations about folkloric fusion music (González 2011; Tucker 2011), I introduce the metaphor of "grafting" into ethnomusicological discourse to inspect how Margot’s students have performed música de raíz, or roots music, from 1996 to the present. Specifically, I contend that the interpersonal relationships forged between Margot and her students has enabled new artists to compose and perform music that revives collected folk song genres from the twentieth century in ways that appealed to younger Chilean audiences. Supported by interviews and participant observation with musicians Gepe, Claudia Mena, Natalia Contesse, and Andrea Andreu, conducted in Chile from 2022-2024, I argue that the musicians’ identification with Margot provides them authenticity as performers and experts of Chilean traditional music while simultaneously offering space for creativity and experimentation. This paper contributes to continued ethnomusicological conversations surrounding transnational musical movement, musical transmission and innovation, and the canonization of folk music for future generations.

ABSTRACT. Nightlife encompasses affective atmospheres, a multi-situated space that tracks trajectories of the night—the befores, the insides, the outsides, the afters. Reggaetón nightlife in Santiago begins long before sundown. This experience starts with the embodied expectation of a “night out” constituted by desires and routines. This prelude invites hundreds of young Chileans to anticipate when, how, and where to find pleasure in planning how to inhabit a city characterized by its societal exclusions. The darkness arrives, and the dancefloors at clubs or abandoned houses host encounters between old and new friends, lovers, and memories. The party—that space explained by the ethnomusicologist Luis Manuel García Mispireta like an immersive affective experience that includes musicking, dancing, erotic sociability, and transgressive exuberance—is felt. Yet, how can we researchers express the nuances and richness of senses felt by practitioners and ourselves at a party?

For this paper, I explore the nightlife around reggaetón as a sensorial filmmaking practice to learn and re-enact the party. I use film to evoke sensuous ways to place musical creation and dancing in audiovisual settings and then analyze multi-sensorial experiences. Following David MacDougall’s ideas, I argue that filmmaking is one productive way to explore a method theory that involves evoking senses and physical, phenomenological, and social interactions. To do so, I understand film not only as a documentary-data collection technique but also as a creative process where shooting, cutting, and editing audiovisual materials became a process of understanding music-dance actions and also a way of expressing that understanding. Focusing my work on nightlife reggaetón experiences during 2024, I propose bricoleuse and constellation editing—applying the filmmakers’ ideas Jill Daniels and Alexander Kluge—to provide a re-immersion in Chilean nightlife.

ABSTRACT. The Lahu group in China is mainly divided into Lahu Na and Lahu Xi, and the creator god “Esha” is the most primitive belief people adhere to. During most festivals and sacrificial rituals of Lahu Xi, people worship “Esha” through their body and sound, which is called “O Li” (ritual). In their yearly practices since thirteenth century, “O Li” has become the way of those Lahu people to perceive their own existence. If people are not able to do “O Li”, it can lead to the collapse of their social structure and spiritual connection, prompting them to escape to another place.

To delve into this unique cultural phenomenon, I have conducted fieldwork in the Longzhupeng village, Lancang county of Yunnan province, where traditional Lahu Xi sacrificial rituals were completely preserved. My fieldwork reveals that this community, which turned out to be Lahu Xi’s central settlement, had experienced two large-scale cross-border escapes between the 1960s and 1980s. James C. Scott (2009) emphasized the initiative of a marginalized community in the course of history and their resistance against state rules. He summarized the exoduses as “Zomia”. However, the two exoduses of the Lahu Xi were not due to the agrarian economy, as Scott suggests, but rather were a result of threats to their cosmologically rooted “O Li” system.

Based on my fieldwork and analysis, this research explores Lahu Xi sacrificial rituals, arguing that the body and sound function as instruments of social interaction, thereby establishing a sense of belonging among the Lahu Xi people. Furthermore, this research decodes the relationship between the inherent social system and the logic in their cosmology. It elucidates how “O Li” serves as the emotional bond between human and their surroundings to keep a harmonious order.

ABSTRACT. The foliada is a collective gathering of a festive nature based on the community practice of traditional music and dance, which currently has a significant social impact and territorial reach in Galicia (NW Iberian Peninsula). On March 16, 2018, the Galician government published in its Official Gazette a resolution initiating the process to declare the foliada as a Cultural Asset of Interest (the highest level of heritage protection in Spain). This initiation process sparked a profound debate within the community about the definition of traditional music and dance in modern times and the legitimacy of folklorism as institutions representing the community. This moment of ontological agitation resulted in the submission of numerous objections to the initiation process and, ultimately, its dismissal. However, this event – in Deleuzian terms – aroused my research interest in a series of critical and dynamic voices of resistance gathered in the foliadas that take place in the city of Santiago de Compostela.

In this communication, I will analyze how certain critical groups linked to associationism, ecology, feminism, and Galician nationalism have appropriated the foliadas and their cultural, community, and economic implications as spaces of dissent where they reflect on alternative ways of life to neoliberal state logics, allowing them to envision other possible futures generated from local heritage. To do this, I will start with a work of participant observation in more than twenty foliadas that take place in the city of Santiago de Compostela, multiple ethnographic interviews, and the analysis of the dynamics of transmission of traditional music and dance in the context of structured and informal teaching through attendance at dance and tambourine classes at the Gentalha do Pichel association.

ABSTRACT. The bulk of published scholarship on Balinese music focuses on topics related to gamelan, the well-known instrumental ensembles made up primarily of tuned metallophones, gongs, drums, and bamboo flutes. Many of these scholarly works examine historical developments in, musical structures of, and cultural contexts for performance within the characteristically male-dominated instrumental tradition. By contrast, studies related to Balinese vocal music – an artistic realm where women feature prominently – are relatively scarce. With a few exceptions (e.g. Herbst 1997, Reisnour 2018, Collier 2022), this small body of scholarship attends carefully to the historical and cultural associations, poetic structures, and performance contexts of vocal music, but bypasses consideration of the embodied nature of its practice and the processes by which it is learned.

Based on new ethnographic research (2023 – 2024) and informed by scholarly work on gender, the voice, and embodiment, this paper articulates a concept of intimacy in Balinese performance, particularly as connected to the study of gesture and vocal music learning among young students of Balinese arja (an operatic type of dance drama). This research highlights pedagogy as both a private space and a shared experience, showing how the processes that precede, inform, and generate performance prompt students to interact mutably with their bodies and voices. Attending to the embodied nature of learning and practice in Balinese vocal music broadens the discourse on the important role of female artists in Bali, and points to intimacy as a creative, generative, and stabilizing force within Balinese arts.

ABSTRACT. Since Mantle Hood coined the term bi-musicality in his most cited essay in the 1960s, the famous ethnomusicological method has been used in various research and teaching contexts. Drawing on my long-term personal involvement in the autochthonous music scene in La Paz city, Bolivia, and my Andean music teaching sessions and classes at various cultural centers and universities between Bolivia and Germany, I revisit the ethnomusicological method of bi-musicality and related terms and concepts under recent disciplinary developments and anticolonial standpoints. I argue that in early definitions various crucial differences between “insider” and “outsider” were sidestepped in favor of a controversial idea of a researcher wanting to study foreign music from the inside. This is hardly ever possible when considering the different positionalities at play. With the acquirement and learning of musical knowledge from a different cultural context arises the responsibility to ask what we can do with this knowledge and our privileges as ethnomusicologists in different local and global political contexts. In order to develop an anticolonial approach to bi-musicality, I go beyond the academic idea of increasing knowledge production about a musical practice and advocate for using this acquired knowledge in applied contexts where it can make meaningful differences.

ABSTRACT. In her essay ‘Poetry Is Not a Luxury’, Audre Lorde (1984) describes poetry – a form of storytelling – as illumination and an accessible means to birth and give name to ideas and experiences that are felt. This description offers multiple invitations, and the one that resonates most with me is about the role of storytelling as a method that enables the recording of lived experiences, and how this can contribute to the development of theory. This is embodied theorization, something the African tradition of storytelling enables. The African tradition of storytelling is rooted in the knowledge generated and exchanged based on the experiences of people of African descent. It is a framework grounded in African worldviews that influence and inform the norms of Africans on the continent and in the diaspora (Montgomery et al., 1990, Tuwe, 2016., & Tuwe, 2018). African worldviews are made up of interacting forces including cosmological and metaphysical ones that are narrativized into folktales, proverbs, and songs (Rwafa, 2015). For instance, scholars such as Nyamnjoh (2021) propose that proverbs should be considered conceptual frameworks as they are “the embodiment of the wisdom and epistemological uniqueness of cultures in Africa” (p.431).

This presentation will share how I, a Zimbabwean born, and New Zealand raised femme applied the African tradition of storytelling through the Sesa Mathlo methodology, a methodology that I specifically designed for my PhD research project. The Sesa Mathlo methodology is an inter-disciplinary practice-led framework that draws upon African griot traditions of speech making, storytelling and poetic song chant to make sense of experiences and to produce knowledge stemming from those experiences. The methodology is also informed by Queer African Studies, intersectionality, and Black Feminist Thought and Practice. Sesa Mathlo loosely translates to “open your eyes” in Sesotho and utilizes the notion of opening or cleaning one’s eyes as a metaphor for witnessing the interlocking oppressions around us. It is also an invitation to “open up” to new pathways, frameworks and possibilities of knowledge gathering and sharing. The aim of the presentation is to illustrate how practice-led research can be a catalyst to imagine, theorize and action creative practices that honour varying modes of knowledge production. Utilising a storytelling tradition, the presentation will articulate and share the ways in which alternative approaches and methods to research, education, and knowledge dissemination create space for transformative possibilities and futures.

ABSTRACT. The central element of Iranian classical music lies within the dastgah-ha (s. dastgah), comprising 12 sets of brief melodies known as gushe-ha (s. gushe). Various authors have described the modal features of these gushe-ha, referred to as maye, which establish the theoretical framework of this music tradition. Nevertheless, certain aspects of these theoretical formulations either fail to encompass the diverse range of performance practices or conflict with the implicit knowledge held by performers. With the goal of expanding and increasing the flexibility of Iranian dastgahi music theory, we propose a mixed methodology that combines computer-aided, corpus-driven approach and ethnographic work with expert performers of this tradition. To that aim, we are creating the KUG Dastgahi Corpus (KDC), containing new recordings of solo instruments and voice from our collaborator expert musicians. We also invited some of the musicians to annotate the recordings, at this stage mostly in terms of melodic patterns. The data, metadata and annotations of the KDC are published under open licenses. In this paper we will present the motivation and objectives of our research, as well as an overview of the current status of the KDC. Furthermore, we will present our first steps towards the analysis of melodic patterns. Both theoretical literature and common knowledge among performance agree that these patterns are fundamental for defining the identity of each gushe. However, a comprehensive study of this aspect is still missing, with only few publications focused on one particular dastgah published. In this first stage of the research, we have asked several of our collaborators to annotate the first gushe of all 12 dastga-ha, known as daramad. We have performed an inter-annotator agreement analysis, followed by a discussion with the annotators to understand the reasons of agreements and disagreements. The outcome of this analysis will the be basis for the evaluation of future computational pattern analyses.

ABSTRACT. Through processes of displacement, forced migration, and (re)settlement, the voices of children and young people are often silenced, their stories and lived experiences about their own diverse and layered experiences with displacement, migration, and settlement are seldom, if ever, heard. As such, this roundtable will focus on examining how creative-arts can be used as a space for children to speak-back and share their stories, and to highlight the need for a global focus on arts-based practices that support the immediate needs of displaced children and youth. We will explore how musical collaboration, community music-making, photography, and storytelling can support young people’s wellbeing, cultural and individual resiliency, and connection during and after displacement, migration, and (re)settlement. We will also focus on how children and young people can use their songs, stories, photos, and voices as a tool of resistance by challenging dominant narratives on trauma, resilience, and integration. The presenters in this roundtable lead several international music-based research projects in collaboration with community-based refugee settlement organizations. The goals of their research collaborations are to recognize young people as leaders, agentic innovators, and stewards of musical cultures as well as storytellers more broadly.

ABSTRACT. Minangkabau, West Sumatra, is one of the cultural regions in Indonesia, where talempong music (either a row of small gong-pots, or gongs hand-held in pairs) are considered to be a local pusako (a family inheritance) (Kartomi 2012; Fraser, 2015). Contextually, this music is attached especially to traditional ceremonies of Minangkabau social organisation, namely the inauguration of a penghulu suku (clan leader), at which the revered talempong must be performed, as noted in one of our pepatah (proverbs), baaguang, batalempong, bagandang saliguri (with gong, talempong and the drum called saliguri). As bronze musical instruments of the locality, talempong have remained important to Minangkabau people through the ages, handed down via the matriliny, as our belief systems have changed from broadly animisme (indigenous animism), through to the influence of the global religions of Hindu-Buddhism ( 2nd CE) and now currently Islam Shafi’i sect - mazhab (circa 15th century). Through the lens of pusako, and as an indigenous performer and researcher of talempong music, in my paper, I will look at the belief systems through which talempong have historically travelled, with us. I discuss in particular, possible influences from the Hindu-Buddhist era with regard to inherited talempong performed in processions. This is an adat (customary) process, observed at penghulu inaugurations, and which remains important to Minangkabau people today as an aspect of local culture, although the belief system is Islam.

ABSTRACT. In 2010, I made a five-part radio series for Radio New Zealand called, “West Sumatran Composers of Indonesia”. It can be heard at rnz.co.nz. The series was a profile of Minangkabau composers, while on tour in New Zealand, who worked within local, national, and international music scenes (Suryadi 2020). In 2010, new music was created through a method known as garapan (to make something new), where compositions were developed from Minangkabau instruments and genres. Inspired by Indonesian art music scenes (Emerson 2022, Poplawska 2023), instrumentation included Minangkabau drums, flutes, vocals, gong-pots, gongs, and electroacoustic music. Experimental instruments were also invented. The music was used to accompany customary inaugurations of penghulu (matri-clan leaders), dance productions, theatre, and as music for concerts.

Now, 15 years later, in this paper I return to talk with the same composers, to discuss current projects and explore how new technologies have influenced their compositional methods and creativity. In 2010 most recordings were performed live in the studio and distributed on CDs and VCDs. With the rise of music for screens of all sizes, including for Minangkabau language films (Desmarwardi 2023), I investigate how composers record and release music today, in West Sumatra. Through collaborative discussions and sound examples, in this paper, I ask, is there a ‘Minangkabau Sound’ that can be ascertained, through the music of this celebrated school of composers, who have performed each other’s music for over 25 years?

ABSTRACT. In the early 1980s, Hip-Hop music made its entry into the popular music scene in Japan. After over 40 years of development, the most vibrant scene today is being energized by rappers from Okinawa, the poorest region in Japan (per capita income), that has hosted 32 United States military bases since the Pacific War. Okinawan Hip-Hop’s close ties to American culture have significantly influenced its development and contributed to its vibrancy in the contemporary Hip-Hop music scene in Japan. The lyrics and themes of Okinawan Hip-Hop artists often narrate the struggles, aspirations, and experiences of the locals, shedding light on issues such as identity, social challenges, and the impact of U.S. Military Base. The genre has become a powerful means of expression for the Okinawan people, granting them a voice to share their perspectives and stories.

In March 2023, the compilation album “098RADIO vol.1” was released, featuring songs from various artists from Okinawa. Awich, a female rapper representing Japan and hailing from Okinawa, was the mastermind behind this project. The album had evolved and integrated with Okinawan dialect and culture, resulting in a unique blend of traditional Okinawan elements and contemporary Hip-Hop styles. Based on primary sources from National Diet Library, fieldwork in Tokyo, and music analysis, I demonstrate how the Okinawan rappers are using Hip-Hop music’s style, structure, and lyrics to frame the intersection of Okinawan identities, regional and national affiliations, longstanding and contentious U.S. military presence as well as a distant Other to mainland Japan. I argue that Okinawan popular music, intertwined with the rise of commodified mass culture, has redefined memory by enabling the widespread dissemination of sounds and narratives from the past. These memories are now accessible to all, transcending barriers of race, ethnicity, and biology, thereby fostering unexpected connections across diverse communities.

ABSTRACT. This panel brings together dancers, choreographers, musicians and designers to discuss professional practice for dancers with disability.

People with disabilities quickly become well-versed at being in the public gaze as their diverse ways of moving and being in the world attract stares from the people around them. Behind these stares there is, all too often, an assumption of limitation. In this panel we discuss ways that dancers with disability subvert this process by creating non-normative collaborative spaces that not only centre but celebrate atypical body types, atypical movement and atypical performance outcomes.

Dancing in the Cut challenges the aesthetic regime that projects a limiting repertoire of gestures in dance by extending the senses through technological augmentation. It challenges an assumed design emphasis on the visual and champions the haptic, kinetic, kinaesthetic and experiential, especially pertinent for costume design processes and practice. The virtuosity evident in works like Mel Smith’s performance of ‘Conduit Bodies’ and Suzanne Cowan’s ‘Knot Just Bodies’ and ‘Tentacular’ is achieved through deep communication, genuine interdisciplinary collaboration and draws on relays of attention between audience and performer, object and trigger, designer and maker, memory and presence. In this panel, speakers will discuss the ways dancers with disability, and those who work with them utilise technology, space, design and their own unique bodies and brains to reimagine a new aesthetic regime.