International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance

A Non-Governmental Organization in Formal Consultative Relations with UNESCO

Minutes of the meeting of the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World, 15 July 2013

On 15 July 2013, the ICTM Study Group on Music of the Turkic-speaking World held its business meeting at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, in Shanghai, China.

Study Group Co-Chair Razia Sultanova called the meeting to order at 13:30, and welcomed all twenty-six members to the meeting.

Under general business, Sultanova announced that Co-Chair Dorit Klebe had so far been unable publish the proceedings of the Berlin symposium in 2010, but that work was being continued.

Sultanova briefly reviewed the history of the Study Group’s symposia (London 2009, Berlin 2010, Cambridge 2012), and announced that the fourth symposium would be in Ankara on 18-20 April 2014.

Saida Yelemanova reported on the 2012 symposium in Cambridge, which had the theme “Popular culture in Turkic Asia and Afghanistan”. It was well organized and well attended. There was a great diversity among the participants, with fifteen countries represented. The symposium also benefited from the presence of a Cambridge roundtable on Turkic languages that took place before the event. Sponsored by the British Council and Turksoy, the symposium had a tight programme with papers, workshops, and concerts by professional musicians from the Turkic-speaking world.

Yelemanova reported that plans to publish the papers in 2014-2015 were underway, and that the target publishing company was SOAS Ashgate. Discussion following this announcement focused on the need to solve language issues at symposia (especially Russian to English) and on improving the overall quality of presentations. The group began a discussion on a possible mentoring programme to provide greater opportunity for speakers to work on translation and public speaking, especially geared towards conference-paper delivery.

The theme for the 2014 Study Group Symposia in Ankara would be “The Turkic World and Its Neighbours: Similarity and Differences in Music”. Paper topics will revolve around (1) Musical intersections; (2) Persian influences; (3) Uyghur music; and (4) Other subjects. Primary sponsorship for the Ankara meeting will be provided by Turksoy. Şehvar Beşiroğlu and Okan Murat Öztürk will be chairs of the local arrangements committee.

This was followed by a discussion on the subject of language during symposia, and it was noted that English is the main language of ICTM. Returning to the subject of contributing to the successful preparation for ICTM conferences for those whose first language is not English, Inna Naroditskaya led a discussion about mentoring plans, including offering Skype preparation well in advance of the meetings.

The meeting adjourned at 14:30.