International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance

A Non-Governmental Organization in Formal Consultative Relations with UNESCO

2010 - Report on the 2nd Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology

Hanoi, Vietnam, 19-30 July 2010

 

The symposium was organized together with the 6th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Minorities (see Minutes by Adelaida Reyes in the October 2010 ICTM Bulletin, pages 58-60) and was hosted by the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology in Hanoi. The first 17 sessions of the event were related to Music and Minorities and the other 13 to Applied Ethnomusicology. The entire event was hosted by Le Van Toan, Director of the Institute and his efficient team, partly in hotel Dien Luc and partly at the Institute. Tran Quang Hai, Huib Schippers, Kjell Skyllstad, Ursula Hemetek and the undersigned assisted the organizers on behalf of the ICTM, and Geir Johnson provided invaluable assistance on behalf of the Norwegian Transposition program. The two symposia were smoothly connected by the two-day excursion to the Halong Bay, where papers with the agenda shared by the Music and Minorities and Applied Ethnomusicology domains were presented on a boat.

 

Just like the Music and Minorities symposium, the symposium on Applied Ethnomusicology had its own three themes: (1) History and workings of applied ethnomusicology, (2) Performing arts and ecology, and (3) Performing arts in dialogue, advocacy and education. The forms of presentation included individual papers, panels on topics such as applied ethnomusicology, cultural heritage and social relevance, and discussions within the talking circles, introduced by Klisala Harrison at the previous STG symposium in Ljubljana. The event was accompanied by several concerts, demonstrations (Ca tru, Xam) and integrated performances (water puppet theatre).

 

The joint STG symposia attracted scholars from countries and research traditions world-wide. Those who presented their studies within the scope of the Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology included: Kirstie Gillespie, Catherine Grant, Elizabeth Mackinlay, Huib Schippers (Australia), Rodrigo Caballero, Klisala Harrison and Leila Qashu (Canada), Panikos Giorgoudes (Cyprus), Britta Sweers (Germany), Davide D’Allo (Italy),Yoshiko Okazaki (Japan), Tan Sooi Beng (Malaysia), Saemund Fiskvik and Kjell Skyllstad (Norway), Manuela Magno (Portugal), Elena Shishkina (Russia), Hideaki Onishi, Pamela Costes Onishi and Joe Peters (Singapore), Bernhard Bleibinger (South Africa), Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona (Sri Lanka), Esbjörn Wettermark (Sweden/UK), Mary Saurman and Victoria Vorreiter (Thailand/USA), Barley Norton and Tina K. Ramnarine (UK), James Napoli and Brian Schrag (USA), and Khuong Van Cuong, Nguyen Thi Minh Chau and Nguyen Thuy Tien (Vietnam).

 

The 3rd general assembly (business meeting) of the Study Group on Applied Ethnomusicology took place on 27 July. It was chaired by the undersigned and Klisala Harrison. The agenda included: 1. Introductory remarks, greetings and apologies for absence. 2. Report from the Study Group's 2nd General Assembly in Durban in 2009. Minutes were prepared by the absent STG secretary Eric Martin Usner. 3. Report on the Study Group's activities: - Progress on the edited volume of peer-reviewed articles developed from papers presented at the 1st STG symposium in Ljubljana in 2008. (The volume, titled Applied Ethnomusicology: Historical and Contemporary Approaches, was published in late 2010 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.) - Presence of the Study Group at the 40th ICTM World Conference in Durban in 2009. - Presentations and announcements of new publications by the members. 4. ICTM rules concerning the membership status of participants in STG symposia. 5. Presence of the Study Group and its members at the 41st ICTM World Conference in St. John's in 2011. 6. Location of the 3rd Study Group symposium in 2012: The four candidate countries included: Canada, Cyprus, Russia and Switzerland. (The final decision is still to be made.) 7. Themes for the 3rd Study Group symposium in 2012 (same as 6). 8. Reflections on the 2nd Study Group symposium in Hanoi and discussion about a possible edited volume based on it. 9. Expression of gratitude to local organizers. 10. Other matters.

 

The experience of the joint symposia in Vietnam was overwhelmingly positive, and this situation creates a suitable opportunity for congratulations to the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology and all others involved.

 

Svanibor Pettan, Chairperson