Patterns of Change in the Traditional Music of Southeast Asia is the tenth volume in the series “Intersezioni Musicali”, published by the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies in collaboration with the publisher Nota (Udine). Edited by the director of the Institute, Giovanni Giuriati, the book’s seven chapters bring together original research on Southeast Asian music conducted in the field. The aim of the book is to explore how traditional music of this area of the world deals with change. In fact, processes of globalisation, urbanisation, heritagisation and mediatisation have deeply affected music cultures on mainland and insular Southeast Asia from the late 20th century into the early 21st century. The various chapters discuss case studies based on extensive research in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia (Java and Sulawesi). The main themes include the role of music in the inculturation processes pursued by the Catholic church and in possession cults, shadow theatre and other theatrical genres. There are also reflections on the processes turning traditional music into showbiz (spectacularisation) and the adoption of new musical instruments. From the point of view of method, the book is particularly original in its combination of painstaking musical analysis and an anthropological approach based on extensive ethnographies. The authors of the case studies are young researchers, mostly Italians, who studied at the Sapienza University of Rome and then went different ways in their doctoral and post-doctoral studies. Published in English to reach a wider international audience, the book grew out of a research project of national interest (PRIN) and a seminar held at the Fondazione Cini in 2017 and has been published with the support of the Sapienza University of Rome. Each chapter is illustrated by rich audiovisual documentation accessible through QR codes in the text that take you to a dedicated section on the publisher’s website.
Istituto: Institute of Comparative Music
Music of the Twenty-First Century Diasporas: Research and Methods
The volume Music of the Twenty-First Century Diasporas: Research and Methods is the third in a series of online publications by the IISMC, stemming from the international ethnomusicology seminars that the Institute organises each year. It is a series that addresses current and original research topics, contributing to an international debate on the discipline and at the same time constituting an important educational tool, especially at university level. Edited by Serena Facci and Giovanni Giuriati, the volume derives from the seminar bearing the same title organised in San Giorgio in 2020, just before the outbreak of the pandemic. Through the contributions of various authors, mostly Italian, it aims at providing a multi-voiced reflection on the musical life of the many migratory contexts that can be observed in Italy.
A vivid and varied picture emerges from the contributions, both in terms of the particularities of the musical cultures called into play and of the research themes: interaction with Italians, transmission of musical knowledge among second generations, role of musicians and their dynamic relationship with the ‘motherland’, transnationalism of sacred musics, use of technologies that are increasingly involved in – and determining – the construction of feelings of belonging in the broad and everchanging diasporic borders.
An extensive introduction by Serena Facci and two important chapters by Adelaida Reyes and Francesco Remotti lucidly contribute to tackling the theoretical issues underlying the volume. This initial theoretical part is followed by the presentation of original research conducted by young scholars on the musical practices of various diasporic communities that have settled in Italy recently or for a long time, including Armenians, Chinese, Ukrainians, Eritreans and Sikhs. The last part of the volume takes up, in the light of the research presented, questions of method concerning this peculiar and intrinsically transnational object of research.
In the papers the reader may find several links to audio and video examples that illustrate the research by means of audiovisual documentation, making this volume fully multimedia.
Bîrûn Ottoman Music Seminars
New announcement for scholarships offered by Fondazione Giorgio Cini onlus
Bîrûn Ottoman Music Seminars
Director: Kudsi Erguner
Religious music and songs of the Istanbul Armenians
Venice, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 19-24 March 2018
Deadline for presentation of requests: 15 January 2018
10 Scholarships addressed to: solo singers,‘ûd players, tanbûr players, kanûn players, kemençe players and percussionists.
The Intercultural Institute for Comparative Music Studies is offering ten scholarships to young professional or semi-professional musicians to take part in the latest Bîrûn, advanced seminar on Ottoman music directed by the maestro Kudsi Erguner, in 2018 dedicated to the religious music of the Istanbul Armenians.
The liturgical chants known as Sharagan and religious hymns in Armenian composed in the maqâm of the Ottoman modal system will be studied. The two genres together make up a precious, unexplored repertoire.
There is often some confusion between the Armenian cultural music of the Caucasus and the music that developed in the big cities of the Ottoman Empire, from Constantinople to Istanbul and not only, but these are two fairly different musical aesthetics. Immediately after the taking of Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmet II established an Armenian patriarchate and there was already an active presence of Armenian composers in Ottoman musical art by the seventeenth century. Some works in Armenian by the celebrated composer Hamparsum Limonciyan (Constantinople, 1768-1839) will be looked at in particular during the seminar, along with some of his instrumental compositions.
The selected Ensemble will be made up of five singers and five expert players of the typical instruments of cultivated Ottoman music: tanbûr lute, kanûn zither, ‘ûd lute, keman or kemençe vielle and percussion. The seminar will end with a public concert of the Ensemble Bîrûn, conducted by Kudsi Erguner, on Saturday 24 March 2018.
Scholarships
The Fondazione Giorgio Cini is offering 10 scholarships for singers and musicians who will make up an ensemble with voice, ‘ûd short-necked lute, tanbûr long-necked lute, kanûn zither, kemençe vielle and percussion.
The scholarships will cover the enrolment fee, accommodation in a single room from 18 to 25 March (at the Centro Vittore Branca residence) and breakfasts and lunches (not dinners). Travel and urban transport costs will be paid by the participants.
To take part in the selection, candidates must send the following materials to the seminar secretary
(via email to: [email protected]) by no later than 15 January 2018:
- Enrolment request
- Copy of the passport or identity card
- Detailed CV with clear reference to the candidacy sought (e.g. voice; tanbûr,);
- 1 music recording in mp3 or mp4 format
Candidates must be able to read music in eurocolta notation and, especially, must study in advance the repertoire that will be sent before the start of the seminar.
Only requests for admission sent in Italian or English will be accepted.
For information:
Istituto Interculturale di Studi Musicali Comparati – Fondazione Giorgio Cini onlus – Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, 30124 Venice – Email: [email protected] – www.cini.it – Tel +39 041 2710357
For information on the International Vittore Branca Center and its facilities:
https://www.cini.it/en/vittore-branca-center/the-residence
[email protected] | Tel. 39 041 2710253
Polifonie “in viva voce” 13
Polifonie “in viva voce” is a yearly event organised by the Giorgio Cini Foundation’s Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies in collaboration with the G. Mazzariol Department of History of the Arts and Conservation of Artistic Heritage at Ca’ Foscari University, Venice. After having brought together music groups and scholars from many European regions in previous years, the programme for the 13th edition features traditional group singing from Piedmont. The spotlight will be on the Coro Bajolese, a choir from Bajo Dora, a tiny village of 350 inhabitants situated in the Canavese (an area in the north of the Province of Turin). Founded in 1966, the choir produced a very long and radical ethnographic enquiry into the collective memory and musical traditions of the village. The hundreds of documents collected were then housed in the Centro Etnologico Canavesano in 1975. The choir has performed in a large number of concerts in Italy and Europe highlighting on stage the modes and processes used by rural and mountain societies in the practise of group singing, as mean of binding local communities and giving form to local identity. The collection of songs brings together and reflects very diverse social practices: from work in farm ï¬elds, mountain pastures and woods to games and religious practices. Another important aspect in this polyphonic singing is the preservation of the memory of broader historical developments involving events with much wider-ranging repercussions than the direct effects on small communities: the memory of the Great War, the Resistance during the Second World War, the experience of emigration and workers’ protest movements. The programme is divided into two parts: a seminar, involving Amerigo Vigliermo, Maurizio Agamennone and singers from the Coro Bajolese, will examine the musical, anthropological and social aspects of polyphonic singing practices in the Canavese area; and a concert in which the Coro Bajolese will perform the most representative songs from their polyphonic repertoire.
Seminar ore 4pm
curated by Maurizio Agamennone and Amerigo Vigliermo
Concert 6.30pm
Coro Bajolese
Free entrance
For further info:
Istituto Interculturale di Studi Musicali Comparati
tel. +39 041 2710357
[email protected]
Percussione iraniana: Zarb 2006 a cura di Bijan Chemirani
Polifonie “in viva voce” 12// di area veneta e friulana
Having reached its twelfth edition, this year the theme is Polyphonies from the Veneto and Friulan area. This particular event is one of the results of research financed by the Vittore Branca Grant, awarded by the Veneto Region to promote research into Veneto culture. The 2008 edition has, moreover, been organised in collaboration with the Provinces of Padua, Venice and Udine, the City of Venice, and Friuli Region. The event is divided into three afternoon sessions, in which audiences of musiclovers and scholars can hear performances by polyphonic groups representing various types of ensemble singing performed in the Veneto-Friulan area – the multifaceted expression of many local musical identities.
On October 18 the programme futures:
10.30 Seminar:
Acquisition, conservation and publication of traditional poliphonic music from North Est Italy with M. Agamennone, T. Camellini, M. Conati, M. Del Negro, G. Giuriati, G. Morelli.
ore 16 Concert:
Coro Doberdob, Monrupino, TS
Conductor: Herman Antonic
Coro Bianche Cime, Belluno
Conductor: Mirco Piccolin
Coro Nediskij Puobi, Pulfero, UD
Conductor: Giuseppe Chiabudini
Coro Voci della Ferrata, Verona
Conductor: Andrea Carrara
Coro Ermes Grion, Monfalcone, GO
direttore: Denise Marcuzzi
Coro Du Muini, Gazzo e Grantorto, PD
Conductor: Luciano Rampazzo
Copernicoro, Udine
Conductor: Serena Vizzutti
Cantori de la Val , Fumane, VR
India: Divina Sensualità
As part of the series India: Divina Sensualità, in homage to Alain Daniélou in the year of his 100th anniversary, the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies of the Giorgio Cini Foundation organised a Round Table dedicated to its founder.
In addition to that, a concert by scholars who have studied Indian music at the Giorgio Cini Foundation takes place at 20.30.
This event is aimed at stressing the importance of Indian worskhops and classes that have been organised by the Institute throughout the years, following the mission that Daniélou always pursued: spreading great music traditions from the East in the Western world, with a special attention to Indian music.
Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
25 October 2007, Venice, Round Table: 16.00 – Concert: 20.30
Information
Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies
tel. +39 041 2710357
e-mail: [email protected]
