^{Photo by Lynda Roti (2015). In the image the Lightbulb Ensemble while playing “Mikrokosma” (composition of Wayne Vitale and Brian Baumbusch).}

Micromusics and macromusics

The traditional annual meeting at the end of January for academic thinking characterising the activities of the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies has undergone a change of title after thirty years and now becomes: the “IISMC Seminars: Music (and Musicologies) in the 21st Century“.

Having discarded the term “ethnomusicology”, this new title has been adopted to reflect a desire to embrace the whole field of contemporary musical cultures and practices in a comparative approach typical of the Institute. The main aim is to interpret the complex contemporary phenomena of musical creativity and the circulation of music on an intercultural scale by broadening the horizons of the discipline of ethnomusicology, which sets out to study contemporary musical processes worldwide. This year the specific theme of the seminar is a reflection on the concepts of micromusics and macromusics, in an approach that compares musical practice developed in specific micro-communities in complex societies (at times bound to a particular place, but also delocalised and active on the web) and sound and music globalisation processes.

The seminar will be attended by leading international ethnomusicologists but also composers and musicians from various traditions: Asian music, European and American contemporary music and jazz. Through exchanges of views, the seminars set out to provide a better understanding of the complex processes of the development, transformation and convergence of musical genres in the 21st century.

The seminar is open to the public.

Program

Thursday 28th January 2016

•   9.30 – 10.00 Giovanni Giurati (University of Rome “La Sapienza”) Introductory greetings
• 10.00 – 12.30 Mark Slobin (Wesleyan University) Micromusics on the move
• 14.30 – 16.30 Serena Facci, Alessandro Cosentino, Vanna Crupi (University of Rome “Tor Vergata”) “E stasera vado anche dal Papa”. Microcoralità per la Settimana Santa nella Roma transculturale

Friday 29th January 2016

•   9.30 – 12.30 Wayne Vitale (composer and independent researcher) The Lightbulb Ensemble: Strange Shades of Musical Light, followed by a conversation-interview with Giovanni Giurati
• 14.30 – 16.30 Thomas Porcello (Vassar University) Macrosound, Macrosonics: A Global Studio Aesthetics?

Saturday 30th January 2016

• 9.30 – 11.30 Maurizio Agamennone (University of Florence) and Giovanni De Zorzi (University of Venice Cà Foscari) Un probabile processo di micro-music? Il duduk come icona di “esotico” e “antico” nella recente musica per il cinema
• 11.30 – 13.00 Final Discussion, coordinated by Francesco Giannattasio (University of Rome “La Sapienza”)

Discussant: Giorgio Adamo (University of Rome “Tor Vergata”)

For more information: musica.comparata@cini.it | t. 041 2710357