SEM Newsletter Published by the Society for Ethnomusicology Volume 42 Number 2 March 2008 Conversations car today, I hope my iPod wouldn’t have, at and carefully than the last, always address- By Deborah Wong, SEM President that moment, anything particularly embar- ing the biggest and most pressing issues in rassing on it (like the two Donna Summer ethnomusicology, always in the most erudite Today was a good day, full of the things songs that I especially love). terms. Those columns will surely be cited that an ethnomusicologist might do. This is my first column written as the and quoted and may well become definitive I started the morning by walking for SEM President and it’s taken me some statements on some significant matters, from exercise in my neighborhood (as I do almost months to decide what purpose and tone I interdisciplinarity, to cultural translation, to every morning), plugged into my iPod. want this column to have. I have big shoes to cosmopolitanism and beyond. I’ve only had an iPod for a year and half fill: Past President Phil Bohlman’s columns Several months ago I walked through but it has become a treasured belonging; it were gems, each one written more beautifully Midwestern woods on a hot early autumn reacquainted me with the pleasures of lis- Continued on page 4 tening. My 30G video iPod is always nearly full, bursting at the seams, stuffed full of podcasts, albums from my own collection, and Florida. Over the past two decades, he friends’ mixes, free stuff from the iTunes Stephen Stuempfle has assisted a variety of arts and historical store, and materials for my classes. Today named SEM’s First Full- organizations and has taught courses on I listened to one of my own playlists as I Time Executive Director folk and popular culture at the University of walked, all high-energy tracks—the Yoshida Pennsylvania and the University of Miami. brothers, Youssou N’Dour, Chuck Berry, the The Society for Ethnomusicology is He is the author of The Steelband Movement: On Ensemble, James Brown, Yoko Noge, pleased to announce the appointment of The Forging of a National Art in Trinidad and Molly Magdalain, the Persuasions, Alison Stephen Stuempfle as the first full-time Ex- Tobago (University of Pennsylvania, 1995), Krauss, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and ecutive Director. Officially starting on January and has written about Caribbean music for several pieces that my taiko group is working 28, 2008, Steve comes to the SEM Business several journals and encyclopedias. He is on. Thirty minutes of this put me in a great Office with many years of experience in the also co-editor, with Sandra Pouchet Paquet mood. A few weeks ago, long-time friend non-profit sector. The SEM Business Office and Patricia J. Saunders, of Music, Memory, and fellow ethnomusicologist Nancy Guy Resistance: Calypso and the Caribbean Literary told me she recently got an iPod and that Imagination (Ian Randle, 2007). she’s been walking around “high as a kite” Steve will be leaving the Historical Mu- on music. Listening for pleasure, listening seum of Southern Florida in Miami, where in the way that many people listen—just he has worked for the last twelve years. Since to enjoy the sounds, just to feel good as a 2000, he has been their Chief Curator with result of those sounds, just to listen without responsibilities for the direction of research accountability—oh, what a guilty secret, what projects; archival and object collections; a source of contentment, satisfaction, and and exhibition programs related to the his- delight. My iPod is surely evidence of my tory and cultural traditions of South Florida own musical idiolect—it’s an artifact of my and the Caribbean. He has curated several music life and it’s as unique as a fingerprint exhibitions, including Caribbean Percussion but is bound up with guilt, pride, and more. Traditions in Miami (1997); Calypso: A World It’s very close to the bone. If I were hit by a Music (2004), with Ray Funk; and Visions of the Caribbean (2005), with Dawn Hugh and Rebecca Smith. Steve replaces Alan Burdette, who served Inside as the half-time Executive Director of SEM 1 Stephen Stuemplfle Stephen Stuempfle from 2000-2007. Alan Burdette has assumed 1 Conversations the directorship of the Archives of Tradi- 3 Calls for Sumbissions will remain at Indiana University, which has tional Music at Indiana University and will 3 Announcements provided office space, technology support, continue in his position as Executive Director 5 nC2 and part-time clerical staff support to SEM of the EVIA Digital Archive Project. Steve 7 SEM 2008—53rd Annual Conference since 1988. can be reached at Morrison Hall 005, Indiana 11 People and Places Steve received a PhD in folklore from University, Bloomington, IN 47405-2501, 11 Conferences Calendar the University of Pennsylvania and has (phone) 812-855-8779, (fax) 812-855-6673, conducted field research in Trinidad, Texas, (email) [email protected]. 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