Semnewsletter
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SEM Newsletter Published by the Society for Ethnomusicology Volume 42 Number 4 September 2008 2008 Charles Seeger the world, including Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Conversations the Philippines, Mexico, Romania, Turkey, Lecturer: Robert Garfias Mozambique, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, By Deborah Wong, SEM President By Hiromi Lorraine Sakata Burma, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe, mastering the languages of many of these Women and Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective, The Society for Ethnomusicology has places. His vast collection of documentary edited by Ellen Koskoff, was published by invited Robert Garfias, Professor of Anthro- films and sound recordings (both field and the University of Illinois Press in 1987. In pology at the University of California, Irvine, studio recordings of visiting artists and others this column, I talk with Ellen and three SEM to be the 2008 Charles Seeger Lecturer for its who visited the Seattle area) is deposited in members who have organized special events 53rd Annual Meeting at Wesleyan University, the University of Washington Ethnomusicol- for the SEM annual meeting at Wesleyan Middletown, CT. Robert Garfias is Past- ogy Archives. In addition to his teaching University that will commemorate the twenty- President of the Society for Ethnomusicol- and research activities, he spent fifteen years first anniversary of the book’s publication. ogy (1985-87) and is a well-known academic, working on public policy with advisory boards A roundtable and reception co-sponsored by public arts policy activist, and an early maker at the National Endowment for the Arts, the the Section on the Status of Women (SSW) of documentary music films. Smithsonian Institution, and with local and and the Gender and Sexualities Taskforce Garfias has degrees in anthropology state arts agencies. (GST) will give SEM members the chance to and ethnomusicology from San Francisco honor the contributors to Women and Music State University and UCLA, respectively. and to consider how ethnomusicology might He is credited with the establishment of the contribute more searchingly to gender and University of Washington ethnomusicology sexuality studies. As is typical of the SSW and program in 1962 when he was recruited GST, their focus is on where we are now and to the University as a faculty member in where we could be. the School of Music. From his beginnings Women and Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective as the lone ethnomusicologist teaching an is no longer the only book of its kind, but it undergraduate survey course, a graduate was the first. Ellen Koskoff drew together seminar, and leading a gagaku performance fourteen scholars whose work, side by side, group, he developed a graduate ethnomusi- provided an unapologetic framework for cology program with three full-time faculty considering how music relates to cultur- positions and a great number of rotating ally-produced gender asymmetries. I look at distinguished visiting artists, and established my dog-eared copy of the book and reread sound and film archives; he left the program sentences by Ellen Koskoff that I underlined to become a university administrator both at (with considerable excitement) when I first the University of Washington (Vice Provost) read her introduction to the book: and The University of California, Irvine Music performance can… be an (Dean of the School of Arts). active agent in inter-gender relations, Throughout his career, he conducted transforming, reversing, or mediat- field research in more than a dozen areas of ing conflict between the sexes. At the heart of most gender (and other) Inside Robert Garfias relations are notions of power… (Koskoff 1987: 9) 1 2008 Seeger Lecturer: Robert Garfias His interest in Japanese music and cul- Twenty-one years later, many ethnomusi- 1 Conversations ture has remained paramount throughout cologists routinely address gender relations. 3 53rd Annual Meeting Local Arrange- his career. He has been a regular adjunct Levering attention to women in music has ments faculty member of the National Museum deeply resituated ethnomusicologists’ un- 4 nC2 of Ethnology in Osaka since 2003. In 2005, derstanding of gender. On the other hand, 7 Calls for Participation Robert Garfias was recognized for his long- serious ethnomusicological work on music 9 53rd Annual Meeting Preliminary Pro- standing scholarly work on Japanese music, and sexuality remains scattered. If attention gram specializing in Japanese court music, gagaku. to gender has gone from unusual to expected, 27 McAllester Recordings in National Reg- He was awarded the Order of the Rising sustained work by ethnomusicologists on istry Sun, the highest honor that the Japanese sexuality and music is still unusual. Taking 27 People and Places government can bestow on a non-Japanese, a moment to consider how key scholarship 31 Announcements in a special ceremony where the award was 31 Conferences Calendar presented by the Emperor of Japan. Continued on page 6 SEM Newsletter The Society for Ethnomusicology and SEM Newsletter Guidelines the SEM Newsletter Guidelines for Contributors Editor, SEM Newsletter Henry Spiller Department of Music • Send articles to the editor by email or on a disk with a paper copy. Microsoft Word is University of California preferable, but other Macintosh or IBM-compatible software is acceptable. One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616, USA • Identify the software you use. (Tel) 530.757.5791 (Fax) 530.752.0983 • Please send faxes or paper copies without a disk only as a last resort. (Email) [email protected] (Website) music.ucdavis.edu Advertising Rates Copy Deadlines The SEM Newsletter Rates for Camera Ready Copy March issue ...........................January 15 The SEM Newsletter is a vehicle for exchange of ideas, news, and information among the Society’s mem- Full Page $ 2 0 0 May issue .................................March 15 bers. Readers’ contributions are welcome and should be 2/3 Page $ 1 4 5 September issue .......................... July 15 sent to the editor. See the guidelines for contributions on this page. 1/2 Page $ 1 1 0 January issue ...................November 15 The SEM Newsletter is published four times annually, 1/3 Page $ 6 0 in January, March, May, and September, by the Society for 1/6 Page $ 4 0 Ethnomusicology. Inc., and is distributed free to members of the Society. Additional charges apply to non-camera-ready materials. Back issues, 1981-present [Vols. 14-18 (1981-84), 3 times a year; Vols. 19-32 (1985-1998), 4 times a year] are available and may be ordered at $2 each. Add $2.50/order for postage. Address changes, orders for back issues of the SEM British Forum for Ethnomusicology Newsletter, and all other non-editorial inquiries should be Internet Resources sent to the Business Office, Society for Ethnomusicology, http://www.bfe.org.uk Indiana University, Morrison Hall 005, 1165 East 3rd Street, The SEM Website Bloomington, Indiana 47405-3700; (Tel) 812.855.6672; British Library National Sound Archive (Fax) 812.855.6673; (Email) sem@ indiana.edu. http://www.ethnomusicology.org SEM Membership The SEM Discussion List: SEM-L International Music Collection: The object of the Society for Ethnomusicology is http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-ar- the advancement of research and study in the field of To subscribe, address an email message to: ethnomusicology, for which purpose all interested per- [email protected]. EDU. chive/imc.html sons, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or physical ability are encouraged to become Leave the subject line blank. Type the following Catalog: members. Its aims include serving the membership and message: SUBSCRIBE SEM-L yourfirstname http://cadensa.bl.uk society at large through the dissemination of knowledge concerning the music of the world’s peoples. The Society, yourlastname. Ethnomusicology OnLine (EOL) incorporated in the United States, has an international SEM Applied Ethnomusicology Section membership. Free, peer-reviewed, multimedia Web jour- Members receive free copies of the journal and the http://www.appliedethnomusicology.org nal. For more information: newsletter and have the right to vote and participate in the activities of the Society. Life members receive free copies SEM Chapter Websites http://umbc.edu/eol (home site) of all publications of the Society. Institutional members EthnoFORUM, a.k.a. ERD (inactive) receive the journal and the newsletter. Mid-Atlantic Chapter Student (full-time only) (one year) ............................$40 http://www.macsem.org Archive: http://www.inform.umd. edu/ Individual/Emeritus (one year) EdRes/ReadingRoom/Newsletters/Ethno- income $25,000 or less ...........................................$60 Mid-West Chapter Musicology/ income $25,000-$40,000 .........................................$75 http://sem-midwest.osu.edu/ income $40,000-$60,000 .........................................$85 International Council for Traditional income $60,000-$80,000 .........................................$95 Niagara Chapter Music income $80,000 and above ...................................$105 Spouse/Partner Individual (one year) ......................$35 http://www.people.iup.edu/ rahkonen/ http://www.ictmusic.org/ICTM Life membership ........................................................$900 NiagaraSEM/NiagaraSEM.htm Iranian Musicology Group Spouse/Partner Life ................................................$1100 Northeast Chapter Sponsored* (one year) ................................................$35 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ira-