EINLADUNG zum GASTVORTRAG
Svanibor Pettan (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Music and War: Ethnomusicological Perspectives
in Englisch
 
Zeit: 18.00 - 19.30 Uhr
Montag, 3. November 2014

Ort: Seminarraum Institut für Volksmusikforschung und Ethnomusikologie, Ungargasse 14, 2. Stock, 1030 Wien

„Never again“ is a standard phrase that continues to mark the ends of human and cultural devastations caused by the wars. The reality, though, is different: wars are a firm constant in human history and our lives can legitimately be interpreted as existence on a war–peace continuum. What are the connections between the seemingly distant concepts „war“ and „music“ alike? Case studies from various geographical and temporal contexts teach us that the proverb „Inter arma silent musae“ is not applicable to war-related contexts. Wars inspire musical creativity in many different ways and ethnomusicologists find the intricate relations between the two an increasingly important research subject.

This presentation offers an insight into creation, performance and reception of music in war-torn areas, into uses and misuses of music for political and military gains, and provides a critical overview oftheoretical and methodological approaches of ethnomusicologists to music and war in diverse sociocultural settings. Special attention is paid to the situations in which the lecturer conducted his own research (Southeastern Europe, Sri Lanka). The final part of the presentation addresses the applicability of the acquired scholarly knowledge and understanding about music and war and indicates how ethnomusicology as a scholarly discipline can help.

Svanibor Pettan is professor and chair of the ethnomusicology program at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He conducted fieldwork and wrote about musics in Australia, Egypt, Norway, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, USA and territories of former Yugoslavia. The prevalent themes in his studies are music, politics and war, music of minorities, and applied ethnomusicology. Among his projects is a tetralogy dedicated to Romani (Gypsy) musicians in Kosovo (book, picture exhibition, film, CD-ROM). He co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology (forthcoming). He is presently Secretary General of the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM).