With its international symposium “Between Research and Activism: Futures of Music and Minority Studies”, scheduled to take place from 12 to 14 February 2026, the Music and Minorities Research Center (MMRC) will be ushering in a new phase of its existence. As part of this, the MMRC—founded in 2019 to pursue research on music and minorities—plans to celebrate its initial seven years.

A study day held on 2 June brought an urgent theme to the mdw. This single-day event, entitled Afghan Music in Exile. Views on the Current Situation, was initiated by Marko Kölbl (of the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology) and Peter Lell (a PhD candidate in the structured doctoral programme Music Matters) and devoted entirely to the music of Afghanistan.