In the following interview with mdw Magazine, Ursula Hemetek—former head of the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology and founder of the Music and Minorities Research Centre (MMRC)—joins us together with the department’s current head Marko Kölbl to look back upon its eventful history, share insights on current developments, and discuss present-day political challenges.

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.

The Music and Minorities Research Center of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna is currently hosting the research project “Sounds of Trauma: Naga Song Responses to Political Conflict” led by Christian Poske and funded by an ESPRIT research grant of the Austrian Science Fund. It began in August 2024 and is slated to run through July 2027.

For three decades until her death, Ruža Nikolić-Lakatos maintained a close connection with the mdw’s Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology. One approach to engaging with Ruža’s musical legacy is enabling her songs to live on through their performance by other musicians.

“Amenca ketane” is a maxim of the Roma movement in Austria and means “collectively, together”. The MMRC Lecture on 16 November 2023 at the mdw’s Joseph Haydn-Saal took these Romanes words as a motto under which to address the history of this people’s traumas and their use of music to overcome them: amenca ketane. Histories of Trauma, Music and Romani Empowerment.

The MMRC lecture is an annual event of the Music and Minorities Research Center (MMRC). Due to the hybrid format in which this year’s event was held, the audience was able to participate both in the mdw’s Joseph Haydn-Saal and online via Zoom.

On 11 November 2020, the Music and Minorities Research Center (MMRC) launched its first annual lecture, delivered in online form. Despite the special circumstances, this event managed to engage an interdisciplinary audience from all around the world and fulfil its main goal, which was to bring scholars from different disciplines together in constructive and lively discussions.

On September 8, 2020, Europe’s largest refugee camp—Moria, situated on the Greek island of Lesbos and known as a “living hell”—was set afire. The continuous three-day blaze ultimately left the camp completely destroyed and 13,000 people in utter destitution.