Spéis 2019-2020 Bulletin

C O N T E N T S PhD Vignette: Tracing a TransEuropean Intercultural Affinity: From the Historical to the Current Lived Musical Experience of Irish Traditional Musicians in Germany Felix Morgenstern Message from the ICTM Ireland Chair A message from Dr Helen Lawlor Pages 3-4 Meet your New ICTM Committee Dr Adrian Scahill, ICTM Ireland Secretary Pages 16-19 Review: Women and Traditional | Folk Music Research Symposium Joanne Cusack Page 5 Tribute: Mícheál Ó Suilleabháin, 1950-2018 Dr Helen Lawlor Pages 20-21 FestiVersities: European Music Festivals, Public Spaces and Cultural Diversity Dr Aileen Dillane Pages 6-7 Review: 2019 ICTM World Conference Dr Anaïs Verhulst Pages 22-23 Pages 8-9 Review: 2019 Joint SMI/ICTM-IE Postgraduate Conference Christina Lynn Research & Music - A Feminist Collaboration Ciara L Murphy Pages 24-25 Pages 10-11 Review: ITCM Ireland 14th Annual Conference John Millar Review: Sounding the Feminists Symposium: Women in Popular & Traditional Music in Ireland Dr Ann-Marie Hanlon and Georgina Hughes Pages 26-27 Profile: Integrating Research and Digital Skills for Music at the Irish Traditional Music Archive Stephanie Ford Pages 12-13 Talamh Nua: Sean Nós Singing in Contemporary Contexts Sailí Ní Dhroighneáin Pages 28-29 Pages 14-15 1 C O N T E N T S Recent and Forthcoming Publications Page 30 Become an ICTM Ireland Member Page 31 2 TEACHTAIREACHT ÓN GCATHAOIRLEACH / MESSAGE FROM THE ICTM IRELAND CHAIR Ireland postgraduate conference was held at Dundalk Institute of Technology, with a keynote lecture recital from Dr Katherina Uhde. The annual plenary conference was held in February 2019 at University College Dublin with a keynote address by Professor Jonathan Stock. In July 2019 the 45th ICTM World Conference took place at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Ireland was well represented at the meeting with delegates from numerous Irish institutes. Both committee treasurer Dr Anaïs Verhulst and I were present. I was fortunate to be able to attend the meeting of national representatives on behalf of ICTM Ireland at which reports were presented by various national committee representatives. The range of our activities is outstanding and something to be very proud of. However, we are always looking to improve so please feel free to share your opinions at our AGM or by continue to send article proposals to Ethnomusicology Ireland, the online peerreviewed journal of ICTM Ireland. Chair: Dr Helen Lawlor Dundalk Institute of Technology Welcome to the 2019/2020 edition of Spéis, the annual bulletin of ICTM Ireland. In this edition we have included conference reviews, articles, a PhD vignette, new publication listings and a tribute to Míchéal Ó Suilleabháin. Spéis gives ICTM Ireland members the opportunity to share their research and practice updates with each other. It also serves as a testament to the breadth and depth of the ongoing work of our expert and diverse community of researchers. In January 2020 the joint SMI/ICTM postgraduate conference was hosted by the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick with a keynote lecture by Professor Philip Bohlman. The 2020 annual conference was held at UCC in 2019 was a busy and productive time for ICTM Ireland. The annual joint SMI-ICTM 3 TEACHTAIREACHT ÓN GCATHAOIRLEACH / MESSAGE FROM THE ICTM IRELAND CHAIR February. The theme for this conference was Music | Politics | Power, with a keynote address by Professor Kay Kaufman Shelemay. I am grateful to all of the music departments who have so generously supported the conferences and events of ICTM Ireland. In 2021 Maynooth University will host the postgraduate conference and in May 2021 we will hold a joint conference with the Society for Musicology in Ireland at Trinity College Dublin. As Chair of ICTM Ireland, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge with regret the passing of Professor Bruno Nettl (1930-2020) and our own Breandán Ó Madagáin (1932-2020), Professor Emeritus of Irish at NUI Galway. We extend our condolences to both families. I would like to thank the contributors to Spéis for their articles and reviews. Please continue to send in proposals for reviews/articles for publication. A special note of thanks is due to Stephanie Ford for producing this edition of Spéis. Thank you also to Adrian Scahill, Anaïs Verhulst, Jack Talty and John Millar for your contributions to the ICTM Ireland 2019/2020 committee. Dr Helen Lawlor Chair, ICTM Ireland 4 MEET YOUR NEW ICTM COMMITTEE MEMBERS The thesis considers both printed and recorded forms of Irish traditional music, examining how accompanimental techniques and styles are informed by the wider musical context in which they were produced. As part of the largest research project undertaken on music in Ireland, Adrian was subject editor for traditional music for the Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (2013), and was also a major contributor to the volume, writing more than forty articles. Other publications include articles on Irish traditional music and the seventeenth century in Irish Musical Studies 10 (2009), on Riverdance in Music and the Irish Imagination (2013), and on the harp in early traditional groups (2016). He has presented papers at conferences and given invited lectures both in Ireland and abroad, and in 2013 was chair of the organising committee for the Tenth Anniversary Plenary Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland. He established the traditional group in the department, and has helped develop and currently oversees traditional music performance within the undergraduate programmes. His teaching includes modules on ethnomusicology, popular music, Irish traditional music, and musicology. Dr Adrian Scahill (Secretary) Adrian Scahill is a lecturer in ethnomusicology in the Department of Music, Maynooth University. A firstclass honours graduate of Maynooth, he studied both piano and organ before completing a Masters in Performance and Musicology (piano) at NUI Maynooth, and a Masters in Music Technology at Queen’s University, Belfast. During this time he was also active as a traditional musician (piano and button accordion), performing and touring both in Ireland and abroad. His PhD, on accompaniment in Irish traditional music, was completed at University College Dublin in 2005 under the supervision of Harry White. 5 MÍC HE ÁL Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN 19 5 0-2018 contribution to the musical life of Ireland and to the lives of music scholars the length and breadth of the island. If ever there was a case of standing on the shoulders of giants, then my generation of scholars is undoubtedly living proof of this. We have inherited not only a wonderfully rich musical tradition, with innumerable opportunities for expansion, growth, tradition and innovation but also a fascinating and vibrant scholarly tradition. Mícheál’s dedication to and gift for promoting musical scholarship and performance brought a legitimacy to the study of Irish music in particular that has opened doors for all those walking in his wake. A Tribute Dr Helen Lawlor The annual round of conferences of ICTM Ireland was already underway when I commenced my graduate studies journey. I took for granted that there were national and international conferences happening regularly in Ireland and to an extent assumed that this had long been the case. Likewise, on a visit to the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance this year for the joint SMI-ICTM Ireland annual postgraduate conference it strikes me as difficult to imagine the fabric of musical life in Ireland without this monument to music and dance studies welcoming performers and scholars alike. Mícheál was a gifted composer, performer and academic. His individualistic style of piano playing marked him out as one of the leading Irish musicians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His dynamic compositional style expertly blended elements of many traditions, not least Irish traditional music, Western art music and jazz. He was educated at University College Cork (studying under Aloys Fleischmann) and Queen’s University Belfast where he undertook doctoral studies under John Blacking. Mícheál was a household name in Ireland, partly due to his performing career and partly due to his broadcasting. The 1995 ‘A River of Sound’ remains a groundbreaking moment in the history of music broadcasting in Ireland. It is in writing this tribute, shortly after the first anniversary of his untimely death that I am afforded the opportunity to reflect on Mícheál’s extraordinary 6 M ÍCHEÁL Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN 195 0-2018 Míchéal has also been particularly supportive to harp scholarship in Ireland. He was editor, with Donal O’Sullivan of Bunting’s Ancient Music of Ireland (1983) and performed in his repertoire much of the music of Turlough Carolan. In 2016 his was one of the contributors to Harp Studies: Perspectives on the Irish Harp. He founded Ionad na Cruite at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick with the generous assistance from The Chieftains Fund in memory of Derek Bell. At the World Harp Traditions Conference in 2018 I was especially privileged to hear Míchéal give an astounding presentation along with Nicholas Carolan on the Music of the Neal Collection. His performance was breathtaking. Mícheál’s vision for the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (formerly the Irish World Music Centre) brought the very best of academics and performers together in the pursuit of excellence in the study of artistic practice and scholarship. The wide array of doctoral, masters and subsequently degree programmes enriched the lives of so many students who have had the privilege of studying with him. His contribution to the literature on Irish traditional music is immense. His doctoral work on Tommie Potts proposed a new way of analysing and listening to the work of Potts and indeed other performers in the tradition. He was a contributor to key national debates and publications including Crossbhealach an Cheoil: The Crossroads Conference (1996) and The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (2013) to name just two amongst a prolific list of writings. Mícheál is survived by his wife, Helen Phelan, their son Luke, former wife Nóirín Ní Ríain and their sons Eoin and Míchéal. On behalf of the national committee, I extend our condolences to his family at his loss. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal. 7 REVIE W: 2019 ICTM WORLD CONFER ENCE With up to twelve parallel sessions at any one time, mixed in with workshops, concerts and plenary sessions, the choice was never easy. As an ethnomusicologist working on intangible cultural heritage (ICH) for CEMPER, Centre for Music and Performing Arts Heritage in Flanders, Belgium, I focused on the second theme, ‘music, dance, and sustainable development’ because of its close links to heritage work. Admittedly, this review speaks from an intangible heritage point of view. Review: 2019 ICTM World Conference Dr Anaïs Verhulst From the 11th to the 17th of July 2019, the biannual conference of the International Council for Traditional Music took place at the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. With more than 1000 delegates, almost 700 speakers from more than 70 countries and six central themes, this 45th edition of the ICTM World Conference was the largest yet in the 72-year history of the organisation. This year, the following themes were addressed: Transborder Flows and Movements; Music, Dance, and Sustainable Development; The Globalisation and Localisation of Ethnomusicology and Ethnochoreology; Music and Dance as Expressive Communication; Approaches to PracticeBased Research and its Applications; and New Research on Other Topics. Many sessions addressed topics such as the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, its implementation, (sustainable) communities, advocacy, music transmission, and the role of museums and digital technology for safeguarding music and dance traditions. These papers were inspirational for anyone working on music as a form of intangible cultural heritage 8 REVIEW : 2 019 ICTM WORLD CONFERENCE Finally, to pick out one highlight among many, the ICTM President’s Forum should be mentioned. ICTM’s President Salwa ElShawam Castelo-Branco invited Timothy Curtis, secretary of the 2003 UNESCO Convention, for a dialogue about intangible heritage with Naila Ceribašić (ICTM representative at UNESCO) and Catherine Grant (expert on music vitality and endangerment). The range of topics discussed during this session were numerous; from UNESCO’s listing policies to the role of accredited NGOs, and the evaluation bodies that steer there and the tensions that arise between state parties, communities, educational institutions and NGOs when implementing the convention. or, more broadly, for researchers who help the people they work with safeguarding their musical practices. Among the speakers who have dealt firsthand with the 2003 Convention, the contributions of Rachel Harris, Marílo Wane, Lie Rong, Suhong Kim, and Jessica Rosse were particularly valuable. They addressed ICH matters in China and Kazakhstan (Harris), Mozambique (Wane), China (Rong), and South Korea (Kim and Rosse), questioning the implementation of the convention and current safeguarding practices in their research areas. The theme ‘Music, Dance, and Sustainable Development’ was the focal point of the plenary session ‘Digital environments of indigenous song: approaching music vitality and sustainability in the twenty-first century’. The four papers addressed the role of digital technology – and in particular audiovisual documentation – in sustaining indigenous song traditions. More remarkably, however, was the way in which this research was presented. The researchers took a step back, handing the microphone over to the Aboriginal and First Nation people they had worked with; they explained how digital archives of their ancestors’ music had helped them to keep their song and dance traditions alive. The thought-provoking programme, of which this overview shows but a fraction, was completed with workshops, lunch time and evening concerts, a visit from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Siringhorn, excellent hospitality of the hosting institution, excursions, and the food stalls provided us with endless supplies of pad thai and sticky mango rice. In conclusion, this 45th ICTM World Conference was a successful and memorable meeting. We look forward to the next World Conference, which will take place from the 22nd to the 28th of July 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal. 9 RESEARCH & MUSIC - A FEMINIST COLLABORATION The relationship between arts practice and research is not always a harmonious one and in many ways research and practice are viewed as two distinct and autonomous engagements. However, reports such as the #WakingtheFeminists Gender Counts publication in 2017 (which was an analysis of gender in Irish theatre between 2006-2015) demonstrates the importance of gathering concrete information that can be used to influence and improve arts policy and practice. Ciara L Murphy is a Research Associate for Sounding the Feminists and is overseeing the Sounding the Feminists Gender Balance Review Research Project. This research project aims to build on the methodology of Gender Counts to effect positive change in the music sector for artists, policy makers, and audiences. Progress cannot be substantially achieved without concrete and transparent data. Following on from the impact of the #WakingtheFeminists movement in Irish theatre in 2015, a working group of composers, performers, musicologists, and educators formed in April 2017 under the name Sounding the Feminists. From L-R: Dr Karen Power, Evonne Ferguson (Director, Contemporary Music Centre), Dr Laura Watson, Ciara L Murphy & Dr Ann Cleare In October 2019, a two-phase research project which aims to investigate the gender balance of publicly funded composer opportunities on the island of Ireland between 1988—2018 began. This research project is being undertaken by Sounding the Feminists in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland. In 2017 the former Chair of the Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Sheila Pratschke, spoke at an event celebrating a collaboration between the Arts Council and the Irish Research Council. Pratschke stated that “research helps us to better understand people and places, supporting us to reach new communities, as well as helping us plan more strategically for the future”. 10 RESEARCH & MUSIC - A FEMINIST COLLABORATION By learning as much as we can about the status of compositional opportunities in Ireland in the recent past, we can learn more about the community of musicians and composers working on the island of Ireland and develop strategic initiatives that will sustain and improve the sector. The #WakingtheFeminists project has resulted in measurable progress across the theatre sector since 2016. In June 2018, ten Irish theatre organisations announced and committed to a formalised gender policy for the programming of theatre and performance. Similar progress is not only possible in the Irish music sector, but is in fact necessary and vital to its health and as a means of creating and sustaining progress in terms of diversity and accessibility. This research project aims to build on the methodology of Gender Counts to effect positive change in the music sector for artists, policy makers, and audiences. Progress cannot be substantially achieved without concrete and transparent data. Anecdotal evidence is not a sufficient enough base upon which to enact positive, progressive and tangible change. The research project being undertaken by Sounding the Feminists will utilise a comprehensive methodology and will provide accurate data that will assist the sector in establishing the scale of the gender imbalance for women composers. This is a collaboration between research and art. It will provide information which will demonstrate how change can be enacted in order to improve the music sector for our collective future and the sustainment of the art form. For more information on this project, visit https://www.soundingthefeminists.com/ You can also listen to Ciara and her Sounding the Feminists colleagues speak about their research on the Contemporary Music Centre's 'Amplify' podcast, available here. 11 REVIEW: SOUNDING THE FEMINISTS SYMPOSIUM: WOMEN IN POPULAR & TRADITIONAL MUSIC IN IRELAND Feminists has reflected a broader cultural shift towards feminist consciousness/ critique in Irish society. They have raised awareness of the gender inequality that persists in creative life and have undertaken initiatives to promote the contributions made by women to the arts in Ireland. Consequently, the impetus behind this symposium was to document and examine research and activism in this domain. From L to R: Joanne Cusack (Fair Plé), Laura Watson (Sounding the Feminists), Sinéad Furlong (Mnásome) and Rossella Bottone (Girls Rock Dublin) The day commenced with a session on women in popular music in Ireland and considered themes of trauma, gender inequality and women’s rights in the genres of pop and electronic dance music. Caroline O'Sullivan (DIT) investigated the factors that impact the careers of female DJs based in Dublin; Ann-Marie Hanlon (DkIT) explored lesbian-feminst ideology in the pop music of Zrazy; and Michael Lydon (NUIG) explored the processes of renaming and reinvention in the career of Sinéad O'Connor. Review: Sounding the Feminists Symposium: Women in Popular & Traditional Music in Ireland Dr Ann-Marie Hanlon and Georgina Hughes The Department of Creative Arts, Media & Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT), in association with Sounding the Feminists and the Centre for Creative Arts Research, hosted a one-day symposium on women in popular and traditional music in Ireland on Friday 23 November 2018. This event brought together scholars and community activists engaged in feminist work across a variety of genres in both the music industry and academia. In recent years, the emergence of groups such as Walking the Feminists and Sounding the This session was followed by an engaging round table discussion on contemporary feminism in Irish music scenes. It brought together a diverse selection of voices that represent the vanguard of grassroots feminist musical activity in Ireland today, all of whom are engaged in promoting the participation of female-identified individuals in music. 12 REVIEW: SOUNDING THE FEMINISTS SYMPOSIUM: WOMEN IN POPULAR & TRADITIONAL MUSIC IN IRELAND considered issues which still require attention in the context of music in Ireland. Representatives from Fair Plé (Niamh ní Charra), Improvised Music Company (Aoife Concannon), Mnásome (Sinéad Furlong), Girls Rock Dublin (Rossella Bottone) and Sounding the Feminists (Karen Power) provided unique insights into a number of activist projects, experiences and achievements. Their dialogue also considered issues which still require attention in the context of music in Ireland. social critic and complex feminist. Dillane consolidated her views with reference to a number of songs and stories which resonate both historically and in the current moment, with various inflections of Irish womanhood. Dillane noted that 'the architecture for how we do feminist historiography and historicise and appreciate our female "mavericks", will help us think about the academic and social work that is yet to be done.' An afternoon panel focused on women in country and traditional music in Ireland, dealing with female narratives in country music song (Christina Lynn, DkIT), 1990s post-feminism in the traditional music context (Joanne Cusack, Maynooth University) and feminism and cultural nationalism in musical theatre (Daithí Kearney, DkIT). The presentations and discussions identified numerous achievements by women in music in Ireland but also highlighted the fact that challenges arising from gender stereotypes and ideological bias remain. These obstacles are compounded by the continued normalisation of disciplining the female body, as emphasised and evidenced by the treatment of women in the industry as they age. The symposium concluded with a thought-provoking keynote address by Dr Aileen Dillane (lecturer in music at the Irish World Academy of Music, University of Limerick) entitled 'Raging Mother Ireland: The intersection of faith, fury, and feminism in the body and voice of Madga Davitt (FKA Sinéad O’Connor)'. Referencing musical examples from the early 1990s to the present, Dillane posited that Davitt should be viewed as a radical protester, Showcase lunchtime performances were given by the blues singer and guitarist Grainne Duffy, from Co. Monaghan, and the Donegal fiddler and singer Ellie McGinley. Ann-Marie Hanlon chaired the conference committee, which was composed of DkIT colleagues Niall Coghlan, Georgina Hughes, Helen Lawlor, Annalisa Monticelli and Claire Fitch, with Laura Watson (Maynooth University) and Jenny O'Connor Madsen from Sounding the Feminists. 13 TALAMH NUA: SEÁN NÓS SINGING IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTS Sailí Ní Dhroighneáin *Éist leis an bplé oscailte anseo* Ar an 27ú Meán Fómhair 2019, bhí sé de phléisiúr agam a bheith páirteach i bpainéal cainte ar an amhránaíocht sean-nóis den teideal Talamh nua: sean nós singing in contemporary contexts in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad. Bhí an seisiún cainte seo mar chuid de chomhdháil AAI (Cumann Antraipeolaíochta na hÉireann). I mo chuideachta ar an bpainéal, bhí an t-amhránaí agus léachtóir an Dr. Síle Denvir, agus an t-amhránaí agus cumadóir Iarla Ó Lionáird. Ba mhór an onóir dom é a bheith i gcomhluadar na beirte seo agus d’eascair comhrá thar a bheith spéisiúil ón gcaint a bhí eadrainn. Déanfaidh mé cíoradh beacht anseo ar roinnt de na pointí a tháinig chun cinn. Ar dtús, is dócha gur cheart dom mé féin a chur in aithne. Is amhránaí sean-nóis mé ó cheantar Chois Fharraige i gConamara, agus is ar leic an teallaigh a phioc mé suas na hamhráin sean-nóis. Is amhránaí agus múinteoir sean-nóis í mo mháthair agus bhí an sean-nós le cloisteáil agam i gcónaí sa mbaile. Ní dhearna mé mórán smaointeoireachta ar an stíl amhránaíochta seo, agus an tábhacht a bhaineann leis, go dtí go raibh an scoil fágtha go maith agam, agus gur thuig mé go raibh uathúlacht, feidhm agus tábhacht faoi leith ag baint leis an gcineál amhránaíochta seo. Is ag díriú ar fheidhm an tsean-nóis sa saol comhaimseartha a bhí an ócáid in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad. Déanadh plé suimiúil ar an tábhacht a bhaineann leis an lucht éisteachta a bhíonn ag duine agus é/í ag casadh an tsean-nóis. Bíonn sé fíorthábhachtach i gcás an tsean-nóis ceangal a dhéanamh leis na mothúcháin a bhaineann leis an amhrán agus go mbeadh an lucht éisteachta in ann sin a bhrath. Maidir liom féin, bíonn sé tábhachtach dom scéal an amhráin a bheith ar eolas agam ionas gur féidir liom a bheith sáite sa scéal agus is uaidh sin 14 TALAMH NUA: SEÁN NÓS SINGING IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTS a thagann na mothúcháin. Léirigh Síle agus Iarla go bhfuil fuaimeanna agus filíocht na Gaeilge an-tábhachtach dóibh agus go dtugann fuaimeanna na Gaeilge féin, agus an blas a bhíonn ar na focail, bealach dóibh chun dul níos doimhne ó thaobh mothúchán de. Rannpháirtithe Sailí Ní Dhroighneáin, Síle Denvir & Iarla Ó Lionáird I gcás Shíle, feiceann sí íomhánna láidre agus í ag casadh i nGaeilge agus d’aontaigh an triúr againn go raibh claonadh faoi leith againn i dtreo na Gaeilge agus muid ag casadh. Ní hé sin le rá áfach nach bhféadfadh duine gan Gaeilge na mothúcháin a bhrath agus ba léir go raibh taithí againn triúr a bheith ag casadh do lucht éisteachta nach raibh Gaeilge ar bith acu, ach go ndeachaigh na mothúcháin i bhfeidhm orthu. Is é sin an ról is tábhachtaí atá ag an amhránaí sean-nóis, a bheith in ann mothúcháinan amhráin a roinnt leis an lucht éisteachta, beag beann ar chúrsaí teanga. Bíonn brú faoi leith ag baint leis an amhránaíocht sean-nóis ag brath ar an gcomhluadar agus ar an gcomhthéacs. Is léir go bhfuil Iarla agus Síle in ann na mothúcháin a chur trasna agus iad ar stáitse, ach i mo chás féin, is minic gur i gcómhthéacs comórtais a bhím ag casadh go poiblí, mar shampla comórtas an Oireachtais. D’aontaigh an triúr againn go bhfuil sé dúshlánach go maith ligint leat féin go hiomlán agus ceangal a dhéanamh leis na mothúcháin sa chomhthéacs sin, ach ar an lámh eile, d’aontaigh muid go raibh tábhacht faoi leith ag baint leis na comórtais i saol an lae inniu chun spreagadh agus aidhm a thabhairt, go háirithe d’amhránaithe óga, chun focail na n-amhrán a fhoghlaim. Rinneadh plé ar an ról atá ag cumadóirí na linne seo agus iad ag cur téamaí comhaimseartha chun cinn trí mheán na Gaeilge. Labhair Síle ar an údaras a bhíonn ag cumadóirí ar nós Tom an tSeoige, agus an meas a bhíonn ar a leithéidí sa bpobal de bharr iad a bheith ag úsáid caint na ndaoine ina ndúiche féin chun plé a dhéanamh ar chúrsaí ábhartha an ama. Cuireadh béim sa gcaint seo freisin ar an tábhacht a bhaineann le glúin nua cumadóirí a spreagadh agus go gcaithfí cothromaíocht a aimsiú idir sealbhú a dhéanamh ar an sean-stíl seanósach, agus saoirse stíle a cheadú chomh maith. Aontaíodh go raibh an spás ann don chruthaitheacht chomh maith le dílseacht don tsean-stíl. 15 PHD VIGNETTE: FELIX MORGENSTERN Confronted with a profound cultural identity crisis, several folk revivalists in both German post-war states formed Irish folk bands, long before recovering indigenous German folksong material, drawing upon an Irishinspired musical model (Sweers 2019). Since that time, Germany has witnessed the emergence of a thriving community of Irish music practitioners, the majority of whom do not possess any ethnic ties to the music’s source domain in Ireland. Nowadays, many aficionados attend Irish music sessions in places such as Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt or Hannover. Some avail of instrumental tuition by Irish guest musicians at workshop weekends held by organisations like the German Uilleann Pipers’ Club (DUPG), 2 while others regularly travel to music festivals in the west of Ireland to expand upon their expertise in situ. PhD Vignette: Tracing a Trans-European Intercultural Affinity: From the Historical to the Current Lived Musical Experience of Irish Traditional Musicians in Germany Felix Morgenstern German audiences have perhaps been most visibly acquainted with Irish traditional music since the 1970s, when numerous Irish artists started performing on the lucrative West German touring circuit. Meanwhile, in the former Communist German Democratic Republic (GDR), concerts by international folk acts, such as Dick Gaughan from Scotland and The Sands Family from Northern Ireland, were attended by enthusiastic spectators.1 But what exactly made Irish music so attractive to German target audiences? Following the drastic misuse of German folk music in the ideological service of the Nazi regime during the Third Reich (1933–1945), Irish music provided one of many suitable musical alternatives in the face of the extreme marginalisation of local performance traditions. 1 Existing late-twentieth century scholarship in German Folk Music Studies has tended to foreground the popularity of Irish music in reference to post-war revival movements in the Federal Republic of Germany (Haefs 1983). However, the profound impact of Irish folk music on the early years of the GDR folk scene in the 1970s has been discussed rather marginally (Steinbiß 1984) and has only relatively recently received due scholarly attention (Robb 2007; Leyn 2016). Based on ethnographic field research with former GDR folk revivalists and members of Irish folk bands from East Germany, my own work in this area (Morgenstern 2018; 2019) aims to contribute to an understanding of Irish music’s popularity in the GDR revival (1976–1990). 2 The Deutsche Uilleann Pipes Gesellschaft (DUPG) was founded in 1989 to promote the Irish variant of the bagpipe (and the performance of Irish music more generally) in Germany. Formally affiliated with, and supported by, its Irish parent organisation Na Píobairí Uilleann (“The Uilleann Pipers”) in Dublin, the DUPG annually hosts three extended workshop weekends with Irish guest instructors in different regions of Germany. 16 PHD VIGNETTE: FELIX MORGENSTERN What, then, are the dynamics that have shaped the past and present engagement of these German artists with Irish traditional music? How are such translocated folk music practices, which so often extend beyond ethnic and diasporic modes of identity construction, related to the very discourses of ethnicity, authenticity and nationalism that have been historically harnessed by an urban middle-class intelligentsia to validate the ‘Irishness’ of Irish vernacular music? Who are the agents that control these narratives and what are the trajectories through which they do so? These are the questions that underpin my current PhD dissertation project at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (UL), which is funded by an Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship Award (2018–2020). I should perhaps acknowledge from the outset that the questions posed above did indeed form much earlier, and are inextricably tethered to my own identity as a German-born uilleann piper and Irish traditional percussionist, as much as they are connected to my decision of leaving my home town of Berlin in 2012 to complete the BA programme in Irish music at the University of Limerick. My doctoral thesis builds on extensive ethnographic research, participant observation and musicological analysis carried out among members of the Irish music scene in eastern, western and southern parts of Germany between 2015 and 2019, and seeks to elucidate a recursive interplay between discourses and musical practices, tracing how this crucial intersection informs the fashioning, disruption and contestation of the narratives of what I choose to term “German-Irish intercultural musical affinities”. By invoking “intercultural affinities” here, I deliberately borrow from Mark Slobin’s (1993) seminal ethnomusicological model for identifying dynamics of musically-mediated intercultural sympathies in a rapidly ‘deterritorializing’ world of global cultural flows (Appadurai 1996). In particular, I adapt Slobin’s analysis of music’s mobility across geographic locales, nation-state lines and (often imagined) boundaries of ethnicity, while proposing to extend this framework through an increased focus on temporality – on how intercultural affinities shift and can become refracted in multiple and complex ways over time. Drawing upon Svetlana Boym’s (2001) influential distinction between “reflective”, “restorative” and “sidewaysdirected” typologies of nostalgia, I approach a discussion of multiple facets of nostalgic longing and the work they accomplish in structuring individual and collective cultural memory and lived musical experience. In terms of the time period under scrutiny, this dissertation traces the emergence of discursively fashioned German-Irish intercultural musical affinities from the late European Enlightenment onwards, analysing 17 PHD VIGNETTE: FELIX MORGENSTERN I posit further that the performance of Irish rebel songs by folk singers, along with the political alignment with someone else’s anticolonial resistance expressed therein, operates in the German context as a sublimated form of indigenous and “culturally intimate” (Herzfeld 1997) patriotic leanings intertwined with a problematic Nazipast. It is precisely this narrative of political alignment with someone else’s history of anti-colonial resistance, however, that is so often contested by contemporary interlocutors. This contestation is most intriguing, because it appears to unfold in favour of an in-depth engagement with the Irish instrumental music tradition and the accumulation of cultural capital (Bourdieu 1984), which can be mobilised by artists to assert social status and power within the musical community in question (Morgenstern 2020, in press). the extent to which these are refracted and remodelled by practitioners in the latetwentieth century German folk revival context and within the contemporary German Irish music community. In the 1770s, the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) articulated his infatuation with the Celtic bard and myth-hero Ossian and coined the very term Volkslied (‘folk song’) to encapsulate the ways in which the folk gives voice to its cultural distinctiveness in song. Herder’s influential theories provided nineteenth-century intellectuals in the German-speaking lands and in colonial Ireland with the crucial pre-modern cultural foundations for sounding two modern European nation-states into being. It is important to consider, however, that the recovery of folk music served the German and Irish nationalist intelligentsia in distinct ways, underscoring the continuous iteration of an expansionist German Empire on the one hand, while, on the other, being coopted to push the British coloniser out of the established boundaries of the Irish nation. Such differences in musical exceptionalism narratives (Applegate 2017) are key, I argue, in terms of understanding why former 1970s German folk revivalists interviewed during my fieldwork became so heavily invested in folk songs in which ‘Irishness’ is inscribed as the long history of rebellion against an oppressive ruler. In many ways, this ethnographic and historical study of Irish music-making in Germany seeks to contribute to a more holistic picture of the routes that Irish traditional musical practices have taken globally, moving ethnomusicological work on this music culture into new, non-diasporic and post-ethnically configured terrain. Currently writing up my dissertation, I grapple with trenchant issues around social class, as well as racial and gendered privilege. 18 PHD VIGNETTE: FELIX MORGENSTERN These are themes that have more recently emerged in my ethnographic work – and certainly merit more future research – not least, because such an engagement is in dialogue with a growing body of critical literature in Irish Music Studies that unpacks these topics (O’Shea 2008, Slominski 2020, in press). At the close of this formative experience, I also find myself reflecting on the fact that I have carried out my ethnographic fieldwork over a five-year period in which significant political changes have taken place in Europe and elsewhere, most strikingly, a rise in enclosing nationalisms, right-wing extremism and fascist regimes. In light of these recent developments, my dissertation proposes a model that allows ethnomusicologists to grasp music’s capacity to create, and not just reflect, affinity cultures, as well as its agency in sounding the multivocality of nationalisms (Bohlman 2004). By the same token, I attempt to prize open the extraordinary power of music to transcend and reconfigure what identity markers of ‘Irishness’ and ‘Germanness’ really transport for practitioners and how that might change over time. References Appadurai, A. (1996) Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Bohlman, P.V. (2004) The Music of European Nationalism: Cultural Identity and Modern History, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Boym, S. (2001) The Future of Nostalgia, New York, NY: Basic Books. Haefs, G. (1983) Das Irenbild der Deutschen: Dargestellt anhand einiger Untersuchungen über die Geschichte der irischen Volksmusik und ihrer Verbreitung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main, Bern, New York, NY: Peter Lang. Herzfeld, M. (1997) Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State, New York, NY: Routledge. Leyn, W. (2016) Volkes Lied und Vater Staat: Die DDRFolkszene (1976-1990), Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag. Morgenstern, F. (2020, in press) ‘From Ethnic to Sonic Irishness: The Reception of Irish Traditional Music in Germany’, Ethnomusicology Ireland, issue 6. Morgenstern, F. (2019) 'Die Rolle irischer Folkmusik im Rahmen des DDR-Folkrevivals (1976-1990): Von der klanglich-reflexiven zur inhaltlich-restaurativen Nostalgie eines Ersatz-Genres' in Holfter, G., Byrnes, D. and Conacher, J. E., eds., Perceptions and Perspectives: Exploring Connections between Ireland and the GDR, Trier: WVT, 37-56. Morgenstern, F. (2018) 'Voices of Ambiguity - The GDR Folk Music Revival Movement (1976-1990): Exploring Lived Musical Experience and Post-War German Folk Music Discourses', Folk Life: Journal of Ethnological Studies, 56(2), 116-129, available: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1080/04308778.2018.1501956 Applegate, C. (2017) The Necessity of Music: Variations on a German Theme, Toronto, ON, Buffalo, NY, and London: University of Toronto Press. 19 REVIEW: WOMEN AND TRADITIONAL | FOLK MUSIC RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM This mix of both academics and industry specialists generated a personal and thorough discussion of the subject at hand, as the speakers drew upon their own personal insights, shared recordings, and performed examples that illustrated, challenged and reacted to experiences of women in Irish traditional and folk music. Areas of discussion included: hierarchies and power dynamics in traditional and folk music; gender and instrumentation; Fair Pléresponses, reactions and critiques; strategies of equal opportunity and diversity within traditional and folk music; and documenting experience and participation in traditional and folk music. Review: Women and Traditional | Folk Music Research Symposium Joanne Cusack In partnership with Fair Plé, NUI Galway’s Centre for Irish Studies hosted the ‘Women and Traditional | Folk Music’ research symposium on Saturday 9th February 2019 in the Hardiman Building, NUI Galway. Fair Plé, which began in January 2018, seeks gender balance and equal representation for all in the production, performance, promotion, and development of Irish traditional and folk music. Co-organised by Dr Verena Commins (NUI Galway), Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin (NUI Galway), Dr Síle Denvir (DCU) and Dr Úna Monaghan, this one-day research symposium featured over twenty-one speakers, including presentations from academics, musicians and singers, researchers and those involved with the archiving of Irish traditional and folk music. Participants at the Women and Traditional | Folk Music Research Symposium at NUI Galway. Photo credit: Fair Plé 20 REVIEW: WOMEN AND TRADITIONAL | FOLK MUSIC RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM The symposium programme, which commenced with a welcome address from Professor Niamh Reilly, NUIG, comprised of three sessions (six panels) and a book launch for From Jigs to Jacobites by Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain and Michael McCabe, launched by Prof. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh. One of the highlights of the symposium was the fascinating keynote address delivered by leading traditional Irish music and gender studies scholar Dr Tes Slominski. This keynote address entitled ‘“Shut Up and Play”: Aesthetics and the Silencing of Social Critique in Irish Traditional Music’ explored the connections between the aesthetics of silence and understatement in Irish traditional music, and the silencing of critiques about sexism, heterosexism, and racism in the Irish traditional music scene. Although the address was delivered via Skype due to circumstances beyond control, it did not have any bearings on the keynote address itself, evident from the outstanding reception from the audience. Throughout the day speakers and attendees were also invited to listen to sound bites from Dr Úna Monaghan’s audio archive entitled: “One Hundred Stories”. The archive featured stories and accounts from musicians who experienced inequality whilst performing and/or participating in the Irish traditional and folk music scene. These individual stories, ranging on levels of severity, added a real sense of need and validity to the overall atmosphere, which in turn emphasized the significance and importance of the day itself. Through blind peer review, a special issue journal of symposium proceedings will be published in Ethnomusicology Ireland in 2020/2021. 21 FESTIVERSITIES: EUROPEAN MUSIC FESTIVALS, PUBLIC SPACES AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY Interviews with music programmers, organisers, performers, audience members, sound engineers, and anyone associated with festival logistics, along with on-site fieldwork, participant-observation, netnography, and new approaches to sound-mapping and visual capture, collectively inform the research. FestiVersities aims to identify key trends, best practice, and inform policy at a national and European level. It is also very much about understanding each festival on its own terms; and how it narrates and understands its own story of production, encounter, and exchange. A large part of any HERA-funded project is collaborating with research partners and case studies in order to explore creative ways for knowledge exchange with the intention of generating impact on a practical and applied level. One way this is manifesting in the research to date is through the desire of music festival organisations to archive materials and understand their own creative journeys within social and historical contexts. Dr Aileen Dillane ‘FestiVersities: European Music Festivals, Public Spaces and Cultural Diversity’ is a three-year, collaborative research project funded by the Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA), that runs from 2019 to 2022. The 1.1million euro research project features five principal investigators (PIs), postdoctoral fellows, doctoral students and associated partners from Ireland, UK, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands. The project was conceptualized within the interdisciplinary spaces of ethnomusicology, sociology, cultural studies, and consumption studies. At the core of the FestiVersities research question is the manner in which encounters with diversity, however conceived, are experienced through musical, commercial, spatial, and ideological frameworks. The Irish PI for the project is Dr. Aileen Dillane, who is an ethnomusicologist based in the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick. 22 F ESTIVERSITIES: EUROPEAN MUSIC FESTIVALS, PUBLIC SPACES AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY Two of Aileen’s national case studies include Temple Bar TradFest held in Dublin every January and Cork International Choral Festival held in April/May. A third case study, a summer-time popular music camping festival, is being primed. A post-doctoral position on the FestiVersities Irish team will soon be advertised and a basic summary of the project can be found here, including a list of the PIs and research affiliates: http://heranet.info/projects/public-spaces-culture-and-integration-in-europe/european-musicfestivals-public-spaces-and-cultural-diversity/ You can follow FestiVersities on twitter @FestiVersities and Aileen @aileen_dillane to keep up to date with research questions, experiences, and general progress of the project. 23 REVIEW: 2019 JOINT SMI/ICTM-IE POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE Taking inspiration from the schedule of speakers, they both spoke of the diverse and exciting research that is happening in music, both within and outside of DKIT. Both Dr Mulvey and Dr McKiernan spoke of how important conferences such as these are, as they offer productive spaces for carefully prepared and mature scholarly discourse. The conference consisted of thirty-eight papers over the course of the two days, which offered attendees many difficult decisions between parallel paper sessions. Within that thirty-eight papers there were a diverse range of presentations delivered by scholars across Ireland, UK, Europe, Japan and the US, covering topics such as music, history and culture; culture, gender and sexuality; performance, analysis, composition, Irish music and more. L to R: Dr Helen Lawlor, Dr Éamonn Costello, Dr Katherine Uhde Professor Lorraine Byrne-Bodley, Michael Uhde & Christina Lynn Review: 2019 Joint SMI/ ICTM-IE Postgraduate Conference Christina Lynn The joint annual SMI/ICTM-IE postgraduate conference in took place in Dundalk Institute of Technology on 10th and 11th of January 2019. Following on from a highly successful conference at Maynooth University in 2018, DKIT we honoured to hold this prestigious event. Over the course of the two days there were twelve full sessions along with the keynote address and the SMI Careers Forum. The keynote address was given by Dr Katharina Uhde of Valparaiso University, and she was accompanied by her father Michael Uhde. Dr Uhde gave her keynote address on ‘Joseph Joachim’s Ireland’ a topic which has been the main focus of her most recent research. The conference was officially opened by the president of DKIT Dr Michael Mulvey. Dr Mulvey’s words of commitment and passion towards music research within DKIT and to the wider academic world of music were reiterated throughout the conference in its themes. His address was followed by an address by Dr Bob McKiernan the Head of the Music Department in DKIT, who echoed the importance of Dr Mulvey's statements. 24 REVIEW: 2019 JOINT SMI/ICTM-IE POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE She gave those present a wonderful insight into both the theory and performance of Joseph Joachim’s work. Above: Participants in the SMI Careers Forum Left: Postgraduate attendees and presenters The annual postgraduate conference is of vital importance in its showcasing of the vibrant and varied world of post-graduate research that is currently taking place around the world and on home soil. These conferences aim to bring together scholars who are associated with the two major Irish based societies of music research, from the perspectives of both ethnomusicology and musicology, and offer attendees an opportunity to collaborate with other academics and engage in interdisciplinary discourse. It is with pleasure that I take this opportunity to acknowledge the students and staff affiliated with Dundalk Institute of Technology’s music department, who contributed to the running of such a successful and enriching event. 25 REVIEW: ICTM IRELAND 14TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE The means by which music can operate as place-maker was explored in the context of community gamelan in West Cork; Kevin McNally’s position as both artistic facilitator and academic informed his discussion of local identity and community. Maurice Mullen’s work on the last two decades of traditional music practice in north county Dublin showed the benefits of considering musical and cultural practices within changing local social contexts experiencing demographic change, exploring how those practices are shaped by processes of inmigration. The community formation aspects of that work were similarly observed in Pamela Cotter’s exploration of the ways in which individual engagements with the multiple modes of participation at the Fleadh cumulatively act to construct the larger Fleadh community. Review: ICTM Ireland 14th Annual Conference: 22 - 23 Feb 2019, University College Dublin Theme: Social Interaction and Change through Music: Applications and approaches John Millar This annual gathering of music scholars, held at University College Dublin, offered a valuable snapshot on music scholarship on this island and beyond. With a broad theme of social interaction and change, a theme that encouraged this community of scholars to reflect on the wide range of social and cultural interactions facilitated and shaped by music, the conference witnessed two days of papers that not only spoke to the theme but facilitated vibrant communication amongst those present. Interrogation of historical practices informed papers such as that from Rebecca Miller, whose work exploring the dance culture of mid-twentieth century Ireland showed how local musical engagement and practice were more varied than some historical narratives have suggested. Consideration of, and challenges to, broad historical narratives were similarly central to questions posed by Hannah Marsden’s paper dealing with attempts to establish classical music orchestral practices in India. With a wide range of research fields represented, in both Ireland and beyond, the papers presented dealt with diverse musical practices from variegated theoretical and methodological perspectives. 26 REVIEW: ICTM IRELAND 14TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE Affording a space within the conference to broach broader questions of our disciplinary responses to the challenges faced by contemporary ‘post-truth’ politics, both within academia and without, the roundtable discussion featuring Jaime Jones, Ioannis Tsioulakis, and Stephen Millar offered a chance to step back from individual research concerns and discuss how those challenges may be faced. The role and responsibility of scholars, music educators, and music practitioners in light of these challenges were the subject of much fruitful and engaging conversation, with the three contributors perspectives augmented by the collected attendees. Discussions such as these invariably raise as many questions as they answer, but the opportunity to engage in such dialogues in such a setting is something to be welcomed. That musical practices can form the loci of fruitful investigation is something on which we all agree; what these two days showed is that such investigation rewards with insights and perspectives in sometimes unexpected ways. A special thanks to the staff and students of the Music Department at University College Dublin for their hard work and generous spirit which made the 2019 conference such an enjoyable experience for all attendees. 27 I NT E G R A T I N G R E S E A R C H & D I G I T A L SKILLS FOR MUSIC AT THE IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC ARCHIVE Stephanie Ford Treasa Harkin, Melodies and Images Officer at the Irish Traditional Music Archive explains how research and digital skills were applied and integrated into her organisation's website by Maynooth University students on placement: This year, the Music Department at Maynooth University piloted a new and innovative placement scheme as part of its new Research Methods and Digital Skills module for MA students. "ITMA were delighted to be asked to provide a placement opportunity for two students from the MA Research Methods and Digital Skills module run by the Music Department at Maynooth University. Initially an introductory presentation was given to the whole class and students Emmanuel Rivera Angel and Sophie Cahalane chose to undertake their placement at ITMA. With the support of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, the Contemporary Music Centre and the Russell Library at Maynooth University, students were offered five week placements tailored to their own research interests. Through their work in these organisations, students learned how to apply the skills they acquired in digitisation and in the online cataloging of music in a real world context, and to communicate their research to a broader audience. The students were tasked with researching a topic, identifying relevant material, digitising that material, clearing copyright, cataloguing and finally publishing their findings on a blog on the ITMA website. Digital skills were taught in workshops delivered by the Computer Science department here in Maynooth, and we are grateful to our colleagues Dr Joseph Timoney and Dr Shane McGarry for engaging so enthusiastically with this cross-disciplinary teaching collaboration. 28 INTEGRATING RESEARCH & DIGITAL SKILLS FOR MUSIC AT TH E IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC ARCHIVE The process gave them both a new appreciation of the amount of work that goes in to making material available online. From ITMA’s point of view it was a very positive experience and we now have newly digitised and catalogued material and two excellent blogs on our website on the wire-strung harp and the piano accordion." You can view Emmanuel Rivera Angel's blog on his experience of researching the wire-strung harp through his placement at ITMA here. You can view Sophe Cahalane's blog on her piano accordion research and digitisation work on ITMA's blog here. 29 RECENT & FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS Carr, Paul (2020) with Moore, A., (eds). The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rock Music Research. London: Bloomsbury. Slominski, Tes (2020) Trad Nation: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Irish Traditional Music. Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. Hurrell, Nancy (2019) The Egan Irish Harps: Tradition, patrons and players. Dublin: Four Courts Press. Vallely, Fintan (2019) with Doherty, L., (eds). Ón gCos go Cluas - From Dancing to Listening, Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic 5. Aberdeen: The Elphinstone Institute. 37 BECOME AN ICTM MEMBER ICTM Ireland’s membership comprises a diverse body of musicians and scholars who study a variety of musical genres and contexts throughout the world. Currently, we are working to expand our membership so that the organisation can reflect the breadth and depth of scholarship on music in Ireland. We have increased ICTM Ireland’s activities over the past years, in particular through the institution of a joint annual postgraduate conference with the Society for Musicology in Ireland and the forthcoming launch of our new website. It is our hope that we might continue to strengthen ICTM Ireland’s presence throughout the coming years. In addition, ICTM produce Ethnomusicology Ireland, a fully peer-reviewed online journal for research on music in its social and cultural context. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to editor@ictm.ie If you are interested in becoming a member, renewing your membership, or recommending ICTM Ireland to a student or colleague, full details on joining can be found at www.ictm.ie or by contacting us at membership@ictm.ie 38 Logo Style Guidelines General Editor Stephanie Ford BA Hons, MA PhD Candidate, Maynooth University Education Officer, ICTM Ireland speis@ictm.ie ICTM Ireland 2019/2020 Committee: Chair: Dr Helen Lawlor / Secretary: Dr Adrian Scahill / Treasurer: Dr Anaïs Verhulst / Education Officer: Stephanie Ford / Membership Officer: Dr Jack Talty / Communications Officer: John Millar 39