International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance

A Non-Governmental Organization in Formal Consultative Relations with UNESCO

Archive: Progress Report August 2009

Progress Report

ICTM Study Group for the Anthropology of Music in Mediterranean Cultures

I am pleased to communicate that, thanks to the collaboration of several friends, first of all Ruth Davis, who has been helping me all along as Vice-Chair, and Giuliana Fugazzotto, ethnomusicologist and talented webmaster of the web journal “Music & Anthropology”, the activities of the Study Group have been picking up intensity. Since our Venice Meeting in 2007, Ruth Davis organized a successful Colloquium at Corpus Christi College of Cambridge University in 2008. The Proceedings, edited by Ruth Davis herself, are soon to be published by Scarecrow Press. 

We are now excited to announce our next Meeting that will be hosted by the Mediterranean Institute of the University of Malta in July 1-4, 2010. The announcement and call for papers appears in this very issue of the ICTM Bulletin. The theme will be: “Musical Translations across the Mediterranean”. Our gratitude goes to Dr. Simon Mercieca, Director of the Mediterranean Institute, for his encouragement and determination to have us in Malta. 

Earlier this year a volume devoted to the memory of Tullia Magrini, edited by Philip V. Bohlman, M. Sorce Keller, and Loris Azzaroni, was published in Italy, by CLUEB. It contains essays both in English and Italian. The editors wish to express their gratitude to all contributors: Mario Baroni, Caroline Bithell, Claudia Cancellotti, Judith R. Cohen, Rossana Dalmonte, Ruth F. Davis, Franco Fabbri, Iain Fenlon, Giuliana Fugazzotto, Joaquina Labajo, Ignazio Macchiarella, Stefano Mengozzi, Bruno Nettl, Svanibor Pettan, Donatella Restani, Karl Signell, Mark Slobin, and Martin Stokes. Further information about the volume can be found at the following addresses: 
http://www.fondazionelevi.it/ma/book/book.htm
and 
http://www.clueb.com/servlet/ParseHtml/html/index.html?url=/html/varie/r...

One last item I wish to mention is the web journal “Music and Anthropology”.
(http://www.fondazionelevi.it/ma/
Founded by Tullia Magrini, and conceived as an organ of the Study Group. In 2005, when Tullia passed away, Martin Stokes became its editor, and brilliantly gave continuity to the existing editorial line by publishing materials already in the pipeline, and by putting together a very special issue devoted to Turkish music. That brings to completion one Era, so to say. At this point it is felt by Martin Stokes, Ruth Davis, and me that, after about fifteen years, “Music and Anthropology” needs to be retailored to meet the present needs of the Study Group. The task of doing it will be the present writer’s who will rely on Giuliana Fugazzotto’s crucial help in bringing about the transformation. The title “Music and Anthropology” will changed into “Mediterranean Music Studies,” which will no longer be a periodical publication. This new web site will have four main sections: a) new original multimedia contributions, b) multimedia adjuncts to paper publications related to Mediterranean Study Group’s activities, c) information about Mediterranean centers, journals, and research initiatives, insofar as they pertain to music in the Mediterranean area, and d) news about Study Group activities (conferences, colloquia, and publications). All articles appeared in “Music & Anthropology” will continue to be accessible through a link leading to the entire set of issues the web journal produced so far. If Euterpe, Apollo, Saint Cecilia, and Saraswati, will look kindly on the project, the new format could be ready by the end of the year. 

Marcello Sorce Keller