ICTM Joint Meeting: Italy, Austria and Slovenia; 

Pulfero (Udine), Sala del Consiglio Comunale; May 9-10th, 2014

The Joint ICTM Meeting is a remarkable scholarly initiative conceived by the ICTM Austrian National Committee, consisting of a crossborder meeting among scholars from neighbouring countries. That is why the Italian National Committee promoted a meeting with the participation of the ICTM National Committees for Austria and Slovenia on 9-10 May 2014. Thanks to the organizational work of Valter Colle (head of Udine’s Nota Editions), the meeting was hosted in Pulfero, a small village in the region of Friuli, a few kilometres from the Slovenian border, in a lovely informal atmosphere that contributed to the successful outcome of the event.

The meeting was pivoted around the general topic “music and border”, with the intention of stimulating reflection on the relevance of the concept of border in our interpretation of music making. To this end, three study sessions were scheduled: the first about studies on music genres within contemporary mediatized and globalized contexts (Chair: Fulvia Caruso); the second about research on crossing categories, shifting viewpoints: song/speech, musical instrument/noise maker/ hunting call, dance/game (Chair: Cristina Ghirardini), and the last about studies on time and/or space borders in music practices (Chair: Ignazio Macchiarella). All the speakers were invited to limit the length of their papers to about 15 minutes: in this way, the three sessions were enriched by long, collective discussions both on the case-studies presented and on more general topics. The sessions were preceded by welcoming addresses by the Rector of University of Udine and by the mayor of Pulfero Town Council, which gave logistical support for the meeting. Then ICTM Secretary General Svanibor Pettan opened the sessions with a preliminary paper about the relevance and new perspectives of regional cooperation between ICTM National Committees.

The first session started with a paper by Flavia Gervasi about the development of a local musical identity implemented by the international success of the La Notte della Taranta Festival in Puglia (Italy); then Lorenz Beyer spoke about the ambiguity of genre in music through the case of the Bavarian LaBrass Banda; Teja Klobčar focused on the contemporary phenomenon of Slovenian singer-songwriters, while Regine Allgayer-Kaufmann dealt with the nyanga panpine dance in Mozambique and proposed careful thought to the concept of musical genres; and fi-nally Marko Kölbl spoke about the declining genre of the lament amongst the Burgenland Croats and in Croatia.

At the second session, Thomas Nußbaumer dealt with the borders between music/not music regarding sound experiences in Carnival masks in the Tyrol; followed by Linda Cimardi’s paper that enlightened the multiple possibilities of performance of the nseegu (cone-flutes of western Uganda), melting voice with the sound of the flute, and acting with instrument playing; and then Bernd Brabec de Mori proposed a reflection on the concept of music, sound, and noise. The session was completed by a lively “special panel” on ethnomusicology and new technologies, animated by Wei-Ya Lin, Jürgen Schöpf, Urša Sivic and Mojca Kovačič, which opened the floodgates to interesting discussions on the different perspectives regarding the supposed border between music/not music.

At the beginning of the third session, Ardian Ahmedaja introduced some issues linked to the spatial diffusion of a musical practice focusing the influence of lyrics in tempo performances in Albanian traditional songs; Ortensia Giovannini addressed the issue of music diaspora, speaking of the Armenian communities in Milan; Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona focused on the large and meaningful activity of South Asian musicians in Slovenia; then Alma Bejtullahu dealt with musicmaking across spatial borders, making an emphasis on the case of migrant cultural societies in Slovenia; Thomas Callegaro talked about the categorizing processes of the Irish view on Bulgarian music; Sonja Kieser presented a specific case of a music encounter between two musicians with different backgrounds in the Italian border region of Southern Tyrol; and finally Giovanni De Zorzi offered an articulated overview of the singing Dervish repertoires in the Fergana Valley, between five nations and USSR repression. As proposed by the Slovenian committee, a special short session was devoted to a collective discussion on possibilities for joint European project applications, laying the foundations for a partnership that is still in progress.

Other participants to the meeting were Paola Barzan, Alessandro Faralli, Rinko Fujita, and Vladimiro Cantaluppi.

Live music was a relevant element of both days: Valter Colle offered a rich overview of Friuli as an “ideal music borderland”, and also demonstrated with accordion player Eliseo (Liso) Jussa from Ponteacco (Valli del Natisone) and with Lino Straulino, who writes songs in the Furlan language.

The female polyphonic group Kvali from Slovenia gave a sample of its vocal research, starting from multipart music from Georgia and other European regions.

Organized by the Cultural and Ethnomusicological Society Folk Slovenija, the ensemble Vruja closed the meeting with a programme inspired by folk music from Istria, introducing instruments like the dude, mandola, and sopele.

Complete Program

May 9th, ore 14:00

Opening Ceremony.

Prof. Alberto Felice De Toni, Rector of the University of Udine: Welcoming addresses

Svanibor Pettan, “ICTM and Regional Cooperation: New Perspectives”

May 9th, h. 15:00 -17:30

Panel Session: “Studies on music genres” (Chair Fulvia Caruso)

Flavia Gervasi, “Interactions in the Development of a Local Musical Identity. The Sociopolitical Dimension to study the Notte della Taranta Festival’s Success” 

Lorenz Beyer, “How LaBrass Banda invented 'Bavarian Techno'. A Microstudy of Music's Global Flows”

Teja Klobčar, “Slovenian Singer-Songwriters of Today”

Regine Allgayer-Kaufmann, “Winds of Change? Female Playing Male Instruments”

Marko Kölbl, “Lament amongst the Croats in Burgenland and in Croatia. Remarks on a declining genre”

Maša Marty, “Musician's Journey from Slovenia and back” 

May 9th, h. 18-18:30

Kvali group. Vocal performance

May 9th, h. 18:30 -19:30

“Friuli an ideal music borderland”. Musical presentation by singers and instrumentalists from different areas of the Region

Introduction by Valter Colle and Giampaolo Gri

May 10th, h. 900-11:30

Panel Session: “Research on crossing categories” (Chair Cristina Ghirardini)

Thomas Nussbaumer, “Between Acting and Dance: Carnival Masks in Tyrol”

Linda Cimardi, “Nseegu cone flutes: sounds, gestures and songs between religious initiation and court music”

Bernd Brabec de Mori, “How to listen to what you hear: The concept of music vs. sound, noise, and voice”

Dina Staro, “Macché musica, è un ballo, via, una suonata! The hierarchy of arts between life and ethnography”

Special panel: ethnomusicology and new technologies

Wei-Ya Lin, “The “truth” behind the microphones”

Jürgen Schöpf, “Software based field experiments”

Ursa Sivic - Mojca Kovacic, Computational Ethnomusicology / Music Information Retrieval

May 10th h. 12:00 – 13:00

Collective discussion on possibilities for joint European project applications

May 10th h. 15:00 – 17:30

Panel Session: “Studies on time and/or space” (Chair Ignazio Macchiarella)

Ardian Ahmedaja, “Does the lyrics' content of folk songs influence their performance tempo?”

Ortensia Giovannini, “Armenian musics or music of armenians? The case of vartanantz in Milan”

Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga Dona, ”Musics of South Asia in Slovenia”

Alma Bejtullahu, “Music-making across spatial borders between art, revival movement and EU-policies: the case of migrant cultural societes in Slovenia”

Thomas Callegaro, “Categorizing the tradition: the Irish look on Bulgarian music”

Sonja Kieser, “A capofitto – the encounter of two Italian border regions. Musical identities expressed in Merano (South Tyrol) and why the Salento counts”

Ana Hofman, “Guča na krasu Festival: A paradigm of sonic borderland”

Giovanni De Zorzi, "Singing Dervish repertoires in the Fergana Valley, between five nations and USSR repression"

May 10th, h. 18:00-19: 00

Musical presentation by Vruja Group from Istria (organized by “Cultural and Ethnomusicological Society Folk Slovenija”)

Other participants:

Alessandro Faralli

Nicola Scaldaferri

Rinko Fujita

Marjeta Pisk

Gregor Strle

Hande Saglam

Vladimiro Cantaluppi