Voices of the Weak: Music and Minorities. Zuzana Jurková & Lee Bidgood (eds.) ****************************************************************************************** * Veronika Seidlová ****************************************************************************************** Voices of the Weak: Music and Minorities Zuzana Jurková & Lee Bidgood (eds.) Prague: NGO Slovo 21 & the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague, 2009, 250 pp + 1 accompanying CD, ISBN 978-80-254-4095-7. In the context of Czech social sciences and humanities, a unique book about music and mino recently been published in cooperation with the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University If one coincidentally appears at an ethnomusicological conference somewhere around the wor be surprised at the ubiquitous presence of the word "minority." Why are ethnomusicologists with minorities? One could suggest that it is because they often feel like a minority them the field of musicology, they are the ones studying "weird" music and using such "weird" m participant observation. On the other hand, in the field of anthropology, they are also of ones dealing with such an elusive phenomenon as music and suspected of being hidden "old m "folklorists." The Nestor of world ethnomusicology, Bruno Nettl (interestingly enough: born in Prague, 19 of the Jewish minority in Czechoslovakia), said: "Many ethnomusicologists, after all, have for many decades as students of the music of the downtrodden of the world. At the same tim often seen themselves as a kind of minority among music scholars and musicians of Europe a Looking back to my days, ca. 1950, as a student, however, I find it ironic that in several we also saw ourselves as the defenders of majorities, perhaps labeled best as ‘neglected m It was the music historians, we thought, who were the ones interested in the exceptional - the greatest of [Western] composers." (Nettl 2009:12) Nevertheless, one has to bear in mind that, as Nettl adds, "there's no doubt that the conc minority [or majority], and the identification of minorities is to some extent a construct observer." (Nettl 2009:13). Recently, the little Czech ethnomusicological minority celebrated a great success: not onl it hosted an international conference on music and minorities in May 2008, which was atten by more than 60 scholars from 23 countries (see http://musicandminorities.googlepages.com/ musicandminoritiesgroupmeeting2008), but it also found enough support to publish a collect accompanied by a CD. The book consists of the most interesting conference articles related to the following the reconsideration of the term "minority"; (ii) music of Romani subethnic groups (iii) music groups such as ethnic, regionally specific, religious or social; (iv) cultural policy; (v) Yet, the publishing itself was not the only goal. The book attempts to bring ethnomusicolo paradigms closer to each other. Only 22 articles which were successfully chosen by an inte advisory board have been published. (However, in order to keep maximum scholarly openness, papers that were submitted are published on the conference Web pages.) The book opens with Zuzana Jurková's concise and pregnant introduction about the state of ethnomusicology. Her text is followed by Bruno Nettl's "meditation" (as he calls it), summ experience of research of American Indian cultures, minority music makers in Iran and his minorities in prewar Czechoslovakia. From the methodological point of view, one of the hig book is undoubtedly the article "Cultural Policies and Minority Musics in Kosovo and Sri L We learn from a Comparative Study?" by Svanibor Pettan and Lasanthi Manaranjanie Kalinga D mention Johannes Brusila's "Between Minor and Major. Discursive and Neomaterialist Reflect rtenson and ‘Finland-Swedish' Popular Music", which is one of the most theoretically inter published here. Concerning the topic of Romani music, we can learn about communities in Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine and the Machwaya Roma in America. Two articles also deconstruct stereotypical Gyps post-romantic academic music and the popular music of Goran Bregović. Similar to that, the of Yugomania and Yugonostalgia is entertained. Other music cultures and topics we can enco publication are: hardcore rap culture, the Armenian minority in Ukraine, contemporary musi traditions in Slovenia, the musical heritage of the Czech Brethren in Poland, Bulgarian cu concerning the Turkish minority, Bessarabian Bulgarian musicians, the Sorbian minority in cultural policy in the media in the area of Vojvodina, policy of the music archives, and f prisoners. If we take into account that, in the Czech environment, interest has been concentrated muc construction and consolidation of its own cultural identity than on the knowledge of diffe groups, least of all, minorities (Elschek 1991, cit. Jurková 2009:8), then we could say th marginal book is a big achievement. The person who put both the conference and the book to Jurková, is a founding member of the Study Group Music and Minorities of the International Traditional Music and the founder of the Ethnomusicological Program at the Faculty of Huma University. She says: "If we consider the situation of ethnomusicology in Czech culture as the state of this culture then Czechs would appear to be emancipated from their egocentric begin to pursue knowledge of those "others," including those who at first glance are the m weak." (Jurková 2009:9). Veronika Seidlová [ URL "LM-339.html "]