Zuzana Jurková

Rosemary Statelova, Angela Rodel, Lozanka Peycheva, Ivanka Vlaeva and Venstislav Dimov (eds.): THE HUMAN WORLD AND MUSICAL DIVERSITY. Proceedings from the Fourth Meeting of the “Music and Minorities” Study Group in Varna, Bulgaria, 2006

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In the proceedings of the fourth Music

and Minorities Study Group (2006 in

Varna, Bulgaria) there are 50 contributions

(of the nearly 70 papers presented).

In addition to pictorial and graphic figures),

the publication includes a CD

with 53 musical examples (mastered by

Gerda Lechleitner, Phonogrammarchiv

Wien).

All four conference themes are represented:

1) “Hybridity as a Musical Concept”

(introductory theoretical article, plus 18

case studies, among them the only two

Czech papers);

2) “Minority-Minority Relations in

Music and Dance” (The majority of

the 14 contributions clearly show how

unclear the determination of a minority

is. Discussed are, e.g., two groups with

a shared religion that is interpreted in

different ways, groups on opposite sides

of national or ideological borders, mutual

relations of two or more groups that are

defined some other way), etc.;

3) “Music Education of Minority Children”

(the narrowest and most concrete

theme, in which the authors, using 14

different examples, demonstrate how

a community hands down what it considers

basic for the preservation of its own

identity; the absolute majority deal with

children of national, ethnic or religious

minorities);

4) “Race – Class – Gender” (a theme

of stimulating contributions not focused

on ethnically or religiously defined

minorities. This shortest portion surprisingly

(?) most clearly shows how music in

an environment of asymmetric relations

functions as a symbolic means for agents

to present new self-representation.

The astonishing discovery reveals,

in the case of some delimitations, that

it is possible to arrive at certain generalizations,

while, in other cases, not at

all. This compels one to repeated reflection

about the appropriateness of those

delimitations, thus, e.g., about the formulations

of conference themes. (Reyes

1999 describes a very similar situation

in the case of immigrants in the USA:

only after recognizing the importance

of the difference between voluntary and

forced immigration did the research lead

to meaningful conclusions.) In the case

of research on minorities, on one hand,

it is certainly true that a group of people

identified as a minority appears to create

an exceptional variety of expressions,

including musical expressions, out of cultural

configurations often burdened with

conflict. For this reason, no matter how

well thought out the topics for discussion

may be, they almost always turn out to be

somewhat too narrow or schematic to capture

the rich varied musical and socio-cultural

reality (p. 9). On the other hand, too

broad a theme (as the first of them obviously

is) or an otherwise inappropriate

delimitation enables us to put together

phenomena, situations and data which

convince us of an exceptional variety of

musical expressions, but do not allow for

more general interpretation. The editors

express the same thought: It is difficult to

identify any regularities in these relationships...

(p. 11).

The proceedings contain all of the

contributions that were submitted.

This inclusiveness (here the editors call

this a “democratic approach”) is one of

the concomitant characteristics of the

“Music and Minorities” Study Group.

(Unsurprisingly – in regard to its democratic

or, shall we say, socially solidary

character – this group chose, among the

many possible definitions of majority,

the one which emphasizes an asymmetry

of approach to power. “Minorities are

groups of people distinguishable from the

DOMINANT group for cultural, ethnic,

social, religious, or economic reasons.”)

The other side of this democratic/allinclusive

coin is perhaps the obvious

inequality of the articles: not only in the

initial theories, methods, and terminologies,

but also, e.g., in the non-unified way

of quotations.

Content: Introduction; HYBRIDITY:

Elka Tschernokoshewa: Hybridity as

a Musical Concept: Theses and Avenues

of Research; Claire Levy: Performing

Hybridity: On the Case of Karandila;

Irene Markoff: The Case for Transgressive

Musical Orientations in Contemporary

Alevi Musical Expression: Purity Versus

Hybridity in the Sacred/Secular Kontinuum;

Ivanka Vlaeva: Hybridity in Turkish

Recordings from the 1960s in Bulgaria;

Ventsislav Dimov: On Some Early Sonic

Evidence of Musical Hybridization: Observations

on Commercial Gramophone

Recordings from Bulgaria; Gergana Panova-

Tekath: Dance as an Expression of

Hybridity and Ethnocentrism; Bozena

Muszkalska: Freilach, Jazz, and Chopin:

The Klezmer Movement in Contemporary

Poland; Veronika Seidlová: Music

– Religiosity – Community: A Case Study

of the Jewish Community in Prague;

Zuzana Jurková: The Czech Rompop

Scene: (Un?)surprising Continuity; Naila

Ceribašić: Macedonian Music in Croatia:

The Issues of Traditionality, Politics of Representation

and Hybridity; Alma Bejtullahu:

“Our Genuine Songs”: Perceptions of

Musical Change; Aleksandra Markovic´:

“Jugonostalgija Is the People’s Choice”:

Interethnic Influences Between Slovene

and South Slavic Music; Nino Tsitsishvili:

Authenticity and Hybridity in Three

Soundscapes of Georgian Musical. Culture

in the Context of Political Change; Ayhan

Erol: Change and Continuity in Alevi

Musical Identity; Caroline Bithell: A Song

of Many Colors: Musical Hybridity in Corsica;

Lozanka Peycheva: The Hybridization

of Local Music From Bulgaria:

The Role of Gypsy Clarinetists; Judith

R. Cohen: Music in the Lives of Judeus

and Ciganos in a Portuguese Village: Two

Adjacent and Separate Minorities; Gjermund

Kolltveit: The Development of Musical

Style and Identity Among the Romani

People of Norway; Elena Shishkina: The

Growth of Hybrid and Conglomerate Tendencies

in the Povolgie Germans: Traditional

Musical Culture at the Beginning

of the Third Millennium; EDUCATION:

Vesselka Toncheva: The Bulgarian School

in Vienna and Its Role in the Formation of

Bulgarian National Identity; Wolf Dietrich:

The Musical Education of Arvanites

Children in Central Greece; Petar Bagarić,

Željka Petrović and Tihana Rubić: Dervishes

in Croatia; Dorit Klebe: Transmission

of Musical Traditions of the Alevi

Ceremony: Musical Education of Young

People Playing Baglama in Berlin; Hande

Saglam: Music as a Cultural, Social and

Religious Transmission Element among

Alevis in Vienna, Austria; Rumiana Margaritova,

Stephan Balastchev: The Early

Saz Education of a Young Alevi (Bektashi)

Performer from Bulgaria; Hilde Binford:

Values and Culture Transmitted Through

Music in the Old Order Amish Community;

Gerda Lechleitner: Education, Tradition,

and Rules – The Pillars of Immigrant Societies:

Bukharian Jews in Vienna; Rosemary

Statelova: The Musical Education

of Children Through Traditional Songs

and Dances in Sorbian Lusatia; Gencho

Gaytandjiev: Roma Children in Bulgarian

Schools: Have the Internal Obstacles

Been Surmounted?; Smaragdi Boura:

Seeking Our Own Roots: Musical Education

of Greek Diasporic Youth in Germany;

Yoshiko Okazaki: Negotiation

Between Limitations and Possibilities in

Cultural Transmissions among a Migrant

Community; Akiko Takahashi: Teaching

Materials Used During Music Lessonsat

a Japanese Elementary School in Vienna;

MINORITY–MINORITY: Pedro Roxo:

The Influence of South Asian Cinema

and Film Music in the Hindu-Gujarati

Diaspora in Mozambique and in Portugal;

Louise Wrazen: Beyond the Polish Tatras:

Performing Pride, Identity, or Difference;

Essica Marks: Two Cultural Minorities

in Israel: The Jerusalem-Sephardi Musical

Tradition and the Musical Culture of

the Arab Minority in Israel; Dimitrina

Kaufmann: Klezmer Musical Ideas in the

Music of the Northern and Southern Balkans;

Nikolai Kaufmann: Jewish Ethnic

Music in My Choral Compositions; Filippo

Bonini Baraldi: The Gypsies of Ceuaș,

Romania: An “Emotional Minority”?;

Speranta Radulescu and Florin Iordan:

A Minority in a Multi-Ethnic Context: The

Jews of the Region of Botosani and Their

Party Music; Marin Marian-Balasa: On

the Social-Cultural Role of Music Among

Minor Religions (Some Romanian Samples);

Jakša Primorac: Suryoyo Music:

Between Aramean and Assyrian Identity;

Larry Francis Hilarian: The Significance

of the Hadhrami Arab Contributionsand

Influences on Melayu Music, Culture and

Islamic Practices; Eckehard Pistrick:

Emigration Songs – Interethnic and Multilingual

Polyphony in Epirus; RACE–

CLASS–GENDER: Ardian Ahmedaja:

Çamçe: Dance and the Power Relationship

Between Minorities and Majorities;

Susan Motherway: Renegotiating Traveller

Identity Through Folksong in Ireland;

Yoshitaka Terada: Angry Drummers and

Buraku Identity: The Ikari Taiko Group

in Osaka, Japan; Ana Hofman: Singing

Exclusion: Female Singers in the Musical

Practices of Southeastern Serbia; Timke226

RE V I E W S

het Teffera: Taboos and Exceptions Concerning

Female Musicians in East Africa

with a Special Focus on Ethiopia; Gisa Jähnichen:

Child Musicians in Class–Race–

Gender Conflicts; Adriana Helbig: Music,

Migrations, and Transnational Articulations

of Racialized Class Identities in Post-

Orange Revolution Ukraine

Zuzana Jurková