Call for papers

International Student Symposium

WESTERN BALKAN INTERWAR MUSIC AND ITS EUROPEAN CONTEXT


On behalf of the musicology students at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, I invite you to participate in the student symposium entitled Western Balkan Interwar Music and Its European Context. The symposium will be held in Belgrade, Serbia, 8–9 December 2008. Although the subject of the symposium is centred on the questions of music in the Western Balkans between (and during) the world wars (1914–1945), we also encourage and welcome all papers that will help to enlighten its European context. The student symposium is not restricted to musicology students only but is open to all students dealing with the questions of music praxis as well as the role of music in culture. The official languages of the symposium will be BCS (Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian) and English.

The student symposium is a part of the manifestation Days of the Western Balkan Interwar Music and the participants will also have the opportunity to attend the reconstructions of concerts held in Belgrade in the years of 1926 and 1936, partly based on thus far unpublished material and on the archive sources.

The interwar period is known to have been a very prolific time in the history of music when many different musical styles and cultures developed and coexisted. As most of the Western Balkans was incorporated into one state (the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, i.e. the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and heavily influenced by the European mainstreams, it has proven impossible to fully investigate the problems of the social context of interwar music without broadening the perspectives of national scholarly discourses. Furthermore, as an issue shared by music students throughout the Western Balkans, this subject can be an appropriate starting position for further continuous communication and exchange of knowledge.

The structure of the symposium will encompass two types of presentation: standard separate papers and panel discussions. Separate papers can be read either in English or in BCS. Each presenter of the separate papers will have 20 minutes for the paper followed by 10 minutes for discussion. The issues we are especially interested are:

- Discourse on music in the interwar period
The questions of musicological and ethnomusicological discourse, as well as the discourse of music critique and other discourses on music. The reception of music.

- Music and institutions
Music institutions, including the institutions of musical education. Musician in the social institutions. The role of institutions in the production of music.

- Music and politics
The place and role of music in the structures of power in the society. Cultural politics and music.

- Music and identity
The role of music in the construction of national, class, gender and other identities.

- Popular music in the interwar period.

- The technology of (re)production of music
The influence of new technologies on the production and reproduction of music. Music and new media. Music and film.

- Music and everyday life
The place of music in everyday life. Music and social groups.

The panel discussions will be organised on the predetermined subjects, in one of the official languages of the symposium. Each participant in the panel discussion will have 5–10 minutes for presentations followed by discussion led by the moderator. The students having separate papers can also participate and one participant can take part in several panel discussions. The panel discussion will be organised if at least four participants apply. We suggest these subjects for the panel discussions:

1. Music in the Project of Creating the Yugoslav Nation (BCS)

2. Music and the Axis Powers (English)
The influence of Nazism and Fascism on music in the interwar Europe. Music in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Music in the occupied areas during the Second World War.

3. Social Context of Symphonic Music in the Kingdom of SCS/Yugoslavia (BCS)

4. Jazz in the Interwar Europe (English)
The spreading of jazz music in the interwar Europe. The political context and interpretations of jazz music. The influence of jazz on art music.

If you are interested in participating in our symposium, please submit a proposal (including your personal data, such as name, surname, affiliation, contact) and an abstract (up to 300 words for standard separate papers; up to 100 words for each presentation within panel discussion) to the above mentioned e-mail address. The proposals and abstracts should be sent not later than September 30th, 2008. The notification of acceptance will be sent not later than October 15th. The selected papers presented at the conference will be published in a volume of proceedings.

We sincerely hope that you will be able to join us and help us to realise this symposium successfully!

Srđan Atansovski
Student-coordinator of the project