Friday 22 November, University of Sussex
Organisers: Richard Elliott and Sally Jane Norman
The interweaving of song and place as a resonant cultural identifier offers a richly interdisciplinary research focus. Music, sonic arts, cultural anthropology, and human geography feature amongst disciplines mobilised by this domain, which is also strongly invested by a range of creative practices (music, poetry, architecture, acoustic ecologies, site-specific sound art). From a popular music perspective, we’re interested in songs about , or strongly connected to, specific places (and vice versa), while from a sound studies perspective, we’re thinking about the resonant qualities of particular places, how places can be made to ‘sing’. A combination of popular music, ethnomusicology, folklore/song studies and sound studies will, we hope, allow for some interesting discussions. This initial symposium, which draws together theorists and practitioners, aims to identify key research questions associated with the theme of ‘Singing Places’, with a view to launching a longer-term programme of academic and artistic events.
VENUE
The Recital Room, Falmer House Room 120, University of Sussex
PROGRAMME
Arrival from 9:00
9:20 – 9:30 Welcome and introduction
9:30 – 10:00 Margaretta Jolly, ‘Singing Feminist Lives: Oral History as Autobiographical Place’
10:00 – 10:30 Amy Cunningham, ‘The Voice of the Iron Horse: Mechanical Voices and Nostalgia’
10:30 – 11:00 Eugene McCloskey, ‘…over borders…’
11:00 – 11:15 Break
11:15 – 11:45 Richard Follett, ‘Soundscapes, Creolized Identities, and the Matrix of Memory’
11:45 – 12:00 Richard Elliott: introduction to first plenary session ‘Songs of/and place’
12:00 – 12:30 Plenary discussion
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch – Student Union meeting room
13:30 – 14:00 Jean Martin, ‘Echoes of the Past’
14:00 – 14:30 Matthew Hodson, ‘Architects of Composition’
14:30 – 15:00 Danny Bright, ‘Subterranean Sound Tunnel: singing the ghosts of the melting shop’
15:00 – 15:15 Break
15:15 – 15:30 Sally Jane Norman: introduction to second plenary session ‘Making places sing’
15:30 – 16:00 Plenary discussion
16:00 >>> Final plenary, chaired by Michael Bull
Free event but registration required. Please visit http://www.sussex.ac.uk/acca/newsandevents?id=22020 for details
Further information, including absracts and presenter bios here.
