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.