2010-2011

News Release

REF NO.: 211

SUBJECT: Internationally renowned indigenous music scholar to speak at summer conference at Memorial University

DATE: June 1, 2011

A celebrated American ethnomusicologist and anthropologist has been named keynote speaker as part of the 2011 International Council of Traditional Music (ICTM) conference. ICTM 2011 is being hosted at Memorial University’s St. John’s campus July 13-19.
Keynote speaker Dr. Michelle Bigenho’s work examines the cultural politics of Bolivian music performances as they relate to nationalism, discourses of authenticity, indigeneity, folklorization, cultural property and globalization.
“Dr. Bigenho’s work brilliantly addresses some of the timely issues in ethnomusicology and anthropology that are particularly relevant to this conference such as the politics of music performance, indigenous rights, alternative modernities and multiculturalism, besides others,” said Dr. Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco, vice-president of ICTM and program chair of the 2011 conference.
Dr. Bigenho’s resumé boasts an impressive list of publications, awards and music recordings. She is currently an associate professor of anthropology at Hampshire College’s School of Critical Social Inquiry.
The 2011 World Conference for the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) will be taking place on the St. John’s campus for seven days in the month of July, bringing with it an impressive array of singers, instrumentalists, dancers and scholars of international calibre. In its 41st incarnation, the world conference is the leading global venue for the presentation of new research in music and dance.
Alongside the conference, ICTM is opening its doors and inviting everyone to experience a festival featuring the finest in music and dance from this province, Canada and beyond. SOUNDshift: A Time for International Music and Dance, features five concerts plus numerous workshops and films.
To view the ICTM website and review the conference’s preliminary program, please visit www.mun.ca/ictm2011/. For more information regarding SOUNDshift, please visit www.soundshift.ca.

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